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@periwinklebee: At that age I feel like they go through phases of not liking things and then suddenly will be open to try it. Have you tried reusable pouches? This will allow you to make your own puree and serve it to him in a pouch form and then you can just wash and reuse them. I have tried The natures little squeeze brand and also the little green pouch and I like the natures little squeeze pouches better.

I mean it makes sense to me that he’s old enough to want to be in charge of putting the food in his mouth but at the same time just moving a little slower with solids. I think there’s a huge variety in how early and easily babies take to solids. But when you have one that isn’t easy about it it seems like every other baby eats tons of finger foods etc.

I kind of compare to when you have a baby that still wakes up at night it feels like every other baby STTN.

So my point is it all sounds very normal and just keep offering finger foods and he’ll start eating them when he’s ready.

My first was like this and it was super frustrating (she would gag on everything) and she didn’t really eat non-from a jar or pouch purée until prob 15 months.

Oh have you tried a silicone feeder? Avocado in one of those was a def gateway to real foods for us

I went through this. I made my own pouches, which was great. I tried to wean him off cold turkey and he lost a ton of weight. What my pediatrician told me to do is keep serving finger foods and pouches. Eventually he would get it.

He started loving berries. There were months he'd eat just yogurt and berries. I'd keep offering and my dog loved the leftovers. Around 2 he had 20 soft foods he'd eat. By 2.5 it was closer to 60 and some really random ones (paella and risotto, but not pizza, chicken nuggets, or grilled cheese). At 3 he eats me out of house and home. Yesterday he at 3 bananas, an orange, and a bagel with cream cheese for breakfast and an entire bowl of spinach pesto pasta with extra cheese and two plates of fruit for dinner.

Just find your safe foods, have them on hand, and keep offering other foods. I still remember the look of shock when my kiddo finally tried pasta. He crushed an entire bowl of pesto rigatoni like it was nothing. It was probably the 30th time I made it for him. The other 29 were ignored.

@periwinklebee: My girl still struggles with eating a wide variety of textures. Or I struggle with it, she doesn't seem phased. A friend of mine used to help with feeding therapy. She shared some really interesting insight on food textures. My daughter avoids chewy foods (that explode in your mouth). Loves purees and eats 'crunch' foods.

I'm slowly working bits into her purees (usually spits them out) and adding dips to her crunchy food to expand her tolerance to textures. Like your child, she wiould refuse to eat all day if only given unpreferred items.It is getting better.

Apparently they had hot dogs at daycare today. She ate some. It actually made me excited my kid ate a hot dog. Seriously, made my Monday.

Parenting is weird.

My DD really struggled with solids at first, so we did feeding therapy from roughly 8-12 months (she was also a bottle refuser so it was more than just slow to start solids). She has always been large/healthy height & weight percentiles, but it was important to us to address her issues before they became a battle of wills in toddlerhood. Anyway, feeding therapy was enormously helpful and I think in her case, very necessary - she needed really focused practice on the oral motions required for chewing and swallowing food.

Some of the gateway solids that really helped her (not particularly nutritional upgrades from good ingredient pouches, but this is more about practice with the oral motor skills): veggie straws, toast "fingers" or crackers with cream cheese or hummus spread, cereal (corn chex), bamba (which I know you can't do bc peanut allergy, but similar puffed snacks would be good), very chunky purees or smooth purees/yogurt with puffs/cheerios added. We also did a lot of practice drinking from an open cup (you can use little dixie cups) and used chewy tubes (find on amazon) and other teethers.

Good luck! My older child is truly one of the least picky kids I know and took to solids easily, so I don't necessarily think it's anything you've done or not done - it seems more like a luck of the draw situation - but I think it's always a good idea to proactively address things with some professional help when needed.

ETA: we asked our pediatrician for a referral to a feeding therapist, got an evaluation, and then paid a co-pay for weekly feeding therapy. I love my pediatrician and respect her immensely, but I had to be very candid with her about the extent of my daughter's feeding issues because she was always gaining/growing well. if you think his issues are truly problematic, you may have to push it more than you might feel comfortable doing.

My nephew was a big fan of purees and pouches well beyond when my sister wanted to be giving them to him. She found that dipping sauces helped. He went through a few month period where everything was dipped in ketchup. No idea if this would help but your son might enjoy the act of dipping and the novelty of you letting him practically play with his food.

I didn't get a chance to read all the answers, but I have suggestions. I have a huge fear of choking (I choked on a hard candy as a child) so starting solids was terrifying for me. I found this website to be extremely helpful. DD was fine with purees, but could not handle the chunky purees. this website said that because the texture was too similar in her mouth, should couldn't move them around to chew and ended up gagging on them. It suggests starting with something crunchy, specifically puffs. https://yourkidstable.com/how-to-transition-your-baby-or-toddler/

My second suggestion is to make your own pouches, DD is 2 and we still fill hers with yogurt. We got these ones, because it came with a filling station, which makes it SOOO MUCH EASIER to fill the pouches with much less mess. https://www.amazon.com/Squooshi-Filling-Station-Large-Bundle/dp/B01AMUDANG/ref=asc_df_B01IO78WLO/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=312133207663&hvpos=1o2&hvnetw=g&hvrand=4267189327501868985&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9002575&hvtargid=pla-570482498050&th=1

Good luck and keep us posted on your successes or failures

@periwinklebee: one other thing that both my kids loved in the early solids stage was ditalini pasta cooked and then mixed with a combo of pasta sauce and butternut squash puree, and a TON of parmesan cheese. the crumbly cheese makes it easier to pick up. then as they get used to it, you can add in things like frozen peas, ground beef, etc.