Weaning - baby does not swallow food

[Itsnotlikemilkingacow]

My DS is 7 and 1/2 months old now and we have offered solid foods since 6 months. However he still does not seem to be getting the idea that food should be swallowed!

He absolutely refuses any purees or mushy foods, will not let a spoon near him (with food - will happily chew on a clean spoon!). If we do manage to get any puree in his mouth on a spoon or from a finger, he just kind of sits there with his mouth open until it falls out or pushes it out with his tongue.

Trying finger foods has been a tiny bit more successful, he will happily chew on a piece of toast or pitta with something like cream cheese or hummus on. But again, he mushes it all up in his mouth and spits it back out. I am sure none of it is actually being swallowed. He won't put any soft or wet/slimy finger foods in his mouth (banana, boiled egg, cooked apple etc).

The health visitor just said keep trying with lots of different foods, but he has been dropping percentiles on the weight chart and I don't know how long to leave it until I should start to worry. He is now between the 9th and 2nd centile lines for weight, although nearer 50th centile for height.

Obviously I am also worried about him getting enough vitamins/minerals although he does have a supplement. He is still breastfeeding frequently.

I wonder if it might be a sensory thing? How would I confirm that and what would I need to do differently if that is the issue?

Any ideas?

Mine didn't swallow food at first. By about 8 months I was seeing some lumps of food in her poo. By about 9 months the pool smelled different, so she was clearly starting to digest it. By a year old I would say that she was actually starting to need food to eat rather than found it for fun. Now at 20 months she is a brilliant eater. She eats to appetite, so some days she eats loads, other days not much, but what she eats is varied and healthy. She has dropped from the 50th to the 9th centile between 8 and 15 months, but my health visitor said that as she was growing, putting on weight and healthy that it wasn't a problem. She was born on the 92nd centile and has steadily dropped centiles while consistently putting weight on since she was born. I expected her to do that though. We tend to have massive babies in our family, are small to average sized children and grow up to be small adults. The only way I can see that happening is if we drop centiles along the way. As long as your baby is managing to get some iron, some B12 and some vitamin D extra then it shouldn't matter too much if he isn't eating much before 1. I used to give mine strips of steak to chew on to make sure that she got the iron from swallowing the juice from chewing it.

The La Leche League advice says that introducing solids should happen from sometime in the middle of the first year but it varies from baby to baby and doesn't have to be exactly 6 months. As long as he is putting on some weight, enjoying what he does with the food and your health visitor isn't overly concerned then I wouldn't panic yet. We are with the in-laws this week and DD has made my Italian mother in law so happy by stuffing handfuls of pasta and sauce that MIL cooked into her mouth while proclaiming MMMMMMM loudly. She is small and slim but has chubby thighs and is very active and not prone to getting colds and things.

Your baby should be getting all his nutrients from breast milk, so don’t worry about him going hungry. Forget puréed food, as it’s completely unnecessary. Carry on with offering finger foods. Make sure mealtimes are enjoyable and try to have family meals together, where he can see you eating and socialising. He will get there, they all do in their own time.

We were in a very similar position at the same age. My DS seemed to have an epiphany around swallowing bits of puree around 8 months and another one where he could actually chew and swallow solid pieces around 11 months. Still prefers milk but expect they all get there eventually.

Food before one is just for fun. He's just learning to explore food. He will get there.

Thanks everyone for sharing your experiences, I guess we should just keep trying and not worry too much yet!

Keep trying and don't worry. My dd was BLW and didn't swallow food for the first few weeks.

Keep up his milk and he will be getting enough nutrients from that. I did solids as a surplus to bottles at first as dd was just playing with her food.

He will get the hang of it.

It sounds like his tongue thrust reflex is quite strong still which is normal at that age. I wouldn't worry, he will soon get the hang of it. We still have off days now at a year but things picked up after he was about 8/9 months I would say :) keep giving milk as often as you did before weaning x

We're still early on in the weaning process to. Our DS didn't really understand chewing before swallowing and is on a mixture of mashed food and finger food. Weirdly his Eureka moment was with Ella kitchen long melty sticks, he just totally got it and ate the whole thing!

Our little one was similar for the first 6 weeks or so but then started eating really well. The turning point seemed to be giving her some Ella’s Kitchen pouches on holiday which she loved far more than my lovingly prepared food! After that we started offering blended meals (e.g. bolognese, veg curry) and she ate these much better than plain puréed veg etc. Greek yoghurt has always been a favourite here too - sticks well to a spoon to be sucked off!

Repeat "food before one is just for fun" over again when you think you're getting anxious about this. My son didn't swallow anything until he was 9 months (I was very relieved). Don't worry. Keep offering. He'll get it soon.

@Itsnotlikemilkingacow I could’ve written this post and feeling so worried about my little boy. How long it take for your DS to get the hang of solids? Any tips you can share? X

Hi, we also could have written this post as we are going through the exact same thing. How are you finding things now? Hoping that things have improved!

@smeaj - my boy has really turned a corner with weaning. Still won’t take a spoon unless it’s yoghurt but will feed himself his meals - anything from stews, curries, rice, veg, fruit. We just kept offering and tried not to get stressed about it (easier said then done!) and he gradually just started eating more and more. Still has days where he’s off his food, if he’s teething or is poorly but overall, so much better! X