6.5 month old won’t pick up finger food and generally putting less things in mouth

[Colinthedog]

I’m struggling to wean my 6.5 month old and wondered if anyone else had experienced similar?

DS2 won’t pick up finger food and put it in his mouth. I did baby led weaning with DS1 so I’m finding this a new experience and starting to get a bit concerned, especially as I’ve noticed he seems to be mouthing things less in general.

He initially wouldn’t try purées, but after a few days of trying he’s eating them reasonably well, especially if it’s a fruit rather than a veg purée! But if I put any sort of food on his high chair table he just plays with it. Initially he would suck on finger food if I put it up to his mouth, but he’s not even keen on doing that anymore. He once picked up a carrot puff and put it in his mouth, but he only did that the very first time we gave one to him and hasn’t since. I don’t think he realised it was food! With most finger foods he will pull a face and quickly move away as soon as it touches his mouth.

Up until we started weaning him he used to put everything in his mouth, but he’s now doing that a lot less. He still chews on my fingers and will mouth my leg or a toy when crawling on the floor. He will occasionally grab something and put it in his mouth, but a lot less than he used to. When he does put something in his mouth, he now takes it out almost straight away. He didn’t used to do this, he would mouth things for a while.

If relevant - he is on meds for silent reflux. He is breastfed, with the occasional bottle (initially refused a bottle but now reasonably happy to take one). He would never take a dummy despite many attempts!

We also now struggle to get the medicine into him, although it didn’t used to bother him at all. We now have to almost fire it into his mouth to get him to take it, and I’m now wondering if this is contributing to the problem?

I suffer from anxiety and this is starting to get to me, so if anyone can provide any tips or reassurance I would really appreciate it.

[UpTheWoodenHill123]

I personally think you’re doing just fine as you are. He is only 6 months old and is eating food for fun basically, it’s just to expose him to foods not to feed him nutrients as such. He is getting all his nutrients from breastfeeding and eventually he will be hungry enough to want food, but for now keep giving him bits of food he can pick up and play with even if it doesn’t go in his mouth x

[Colinthedog]

Thank you WoodenHill, I’m trying to be relaxed about the whole thing but it’s not really in my nature unfortunately! It’s probably the fact that he’s mouthing things less that’s bothering me more than the fact he’s not getting to grips with finger food yet. He’s still so little. Although he does seem to be very much into banging things at the moment so I’m wondering if that’s just his preference for exploring things right now, rather than using his mouth? Although I’m probably massively over thinking it, as usual!

[Colinthedog]

Does anyone else have any experience of this?

[doritosdip]

Is he teething? It's uncomfortable to eat when they are teething so they might want softer things like yoghurt and custard

[Colinthedog]

@doritosdip I guess he could be teething, but I thought they put things in their mouth to relieve the pain? DS is doing the opposite. Hardly anything is going in his mouth now

[mumoftwocuties]

I feel your pain. My DS is 11 months and refuses. I keep trying and he does it once and then get fed up and refuses to put anything else in his mouth.
I have been passing him things then helping him put the food to his mouth but it doesn't seem to help!

[Colinthedog]

@mumoftwocuties I’m sorry to hear you are struggling with it too. It’s stressful, and annoying cleaning up loads of food from the floor that hasn’t been anywhere near his mouth!

DS put some toast to his mouth this morning and sucked on it for a bit. This got my hopes up, but nothing else has gone in his mouth since.

Have you been given any advice? My HV told me to cut down on purées to once per day and offer finger foods more, but so far he’s only really playing with it so not feeling massively hopeful!

[Colinthedog]

I’ve also been trying to put things to his mouth, and he’ll sometimes suck on them for a bit. But he’s not really bothered. He really seems to enjoy the purées though, and he’ll sometimes put the spoon in his pen mouth if I put it in his hand. But he definitely prefers me to spoon feed him. The total opposite to DS1!

[mumoftwocuties]

I know exactly what you're going through haha!
Well if he put something near his mouth, that is a good sign for you! And no, not seen a health visitor since he was around 6 weeks!
Fingers crossed they get past this stage soon!

[Colinthedog]

Definitely, good luck!!

[Colinthedog]

Quick update for anyone who is experiencing a similar issue, as I always get frustrated when OPs don’t come back and update!

We have had a huge amount of progress this week. After being totally disinterested in putting anything in his mouth for the past month, DS picked up a rice cake on Wednesday and put it in his mouth! I’d been giving him finger foods at every meal alongside purées, and also making sure he was eating with us and his older brother as much as possible. I’d also been holding finger foods near his mouth so he could taste them if he wanted to, which he would occasionally although the frequency was actually decreasing! So I don’t know what changed, it’s like something clicked in his brain. He’s also mouthing toys and our fingers again, although maybe not as much as other babies his age.

He then had some raspberries and some toast, and since then has been putting food to his mouth at each meal time. He doesn’t ingest much and it’s very slow going, much slower than with DS1. He also still likes me to hold the food to his mouth sometimes, but I’ve been gently discouraging this and helping him guide the food to his own mouth. There are also some meal times when he really isn’t that interested at all and just wants a purée. But he’s also coping much better with lumpy purées now, so again I feel like we are making progress.

So maybe it was teeth, or maybe he just wasn’t ready, or was focusing on crawling instead.

@mumoftwocuties how are things going with you? I really hope you have been seeing some progress too. This last month has taught me that it’s definitely not anything that I’m doing or not doing that impacts whether he eats, as I did exactly the same with DS1 at exactly the same age and he took to it straight away. So I’m sure he will do it when he’s ready, but I hope it’s soon. I know how frustrating it is to spend most of the day under a high chair cleaning up food that has spent time and thought to prepare but hasn’t been near a mouth!

[mumoftwocuties]

Glad to hear you're having an improvement! Sounds like he's getting it which is good for you, maybe it did just click for him, but well done! Hopefully he will carry on and be eating everything himself soon!

No difference really. I have been trying to feed him bits by putting it into his hand and guiding it to his mouth but he seems to be getting more frustrated and just crumbling whatever food it is or throwing it on the floor. I have his 9-12 month review on Thursday, so hoping they can give me some guidance and go from there!
Thank you for updating and asking about us!