7mo starting to refuse solids

[Librarylu]

Hi all, sorry if this has been covered before, I'm new to MN and still getting the hang of it!
My son started well on solids from 24 wks. Hurrah! But last week started refusing to open his mouth at meal times. He's not distressed, just clamps down. I've managed a few spoonfuls of food but tricking him into opening up by getting him to play with another spoon, and he eats and swallows happily, but still will not open his mouth like he used too. He is showing all the signs of teething at the moment - is this another? Thanks for any advice. I'm getting frustrated as we started so well, and he's waking earlier, I think because of lack of solids.

Thanks for advice x

Have u tried just giving stuff he can feed himself and ditching the spoon? Mini meat balls well cooked pasta soft fruit sticks etc even if he just squished and plays with it, it's still a vital part of exploring textures. Soft steamed veg r good too any kinda finger food :)

Teething definitely puts them off solids.

Also, he's still so young. We started weaning at six months and it wasn't really until 11 or 12 months that DS started eating solids with gusto. Even now, at 13 months, if he's teething, feeling a little under the weather, or perhaps for no reason at all, he'll have days where he eats barely any (or sometimes no) solids.

I doubt the early waking is connected to his consumption (or lack) of solids.

If possible, just don't stress about it.

Thanks, both of you. I've tried finger foods, he throws them on the floor mostly, or chokes! I'll try again today. He is young, Nowave, you're right. I'll stop stressing and let him lead me as I don't want him to develop bad connotations with mealtimes. It's a minefield!! X

They r stil getting plenty of nutrients from milk at his age. Just keep offering with no stress And when he wants it he will eat it. :)

hi, sorry to hijack your thread OP, but our DS is doing exactly the same. had a great start and he ate just about everything we offered. he came down with a horrendous cold a couple of weeks ago and is teething, and now refuses his solids. have also been having problems with constipation too (presumably due to diet change?) so tbh i shouldnt be surprised he's off solids really.
i know he's only 6 n half months, but am slightly concerned because i'm back to work in 8 weeks. until weaning DS was ebf, and has completely refused bottles since about 4 month (with considerable hysteria), so i really dont know how he'll be fed when i'm back to work. he had just started accepting water from sippy cups, but since he started refusing solids he wont take that either. am trying not to stress about it, but it dont help when MIL (who's having him 1 day a week) keeps fretting about it, and saying she'll have to keep bringing him to my work so i can bf him (which is pretty impossible given nature of my job)!!!

He might be ok you never know! If mummy feeds him a bottle he can smell the milk and knows that a bottle isn't how ge normally feeds. If your not there then he might eventually realize that if he's hungry he's gotta take it. Obviously there's a huge difference in the milk flow it's much faster from a bottle and babies can find the lack of control distressing. Have you searched the net for that bottle Tracy Hogg frequently used on her tv programs? It's a special one with like a chamber thing that only fills if baby is sucking and it's much much closer to the breastfeeding than any other bottle. I can't remember the name of it but I'm sure on the net u could easily find it. :)

Haberman feeder I think it's called

thanks caffeine (love the name, never been in such dire need of caffeine in my life!!!) i'll have a look
in true "ways your kids can make you look stupid" fashion, DS started eating his solids again yesterday. i was offering them at same times even though he refused, and after i posted yesterday, i tried him on baby rice, he ate the lot. and a bit mashed banana. then a couple of spoons of pear at lunch, then a spoon of peach and banana for tea. even ate all his breakfast this morning. he doesnt seem so bothered by his teeth atm, and think that may have been one reason why he refused. also he's a bit constipated still and dont hink that helped.
hope things are going better for you librarylu

Typical :o they r good at that aren't they!!! The bottle stares it's aimed at colicky babies and special needs infants but I have seen her use it on non SN babies and they did take bottles where they wouldn't before. my two took mam bottles far better than any other. I found them great but then I only bf dd1 for a few weeks and mixed it as ir wasn't working but she took them no problem. :)

My DS also started refusing solids two weeks ago at 7 months after a promising start to weaning. He was eating nothing - even had breastfed poos again! I eventually worked out that it was a spoon issue rather than a solids issue as he would quite happily eat finger foods. So we 'accidentally' began baby led weaning, but left spoons around the place so they stayed familiar. He now eats anything he can hold himself with gusto. And will let me feed him sloppy stuff he can't handle himself (yoghurt, porridge) IF he has already had some finger food and can stick his hands in the pot! He is also a bottle refuser, and I sense the two things are related - he is already fiercely independent and likes to do things on his terms. Yikes, what are these babies going to be like at 2? Or 12?!

