6 month old doesn't want solids!

[Amee]

Please help! My 6 month old daughter is not interested in solids and I am getting concerned. I have tried to wean her since she was 17 weeks and she is not interested - she just closes her mouth and turns her head away! At the moment, she is completely breastfed (she is not interested in taking the bottle/beaker, but that's a different story). I have tried feeding her at different times of the day, the same time every day for a week and some days I haven't even bother. Am I getting stressed for nothing? Will she ever want food? Any advice will be fully apreciated.

Hi Amee - just a thought, I don't know if you've tried this already, but could someone else (other than yourself) try her with some solids. As you are bf, she associates you (by smell aswell as sight) with her much-loved milk, and may be unwilling to try something else if she is perfectly happy on that, thankyou very much! Also, if you're not the one attempting to get her to try solids, and especially if you can take yourself into another room, go in the bath or go out somewhere, you will, at the very least, save yourself from a bit of stress.

I know that the rule in an 'ideal world' is to leave weaning no later than 6 months, but in reality, babies will do it when they are ready rather than to the book! I'm sure that she will soon take to it. In the meantime, what about mixing expressed milk with a little bit of baby rice to thicken the consistency and let her suck it off the spoon or your finger. Good Luck!

Amee, try not to worry too much, at 13mths ds was not interested in solids. Now he can't get enough. Try ChanelNo5's suggestion, if that doesn't work, have a break, then try again with whatever method you feel like at the time. As long as she's healthy, (and the HV and Doctors aren't too worried) she'll suddenly decide that she wants something. I can't remember exactly when he decided to have something solid, it just happened. Good Luck.

Amee - don't worry my son didn't start solids till he was 6 months and even then it was only a few mouthfuls. He was 9 months before he really became interested. Don't push her as it will only make her more resistant. Breastmilk is the best for her and if she is gaining weight she will do fine. Try expressing some breast milk and mixing it with baby rice. I found my son liked pureed pear also mixed with breast milk.

By the way when my son was ill with a tummy upset he would only take breastmilk for 6 days and he was 18 months at the time! So don't worry she won't starve that's for sure.

I agree with the Don't Worry approach... unless she is loosing weight and looking (and sounding) hungry, you can continue to breastfeed her only.
If you still want to try, DD loves riped bananas (and nothing else)... and you don't have to use a spoon but a clean finger would do. DD is 5 months old and I only started a week ago but she has refused carrots, apples and lentils... she is now only on bananas and baby rice with breast milk.
Try not to worry too much because she will feel your stress... I try to speak to DD in a very gentle and reassuring way, letting her know how good this is, etc... and if she refuses, I stop quite quickly. Don't turn it into a battle ground.

I don't think it's a cause for concern at this stage, either. In fact, if your baby can sit up, she'll soon be big enough for you to start supervising her feeding herself with finger foods.

Amee, my 7 month old has just in the last fortnight really got the idea of food, and boy has he got it! He was just the same, clamping mouth shut and turning his head away. My first child had eaten with gusto from 4 months so i was worried as you are, but really don't. At this stage it's really just about learning about the process of eating, not about nutrition. One thing that seems to have helped crack it was letting him have pieces of toast and rice cakes etc but really keep an eye as she won't have a clue what to do with the bits in her mouth...relax, don't worry and just when you've given up for the nth time, she'll go for it.

Thanx for your replies. It's nice to know that I'm not the only one who has a fussy daughter! All my friends have had no problem with weaning their little ones. I am trying the "don't get stressed" approach and giving my daughter a break for a while. I'll let you know how I get on when I try again next week.

Amee- I just read on a US pedeatrics website (not at all alternative - very sciebtific!) that babies can go up to 12 months without solids and only breastmilk. So as we have said,if your daughter looks healthy (and doesn't look like she is hungry/hungrier), you do not need to worry about this.

World Health Organisation says that for most babies, breastmilk is sufficient nutrition for 6 months. Generally, healthy babies can be relied on to let you know when they need something extra - for most, it's about six months, and if it's later, no big deal...if she needs more, she'll be grabbing the stuff off your plate, and showing an interest in what you have to offer. If she doesn't need it, she won't bother....it's not worth stressing about. She'll come to other foods gradually when she's ready.

Amee, I've been advised not to even start solids until 6 months with my son (due to allergies). So don't worry! It's fine that she's not eating solids yet.

Good luck with it, though. Things like this are stressful, even if you know that everything is ok.

I have responded under the sleep section but will also just add here that i agree with others, babes do not need solids until at least 6 months. try stopping for a week or so otherwise you and the babe will get more and more up tight and it may lead to problems later on, babes soon work out how to wind you up. breastfeed on demand and you will meet all her nutritional needs.
best of luck

it's reassuring to read this. i was going to start a new thread but thought i'd search first and see what advice was out there. DS is 6 mo and 1 wk, and because i'm a working mum he has been formula fed exclusively for six weeks. He is a hungry mite, but a creature of habit - he has a 7 oz bottle every three hours from 7-7 then sleeps through. Anyhow, in the last two weeks I've started trying to introduce solids, and we're getting nowhere. He opens his mouth (if I open mine and make a big fuss) but his little face crumples when I put the food in. I have tried carrot, sweet potato, parsnip and apple. We abandoned baby rice early on, as he seemed to see it as milk-but-difficult-to-eat, so just wailed... lots. I don't know, I just really wish I know what to do... he acts like he wants it, takes a mouthful or so, but then spits it out. How long should it be til he is actually properly swallowing?
Sorry for such a long message - just finding it all really stressful x

have you struggling weaners looked into baby led weaning? ie no spoons or 'babyfood,' just normal food instead...like normal veg cooked how you have it. then they play with it and suck at it and eat it. you don't do anything other than hand it over. loads about it in the weaning section.

My little one has made me crazy with all this weaning. At 6 months wasn't interested and even though had previously taken expressed milk from bottle now decided she would and only wanted me to feed her. Eventually got her eating at about 7 1/2 months had a week of great eating was so pleased I froze loads of 'lovely' mashed food and then she decided would only eat mango. Eventually gave up with mashing stuff and just let her eat my food, she gagged alot for about 2 weeks then got the hang of it really well and now at 13 months will eat most things, think she just wanted taste. She loves chicken Balti. Still won't have milk from beaker so just give her milky food and just feed her at night. She is a very lively girl and now has about 5 meals a day. Almost embarrasing to take her places as she just eats and eats ( suppose I do too!. She lived mainly on breast milk till 8 months and never stopped gaining weight.Good luck you'll be fine

ruddynorah - won't babies choke on pieces if ricecake, raw carrots etc.? Esp when they have no teeth yet..?

Naturopath, norah wasn't suggesting raw carrot. And you'd be amazed at what they can do with no teeth. Yes, you always need to be alert to the possibility of choking, but they learn what to do astoundingly quickly. Check out Aitch' blog. www.babyledweaning.com

oh sorry - realised afterwards she said "cooked" vegetables.. have looked into this a bit, but not v seriously. Now that ds is coming up to 6 months I guess I should take another look.. thanks

they do fine with no teeth. it's a myth that babies need puree until they have teeth. i wouldn't be giving raw carrot though. give carrot how you have it, soft but not so soft it disintegrates. and best eep things fairly chunky so they can easily be picked up.