Hi Maria,

Sorry about the delay in replying. I've not long been back from
holiday.

My son is like yours and very independant. We have a bag full of all
sorts of toys to let him play with while we quickly give him another
spoon full. My answer would be get a massive splash mat and let him
make as much mess and leave him to it. We try coaxing Bailey but now
each bowl has 2 spoons and 2 forks. Food time needs to be fun and
not a battle. I must say my husband itsn't very good with mess and
it normally falls to me to clean Bailey up but he sat at the table at
my mother in laws yesterday with his fork feeding himself and I felt
proud. By the way Bailey is 18mths, but this started when he was
probably about 10mths.

Hope this helps
Lorraine

--- In noonan_support@yahoogroups.com, "maria" <artononyx@y...> wrote:
>
> Okay here's a new twist.
> My son who was becoming a very good eater has suddenly changed. I
> recently asked about it but now I noticed that there is a new twist.
>
> He is 15 months / 12 adjusted weighing just over 13lbs and is about
> 27 inches long. He eats purees (calories boosted) and some
> crackers, cookies, toast, pretzels, chicken nuggets, some veggies
> and fruits (the "hard stuff" he more or less gnaws on but he is
> beginning to try to chew more each day!) and has just begun to
taste
> things like pasta with sauce (he used to immediately spit it out
and
> clamp shut with those things).
>
> I noticed that he was eating less and still nursing quite a bit. I
> told everyone that he is trying to self feed and just isn't eating
> enough to stop purees. The past few days he has been dealing with
a
> cold. His appetite has decreased (which I know is common when they
> don't feel well and he has done this before when he isn't feeling
> well).
>
> Tonight I noticed the new twist...
> it isn't so much that my son wants to eat less.... it is that he
> wants independence and doesn't want to be fed. He is basically
> refusing to be fed. Like I said he actually eats very little when
> self feeding ... so how do encourage this independence and still
get
> enough into him.
> Please any help would be much appreciated.
> Maria
>