Well, we've just had a stressful morning, refusing his breakfast which he usually loves. I got very frustrated and upset, as did he at seeing me angry. So, I've decided to stop offering him solids for the moment. I did some reading from other sites, and it seems this is pretty common. So I will offer solids every 3 days or so, let him play with spoons, offer finger foods etc. I'm sure he'll eat when he's ready (and his teeth have stopped hurting). My uptight attitude is causing probs with my husband too, so it's not worth it. He's a happy healthy boy, so I think I'll just try and go with the flow rather than assume I'm a bad mother. That will be the tough part.

Your not a bad mum at all!!! You wouldn't be so upset if you were. He's still gonna be getting plenty from his milk so just relax and let him decide when he eats . At his age it's just tasting and exploring which can ve done at his pace rather than just doing the whole ' he needs three meals a day'. Thing. He's happy if he was starving or ill he wouldn't be. Just relax take the stress out of it and I'm sure things will soon turn around :)

I really feel for you - it's so upsetting and worrying. You are right, he will eat when he is ready. I'd try finger foods as often as you are able... My LO went crazy for breadsticks (I think the crunch was nice on his gums) and that was the entree to healthier stuff, and eventually a spoon. He also loves broccoli (weirdo!). Hope you have a relaxing weekend and as caffeine says, things will turn around.

Bless you all. Thanks for you're support. It's hard though, isn't it, when you read things and see other babies doing better. You're all so right though. Just been for a walk to put things in perspective whilst the sun is shining. Big love to you all xx

Hope you can start to feel
Better about this now! :) not all babies are on three meals a day at six months ir even eight months. Dd2 didn't click into eating proper meals til like eight ir nine months up til that point she thrived on her milk and just tried and picked at a little bit of the food offered. If he's not sick or constantly tired then he's doing just fine as he is and all this will be forgotten when he's a year old and painting the wall and floor in pasta sauce :)

I thought I'd give you an update as you've all been so kind and supportive. Ds is still refusing food off the spoon, and that's fine. So I've been offering him bits of finger foods. He's exploring and mainly playing with it, but he does feed himself and his trying bits and pieces! Yesterday he ate half a strawberry, half a rice cake, a bit of tomato, some grated cheese, sucked on a slice of cucumber and ate a corner of a rusk. Not exactly a meal but I was really pleased!! So it looks like he's chosen to go down the baby led weaning route. I guess I just have to get used to mess!! I still find it hard not to compare him to his little friends, who are loving being spoon fed their purées, but I'm getting there. He's happy and drinking his milk, so that's good! He is waking in the night sometimes, but I think that's teething rather than anything else.

Thanks again for all your advice

That's great hon :)

Hi Lu
So pleased things are looking up. We also came to BLW 'accidentally' and I found it really hard to get my head around as I hadn't chosen it as a route as such. A few things helped me embrace it. Firstly, I loved watching him try new things, as it sounds you do. Pasta twirls and tangerine particularly funny! Secondly, I read the Gillian Rapley book and also got the cookbook. Really enthused me. Thirdly, I got DH to read the book too which made me feel we were in it together. He loves eating with DS now. Finally, I bought a massive plastic table cloth which I put under the highchair, and also got loads of those anti bac wipes to make the clear ups easier! DS does wake more in the night but like you I'm unsure whether it's teeth or hunger. Very best of luck and keep us posted.

Thanks, bakingbunty, that book sounds great, I'll look it up. Things are progressing, albeit very slowly. He's started eating a small amount of breakfast off a spoon again, which is good, and yesterday he had some purée off a spoon too. He's enjoying exploring more than eating it! But I guess that's the point. I think he's just not that interested yet. It's amazing, I felt I was the only one going through this but it turns out everyone does to some extent. So many of my friends with older children said they went through the same thing. So, I'm being relaxed about it all, taking everyday as it comes!! Xxx

glad to hear things are going a bit better librarylu. we've taken a more relaxed attitude too, and remembering not to get too stressed if/when he refuses to eat something. we'll all get there in the end!! have also accepted there will be a lot of wasteage as he loves picking food up, having a bit suck on it then chucking it on the floor. went through 1/4 of a melon this way, not so interested in eating it, just likes to wipe it all over his face then lob it across the room!!
the issue now is that he's started refusing water - he was drinking out of his sippy cup quite happily, but since MIL had him a week ago he wont entertain it. oh well, cant win em all :)

Hi all, hope you and your LOs are well! So my peculiar and perplexing son has decided he wants food again. As sudden as he stopped, he started opening his mouth again! We're back on it. Strange. But there we are. He still loves finger foods, so we're doing both feeding from a spoon as well as baby led. Thanks for all your advice! Next step, introducing lumps and texture. He doesn't like it! But I'm guessing most babies have a choke at this stage. He is currently looking rather silly with broccoli, cauliflower pasta bake in his eyebrows. Fetching look. It's all the rage. Thanks again xxxx

Ah that's great Lu. My DS has never gone back to spoon feeding apart from yoghurt, which he seems to realise he can't feed himself yet! Hope you managed to get the bake off your LO's face. Amazing how fast it turns into cement!?