7.5 mnth old savoury over sweet

[Chelly71]

Hi wise MNs... I started weaning DS at 6.5mnths and he was doing really well, eating everything I made.. even lumpier mush, protein as well as completely pureed. this week however he is refusing savoury foods and will only eat very sweet veg mixes (more apple than parsnip for eg), porridge mixed with fruit puree and fromage frais... coincidently these are also all the really fine pureed foods. Think his gums are aching so could it be a result of this? Does lumpier food hurt baby gums? I want to handle it right so he doesn't just pick the sweeter foods so I tried mixing a bit of savoury puree in with sweet veg and he spat it out, cried, drama etc so I ended up giving him a pouch of sweet veg as my homemade stuff isn't as sweet. Don't want to get him hooked on pouches or just fruit but do babies understand at this age.. If I don't give him sweet and force savoury, or just stop feeding him once he refuses savoury it is cruel because he won't understand why and therefore not learn?? Any tips much appreciated!

He might be teething so wants softer foods. My DS doesn't like anything too chewy when he's teething.

Perhaps he's just having a phase? When you say savoury is it just meat? Or have you been adding flavouring? Also have you tasted the savoury stuff? Sometimes the texture of meat can be a bit funny - almost grainy depending on how you puree it.

Also I found it better to introduce lumpier food by way of finger foods. So I'd chop up chicken/lamb cooked quite softly into lumps which DS could pick up off the highchair table and feed himself with. He had more control of where the lumps were in his mouth, whereas off a spoon they probably go too far in.

Good idea Iggly with the meat for finger foods, will try tomorrow... some of the savoury stuff is meat - free, just a bit lumpier overall. So tonight I've just tried butternut squash and pear (added in extra pear) - homemade and very smooth - straight down! Then brocolli with potato and cheese, homemade, pureed but lumpier texture overall given the ingredients - no go, spat out. So onto strawberry and banana smoothie, homemade, loved it. Then rest of fruit puree (bought) from breakfast, all gone! So I think texture is very important this week... I guess the gums hurt to effectively 'chew' the lumps if he is teething....

You could also try cooling the food? I put DS's meals in the fridge which helps as well.

With the meat - make sure it's quite soft (test it yourself beforehand) otherwise it can make them gag a bit! Which is fine but always makes me nervous

Has he had a chance to practice chewing yet? Maybe he's not sure what to do with the lumpy food? Which the finger foods should solve. Also when giving DS lumpy food, I make sure it doesn't go too far in his mouth so he can use his tongue to move it around then chew. Too far in and it hits his gag reflex, making him want to spit it out.

Yep, had the gagging on other finger foods! Lovely...

I do chew with him and he copies me but at the moment he can't even concentrate to look at me it is so distressing... it is just odd because he ate all of these things in the first few weeks and is just now rejecting it.. I'll keep trying, leave it a few days and then try again. I actually bought a 'stage 2' pouch to test and my food is way lumpier than that so maybe I'm rushing him (my MIL certainly thinks so!!)

Just had the after effects of a fruit diet, both ends (DS not me) - nice xx

Ooo not nice!!

I didn't bother with the stage 2 pouches - I skipped to the next stage at 7 months. TBH though DS is so faddy with his food, changing his mind all the time I can't keep up!