Weaning advice needed - food refusal

[Knitsewthread]

I couldn't find a weaning board so hope it's ok to post this here and someone can offer some advice!

I'm really struggling with my 8 month old and his weaning. He refuses almost everything. I have tried lots of different veg, fruit, pasta, yoghurt, cheese, toast, mashed potato, spag bol etc. Have tried home made purees, Ella's pouches and a few finger foods (admittedly I am a bit hesitant of them.)

The only thing he will eat is porridge (both Aptamil porridge and proper oats) and Weetabix which he will eat loads of. He won't eat baby rice.

I keep trying but sometimes it feels like such a waste to keep cooking and pureeing just for him to have 0 to 4 mouthfuls and then stop.

I really don't know how to move him along and am worried about when he starts nursery in a few months and I have to tell them he will only eat porridge and weetabix!

DS1 was so different and would wolf down anything and everything. I'm doing all the same things but to no avail.

Any tips would be greatly appreciated.

Empathy here op. 9 month old - yoghurt or nothing. She literally sits there with her tongue hanging out until it falls off if anything else is presented.
Here for the advice too.

Firstly, I'd stop cooking and pureeing for him, it will save you a lot of time and hopefully you won't be as upset when he refuses.

If he does refuse a food, like the spag bol, what do you do now?

Don't worry about finger foods either. If you are concerned, there's a few good baby first aid videos on YouTube but most babies can pick up and chew food at 8 months

Oh and the Weaning Section is under "Feed the World"

We struggled in the beginning too. It took a month before he’d actually eat anything. He is now eating well but I think that’s luck rather than anything we’ve done specifically. All I can advise is stop cooking for him while he’s fussy! I felt pressured to make things from scratch and would spend time doing so, only to have him refuse it. This just added to the stress. I eventually stopped, and now he has something like yogurt and fruit, porridge, Ella’s pouches, or the frozen meals from Mamamade if he’s having purées, otherwise he has toast, hummus, fruit, and stuff like that that doesn’t need preparing. It took the stress out of it as it’s lockdown, and I’m working full-time. It’s great if people have the time and the inclination to make their own baby food, but if it doesn’t work for you, just do something else - saved my sanity.

Thank you, good advice about stopping the pureeing for a while.

@BunnyRuddington I know you're right, I have been on baby first aid training too - it still just makes me so nervous! Will keep trying.

Thanks for letting me know about the board too, will ask to move this there and have a look through other threads.

He sounds like my second DS. He seemed interested at 5 months so I started giving him the odd bit of food but he refused all of it. We tried again about a month later (joint effort between me and the childminder) and still nothing. Then one magical day when he was 8 and a half months he ate a yoghurt and that seemed to trigger everything - within a fortnight he was pretty much eating the same as the rest of the family, just chopped up really well. I remember speaking to the HV and she advised to get in touch with her if he hadn't shown an interest by 9 months. That was 11 years ago though so weaning advice has probably changed. It's easy for me to say but to not to worry too much, he'll get there x

Have a look at this guide from the Caroline Walker Trust as well as looking through old threads. It should give you some ideas of what to offer him. And remember it is just that, you offer and it's up to him if he eats it