6.5 month old won’t eat

[Al991]

Just that really. Baby is 6 months and 2 weeks old. We started weaning just a few days before she turned 6 months and she won’t eat anything whatsoever. We’ve tried a variety of foods puréed and mashed, tried BLW with finger foods and a self feeding spoon, tried plain fruit + veg, giving her what we’re eating (blended and not).

Every time any ends up in her mouth, which is unlikely in itself, she makes a horrified face and spits it out, sometimes even vomits.

She was full term and is healthy. She has all the signs of readiness other than refusing to eat - sits up independently, very good dexterity and can put things in her mouth - loves teethers and putting toys, her hand or basically anything other than food in her gob. She did have feeding issues related to tongue tie and latch issues, couldn’t breast feed and does mess around on bottles but has good weight gain.

I know it’s early days but I’m worried about the fact she literally won’t touch food. I don’t feel like we are moving forward at all.

shes only 6 months so food is just fun and for trying out rather then nutrition and calorific intake. Best relax and avoid worrying. Mine all traveled along the 9th percentile and were healthy, alert, developmentally ahead yet disinterested in food till 15 months. They are all strapping teens now. They ate home made family meals as toddlers onwards

I had huge trouble weaning my first who had TT. He didn't really take to it until he was one.

Was her TT ever divided?

There are dummies you can get to put fruit in with tiny holes so when they suck they get the flavour/juice. Might give her a slower start to flavour without any texture?

Please don't worry, at this stage it is all about trying new flavours and eventually textures. Mine didn't properly get the hang of it until about 11 / 12 months. You've only been doing this a few weeks! Try to relax a bit about it (I know this is really hard) Are you following a book or plan? Charlotte Sterling Reed's book is quite useful to build up different flavours and combinations before moving onto finger foods.

You could also wait a month and try again when she's a bit bigger?
Also - make sure she is not too tired when you are offering the tastes, I've found that has made the biggest impact.

yes the TT was cut but the latch didn’t improve. Can’t really say why! She has a high palette and also a very prominent lip tie but there’s not much evidence on those! Do you have an idea of why it made weaning difficult?

We do have this and I think it’s been the most successful so far because she loves chewing it! But gets quite angry/troubled re: the flavour of food that comes out! Going to keep trying with it.

Thank you - I think tiredness is an issue! We did start following a plan but we’ve sort of faltered recently…

Absolutely normal. Please don’t worry. It’s all so new and unfamiliar to her and will take her a while to get used to the idea. My own daughter didn’t allow so much as a crumb to pass her lips until 8 over months. She’s now 14 months and has a great appetite. Just keep putting bits of whatever you’re having in front of her and see what happens. No pressure. If she throws everything on the floor for a couple of months, so be it. Even handling it is great at this age.

My son was similar at this age, would barely eat anything at all. We do BLW and I remember near the start I seriously considered switching to purées because I thought he just wasn’t getting it. I’m not sure exactly when it clicked for him but it was definitely after 6.5 months. He’s 9 months old now and a great eater. Just stick with it and she’ll eat when she’s ready.

Don't worry about it. Easier said than done, I know. But force yourself to remember it's all brand new to her. Let her play with the food for now and don't worry about how much she eats or what faces she pulls. Just let her touch things and smoosh it about for now.

Look at it more holistically. Everything around weaning is important for their development, not just what they actually swallow: reaching, grasping, pinching, feeling, squeezing, mouthing, smearing, smelling, chewing and spitting out, practising hand-eye coordination. It's all a learning experience for them. It's all good.

One of my friends could not get hers to eat anything, he was exclusively breast fed until 9 mths when he decided to pop a blackberry in his mouth that his sibling was eating and ate normal food from then on. Don't worry, i'm sure she will get there in her own time.

Food is brand new to her. She is just exploring something new and taking her time to learn how to eat. It's only been a couple of weeks. This is totally natural. She should only be exploring food before 1 year old anyway. Don't panic about calorie intake, just keep up her milk and give her a wide variety of things to try. If she rejects stuff, no problem, but don't dismiss it as she doesn't like something. Just try again in a few weeks. Your job is to present her with the variety. She will decide what she does with it - if it ends up on the floor, that's ok. Keep portions small to cut down on the inevitable waste.

My ds was like this, not only not intrested but actually pretty horrified at the idea of food, would cry and gag at sight of food, try not to worry she will get there eventually, she is getting absolutely everything she needs from milk at the moment so don’t stress about that, weaning is a learning curve for you both some take longer to get it than others. I would say the absolute main thing is not to pressure her in any way, you don’t want to make any negative associations so stick to one meal a day (for your own sanity) and at the first sign or upset, end the meal and try again the next day. Honestly my son barely licked a bit of food until he was 9 months, he’s 11 months now and only starting to get into the swing of it. Don’t stress about it.

Don't worry OP! Some babies just take a bit longer.

My 9 month old has only just started to show real interest in food. She completely refused everything until 7.5 months, and even then while she did seem interested, she would eat 1-2 spoons or a tiny amount of finger foods. She refuses to be fed entirely so we've had no choice but to do BLW. Ours loves everything she tries now except for any acidic fruits, but still eats smaller amounts than other babies her age. She's growing fine though!

Just echoing others I know it’s easier said than done but you really don’t need to worry! It will come. There’s lots of talk and support available when your baby shows signs of readiness for weaning earlier than 6 months but not much when it comes to weaning later than 6 months. But 6 months is a guide - and it can be much earlier or later before they are really ready and interested.

my eldest was 8.5 months before I saw him willingly put an item of food to his mouth and closer to 9 months Before he did it again. When we was ready, he was ready and it made weaning so much easier.

I hope you are able to take some pressure off with weaning - I wish I had just taken a step back until he was really ready and not stressed so much about it. It’s totally normal and it WILL come.

I wouldn't worry yet. I'd just put something from your meals on her plate every day and leave it to her to play with it or try it but don't put any pressure whatsoever. If she seems to actively dislike eating I might even back pedal and not give her any food for a few weeks and try a fresh later.

My older child barely ate till ten months, younger one took to food straight away at 6 months. The older one is by far the better eater now - the younger one is unbelievably fussy! Try not to stress just offer food to taste or feel.

My oldest was 10 months before she got going. They are all different. Try not to worry or to cajole. If she sits at meals with you and watches you eating and chatting she will eventually want to try bits and pieces from your plate, Once she is convinced that it is pleasurable and not poison you can start to fine tune her meals to make them well balanced.

How did this end up @Al991? Currently in the same situation with my 6.5MO and struggling!

Does your LO have TT too @Al991?