9 month old refusing lumpy food

[aideesmum]

Help! My 9 month old son wont eat lumpy food and my health visitor has told me to stop giving him the pureed foods. He refuses to eat lumps and crys until he has his bottle. What should I do? I don't want him to be hungry and afraid he will start losing weight.

Keep the food as youe have been giving him bit gradullay increase the texture by not blending as long, then move onto mashing the food. I used to mash the food with milk if necessary. DS will not be able to make the change over night it has to be gradual.

It may take some time but DS has to have the confidence to chew. Babies chewing actions dvelopes muscles in month and tongue whcih enables speech development.

Any history of reflux of any sort ?

My DS2 had reflux and would gag on food so texture took us a long time.

What happens if you hand him a finger of toast?
My ds is also 9mo. He won't have anything but smooth and sweet things off a spoon, but if he's allowed to put it in his mouth himself then he'll try anything. So he has a plate of fingerfood and then some yoghurt for most meals.

Also babies can get all their nutrition from milk until about 12 months. Plenty of time yet. HVs like to stress you out unneccessarily.

My DS is 15mo and still prefers slightly pureed food; probably because he's starving at mealtimes and it goes down quicker!

He is better now and will accept peas on his spoon at the same time as the puree. A good way to introduce 'lumps' is to serve up a bowl of peas, carrots etc alongside his puree (toast in the morning alongside porridge) and let him help himself. He may chew then spit it all out, but praise him like mad. Don't hesitate to allow him to help himself to the puree with his hands. That way he is leading himself into the concept of lumpy food. I was slow in letting DS do this as I was not keen on the mess, but it has made a tremendous difference to DS's eating habits. In 2 weeks he has gone from gagging on strips of meat to wolfing them down off my plate.

Your HV has given you shockingly bad advice. By forcing a developmental step onto your DS when he is not ready lead to a food phobia. By offering him titbits of cooked veg/fruit and letting him help himself, he reaches that milestone at his own pace.

Good Luck!!!!!!!!