6 month old not interested in food

[sunnyfields25]

Hi

I won't be able to ask my HV about this for a few weeks yet, so in the meantime I wondered if any of the wise people on here could advise.

I started offering DS puréed veg recently but he won't even entertain it. Clamps his mouth shut and refuses to let the spoon touch him. I don't want to force it so have temporarily abandoned purées.

He's a bit more interested in finger food - only given steamed carrots and broccoli so far - but he mainly just plays with it. I'm certain none has entered his mouth, but I think he may have got a little taste when he brushed a bit near his lips 😃

I know it's very early days, but is this normal and what's the best approach? I just assumed that because he likes to shove everything in his mouth he would want to eat food!

Just keep giving him bits and give him his spoon to hold. Speak to the hv when you see then if you're worried but it takes time for babies to get used to solids and they still need their milk more.

It’s perfectly normal, try not to worry. Offer purée and finger foods but think of them as things to play and perhaps taste with rather than eaten. Try all different flavours and colours you’ll find he’ll have some favourites. Over time he’ll start to get eat more but not for a while yet

A very delayed thank you for both of your replies .

I've been carrying on with both types of food, and he has just started to eat a little bit of both. He's gradually figuring out how to gum and swallow, and he's started opening his mouth and letting me feed him a bit of purée.

We're gradually getting there!

That’s good, how old is your little one?

He's nearly 7 months now. I think we're still very much in the exploratory phase, but it's really encouraging that he's started swallowing bits and bobs. And is no longer clamping his mouth shut!

DD never opened her mouth when I waved a spoon at her. Nor did she bother picking up finger food. I would watch in amazement when friends with very similar aged babies came around and one had to use two spoons to keep up with her baby's open mouth and the other would have a stack of finger food to demolish. DD was very happy on the 98th centile on breastmilk alone.
She gradually got better at eating, went through general fussiness as a toddler, is now 8 and eats a wide range of foods and is willing to try most things. It just meant we got to the various weaning targets later than anticipated.

It’s amazing how different they are. If you were just doing baby led weaning very little would get eaten for months. Like the previous poster says try not to compare to other babies, some will gobble it all up from the start others are more careful. Both get there in the end. My DS loved harder finger foods to start with like cucumber sticks as they were nice on his gums (had to be more careful when he got teeth as would nibble bits off and then be a hazard!) puree wise we followed the Ella’s kitchen book to make your own purée and it really helped me to think what to give when - especially the map you can get sent for free via website. Different times of day mw suit better too- breakfast was always a better time nevthan lunch. I’m waffling now but just some suggestions if you needed them

Thanks both!

It's good to know that things turned out ok despite the delayed start @slimyslitheryslug.

I've actually been looking at that Ella's Kitchen planner @April45 and it's handy. Helps to get an overview of the coming months.

The main thing I'm struggling with now though is knowing when in the day to be offering DS food. Before weaning I was breastfeeding him when he wakes up from a nap, and then again about 2 hours later before the next nap. Now I'm still doing that, but also offering food in between (after about an hour awake). It's not going too good though as he'll take a couple of spoonfuls/put a few bits of finger food in mouth, and then lose interest and stare off into space.

I think I must be getting the timings wrong for offering food, but I'm wary of dropping milk feeds and trying to offer food instead in case it results in less calories/less nutrients. And he may also kick off because he just wants milk!

PS should have said, he's only 25th centile which is why I'm wary of decreasing the calories he gets.

You don't need to just give low calorie foods like veg and fruit if you're worried about calories. Toast and cream cheese, cheese and spinach muffins, veg flapjacks etc are all easy snacks. I'd recommend the Baby led weaning cookbook and see what you think. It has a good summary of the BLW principles and lots of recipes and food suggestions.