Help! Baby no interest in solids

[Squeaky]

Hi. My daughter is 6 and a half months old so should therefore definitely be starting solid foold. We have been trying for two weeks but all she does is gag and spit the food out then turns her head away and refuses any more. A couple of times we got another 'mouthful ' in by stealth (just a tiny bit on the end of a spoon in case anyone thinks I might be overdoing the quantity) but then she vomited. We have tried the following each for a few days at a time:
baby rice
carrot mixed with baby rice
carrot alone
banana

The purees were as thin as we could get them and as alternatives we tried mixing with breast milk, with formula and with just the cooking water. The reaction has been the same every time.

She is clearly hungrier as she is now waking once or twice every night to feed again when she used to sleep through. She is currently breastfed 6 - 7 times a day. I have tried both giving her a short feed before her solids (to 'take the edge off any hunger' as advised) and the opposite of skipping a feed so that she will be more hungry. I am however reluctant to reduce her milk feeds.

Nothing I do seems to make any difference. I had no problems at all weaning my son, now two and a half , and breastfed him till age one; so all this is completely new to me. Any advice would be much appreciated!

[rachaelmae]

My daughter had no interest till she was 1, was very stressful! tried everything.

Have you tried finger foods and letting them get on with it? I wouldnt worry too much milk is the most important thing, maybe leave it for a few days and just offer some finger foods.

HTH

[hiann]

dont worry: six and a half months and not being interested in food isnt a big deal. Can i direct you to: Baby Led Weaning - Home

Even if you dont do BLW, a lot of what they say make sense. Like re the iron stores: if your baby didnt have low haemaoglobin at birth, then the iron just doesnt run out once they turn 6 months. It slowly gets used up and its really once they turn 9 months that you need to make sure they are eating some food. Alos apparent;y its only at this age that they realise food takes away hungry like milk does.

Also, it says the most calorie dense food a baby can get is milk so til they are 1, dont worry too much: food up to 1 year old is for fun! (I asked on the forum abt energy and density etc!)

Heres some of the post that someone replied to me with:
"BLW is all about learning about food. Our 'mantra' is food is for fun until one. The most important foodstuff for your LO at this stage is milk. Milk is far more calorific than any other food at this stage. Most purees are fruit and vegetables, the sort of foods we'd eat while dieting! Don't expect her to start eating solids in any great quantities for quite some time yet, many LOs don't 'get' food until about 8-9 months, or even later. Don't try and give her solids when she's hungry, try about 30 mins to an hour after milk.

Try to look upon food as playtime for your baby. Keep up her milk feeds, and follow her lead as to when she wants to drop a feed. BLW is a whole different mindset to 'traditional' weaning (I know, my eldest was puree weaned). "


I must admit I was all for puree feeding Cara as I did with Rhys but after abt 3 weeks of puree, she just clamped her mouth shut so i tried looking for other ways to wean her and found BLW. I am doing a mix of BLW and some pureed food (like pouches of fruit) and feeding her cereal and yogurt as its sometimes easier to spoon feed her if we arent at home as BLW is messy! Sometimes I "load" the spoon and let her feed herself.

For dinners I just give her something like pasta and veg or if we are having sturfry, a piece of the chicken without the sauce or just put some rice or casserole down on her highchair tray and she picks it up: she's not eating that much but there is a bit being taken in as I see the evidence if you catch my drift!

From the momnet she was really interested in what food was to pick up and look at she was putting it in her mouth and then progressed to biting bits, then chewing etc. Think it was cos she saw her brother eat "properly" and she's got the "I want to do what my older sibling is doing" syndrome as she hates being on her tummy yet is happy if you hold her upright in a standing/walking position

Her chewing skills are amazing: with Rhys, even now he does turn down certain textures so it will be interesting to see what she's like when she's 3 having done BLW!

Other foods I let her have are toast, peanut butter sandwich (she stole some of mine so I let her try some), breadsticks, Philly cheese, slices cheddar, Babybel, broccoli florets (holds the stem bit and eats the top), deseeded tomato wedges, omelette wedges etc. I try not to give her salted things more than one meal every few days.

Will try and post a few pics!

[DrP]

Try starting with some sweeter foods like apple, pear, sweet potato. Even though my son took to food really well when I started feeding him there were some things he flatly refused. Carrot, which was the first puree I made for him was a big no no at the start, even mixed with baby rice or milk. He flatly refused it so I ignored it. I switched and used some sweeter things to start, then mixed in the savoury and went from there. Now he eats absolutely everything.

While I didn't do it myself I know that BLW definitely works really well. Several friends 7 relations of mine had babies that never liked spoon fed foods but were quite happy to tuck into finger foods.

[hiann]

Originally Posted by DrP

While I didn't do it myself I know that BLW definitely works really well. Several friends 7 relations of mine had babies that never liked spoon fed foods but were quite happy to tuck into finger foods.

Exactly! The point is its weaning: doesnt matter how u get there: if its BLW or puree spoon feeds. Some great advice on the BLW site I use but sometimes they are so nasty re tradional puree weaning esp Ak-ers which pisses me off: maybe they dont want to do pureed food for their LO or like me this time, the baby just doesnt want to do it, but everyone gets there in the end and when the kids are all 2 years plus, who's gonna care how you got there?

[Squeaky]

Thank you. I am not familiar with baby led weaning but will look into it as maybe this approach will suit her better. Another suggestion made to me is to try giving her just breast milk on a spoon to get her used to the idea of spoon feeding and then start gradually thickening up with cereals or purees. Also the finger food might work as she loves to chew everything in sight - I had thought she was too young but a few people have recommended this. I guess I'll just keep trying different ideas until something seems to be working! The main thing I suppose is to try not to worry as long as she stays healthy and happy. Its funny how one baby can be the polar opposite to their sibling in every way....!

[yummumamanda]

It is much better to introduce new foods slowly and carefully. Give your baby one new food every 3 to 5 days to determine if an allergy is present. After rice cereal, move on to other grains before introducing vegetables, fruits and meats. Begin with only a teaspoon or two of each food, and increase the amount when your baby becomes used to the flavor.

[blitzbeatsg]

got some points now .