8 month old won't eat

[housecat98]

We've been weaning since 6 months, but struggling to get our 8 month old to eat properly.

He'll take a few mouthfuls but then starts crying and fussing, looking around, trying to grab toys and us.

He wants to grab the spoon but can't feed himself. He just chews on the wrong end or gags himself with it.

He seems to want to do it himself but with finger foods he just mashes them up or throws them about so doesn't actually eat anything.

He's still on his full amount of formula milk per day and doesn't really get any proper eating done at all so just can't see how we're ever going to transition away from it.

Any advice?

Bumping this.

Wondering if it's in the wrong place.

Hi, my 8 month old is the same. Just plays with the food.

If you spoon feed her puree she holds it in her mouth for a while then spits it out.

The only way I've gotten her to eat is by dipping her dummy in a thick purée and then putting it in her mouth.

I'm hoping it's just a phase. She is BF and still eats every couple of hours. The main source of nutrition at this age should be from milk, so don't worry about them not eating much as long as they're still taking in milk.

Just focus on getting them used to different tastes and textures and hopefully one day it'll click. Apparently chew toys/teethers are good for getting them used to putting things in their mouths and chewing.

He seems to quite like finger food but he doesn't have the skills to eat that - he just mashes it about and then jt all ends up on the floor.

If we try and spoon feed him he clamps his mouth shut.

He's 100% formula fed at the moment and I'm just worried that in 4 months he'll need to be getting all his nutrition from food and I can't see that happening

My 9 month old exactly the same. He consumes next to nothing of solids and still fully reliant on milk. Like yours, he just messes around with the food throws it around or cries to be taken out of the high chair. No idea what to do with him or how to encourage him to eat. We started off baby led, but even spoon feeding doesn’t make any difference

If you're giving the bottle before breakfast, could you start taking him downstairs and giving him breakfast with a cup of formula instead? That might give him some appetite for the food.

When you say though that he can't manage finger foods, does it ever go near to his mouth?

Mine is exactly the same. So frustrating! My eldest was eating 3 big meals a day by this age but I can't get my 8mo to take much of an interest. He honestly sounds exactly the same: first few mouthfuls of spoon feeding fine and then he just loses interest and starts trying to grab other stuff and cries to get out of the high chair. He's a little better with self feeding, but like you say I don't think much actually goes in ...

I've tried adjusting meal times, milk before, milk after, nothing seems to make a difference. My HV didn't help, just said he should be eating more with not much advice on how.

I'm just trying to take his lead and keep exposing him to new tastes and textures. I'm sure they'll get there, but like you say I can't imagine him getting most of his calories from food in a few months. Anyway, not much help but just so you know you're not the only one!

Also, my eldest was an amazing eater before 18 months and is now very picky, so don't worry too much about this being a predictor of how they'll be when they get older. I'm hoping the opposite happens this time!

Thanks for the replies, reassuring to know others are in the same boat. Maybe some babies just take longer to warm up to food?

It does feel like finger foods are more his thing - he seems to love shoving things in his mouth - but the difficult thing is finding things he can hold that aren't choking risks. So far, we've only had success with toast and melty sticks. Any boiled veg just shoots straight out of his hand because it's so slippy.

Yeah, in terms of that, we've had our best success with tinned sardines and salmon, boiled potatoes and crumpet fingers with almond butter etc. Like you say, easy to grab and actually get into his mouth. I'm going to try omlette strips tomorrow. And this morning I turned his porridge he didn't eat into porridge fingers by putting it in the fridge, so we'll see how that goes down. It's just putting me off bothering cooking much because it all just goes to waste, so I'm trying things which you don't really have to prepare.

Hi, how are your babies getting on with eating now? My 7.5 month old is exactly the same. She will eat a couple of spoonfuls then start crying and fussing and will rarely eat any more, the only exception is fruit pouches which she demolishes! She doesn’t even like yoghurt. Finger foods sometimes get a little lick or suck but she never actually consumes anything that way! Starting to get frustrated and a bit worried about it

Hi @purpleurple , sorry you're having problems too! My son is now 8.5 months and has got a bit better in the past couple of weeks, but still doesn't eat loads. He won't open his mouth at all for any savoury mushy food so it's only finger food, and still quite hit and miss how much he actually eats... I'm still just trying to offer him a wide variety, which is hard because my instinct is to just make him things I know he'll eat (breadsticks, toast, fruit etc) - but I know that can lead to picky eating.

I've spoken to quite a few people who say their babies didn't really eat that much until 10ish months, so you've definitely got time for your daughter to get the hang of it. And like I said before, my eldest was amazing at eating from 6 months to 18 months and is now very picky, so I don't think being slow to start with solids mean they'll be a bad eater as an older child.

