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Parenting

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Seven-month-old only eating pouches and porridge, refusing other foods

15 replies

Mum2b25 · 22/07/2026 18:21

Anyone offer any advice

My 7 month old is not interested in food.
He will eat pouches or porridge but any other food its a no

Has anyone else been in same situation

OP posts:
Are your children’s vaccines up to date?
rubyslippers · 22/07/2026 18:24

keep offering milk and porridge and then intro different foods and textures
they will get the hang of it
lots of babies take a while to enjoy foods so keep
offering consistently
you can offer fingers foods at this age which they may enjoy more?

OtterMummy2024 · 22/07/2026 18:26

I squeezed the pouches into a bowl and mixed increasingly lumpy food in to them. Another option is to thin out your own home made purees/mash with a bit of milk or olive oil.

Snorlaxo · 22/07/2026 18:27

Have you tried sitting her in her high chair while you eat? Even if she just plays with her finger food at first, she will hopefully decide to copy you and put it in her mouth.

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Glendaruel · 22/07/2026 18:31

Its quite normal atthis stage, its why milk remains the main source of nutrition til 1. Let them play with it and they eventually get hang of it. What Mummy makes by Rebecca Wilson is really useful at this stage, we still use the butter chicken recipe.

AgnesMcDoo · 22/07/2026 18:39

Put out finger food. It will just get played with to start. But after days and weeks it will get licked and sucked and then eventually eaten.

mindutopia · 22/07/2026 20:48

I’d just stop with the pouches and porridge and offer lots of different things to play with. Doesn’t matter if she eats it.

lxn889121 · 23/07/2026 03:32

Personally - stop the pouches, keep the porridge.

Make your own purees for her, and make them as bland as possible.. resist adding any sweeter/more attractive foods into her diet for now, and just keep slowly expanding the range of veg/fruit that goes into them. Adding basic finger foods alongside.

Not all, but quite a lot of pouches are far too sweet and processed. They aren't setting your child up to be able to accept other, less attractive/addictive/flavors

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2025/apr/28/leading-baby-food-brands-making-high-sugar-meals-study-finds

The advice another poster gave of always eating together is also great.

Leading baby food brands making high-sugar meals, study finds

Food from brands such as Ella’s Kitchen and Heinz are often nutritionally poor, researchers say

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2025/apr/28/leading-baby-food-brands-making-high-sugar-meals-study-finds

Mum2b25 · 23/07/2026 04:21

He won't even play with finger foods not even interested in it.

OP posts:
RedStripeLeaf · 23/07/2026 07:21

Keep things stress free - milk is the main source of nutrition right now. I'd suggest avoiding using the pouches as the way the food arrives at the baby, which has the effect of training them to expect food to come directly from packets (which, of course, the giant processed food businesses love). I'd also suggest modelling eating a range of home-produced finger foods (e.g. cooked veg sticks / florets, green beans, fruits, bits of meat if that's part of your diet, etc.), talking to your baby about the food, its colour, texture, how it's grown, what country it has come from, anything you can think of, really. Food and conversation naturally go together, and talking about food is apparently one of those habits that helps to support a healthy food environment for children.

Babies often try to copy what they see their family and others around them doing, so have a think about what he's seeing and what you can do to model the behaviours you want. It doesn't need to be complicated, e.g. my son was mesmerised by simple food prep - watching me chop up fruit, 'helping' to put the chopped up fruit into a bowl, and so on. Hold him whilst you're eating your meals. If he's seeing you repeatedly taking food and pop it in your mouth and look and sound like it's pleasurable, he might feel intrigued enough to try to copy this. Good luck - it's easy to get stressed about food, but right now, there isn't a problem - you have a seven month old in the early stages of learning about and trying new foods, and he's getting what he needs nutritionally from milk.

Crumpetring · 23/07/2026 07:41

7 Months is very young still, as PP have said milk is still their main source of nutrition.

You get to choose what food is offered to baby but baby gets to choose how much they eat. So stop feeding them pouches. The NHS advice is to only use pouches occasionally and not every day.

https://www.nhs.uk/best-start-in-life/baby/weaning/what-to-feed-your-baby/from-around-6-months/

At this stage it doesn’t matter if baby eats much of the food or not. They are learning how to hold food in their mouth, chew, swallow. About different tastes and how to pick up food, how to hold it without crushing it or it flying out the end of their hand.

If you want to offer purées then blitz up the food you are eating and offer it to baby. I would then give them pieces of the same food unblitzed for them to practice/explore.

This website is really good for how to prepare different foods as finger foods for different ages babies.

https://solidstarts.com/foods/

Whats your highchair like? Babies should be able to sit up and lean forwards over the food, like we do. They shouldn’t be slumped back. Getting their seating position right will help them with their eating.

https://feedinglittles.com/blogs/blog/our-favorite-high-chairs-and-boosters

This website has a lot of good advice about baby positioning and tips for how to make things better in your current high chair.

nhs.uk

6 months - Feeding your baby - Best Start in Life - NHS

Find out what to feed your your baby if they're around 6 months old and ready to wean, along with advice on texture, drinks and how to handle foods that can cause allergies.

https://www.nhs.uk/best-start-in-life/baby/weaning/what-to-feed-your-baby/from-around-6-months

JustKeepSwimmingJust · 23/07/2026 07:45

Is the high chair next to the table? Just pop baby in while you eat your meals and offer bits of what you are having (obv not too much salt/no honey). If it goes on the floor, it was a tiny proportion of an adult meal and no big deal.

pouches can be very high sugar and if I didn’t know the health risks I’d rather have a sugar filled diet too!

IvyEvolveFree · 23/07/2026 07:49

I had one like this. In retrospect, I wish I’d dropped the pouches. Although I don’t know if it would have been any different, it led to sensory issues with food that continued throughout childhood.

Kingdomofsleep · 23/07/2026 07:50

My dc1 just didn't have the ability to swallow solids until about 8mo, she just gagged and nearly vomited if we gave her anything thicker than a puree... then at 8mo it sort of clicked and she could chew. The 6 month nhs guideline is a guide for your average baby but doesn't work for everyone.

Then my dc2 could manage solids at 5.5mo, he was just a way bigger stronger baby and his jaws were better developed.

So I'd say don't rush it, just follow what you observe your baby can do.

But reduce the pouches because they're very sugary. Make your own purees with different savoury bases not just porridge, like rice-porridge (jook), unsweetened yoghurt, mashed potato etc

emuloc · 23/07/2026 07:53

There is some good advice here. Don't get into the habit of using pouches, just take things slowly, the child is still very young.

Greenclass · 23/07/2026 07:56

I would probably drop pouches and keep
porridge but add things to the porridge so they’re trying different flavours, eg different milks, cinnamon, nut butter (obv checking for allergies) banana etc
id blend my own food too assuming what they want is mush and then blend it less and less in a week or two.
They don’t need food right now so don’t stress too much, your job is just to offer at least one new food a day, it’s their job to decide if they try it or not.

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