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Infant feeding

Get advice and support with infant feeding from other users here.

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Original poster

How to get baby to eat/ try solids

28 replies

CaptainWentworth · 24/04/2019 08:32

I feel really stupid here but I don’t know how to get DD to eat anything!

She a week over 6 months and I’ve been giving her bits of finger food for a couple of weeks (cooked broccoli florets, carrot sticks, cucumber, avocado etc). She can find her mouth with them, but they are only in for a second so no chance to gum/ chew and consume anything. I’ve also tried spoon feeding her little bits of baby porridge and yoghurt, but she won’t have it, pushes the spoon away and gets really pissed off if I manage to sneak anything into her mouth- spits it out as if it’s poison!

I’d prefer to stick with a BLW approach, but am just worried that she will never actually eat anything! I try to make sure I eat at the same time as her to give her something to copy. Do I just need to be patient? I keep hearing about babies that devour their first tastes of food, and she’s just not doing that!

OP posts:

mummmy2017 · 24/04/2019 08:37

She is too young for this.

Who told you too give her real food?.
Baby rice or rusks,. Spoon feed her.

mummmy2017 · 24/04/2019 08:41

Just keep making tiny amounts.
Feed her milk so she is not hungry.
Then just give her tiny bits.
Yes she will push it away and spit it out, this is normal, but don't even offer her the finger food till she can swallow the rice and does that happily for a month or she will choke.

LaurenSarah22 · 24/04/2019 08:43

Sounds like she has still got the tounge reflex. Wait a week and try again, try not to pressure her into eating. Sit her at the table when you do and just put finger foods in front of her. You don't want her to have a bad relationship with sitting in high chair and food. Until they are 1 milk is still their main source of nutrition. Try and relax a little and she will soon get the hang of it

MustardScreams · 24/04/2019 08:43

Ignore @mummmy2017 horrendous advice first off.

Dd was exactly like this! She played with her food, not a lot got eaten until 7/8 months. But once she got the hang of it it was like watching a switch flick.

Food at this age is more for fun, exploring new tastes and textures. Make sure she’s still getting all her milk feeds etc. Just stay relaxed (easier said than done) and keep doing what you’re doing. She will get it, promise.

Chartreuser · 24/04/2019 08:46

I am afraid the above advice is quite outdated.

The saying goes food before one is fun and that's exactly it. Carry on with the finger food to get her used to holding, moving to her mouth and generally having fun with.

Some babies are much more ready than others, as long as you don't withhold milk she'll be getting enough and will start eating when she's ready.

True blw says no spoonfeeding at all, it does sound like for now she had no need, but if she sees you eating cereal etc from a soon she may try and grab it so you can try then.

Don't worry, sounds like you are really taking her lead which is the point of blw.

Chartreuser · 24/04/2019 08:47

Sorry the bad advice comment was aimed at mummy2017

Kungfupanda67 · 24/04/2019 08:48

Wow worst advice ever above 😂 baby rice and risks?!!
Just keep trying, she’ll get there. I didn’t baby led wean, because I wanted my kids to actually eat something and I couldn’t cope with the mess, but they both just had normal food from 6 months. Mash it a little bit, plus some bits of finger food (the kind of stuff you’re offering already). I basically had a bowl of mashed food to spoon feed and some finger foods for them to play with at each meal.

Root veg are good starters too, they’re sweeter than broccoli for example.

But main advice would be just keep trying little bits of everything (no honey, but anything else is fine) and don’t stress about it x

Unihorn · 24/04/2019 08:48

Mine didn't really take to solids until 11 months so I wouldn't worry at 6 months!

mummmy2017 · 24/04/2019 08:52

At 6 months most children can only just sit up.... Head still slightly floppy.
Why on earth are you trying get them to do finger food before they can even swallow baby rice?
This child is telling mummy that right now they won't swallow.. do not force it, go with your child's own needs..

Once you see her happily eatting rice and yogurt, it is time to move on .

MustardScreams · 24/04/2019 08:54

Why would you feed your baby shite like baby rice? @mummmy2017 you clearly have absolutely no idea about modern weaning practices so off you pop.

Nixen · 24/04/2019 08:54

Ignore the baby rice advice please 🙄
Wish people wouldn’t dish out dangerous advice

MustardScreams · 24/04/2019 08:55

BLW is all about baby’s own needs - they won’t eat if they’re not ready. Shovelling baby rice and rusks into a young child isn’t them telling you they’re ready, that’s you forcing them.

mummmy2017 · 24/04/2019 08:56

I say rice and yogurts, but I really meant lump free ...

