OMG Lucyboo, I could have written this two weeks ago, I was at end of my tether, tears of frustration with my toddler as they are at the age of chooosing/ showing preference but not at the age of understanding if they dont eat something there isnt anything else and also not at the age whereby you could let them go without...it is an ongoing bottle. Like your LO, after learning to feed herself she flat out refuses assistance even now with yoghurt (have to stay nearby tho cos she ends up with it in her hair otherwise!), and I, like you, had my trusty meals down pat with an elemtn of variety....cereal, toast and fruit brekkie, sarnies, fruit, cheese and crisps lunch, some concoction of meat/veg and rice/pasta or potato and it always went down a treat. then suddenly the meals I made in advance and froze were being spat out and thrown so I had endless days of ending up opening a tin because wanted to get something down her even if it was spaghetti and sausages (her fave!), I tore my hair out worrying about her getting her veggies in and even now I worry each day what to make and how it will be 'received'...dont even get me started on wastage, I had portion sizes down pat too and thought the days of wastage during weaning were over....oooh no...worse now....
Anyway I have had to trial different finger foods to get meat and veggies into her and this is what has been working 60% of the time (stiull fussy with it lol)...veggie fingers/samosas or crispyveggiebakes, fish fingers, chicken nuggets, sausages etc, all cooked and prepared to be eaten as finger food, then chunks of sweet potato or mash with either beans, sweetcorn or if Im lucky some other veggies and some days when she's been v hungry this has worked but other days just pushed away....today I tried a chicken, veg and rice dish with sauce I knew she liked and an hour later, after three requests for food, I finally have four teaspoonfuls down her...the latter two fed by me on my lap...sigh..I know its not enough and it is v hard but I kept trying to explain to her that this is dinner, and a hungry child should eventually eat it regardless right? Oh no, the toddler defiance withstands hunger lol...But you have to keep trying and it is hard with their tea as you cant make this experience go on for long as you then have bath and bottle then bed so time is running out for you to feed them and dont want them eating too late as itll affect their sleep....aaargh thought early morning wakeups were frustrating but this is worse as you feel it three times a day, when you do your food shopping and you worry every night whether theyve had enough...sigh...I feel for you and hopefully some of my food items/methods will help but im going to guess that everyone is going to say trial and error/every child different etc etc...
Good luck! Sorry for the essay but this topic is very much in my thoughts lol
