Help with sweet toothed DS please!

[Hobby2014]

DS (7.5m) reaches out for the spoon whilst feeding. Great. Really likes eating from it. Great. Will scoff the food down. Great. But ONLY if it's a sweet purée ie fruit/custard/yoghurt.

If I try him with anything savoury, he won't eat it, spits it out, cries, gets fed up. I bought some ready made purées of the savoury kind (incase it was my cooking!) but the same thing happens.

He will attempt to eat finger foods that are savoury - veg, toast, cheese, peppers, cucumber, pasta etc but he doesn't actually eat anything if it's finger foods. They go in his mouth and then come back out. Along with a face of disgust from him.

I'm hesitant to force him more savoury purées incase that means he'll start refusing all purées and stops the sweet ones then will feel like we've gone back a stage. However I obviously can't only feed him sweet purées forever.

Do I continue with sweet purées and savoury finger foods and hopefully he'll start eating more of the finger foods? Do I keep forcing the savoury ones and hope he gets used to the flavour?

Any suggestions?

Could I just feed him the sweet stuff for a couple of weeks 3 x a day.
Then when he's completely used to it and trusting me do something like a spoon of sweet then a spoon of savoury & repeat at each mealtime? Or mix up some sweet with some savoury so it tastes less savoury, then gradually reduce the sweet each time?
Or something else?

Anyone?

He doesn't need solid foods yet so honestly I would stop feeding him the sweet purees and give him savoury purees and finger foods. He'll be getting all the nutrients he needs from milk for a while yet.

I agree with the PP. Tbh I would decide what is a healthy range of foods to offer and stick to offering those. If you keep only giving sweet food you will create much bigger problems as time goes on.

Babies can take many exposures to get used to a new food, so you just have to keep offering. I would also persist with savoury finger food, as eventually some will get eaten and it will help with getting used to the tastes.

If a food is rejected then don't offer an alternative, just clear away and move on. Don't be put off offering that particular food again another time, as it may take many many goes before a food is accepted.

Ok so could I offer something sweet after dinner as a dessert but the 3 meals be savoury? And I can do a mix of savoury finger foods and savoury purées?

I wouldn't offer him anything sweet at all, until he is eating savoury food. If he doesn't eat what you offer, put it away and try something else the next meal. He doesn't need food for nutrition at this age and if you continue to give him sweet purées you are setting yourself up for problems later on.

You could also try carrot and sweet potatoes mixed together? All babies seem to like it!

What about trying him on sweetish but savoury purees like butternut squash and parsnip, for eg, as a compromise? You could also try those Ella's ones that are a mixture of fruit and veg, blueberries with broccoli or somesuch. He needs a mixture of different things, of course, but I remember how frustrating it is trying to get them to eat at this stage. Sympathies!

Try sweeter veg, like carrots, as the pp suggested. Or do some odd fruit and veg mixes like the Ella's pouches. And try not to worry too much. My baby favoured fruit purées to begin with but is now taking a mix of fruit and savoury.

I've been trying him on the sweeter veg and some of those mixed pouches. He seems to like them the first time but not again after.
He'll eat toast so I've been spreading different random things on his toast, ie puréed peas, pesto etc is that ok or will he only ever eat toast when he's older? Yesterday he had omelette, cucumber sticks and toast with pea purée - obviously he didn't eat it all but tasted some and I think ate some.
So can I give him toast once every day for example but with a different thing spread on it?

Then hopefully he'll start eating the food but on its own not on toast? I've tried pea purée but he won't eat it but is eating the toast IYSWIM?
I hate weaning

He's only little so won't eat much anyway, even when he does.

Just keep giving him stuff (not sweet food) and he'll eventually eat it. Don't give everything on toast. Just bung him a bit of what you're having. You're only getting him used to food at this stage, it isn't essential that he eats lots yet.

Stop with the sweet things, get him eating his veggies up :)

I think you might be over thinking it a bit. I found weaning a bit stressful at first until I just stopped worrying and gave ds food. Just food. Pitta breads, hummus, weetabix, omelette, fish pie, sweet potato mash, whatever i was having...etc. Ditch the sweet purees for now (I wouldn't eat pear puree for lunch!!) and give him a cheese sandwich. I think a lot of what we call weaning is actually "messing about with food" at this age. It's nice to give them different textures and flavours and try not to get too worried about the actual amount he's taking.
Toast everyday isn't the end of the World (I bet I have toast everyday, have you tried crumpets with butter or bagels with cream cheese? TBH omelette, cucumber toast and pea puree sounds great (at 7.5 months some of my friends would have thought this positively miraculous!). You're doing much better than you think you are, you just need to take some of the pressure off yourself!!