7 month old....how long to let her eat/play with the food?

[scarletforya]

I give my dd a mixture of things; mashed/pureed food and finger foods. For her lunch today I put chicken, soft boiled potato, broccoli and carrots on her tray and spent about 25 mins-30 mins trying to get some into her.

Sometimes she gobbles the food with gusto but other times she seems to just play with it and store chunks of food in her top palate which she then cries about later and wants taken out....

How long should I let her play with the food. If she gets frustrated or bored I end the meal, is this right?

Some things she gobbles plenty of porridge, eggy bread. Some foods she loves sometimes (chicken, broccoil) and then isn't bothered with another day...?

I used to wait until DD was obviously bored or annoyed, or started taking the food back out of her mouth to admire - which was about half an hour or so. Actually, it still is about half an hour.

At 7m she really wasn't interested in food and everyone on here told me to just keep going, so I'll pass on the advice At some point she will get it. I think that at 7m they just don't really understand what food it. DD took until 8m at least before she understood what was going on, and probably until 9/10m before I felt she was getting a decent amount of food inside her.

Just keep offering a variety of food, let her play with it, if she eats it great, it not I'd give it half an hour and clear it away, and offer something if she cries for food later. I promise you she will get it soon.

Totally agree and wouldn't bother encouraging her to eat, just serve it and clear away after about half an hour.

Yes about half an hour here too

Thank you for all the replies!

I've worked out I think when she keeps taking the food and hiding it in her palate, she's enjoying tasting it and the buzz of having it in her mouth but as she cant chew well enough, she then panics as she has too much stored up there!

So I'm going to try to concentrate more on letting her chew smaller amounts!

Yup, about half an hour here too. Unless he's clearly grumpy then we'll stop.