AssassinatedBeauty · 24/04/2019 08:58

mummmy2017's advice is old fashioned and wrong. 6 month babies are not normally floppy and unable to sit up.

The thing about BLW is that it goes at the baby's pace. You've barely started, it will take a while for her to figure it all out. I think you've made a great start so far. Just keep mealtimes light and no pressure. Offer her food on her tray and leave her to it whilst you eat your food.

They don't swallow straight away, they learn to manipulate food in their mouths first before they figure out how to swallow.

mummmy2017 · 24/04/2019 09:05

Yep, I am wrong.

So are millions of women who still do this method...
All the children in our family eat everything, we have no fussy eaters.... So you do your way, we do ours...
Find out what your child wants to do...
But never leave them alone this young with food, due to choking....

Original poster

CaptainWentworth · 24/04/2019 09:06

Thanks for the advice everyone - I’ll keep offering her bits and she can either play with it or eat it, up to her! That was kind of my plan, but I borrowed an Annabelle Karmel book from the library which put the wind up me a bit in terms of desperately needing to get nutrients in them if you don’t start weaning till 6 months. She does have vitamin drops but she’s not keen on those either!

She’s mostly BF and I’m still offering her feeds often (exactly the same as usual); she’s got good head control, can’t sit up completely unaided quite yet but is fine in the high chair.

OP posts:

MustardScreams · 24/04/2019 09:13

This is a good thing to remember when weaning any babies also. Dd did gag a lot when we first started, and it scared the living hell out of me. But I let her work it out and she was fine. Baby’s gag reflex is much further forward when little, so they will gag when they start to swallow.

AssassinatedBeauty · 24/04/2019 09:21

@mummmy2017 spoonfeeding purée is not wrong. Your comments about finger food and BLW are wrong. There is no need to spoonfeed smooth food, if you don't want to.

No one here is suggesting leaving a baby alone with food.

And for what it's worth I did BLW twice, and have two unfussy eaters who eat everything.

EarlGrayT · 24/04/2019 09:23

My little one was the same at 6 months old he had the reflex and spat out all food. He will occasionally take a spoon now at 11months but now has worked for us.

Soft foods that they can feed themselves work well. I made mini banana pancakes for mine. He also loves slices of avocado and chunks of cooked butternut squash. Keep trying different foods and eventually he will get it.

EarlGrayT · 24/04/2019 09:23

She sorry

Unihorn · 24/04/2019 09:28

My breastfed baby didn't take to solids as quickly as my bottle bed baby either FWIW.

mummmy2017 · 24/04/2019 09:34

My way works for our family so we use it.
Yours works for you.
Neither is wrong or completely right.
In the end we all just want children who learn to eat solids...

Littlebelina · 24/04/2019 10:06

Dd was a bit like to start with, started her just before 6months. Didn't stress and just kept offering her finger foods and purees (doing traditional weaning so a mix). After 2 weeks it clicked and she is now taking larger amounts. She was showing all the signs of being ready( sitting ok, moving stuff to mouth, lost tongue thrust) just didn't get it initially. Unlike ds who didn't show as many signs but was sucking me dry so started weaning and he took to it easily. Babies can be difficult little people sometimes

HerSymphonyAndSong · 24/04/2019 10:11

My son didn’t start eating larger quantities until about 9/10mo. He has always absolutely refused point blank to be spoon fed (and why on earth would I force him FFS, it’s not medication!) so it has been finger food or letting him mess about with a spoon and wetter food from the beginning. I would happily have done a mixture of spoon feeding and finger food but he wasn’t having any of it. Just go with the flow OP, 6mo is not the time when you need to worry about the amount or type of solids consumed. Avoid honey and choking hazards (whole nuts etc) and your baby will work it out in time.

HerSymphonyAndSong · 24/04/2019 10:19

“desperately needing to get nutrients in them if you don’t start weaning till 6 months”

The thing you need to be concerned about I believe is iron as breast milk doesn’t contain enough for babies past 6mo. So offering iron-rich solids will mean that your baby will hopefully start to incorporate more dietary iron. But don’t worry too much in the early days, it’s just something to be aware of

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