Thanks for replying @TBC45678! Some days I feel really relaxed about it, she’ll get there in her own time etc… the next day I’m tearing my hair out again! I think I get extra frustrated as she’s EBF and has never taken a bottle, I got my hopes up that weaning would allow me to have a bit of a break now and again.
Sounds like I am doing similar to you which is reassuring to read. Hopefully it’s just a case of waiting it out!

He wants to grab the spoon but can't feed himself. He just chews on the wrong end or gags himself with it.

Give him his own spoon to hold (and chew or wave or poke in the dish) while you offer food on a different spoon.

Of course a baby mashes/messes around/drops finger foods/ sticks it in his hair/ear/nostril; that's normal at the start of finger foods. He hasn't got expert hand co-ordination yet. Grduating from breast milk to fried steak via Farleys Rusks is a slow and gradual process, it's never quick and easy. But they do all learn; no child in normal development starts school EFB.

I recommend ; baby sitting (strapped in from day 1, so it's accepted routine long before he's a feisty 2 yr old) in a high chair with a plastic tray, wearing a rigid washable plastic bib with a bottom trough. Lots of gunk will fall in the bib catcher and on the tray and eventually the baby will start poking it around, picking bits up etc. Parent sits facing baby making eye contact and as they spoon pap into baby mouth.

I know babyled weaning says give them raw chunks of veg to gnaw. Trust me what weaning babies like best as starter food is some bland smooth sloppy goo like stewed apple, mashed banana, mashed potato and gravy, baby rice. It feels soft inside the mouth ,needs no chewing., easy to swallow.

He's 10 months now and things aren't much better.

Typical meal goes -

• try spoon feeding purée - he'll have a few spoonfuls then want to grab the spoon, which he throws on the floor
• offer a variety of finger foods (boiled veg, toast with spreads, rice cakes) which he will sort of suck on for a second then throw on the floor

Only things he will always eat are yogurts and baby crisps (melty puffs etc). He eats so little solid food, nearly all his nutrition is still from milk. What do I do if it's still this way at 12 months? Just keep the formula up? Stopping it seems impossible as then he'll start losing weight pretty quickly I would imagine?

My 7.5 month old is the exact same, I wasn't sure if it was textured/sensory issue or teething. The amount of times I've cried is unbelievable 😟

Only the last 2 weeks (I guess pre heatwave in the UK) have I managed to get him to eat half a sachet or purées or dry finger foods - really enjoys Ella's kitchens melty puffs (which I see you've mentioned) because they hell with teething pain. God forbid I try a more textured puree, we have a meltdown with yogurts and life is over if we try water in a sippy cup!

I've put it down to teething maybe? But my worry's are the same as yours come 1 year and seeing lots of babies all over social media wolfing it down really makes me feel disheartened and question where I'm going wrong but I guess it's a big learning curve for both.

My sister keeps reminding me that he LO wouldn't eat food until 10ish months and still now doesn't have a huge appetite at 7!

HV just advised lots of food messy play, dinners together and patients - if any help.

It's rather stressful! Sorry no words of advise, just letting you know we're in the same boat and I feel your pain

You really don't need to worry. My daughter was eating pretty much nothing at that age - things only got better at about 10 or 11 months.

I just kept offering finger foods for her to try, sometimes she would lick or taste it, sometimes she wouldn't, but pretty much nothing was swallowed. Just stay calm, offer things at just one meal and don't worry if they refuse. It really doesn't matter at that age. I had to keep reminding myself that "food before 1 is just for fun". It's just about instilling good habits in them - offering healthy foods, sitting together, no distractions, relaxed atmosphere.

Toast and rice cakes plain or with banana/peanut butter/ soft cheese / avocado were the things she first properly attempted so might be good things to try.

Update from our side - things have got wayyyy better since he turned 9 months. He now puts away the most incredible amounts of food, it seemed to happen over night one day. He still will not be spoon fed at all, so I think it's to do with him being able to feed himself more effectively.

He had started to really slow with his weight gain, the GP said this is quite common and normal if they're slower to wean, but he's catching right up again now.

I didn't do anything different, I'm just glad I continued persevering with offering a range of things and didn't fall into just giving him what he wanted (breadsticks etc), because he has a varied appetite now and eats everything he's offered, including curries and quite 'grown up' meals, as well as brocolli and other veg which he probably wouldn't if I'd slipped into just safe foods. His nursery are really impressed with how well he eats and how independent he is, which would have been unbelievable only a month a go.

Just keep going and trust that they'll eat when they're ready.

