Still not ready for weaning at 6 months??

[karryk]

Hello

I have a 6 month old daughter and we started weaning her onto solids this week (she's 27 weeks now). Day one I tried pureed potato and she took a tiny bit then spat it out and cried. Day two it was broccoli and she cried once the spoon touched her lips. Today was carrot which is sweeter but she cried as soon as she saw the spoon and refused to try even a tiny bit.

I've tried to offer when she's not too hungry or full. Appreciate it's only day 3 so I'm not panicking (yet) but does anyone else have a similar story? My friends' babies seem to have taken to food straight away

We even tried feeding in the living room today and on my lap so as to make it comfy but she's not interested. Are some babies just not ready until they're older than the suggested guidelines? She's drinking milk as usual. She can sit up quite well although not great at grabbing and holding things yet as doesn't use her thumbs much.

Any words of wisdom very welcome! X

My 10 month old is really slow on the food uptake! Still not eating 3 meals a day as others seem to be I'm trying not to panic either but waiting until she's 1 then will start reducing milk. Apparently it's 7 times before they decide whether like or not. Just keep trying, baby will eat eventually don't get disheartened. Teething seems to have put us back a bit as well (6 have cut in 3 weeks)

And I'll also say that when we ignore her a bit when she has finger food in front of her she seems to eat better than us making a fuss

If she's distressed I'd just wait a few days before I tried again. Try not to panic - she will figure it out eventually :)

I found potato to be unpopular for a while: it has a " starchy" almost granular texture. Pureed carrot , apple, banana and avocado were all accepted long before potato.

Finger foods at six months too. Again banana was most popular.

It doesn't necessarily sound like she isn't ready. It's just a process. We did blw, but mine didn't really eat anything at all for 2 weeks and wasn't eating significant meals until about 10 months. When you're doing finger foods, at least it's fun and they can play and explore. But until she gets the hang of the fact that what you're trying to put in her mouth is something to be swallowed (imagine up until now you've probably been trying to take most things out of her mouth as they aren't food), then it's quite possible it will be weird and completely foreign to her. I know few babies who eat much in the first few weeks.

To not waste too much time and money, I'd maybe not try every day for now, maybe every other day, or go for finger foods and just offer her a bit of what's on your plate to play with. And give it 2-4 weeks and she'll probably get the hang of it.

My first dd weaned like the text book. My second did not! 9 months before she ate much. Ditch the spoon for a while and just sit her down when you eat with suitable foods. Things that dissolve in mouth were best. My dd was referred to peads in the end for food aversion, but luckily started eating the odd baby crisp egg and improved from there. She eats great now at 1.5

And agree with potatoes, she still won't touch mash now

I would just let her play with the spoon or the finger food. With No expectations of eating it just having a nice time exploring new things.

Finally, my hv suggested putting some puree on a feather. Apparently this can work, but mine saw the plan and said definite no to any puree at all, from spoon, from a toy, from her fingers, from her sister etc

DS was well over 9m before he ate anything significant. DD was about 7.5m. They'll get there in their own time, don't worry.

Feather... oops. A TEETHER

My son wasn’t interested until 8 months. Make sure that your texture is not to thick as well. I personally found it helped them get use to the notion of eating, I would suggest it rubs off the spoon if you turn it upside down.

"still" is a bit much after just 3 days, there's no rush, she's just learning to taste/eat, it can happen slowly over the course of months and months.

My fourth dc was like this and actually vomited everything I gave him back up.
I took things very slowly.
First I thickened his milk in a bowl with baby rice very gradually. I was totally against baby rice before dc4 didn't see the point "just give them what you're eating"
Then when he got used to to the texture I added a tiny amount of puréed carrot and gradually increased the amount.
He's 3 and eats most things now.

Thanks all - very reassuring! I'll give it a break for a few days. I did give her a bit of cucumber to suck on yesterday and she didn't refuse that (only just remembered!) so I might give her some safe food to play with and see how that goes. Maybe she doesn't like purees. All early days - we'll get there!

Thank you again x

I agree about thickening milk with baby rice or baby porridge as well. Just little bits at a time so you don't feel you are "wasting" food if she doesn't want to eat any.

At this stage putting her fingers in , holding the spoon and having a laugh together are the goals, not even thinking about eating anything.

I think just joining in at the table by sitting with her piece of cucumber when everyone else is eating is a great start too.

Thank you! Is the thickened milk still given by bottle? Clueless!

Don't give up! All children will eventually eat proper food but some are slower than others to enjoy it. If you give up you may miss what they call the window of opportunity.

It's very good advice to relax and let her play with spoons and finger foods. Sit her in a high chair at the table when you have family meals, so she can watch everyone else enjoying a meal. Let her have some of the food you're eating, without salt of course.

I'd forget all about puree, it's unnecessary. Your aim is to get her eating family foods, so concentrate on those.

We weaned ds at 6 months. He didn't really eat much the first couple of weeks. We just let him try a little bit. As time went on he got used to it and started eating more.
It's still very early days.

Just stick some finger food on her high chair tray and let her have at it.

No, not in a bottle. I'd mix it n a bowl with formula if your using it. And of course you don't have to feed purees or Babu porridges but it does add to the new textures and one advantage is the familiarity of flavour if you are mixing it with their normal milk. If she's wary of a spoon right now I'd just let her hold it and get happy with it.

It's all trial and error really.

I would just put finger food in front of her and let her get on with it. Food is fun until they’re one and all that.

You're going to get mixed advice on this because of different weaning styles, but I'd suggest reading up on baby-led weaning, particularly as it seems she enjoyed being in control with the cucumber but doesn't seem to like being force fed purée. They can eat pretty much anything we eat with a few exceptions - no honey before 1, no quorn before 9 months, no whole nuts or similar choking hazards. If using cows milk in anything then ideally should be full fat, same goes for all foods actually - no reduced fat stuff.

Whatever you decide to go with, I wouldn't worry too much about how much she's eating. My DD is 8 months and it's only the last couple of weeks she's started eating enough that her poo is changing, although we still have plenty of meal times where it all ends up on the floor. Plenty of babies don't start eating much until later than this as well. Babies' stores of nutrients from in utero start to decline from 6 months, so they start needing extra from their diet a couple of months after this, but as long as they're having a multivitamin or are formula fed then there's nothing to worry about on that front.

Thank you. I suppose I had a slightly naive view of how this was going to go! Should've realised that like anything baby-related it's very rarely as smooth as the books say it will be!

Don’t want to insult you but potato and broccoli are hardly great foods to start with. I have two great healthy eaters and I did Annabel Karmel with them both. She suggests starting with sweet fruit and veg as babies like sweet things.. that will help them get going. So puréed sweet apples, puréed mango.. sweet potatoes etc.
Then move onto some of the less sweet stuff.
Worked a treat with my kids. Her recipes were all a hit and are easy to make. My kids eat all fruit and veg except spinach.. which I just blend into their bolognese!