Pushing out

[NorthernRosie]

My baby is pushing out all food with her tongue at just over 6 months. I know this is normal at first but I've been trying for 2 weeks now and she'll accept the food or put it in herself then a few seconds later it will all come back out.

Should I stop or carry on?

Anyone?

My DD is doing this & she is 6 months. I have no suggestions i'm afraid. I've stopped giving he solids few days, going to try again later on in the weeek.

My daughter did this for 3 or 4 weeks until she first swallowed something purposely. I was kidding myself that she'd swallowed stuff before but her nappies weren't changing apart from the odd tiny bit of broccoli. Then when she finally did swallow something it was an audible gulp (which lasted for a few months! but now she does it fairly quietly!). We started at 6m too. Now she's 14m and tries and swallows lots of things. So just hang tight! Oh also I think it took her more than a month to figure out how to swallow water from her sippy cup too.

Remember with BLW, part of the attraction is that they learn to move food around their mouth before they swallow it. With smooth purees it's the other way around. So in the first few days / weeks, they are practicing using their tongue and cheeks to move the food around; maybe having a little chew with gums or teeth; but then it gets spat out because they haven't got as far as swallowing yet. Only once they can get the food down to a swallowable consistency will they swallow. For some babies this just takes longer than others and in the meantime they should be getting all their nutrients from milk.

It's called the tongue thrust reflex and it can be a sign that they aren't ready to start weaning.

Unfortunately the HVs etc don't seem to follow that part of their advice, so tend to get twitchy if you wait later than 6 months.

You could try letting your baby explore finger foods and self feeding, it allows then to go a bit slower while still getting started.

Unfortunately the HVs etc don't seem to follow that part of their advice, so tend to get twitchy if you wait later than 6 months.

Bertie that's what my HV was like, didn't realise it was common. My dd didn't end up really starting solids until she was over 8 months old because every time I tried she had no interest in picking up food or putting it to her mouth, what I managed to get in with a spoon she pushed her tongue out. I had regular health visits because I have a history of anxiety and depression and every time the hv came round she would question how dd was eating and raise eyebrows when I said she still was ebf.

I stuck to my guns on not forcing dd until she was ready but found the whole process extremely stressful - the hardest part of motherhood so far for me. I should point out dd was remaining a healthy weight and gaining as she should so that wasn't a concern but the pressure to get her on three meals a day really got to me. I'm glad I followed my instincts though and we got there in the end.

Not that I could have forced her to eat if I'd tried!

I wouldn't have called what my daughter did the tongue thrust though, as she put the food in her mouth herself, and kept it in there for a while, before either spitting/dribbling it out or sticking her tongue out and kind of wiping the food off with her hands in a fairly uncoordinated way.

Thanks for responses. I can't work if it's tongue thrust or not - I think not as it goes in for a while before it comes out!

I started weaning my daughter at 4 months, and she took to it like it was the best thing ever. (This was 19 years ago, but she's shown no ill effects so far.) A couple of months later, around 6 or 7 months, she decided that spitting it out was as much fun as eating it. So don't be absolutely certain that it's tongue thrust, she might just be playing with it.