That’s great @TBC45678! Can I ask how you serve things like curry if he won’t be spoon fed? Does he use a spoon or just his hands?
My DD is much better now too, mostly spoon fed but eating good amounts now. Now that she’s eating better I’m making her food lumpier which she seems to be coping quite well with. But fingers foods are still a struggle, she feeds herself things like wafers, melty puffs, crackers and banana. But I struggle to get her to even try anything softer like savoury muffins, toast, cooked veg etc.
Reading my post from a month ago has made me realise how much she has already improved since then though! Hopefully in another month I will be back to report even more progress… :)

@purpleurple I'm glad your baby is doing better too! I think they're all just different in terms of preferring spoon feeding or not, and it's good she'll feed herself some things.

I just make the sauces quite thick so they really stick to the veg and meat and he uses his hands. I've tried pre-loading a spoon but he chucks it immediately. It's very very messy, my husband hates it, but it works! He just had shepherd's pie for lunch and he sort of scoops using his whole hand and palms it into his mouth. I use the silicone bibs which catch the food he drops and he's quite good at getting it out of there to eat now too.

Good luck!

My little one turned a corner a week or two after I put my post up. One day, she put some food in her mouth, sucked it and chewed it as she usually does, then swallowed. Usually she'd just spit it out! Then she put another mouthful of food in her mouth and swallowed it. Since then she's come along in leaps and bounds and I can't believe how much she puts away!

Today, she's had porridge pancake (I make thick porridge and fry it in a little coconut oil until it holds together, she prefers finger foods to being spoon fed porridge) with strawberries and about 1/4 banana, lunch was about 1/4 of a jacket potato (no skin) and beans, followed by a Ella's puréed apple, carrot and suede sachet - not sure you're meant to feed them like this but she puts the top in her mouth and sucks it out, I just push the puree up the sachet as it gets eaten, dinner was a rice cake and hummus, cucumber sticks, tomato slices, a tenderstem brocilli, 1/2 a kiwi and then a few spoons of yogurt. She ate pretty much everything, just a few bits left on her highchair tray

Hey ladies

I wrote an individual post but I have ow seen this thread. My girl is 9 months and has a few spoons or bites per meal. It's sk demoralising, esp as she is in the 2nd percentile. She has about 500ml of formula and I'm worried she isn't getting enough calories.

Any tips would be great.

I'm getting so anxious 😟

Thanks xx

@AD1986 sorry you're having a hard time too! It's really horrible trying to keep going with weaning when your baby just isn't interested. Like I said above, my son just suddenly 'got it' just after he turned 9 months. I didn't change anything at all, he just started eating loads one day. I know it's hard to believe when you're in the midst of them not eating, but she will get there. My only tips are to keep offering a variety of healthy food, instead of caving and only offering pouches/biscuits etc to try to get them to eat. My son eats really well now and he probably wouldn't have if I'd followed my instincts to just give him fruit pouches to make him eat something.

I'm sure she's getting the calories she needs, and soon it will just click for her. Lots of people I spoke to said it took until about 10 months before their babies started eating anything much.

Good luck!

@TBC45678 Thanks so much for responding, I'm feeling so anxious about it

Just gave her lunch and she flung half of it on the floor. Tried spoon feeding her and she had 2 spoons.

She definitely likes feeding herself, I think. Even though she consumes 30% of what we give. Can I ask (sorry if you've answered) but what kind of finger food you gave? Did you give food before milk feeds or did a specific time work? Sorry for questions, I'm just stuck on what to do.

Especially when people are around and they're shocked that she doesn't eat and somehow its my fault. As I said shes also small and I just feel so guilty.

I really understand, it's horrible, hoping each meal that they'll eat it and then watching them refuse! Like you, I put a lot of other people's expectations about how much he should be eating affect me - health visitor, Instagram, family!

He only ever really liked feeding himself, the best things at the start were big curly pasta with vegetable/bolognese sauce, chicken drumsticks, vegetable batons, cubes of squash and sweet potato, salmon, tuna, sardines. Soft things which he could easily get into his mouth by grabbing.

I did try messing around with his milk timings, he's breastfed so it's a bit more difficult to know what his milk intake was. The health visitor told me to give him solids before milk, but I actually found that he ate better when he'd had milk quite soon before (30-45 mins). I think if he sat down at the table too hungry he got angry and frustrated.

I understand weight worries with a small baby too, my eldest child has always been little (9th centile). I have to say with him it's never made a difference how much he eats, he's always just skinny!

Also with the throwing food on the floor - for my baby it's definitely a sign of him not being hungry. He'll eat loads of a meal, and when he starts throwing his food it's a clear sign he's had enough. So looking back, when he used to throw his food before eating much, he was probably just telling me he wasn't hungry.

@TBC45678
Thank you!!! Ill keep at it and hope it improves. My girl is on 2nd centile and it's just so stressful but you've given me some hope thst it can get better. X