DD wont even hold food!

[LittleDonkin]

My DD is 8 months old. I am weaning on jars as since starting to wean at 6 months she has shown absolutley no intrest in holding food or putting it to her mouth. The other day she was watching my mum eating a mini cheddar so we tried to hand her one and she clasped her hands shut we then tried to put it to her lips and she kept moving her head from side to side and her mouth stayed firmly closed. She has 2 teeth and even when teething she has never put any toys or teethers near her mouth just her fingers. When might she show any intrest in putting something other than her fingers in her mouth?

Are you offering her finger foods to explore and try at her own pace? If she's never self fed, having a mini cheddar thrust at her might have been a bit too much too soon.

Everytime I eat something sutiable I offer her a bit like toast or a floret of brocolli or cauliflower. She watches me like a hawk when I'm eating but then I give her some and she doesn't want to know.

My now 6yo ds1 didn't put ANYTHING in his mouth AT ALL. No fingers, no toys, no food, nothing. He was around 15m when he grabbed the fork off my dh and started shovelling food into his mouth. Up til then I remember holding toast etc in his mouth
My ds2 is 7m, and altho he eats well and puts fingers/toys etc in his mouth, he won't put food in. He can't sit in his high chair yet so I don't think that helps. I'm free all day tomorrow, so I'm going to spend mealtimes letting him shove his hands in everything that I'm feeding him, and make toast to see if he'll pick it up and try.
The best advice I can give is to let your dd into everything, then put down half a slice of toast or similar, AFTER she's eaten so that she's not frantic and hungry. Just do this every day to see if she shows an interest. It will happen. There's no rush, really.
Try not to deprive her of new foods, just cos it's easier for you - that's the mistake we made with ds1. He spent a couple of years being a wee bit fussy, and I'm sure that's because he didn't get a wide range of foods when he was small.
It WILL all work out, try not to worry.

PS just put food in front of her, with no pressure - ie don't try and put it in her hand or anything

Awww LittleDonkin, dont worry. Mine is a fussy 8mo and is still just interested in milk but I do offer her food atleast twice a day though none of it goes down. My mantra (and a lesson well learned with my 4yo boy) is that Food is for fun till they are 1, and even after that it might take some time. If your DD is healthy and happy, put food worries at the back of your mind...We all get there in the end and think what all the fuss was about... :o