My how quickly things change in the life of a baby. Only one month ago, Ashton was eating 3 jars of baby food a day plus crackers/biscuits/cheerios. Over the past several weeks, however, Ashton has gone on strike. He refuses anything from a spoon. Even stuff he likes. Sometimes we can trick him to open his mouth by entertaining him with silly songs or games, but mostly he’s wised up.

So we’ve tried small chunks of many of his favorite baby foods (pears, bananas, apples, and peaches), figuring that he simply wants to self feed. He won’t touch the pears or peaches and will occasionally tolerate the bananas which he tends to suck on and spit back out. He’ll eat peeled raw apples but he still hasn’t mastered chewing, so there are frequent choking/gagging episodes with these and the occasional barf. Such fun. It’s been several weeks since I’ve successfully gotten a vegetable in him, though he previously loved carrots and sweet potatoes. Raw zucchini sticks caused a full body shudder, demonstrating a true aversion and not just stubbornness.

He is highly suspicious of new foods. We had to sneak string cheese into his mouth to get him to try it, but now he likes it. He won’t touch spaghetti noodles, which I thought were supposed to be a favorite of little kids.

He’s still drinking plenty of formula, though even his behavior there has changed. It used to be that when he had his fill, he’s simply spit out the nipple. Now, he squirms away, hollers very loudly, and won’t be silenced or stop struggling until you put a pacifier in his mouth.

So, needless to say, meals have become a bit of an ordeal and I’ve been avoiding taking him to restaurants. Hopefully this phase will pass soon.