8 month old ds will only eat sweet tasting things. Help!!

[MyLittleCasanova]

My 8 month old ds has been on solids for a month and half and, no matter what we try, he won't eat savoury foods.
We've tried homemade soup, mashed veg, toast, shop bought baby foods and pasta but he's just not interested. He holds it in his mouth for a while then either gags on it and brings it back up or spits it out. He then won't open his mouth when we try again. However, he will eat yoghurt, mashed/pureed fruit, rice pudding, shop bought deserts and rusks.
He's having 3 bottles a day plus a full weetabix for breakfast and fruit and/or yoghurt for lunch and tea.
Should I be worried? Any advice would be much appriciated.

My ds2 is the same and loves sweet things but was difficult to get veg into him. I started by mixing veg puree with baby rice to make the taste less strong and he would eat it like that. after doing that for a while he will now eat veg on its own.

Hi

I would honestly not worry and not insist. I have an 8 month old as well and I have 5 year old twins. The youngest is okay but the twins were a nightmare and very fussy. I think I got too stressed by it though (not suggesting you are!) and made it worse. Your son will eventually try and like, have you tried carrots as they are quite sweet? My DS3 has 3 bottles, 1 veg/fruit meal and fruit/yoghurt meal so about the same as your DS. Good luck with it all

Can I ask NicMac and Cas - are you LOs sleeping from 11 or midnight till morning uninterrupted based on your feeding.

My 7 month old is the same and refusing meat and veg (tried purees, spag bol, soup, risotto) and also resorted to shop bought alternatives "Plum" as was getting cheesed off making stuff that wasn't being touched. The only thing he likes that has veg in it is those Ella's kitchen pouches which mix fruit and veg (they are sweet!).

Anyway, he is waking at 11, 2.30 and 5 and was wondering was it because I can only get sweet stuff into him.

Are you having same problem?

his diet sounds good for an 8 mo to me -no worries!

if you want to broaden it a bit, try sweet potato (puree or mash, depending on what stage he's up to) also carrots, parsnips and swedes. I used to make big quantities of all of these separately, freeze them in ice cube trays, and mix them (or not) when preparing lo's meal. My DC2&3 would not touch anything that came out of a jar which was quite a PITA when on holiday / day out etc, but are now the most un-fussy little people you could want. TBH I think that the flavours are too strong in the jars.
I think textures and flavours are all strange and new at such a young age, and it's all about keeping on trying them and if they don't seem to like one then leave it out for a few weeks, but don't assume that anything is a permanent like/dislike at this stage.

Thanks for the advice and suggestions, everyone. I will be off to the shops this afternoon to stock up on carrots, swede and parsnips so that I can try some of these ideas!
It's good to know that its not just my ds thats a fussy eater and i'll try to stop stressing so much.
ToddlerToddler - He goes to bed at 8pm but doesn't settle til 10ish. He sleeps til around 8am, waking once at about 2ish. I'd not really thought about it before but maybe you're right. It also might be why my ds will not settle til late.

my 8 1/2 month old much prefers sweet things; baked sweet potato/butternut squash/roast potatoes are popular, as are peas and lentils. Also, I found if you mix ellas kitchen into stuff you've made, you can quite often get them to eat it! (there was no way I was thowing the food away so tried everything!). I also found mixing greek yoghurt and grated apple with veggies helps them go down nicely. She loved tinned sardines in tomato sauce though, which surprised my muchly!

Hi TiddlerTiddle
My DS sleeps from 7pm until 7am. I know we are very lucky but as I had insomniac twins last time round I think I am lucky! It was the twins who didn't like savoury and they slept much worse so there might be a connection.

My 8 month old only eats yoghurts. We have tried other foods and he is blatantly refusing. Is this ok as none of my other 2 were like this . they ate when they were ready and ate anything.

I would just make sure that the yoghurts you offer don't contain added sugar (Little Rachels or Sainsbury's 4 kids fit this), and stop offering other desserts and rusks which contain sugar - it simply isn't necessary at this age.

I would also add beetroot and sweetcorn to your shopping list.

If you're making rice pudding, you could try doing it with rice milk instead of cows - it's naturally quite sweet so you need no/very little extra sugar in it.

thanx for the advice will be buying some beetroot and sweetcorn today .. fingers crossed he will eat more than yogs.

Are tinned sardines okay? I was looking to get them but all contained salt..is this okay? Even the shrink wrapped mackeral had salt added for some reason and the boy don't like tuna.

I had the same thing with DD but recently started giving her just finger foods and she's much happier trying savoury stuff - she'll now try hommous on toast fingers, rigatoni pasta tubes with tomato sauce, cheesy pittas, cubes of cooked veggies etc. Reckon giving her control over it made her much more inclined to taste things. Worth a shot!

I had the same problem with my DD but found that giving her finger foods helpe-raw tofu and bits of toast with philadelphia are her current favourites!