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?

An update from me...the baby is nearly 1 now and things still aren't much better.

He will take a few spoonfuls of something but then clamp his mouth shut.

If we give him finger food he will give it a suck for a second then throw it on the floor. Anything else we put in front of him then gets thrown.

The only things he will eat any quantity of are melty sticks and yoghurts.

I just don't know how he's going to survive when we have to drop formula.

My little one is now 9 months (new user name but I commented when he was 7.5 months) and no change our end either!

Sorry to hear that housecat it must be so disheartening!! How many bottles is he having now?
My DD still isn’t fantastic with finger foods but making very slow, gradual progress. One thing that makes a massive difference is eating in front of her, if I give her something new I grab a bit first and nibble on it making yummy noises and she almost always grabs it out of my hand to see what all the fuss is about. Sometimes all it gets is a lick or a sniff but better than being thrown straight off the table! When she does throw it I just keep putting it back and leave her to it while I do the dishes etc. Doesn’t always work but she is sometimes more adventurous when I’m not hovering nearby waiting for a reaction.

Also different sauces etc might help, I put a tiny smear of ketchup on potato wedges and she eats them so much better than if they were just plain. She is also much better with buttered toast when it has a tiny bit of marmite on. Things like that?

She is still mostly spoon fed and much prefers homemade food to pouches, she seems to like foods with lots of flavour. Cottage pie, lentil dhal, lasagna, chilli etc are all good as quite saucy and can be puréed as much or as little as you want.

Sorry if this is all stuff you’ve tried already.

Sorry @housecat98 , it must be really hard. I remember how frustrating I found it when my son wasn't interested in food. I'm sure it's not unusual for babies to get to one and still not be eating much. As long as he's gaining weight I'm sure he's fine!

The first thing which got my son interested in eating was tinned fish. Grosses me out but he absolutely loves tinned sardines, mackerel, salmon etc. He hates bland food, cries in anger if I offer plain pasta/toast/porridge etc.

I hope things get better soon! For us it happened overnight, not gradually at all. One day he just started eating loads.

Thanks for the encouragement @TBC45678 and @purpleurple

The tip about the sauces is a good idea. I'll try that.

I have a feeling he's just going to be a fussy eater. He seems OK with crisps and puddings, just nothing healthy!

He's still on 3 x 8oz bottles a day so no worries re weight. But aware the milk can't carry on forever.

Curious to know how everything turned out @housecat98? :) dealing with very similar problems atm!

Well, he's definitely still a fussy eater but I'm less stressed about it now. There are some days when I think 'how do you survive?' when all he's had is a yoghurt and half a piece of toast, but he does survive and puts on weight and seems healthy. So we just offer him three meals a day, plus a lot of fruit for snacks and he just eats what he wants.

Sometimes he'll eat a good amount but more often than not he'll have a few spoonfuls then get bored.

There are some foods he will nearly always eat like raspberries and breadsticks, so we fall back on those if we're desperate.