8 month old refusing all solids - when does this become an issue?

[Weaningworries]

My 8 month old still doesn’t eat anything other than milk.
She gaggs at all purées, or just spits them straight out. Me trying to feed her almost always results in her being sick and bringing up an entire previous bottle.
She also isn’t interested in finger foods at all. I’ve even tried the baby ‘junk’, and she is just not interested - it all gets thrown onto the floor.

She had a tongue tie snipped at a few days old as she was really struggling with feeding and latching. I think she probably had reflux too but we managed to reduce a lot of the symptoms by switching bottles/formula.

She’s growing fine and is a happy/healthy baby so I’m not worried in this regard. But when does this become a problem?

She’s never been a ‘hungry’ baby and I’m pretty sure I could get away with skipping bottles, and she still wouldn’t cry for one!

When do we think that this becomes an issue that I should pursue? I would ask my HV but I find them quite uninformed about lots of things and not great to deal with!

DD is my second baby and my first was eating really well by this age (mostly BLW), so I don’t think it’s a me issue!

One of mine didn't like food. I was told to reduce bottle slightly and keep offering a mix of finger food and the mush. Eventually my DC started to eat the mush at around 10 months.

“Food for fun until they’re one”

there’s way more calories and nutrients in milk than carrot puree. Just offer finger foods she can pick up and suck on if she’s interested

This is the mindset I have. However I worry if we reach 1 and nothing has changed at all. Is this when it’s an “issue”? Or should I be worried/seeking advice now as there could be an underlying problem?

For my tongue tied snipped young, easy to vomit baby she was 10/11 months and it was a Mac Donald’s chip stolen from someone else. Before that she would only eat 3 flavours of dried packet mix food.

I really would worry - another 4 months is 50% of her life.

You’ve got 4 months. She’ll be an entirely different person by then! Just keep offering in a completely low key and stress free manner. She’ll get there.

Could her TT have reattached @Weaningworries? My first was a bit like this and had TT.

Mine didn’t eat any solids except apple puree until 1. I remember being stressed by it. Now she eats broccoli, cabbage and green beans as favourite foods - just turned 2. I say let them go at their own pace. It all changes so fast once they’re ready.

I was so stressed about this and then at 1 almost to the day she was like oh this is food? Cool I’ll eat this, why didn’t you tell me before?!

My baby is 8.5 months and won't eat either. He clamps his mouth shut every time.
I try to make him laugh, and shove the spoon in. That works the odd time. It's so frustrating and time consuming. No advice, just solidarity.

Mine is just over 8 months and also not that great with solids. Tongue tied. Good days he'd eat some - puree, mashed or some tiny bits of finger food that he manages to break with his fingers and shove into his mouth himself. Bad days he'd cry like there is no tomorrow the minute I put food pieces in his mouth and then refuses to open his mouth again. It's all very inconsistent. He also doesn't seem to chew anything properly - just directly swallows food down. I am worried that no chewing, preferences for puree/mashed over food pieces are all because of his tongue tie although I don't have concrete proof. Not quite sure what to do. We previously cut his tie once and it turned out to be an incomplete release. Decided against a second cut after consulting a few professionals as he breastfeeds fine so the surgeon we consulted advised against an unnecessary procedure for the baby and told us to deal with it if it causes other issues down the line. Now I don't know if we made the right decision and if the tie is indeed playing into the not-so-successful-weaning so far. The wait and see game is so hard on the parents !

We had a very similar issue and DS did start to eat properly at 12 months. The TT did cause problems with their speech though and they ended up having SaLT. I’m surprised that the consultant said that to be honest as TT can affect not only BFing or FFing but also weaning, sleep, speech and even facial development.

I think you start with a visit to the GP and potentially back to the surgeon.

Just curious if you released your LO's TT in the end and if it helped?

No we didn’t. I only realised what was going on when I joined MN whilst PG with DC2. Up until then I’d had numerous HCPs say that there was nothing wrong.

That's the thing I don't understand about TT - that depends on who you're talking to, every professional seems to have a different opinion about its impact. Anyhow that's what led us to where we are today and given his age, it's no longer an easy decision to just release it again. Ugh

Our GP couldn't care less - anything that came up with my LO (incl TT), their diagnosis - it's normal with babies, it will get better /improve over time/ outgrow it.

My daughter was like this. She's 5 now and still has very little interest in food. She didn't engage with weaning until 13 months. At 10 months would have 1/4 of a Weetabix or 5-6 pieces of pasta and a couple of peas a day.
She gained minimal amount of weight between 7 and 13 months and dropped just over a percentile. She was 20 months before she ate enough for us to start weaning her off formula.

She has severe silent reflux which she has only partially outgrown and multiple food allergies which we have only just started to make the smallest amount of progress with.

My oldest existed on a diet of breast milk and the odd petit filous until he turned 2! I was assured by the infant feeding specialist at the local hospital that he would be fine.

he’s now in his early 20’s and 6ft!

Are they reaching for your food now?