baby-led solids with a picky eater

[maptome]

DD did not start eating solids until 13 months. Now, she's 15 months, and refuses to nurse except for sleep. The problem is that she is a very picky eater. She only eats young coconut, puffed wheat, cheerios, fermented daikon, peanut butter, and homemade yogurt (her main source of calories). Sometimes dried figs, apples, cheese, and watermelon. She also likes to eat bacon and white potato french fries, which I limit because of salt.

Also, I don't know if this is related, but she's dropped to the 32nd percentile in the growth charts for 15 months check up. That's the non-breastfeeding chart. Her percentiles have dropped from 99 to 95 to 90 to 50 to 32.

So, what do I do? I've tried blending fruit into her yogurt...What else?

I'd love for her to eat meat, eggs, any vegetable (I've tried them all), more fruits.

Also, sometimes I think she enjoys the taste of something, like eggplant, or sweet potato, but has an aversion to the mushy texture...she likes it crunchy.

[Picard]

I suggest to keep re-introducing foods. I found that my DS liked something for a while, then he would leave it altogether only to try it again months later.

Smoothies would be an option to consider. I prepare these quite a bit for DS. You can easily mix in some veggies that way (e.g., a few spinach leaves).

Did you try to introduce foods with spices and herbs. I found that DS ate more when things were spiced up a bit.

[tzs]

i would also keep reintroducing and throw in a meal of her favorites every so often....or throw in a favorite into one of her meals. i found that if dd wasn't so into the food i had given her, just throwing in something i know she likes would get her started and she'd keep on going.
i also found that dd preferred more spiced or seasoned food. i even found myself adding spices to food i had already made...just for dd's sake (i.e. adding cumin and lime to the avocado spread on our grilled cheese)
since you're concerned about weight i would be especially vigilant about adding fats whenever you can. babes need it anyway regardless of weight. i try to add olive oil or butter to dd's food whenever i can. i'll even make a balsamic vinaigrette with olive oil to coat strawberries or blueberries with or if she's eating beans i'll dress them in italian dressing or whatever we have on hand.
even if it's just crackers you can spread some butter on.
you said she likes coconut....would she like coconut milk? you could make thai noodles with coconut milk and peanut butter (i add rice vinegar, soy sauce, red pepper flakes.) you can always add eggs to this like fried rice.
sweet potato fries that are crunchy? or eggplant fries coated with olive oil? would she eat some sort of ground meat if it was in a cheesy dish like lasagna?

[tzs]

oh and p.s. if she likes cheese you can "sneak" alot of the stuff she won't eat in there under melted cheese.

we had an anti-avocado phase and i would spread it under cheese on some bread and melt it.
she still is not so huge on raw tomatoes so last night i snuck them in in between the tuna and cheese on a tuna melt.
not to "sneak" it so much as just to get her to try it before she instantly picks it out. that way she can keep being introduced to the taste.

[sapphire_chan]

I've also had more luck with giving her my actual food instead of just food like mine. Half the time, I just make one plate and bring out two forks.

[CrunchyChristianMama]

Run with the fact that she likes french fries. Lots of veggies can be made into fries is the oven is hot enough! I've found that I can cut just about any veggie into the shape of a fry, toss it with butter, season with salt, and roast in the oven at 450 until it's crispy and my DD will eat it.

Also, if you find a quality sea salt (we use Celtic) I wouldn't worry about salt intake. If a food is simply seasoned to taste, she isn't going to be getting too much salt. I would worry about it more from any processed foods she's eating and their sodium content.