Feeding 7 month old

[arinah]

My DD is almost 8 months and still gags on everything, even completely smooth food like yogurt. One month ago she was happy to hold the spoon and feed herself, which meant she didn't gag, but that was shortlived and she now just takes the spoon and covers her hands in the food. She seems wary of finger food, and will poke it with one finger before leaving it untouched. Any advice? Just to add that she is EBF and is still drinking her normal amounts.

@arinah I think I'd leave her. As long as she has milk, she will be fine. They are all different. Keep offering and just leave her to make a mess. Maybe try some other textures (boiled carrots, maybe some soft bread, banana, things like that).

Apart from choking, the only other reason is normally if they really don't like the food or feeding process.

The only thing our current foster child gagged on was calpol, she didn't like the feeling of it being squirted with the syringe so we started using a spoon and she no longer gags.

It sounds like something has really put her off feeding. It may be something as simple as you persisting with feeds she didn't like the taste of, thinking she was just gagging because she was learning to eat.

I would try reintroducing different foods in very small amounts, so small it is just so your baby can taste it to find things she really enjoys. Making sure she sees where the food she tasted came from, then if you get a positive result give her the food to try herself. Hopefully this will build her confidence back up.

However if there isn't anything that has caused this, I would speak to your gp in case there is an underlying health issue.

@ZooKeeper19 I've tried rice cereal, yogurt, banana, potato, bread and egg. The only of those she showed interest in was yogurt but now she's not too interested in that either. Could teething be putting her off? She's not showing signs of it besides the drooling, but every baby is different.
@Tacca the funny thing is that she loves calpol and/or the syringe! Would it be strange to see if she tries some liquid foods with that instead of a spoon? Maybe she just doesn't like the feeling of the food when she goes to touch it.
I have been pretty lax in terms of weaning, she might try a couple of things in one day but she's never gone further than one spoon at a time. She does love watching me eat though, which is why I've been trying to introduce her to foods in the first place!

@arinah not sure, I must say that from my limited FTM experience I have been blessed with a baby that has not even lost weight after birth despite EBF and he has not looked back. Everything goes into his mouth (like everything). The other day he was seated in a garden, eating a biscuit with left hand and grazing on the grass with his right. Teething has increased his appetite, if anything.

What is your LO like? Does she put things into her mouth? What is her reaction? What does she do if you give her a piece of bread or anything else edible?

Why does she love Calpol? Was she ill a lot as a baby? That may explain some things maybe.

When she watches you eat, does she grab the food too? What happens then?

What spoon do you use? Maybe try changing that to a different material. We have an allergy to metal so use plastic ones, but I have also reintroduced normal tea spoon and seems he is better now and makes no difference. May be worth a try?

@ZooKeeper19 she'll put everything in her mouth, whether it's edible or not. But if you give her something edible to hold, she's not as excited about it, probably because it's not brightly coloured like her toys, for example.
She would have calpol after each vaccination, and about a month ago, managed to pull her arm muscles and had calpol then as well. She didn't protest to it and happily finished her complete doses, which is why I said she loves it 😁
The spoon is a good idea though, I started off using a metal one and recently switched to a baby one - maybe she finds the colour of the spoon distracting!

It's always difficult before they can tell you what is wrong, but whatever you can get to work no matter how silly is what is right for your baby.

I guess where I was going with it is there is two ways a baby wont take food. One is because the body says no and the other is the mind. Is there something that could have happened to make her wary of food, such as over feeding, trying to get her to eat when she is showing she doesn't want it, weening to early, feeding after she has just gagged/vomited?

If there isn't anything you can think of, then it must be her body refusing it, which can be because of allergies or sickness. Teething can cause all sorts of changes including being off food, but it normally makes them fussy eaters only some of the time and gagging wouldn't make much sense if it was that.

If it still doesn't add up I would definitely take her to the doctors.

DD1 did that from that age up until around 10 months and it's scary! We just used to make sure we only gave her blended/mushed food, then gradually introduced more solid foods. By 11 months she's grown out of it completely. She covers herself in anything if she has a spoon/fork and just plays with it so if it's 'wet' food such as shepherds pie we will feed her it, but if it's 'dry' food we cut up into smaller pieces and put the plate down in front of her and she hand feeds herself. She's more for 'picnic' type food lately anyway.

Like others have said, if yours is still having enough milk then don't worry too much about it - I mentioned it to my HV at the time and she said as long as she was still having milk feeds (she was bottle fed) then it's fine as she's still getting the nutrients she needs

My ds was similar to this - up to the age of about 9mo, any lumps bigger than the size of a split atom would make him gag, and then vomit. I know gagging is a normal reflex for weaning babies, but the vomit was not good. He was ebf also, so we just carried on with that for a few weeks then tried again, rinse and repeat.

Thank you guys for the peace of mind, my HV hasn't been in contact since February and I haven't been able to get a hold of anyone on the team since my GP is also insanely busy so I don't really want to call them about this just yet.
@Tacca it must be her body because as soon as she shows signs of gagging/not wanting any more, I stop with the food. In the first 4 months, she would be vomiting after each milk feed, no matter how much I would burp her.
@dillydallydollydaydream7 yes it's scary isn't it! I'm glad your DD grew out of it, and I do like the idea of 'picnic' food at that age.
@Shmithecat2 what age did yours start getting used to it? I know there isn't any rush to get her to eat, but I just want her to get used to different tastes and textures without gagging, rather than having a few spoonfuls to eat.