My 6 month old baby refuses to eat from spoon?!

[Mummypowell30]

Hi, has anyone else had this problem and if so do you have any tips as I'm so confused!!

I started weaning a few weeks ago and it was all going fine until suddenly my baby has completely rejected the spoon. She just jams her mouth shut and refuses to open it. Ive tried giving her finger foods and she tries to put it in her mouth but hardly eats any and most ends up on the floor. She will take the spoon off me but by the time it gets anywhere near her mouth most is on the floor/on her/on the wall!

I'm just not sure what to do next or how to encourage her to like the spoon again? Has anyone else been through this? Any ideas would be much appreciated! Thank you!

Yep, my DS was like this, he always had to feed himself. We put yoghurt on the spoon for him and he sometimes got it in his mouth, but apart from that he ate everything with his fingers. He'd been put off spoons because of having to have horrible antibiotics, he never let us feed him!

Google baby-led weaning for finger food ideas.

Snap...my dd is the same. She is now 8 months and we are officially doing baby led weaning. She just has whatever we have and as much breast milk as she wants. All the food makes it to her mouth, she will try everything but not alot gets swallowed! I'm not worried, the milk provides all the calories she needs and I'm sure she will just 'get' eating when she is ready. I think just like all the other milestones ie sitting, crawling, walking, every baby does it when they are ready and not as soon as they hit 6 months. How many people do you know who can't eat? They all get it eventually, just embrace the mess until then!

Don't force it or get anxious, this will only make things worse. She doesn't have to have solids yet - at this age they are simply being introduced to the idea. So if she doesn't want them, don't make her. Continue to present the solids, give her the spoon - doesn't matter where the food ends up, maybe she'll manage a bit, maybe she won't, but as long as she's getting her milk, there's no problem at all.

Perhaps give her some fruit to pick up and nibble - a bit of banana, or avocado, easy to squish up a bit. An orange segment to suck, maybe? It'll end up on the floor or wall, but she'll have had a bit.

I started weaning both of mine at 26 months and both of them rejected spoon feeding. I did baby led weaning (finger food) with them both. Yoghurts in the "Ella's kitchen" type pouches were very useful got this. You can get fruit purées in these pouches too.

Cannot recommend baby led weaning highly enough! Sounds like your little one is trying to tell you something OP!

We started BLW at about 6 months and now at 10 months she loves her food, mostly feeds herself but is happy to be spoonfed things like porridge and yogurt as she's realised she gets it down faster that way! In the early stages though I think it's very important to just let them play and explore, don't worry about the amount they eat, that will soon come before you know it!

giving up and letting him make a mess I've always thought why does it have to be given a silly name like its something so revolutionary! Having said that, I did get a lot of surprised looks at the time if anyone asked me what DD was eating.

Same here. My 8mo was great with spoons until about a month ago.
A right pain. Do try pouches- ds will eat directly from these. Just bought a pouch for home made purees as I have so many uneaten in the freezer. Although he will feed finger foods himself he has more if I put them in the mouth for him. He particularly likes rice cakes, cereal balls etc.

Oh and when he is busy trying to jostle stuff in I shovel in the spoon and as he's distracted he'll let me. But if I just present a spoon he will clamp his lips firmly shut. So now i offer a range of finger foods but try shovelling in purees/yoghurts once he's suitably distracted. Chunks of baked potato and filling (eg. Cheese) go down well here. If potato sufficiently baked it's easy to eat (alas not the skin)

Sorry one more tip. As i no longer "cook" much for him per se, most evenings I save a bit of what we're having for dinner and offer it for lunch the following day. So a good way of seeing what he'll eat with very little wastage.

Go with the flow of blw. My 10mo will happily eat spaghetti bolognese, rice, meat/veg sandwiches, tuna mayo, salmon fillet etc all with fingers off her tray. Takes a few weeks to get the hang of it but for me giving the same as I am having is so much easier.

The bibs with sleeves are essential though to save clothes

My ds was exactly the same, the only thing he'll eat off a spoon is yoghurt. He was weaned at about 5 months and for 3 months he'd eat from the spoon then almost overnight he stopped. So we switched to baby led weaning and it's amazing! He's been eating whatever we are from about 9 months (before that I was making him finger foods from an annabel karmel book. He's now 15 months and still eats with his hands, everything, from his breakfast cereal to a veggie lasagne.

Go with it, make a mess and enjoy! People often comment on how good ds is because he eats anything!!

Good luck

Dd3 did this too. I'd BLW'd dd2 but was very keen to do a mix with dd3, she however had other ideas. Refused to take a spoon. So, after persevering for about a month trying a spoon EVERY day, I gave up and embraced BLW again.

She's now 9.5 months and in the Easter holls last week, dd1 offered her a bit of yoghurt and she suddenly accepted the spoon. No looking back since then. It's like she's realised the potential for greater quantities if she lets someone else feed her!

Thank you so much!! First time on here and its made such a difference! Great suggestions! :-)

My 7mo DS does the same. If he refuses the spoon while I'm feeding him, I spread the puree on a piece of bread and let him go wild with it. Usually it ends up spread in his hair... and in my hair... and on his clothes... and on my clothes....