9-month old not putting food in her mouth

[helenainsworth]

My 9 1/2-month old eats broadly OK. But she never puts anything in her mouth- either to explore or to eat. So finger foods is rather a disaster. She will chew and eat eg a rice cake if I offer it to her, but if i pass it to her she will play with it and throw it on the floor. She has been exclusively breastfed and refuses a bottle- is this connected? Is this a developmental problem that I should be worried about?

can't really answer..have you tried giving her a spoon at the same time as you feed her and do you eat meals with her?

Ds was very, very slow to take to solid foods. He just couldn't seem to get past the pureed stage. It bothered me a bit, but since he was developing normally otherwise I tried to just weather through it. He is now fine at 2.7 but at 9 months he wasn't eating solids at all.

Yes- she is often interested in holding a spoon but doesnt put it near her mouth. I havent really tried eating with her though. Maybe I should try it....

I think it's very good for baby to eat meals with you as much as possible..and to share your food

the other thing is to encourage her to touch the food you are giving her so if she is in the high chair have the food in front of her where she can experiemnt with it with her fingers even though you are feeding her

Thanks- i do try to let her put her hands in the food. BUt if others have had similar experiences then i am not at all worried. i will keep on trying and eventually she will probably get there! btw i am new to this and do not know what DD and DS stand for ( i gather DS is daughter and DS son but am intrigued!)

at the top of the page there is under useful stuff a list of acronyms which covers most of the abbreviations

and i'm sure she will get the hang of putting stuff in her mouth but probably the things you don't want her to!

welcome to mumsnet helen

V helpful- thanks! Am addicted already. It is FANTASTIC! Wish i had known about it months ago!