Weaning woes ;) All natural/good foods rejected . . .

[Popplecake]

I've started to wean lo onto solid foods. She's been on 1/3 of a jar of baby food at dinner time since 5 months.

I've been trying desperately to find a natural and healthy food that she likes but to no avail!. I've tried fresh steamed vegetables blended/pureed/sieved with a little butter, sometimes a taste of cheese/gravy, sometimes with plain chicken or just plain but lo just spits it all out and coughs on the tiny bits in the mush.

I've also tried her on porridge, baby rice, yoghurt, fresh fruits mashed up, boiled fruits pureed, fresh banana, avocado etc. All of which is rejected :/

It seems the only thing she will eat is those highly-processed baby food jars and highly processed apple concentrate (I tried to make her fresh pressed apple juice diluted and that was rejected as well).

I know it's early days but I want to get her eating fresh, healthy food! Does anyone have any tips? thank you

What do you eat?

My child always wants to eat the same as me. Are you eating avocado grapes bananas broccoli etc too?

How old is she?

Aah, sorry that would have helped. She's about 7 months now. .

My DD didn't eat any appreciable volume of food til she was 9 mo, and she scoffed a punnet of blackberries. It was like a lightbulb moment for her.

Give her a variety of foods, lovely bright colours, intense flavours, skip the mush, and let her play. Keep her milk up and she'll be fine.

Oh and a 7 mo doesn't need juice of any form. Noone does.

Right. 7 months is still really early in the process of learning how to eat. Many babies, my DS1 included, just don't really get it until somewhere between 9 and 10 months, when something just clicks and they start gobbling up everything they see. Have you tried just offering bits of food on her tray for her to pick up and investigate? Steamed or roasted veg, pasta shapes, well-cooked chicken, soft fruits and sticks of cucumber, breadsticks etc?

That mantra: Food is for fun until they're one? It means you can relax about how much food they take and just keep offering the same amount of milk until they start dropping feeds and eating more food naturally.

Its really all about exploring food at this age.

Meant to add: Some babies just aren't cut out for spoonfeeding and would rather just work it out for themselves.

Agree with everyone else, it was about 8/9 months DD suddenly got food. Until then it all went on the floor, after an experimental suck. I think it takes them a while to work out how to chew (gum!) and move the food around their mouths.