Family Forum / Pregnancy / Breastfeeding / August 2005

My DD wasn't interested in solids until she could feed it to herself.  She
never liked pureed *anything*.  She didn't really eat any solids until she
was about 9 months or so...He may just not be ready.  Can you try giving him
something like rice krispies?  DD loved those as she could feed them to
herself, it got her working on her pincer grip and they melt in the mouth so
not really a choking hazard...

Wait. He'll tell you when he's ready. :)

Jess

My son is almost 7 months, and until about 2 weeks ago had no interest
in solids.  After trying for several weeks with no success, I started
giving the food to him on my fingertip instead of the spoon.  He was
much more receptive to this and would actually open his mouth for a
bite.  After some of that I just switched back to a spoon.  Remember
too, this is still an introductory period for him, and his main
sustenance is your milk.  So don't be discouraged, he'll come around.

kathy
mom of
Ella 12.28.01
Joey 02.04.05

With my second and third kids, I never tried to feed them traditional
baby food (i.e. the traditional shovelling of the goo into the face).
The whole idea got old quick with #1 (and by the time I had more kids,
I ran out of time and patience for the idea, particularly since my kids
weren't too interested in solids until well into their second half
year). How #2 and #3 started solids was by being sat in the highchair
while the rest of us ate -  and I started putting finger foods (shreds
of apple, cheese, bits of cereal), or small bowls of anything squishy
they could dip their fingers into (like some mashed potatoes or
yoghurt). I didn't try to feed them - I just let them play with it. I'd
even give them a spoon. They would squish the food around, play with
it, watch us to see what we were doing, and try to imitate. Even if
they didn't get the idea of eating, inevitably, as with all babies,
their experimenting meant at least some would end up in their mouth as
they sucked fingers - and hey, mommy, I dunno what that was, but it
tasted pretty good!

First solids are never about nutrition (after all, the traditional
first food - rice cereal - even fortified, is about as good for you as
wallpaper paste). Its also not about calories. That is why the current
recommendations are for kids to get the majority of their calories and
nutrients from breast milk or formula for the first year. First solids
are about learning to eat. Its about figuring how to chew, how to
manipulate different textures in your mouth and swallow, different
tastes, how to get it into your mouth with your hands etc. etc.

You don't have a problem - you just have a kid who isn't quite ready or
interested. Put him in the chair, give him some suitable bits of
whatever to mess with, and eventually, he'll start to eat. Its still
early days, and it totally depends on the kid.

My middle kid is now 11, and he is VERY sensitive to tastes, smells,
and textures to this day, traits that translate into extreme pickiness
since new, strange things can really bother him.  So, in retrospect,
its no surprise that he was closer to a year before he really wanted to
eat much (I think he was in sensory overload).

Contrast him with a child that lived with our family when our first was
a baby - we had a nanny for a while who had a baby daughter, who was
four months younger than our son. She'd put the two kids side by side
in high chairs, so same room, same food, same person feeding them - and
her daughter would eat anything she saw an adult eating, vs. my son who
was much more picky. Honestly, it was hilarious - we couldn't BELIEVE
the stuff she'd enthusiastically eat - spicy, sour, strong smells, you
name it, items that you'd never believe a kid under 12 would touch with
a barge pole, and she'd be enthusiastically chowing down. It made me
feel a bit better at the time, since I realized it wasn't ME doing
anything "wrong".

Mary G.
Mom of three (sons 14 and 11, daughter 7)

Hi Lisa!

Rayna also didn't show much interest in solids at Noah's age. I tried
rice cereal with her first, and she hated it. I then tried various
pureed veggies and fruits (one at a time). She ate a bit of those, but
wasn't overly enthused. I tried oatmeal next, and she sort of took to
it. But she'd never eat more than a few bites during a sitting. She
continued this pattern until well over a year old. I just kept offering
her different foods (many table foods as well as jarred baby foods). She
seemed to eat more when she could feed herself (but she still wasn't a
very voracious eater). The magical time for us came right at 16 months.
Suddenly, she started to eat. I hadn't done anything differently to
cause that to happen; she just did it one day and continued from then
on. Today, she's a very good eater and eats almost everything.

Just keep offering. It may take awhile, but he'll come around...

Mary

I'm another mom with a child who just wansn't interested in baby food--or
anything that *I* tried to feed her. In fact, by 8 months, I'd almost
totally given up trying to feed her, and even gave her a spoon, which she
used surprisingly well. Instead, we moved to finger foods--Rice Crispies,
Cheerios, crackers, toast, small bits of cheese and well-cooked veggies and
soft fruits. She was much happier that way, and to be honest, it was much
less work feeding her than DS (who I made baby food for, and who preferred
pureed food until he was closer to 18 months).

This is one of those situations where it really is better to back off and
follow baby's lead.

--
Jodi
SAHM to Oliver (4 years),
Arwen (2 years),
and ?? (edd May 2006)

Does anyone have any ideas on

Just wait.  He'll eat when he is ready.  Hunter didn't start solids until he
was 10mos old.  He was offered food at nearly every meal he just didn't eat
it.  Then he ate like a sparrow until he was 14-15mos.  He started in on
finger foods and I gave him a spoon, which he could use by about 12mos.
Nearly anything can be a finger food :-)  The only precaution we took was an
iron check to make sure he wasn't anemic at 9mos.  He wasn't but there is a
risk if they aren't eating iron.  He was very healthy, grew well, pudgy etc.

A couple of mouthfuls a day is fine at this age -- I think your day care is
pushing too hard.  I am sure that DS1 was only getting solids at dinner at
this age.  Your baby only has a tiny tummy, and until a year, breast milk
should be the mainstay of his diet.  What he has to learn at this time is how
to chew and swallow solids, and to get an idea of different tastes and
textures.

I am sure my DS1 thought solids were some strange kind of game until he was
about 10mo, and I don't think his diet was 50% solids until he was 14mo.