9 month old rejecting solids

[pippabg]

I posted this elsewhere, but reposting into more appropriate topic and hoping for more responses.

My 9 month old is really not enjoying solids. We started just before 6 months and he was a bit more adventurous and would try a range of purees and finger foods. The last two months have been really poor. We can sometimes get him to have purees, mainly the pouches, but anything I make for him or anything with slight texture he doesn't seem to like. He won't let us feed him and he's more likely to feed himself with a spoon, which I don't mind, but he seems to have completely gone off finger foods and he's just pushing them away. He's had the odd cold and teething episode which I tried rationalising was the reason why he'd gone off food, but these come and go and it's two months on and he's really not interested!


Any advice to help him get better at eating? We've realised he definitely has a preference for sweet to savoury but I imagine most babies do! We sometimes have more success feeding him directly from the pouch, but worried if this is creating bad habits and last few days he's even refusing the pouches. I'm starting to worry there's something wrong.

[11NigelTufnel]

If he is ill, he might just not want food. One of mine didn't eat anything but a few mouthfuls of yoghurt for a good month at that age as he was constantly ill. The doctor said it was fine as long as he was still having milk. If you are concerned then you can speak to a health visitor. I am not convinced that pouch purees of sweet fruit amlnd veg will be helping your cause. Cut them out for a bit toxaee if he tro3s anything else. At this age, nutrition is still very milk based for a lot of babies.

[CadyEastman]

Agree that the pouches might not be helping. They can be so tempting to use as they are convenient and lot of babies will eat them, often when they won't eat anything else. But they are overly sweet and very soft meaning that your DC's mouth muscles won't be developing.

What schedule is he roughly on now for milk and food? Maybe we can suggest a couple of tweaks

[pippabg]

Sorry to just respond. It's rough going. I went to see the health visitor last week and she wasn't concerned. Suggested reducing his milk, which we have done. We've also changed his schedule to the below after advice from health visitor, but he's still not eating anything! He just won't open his mouth if I try to feed him and throws the spoon on the floor if I give it him. Sometimes he even turns the spoon the other way round and puts the tip in his mouth instead! He knows how to frustrate us, but we're trying very hard to act happy and chill!

7am Wake and Breakfast
9am milk
10am Nap
Lunch after nap c. 11:30
1pm bottle
Nap shortly after
4pm dinner
6pm+ bedtime routine and bottle
Night feed  (optional)

[Strawberrycheesecake7]

I find that my 9 month old eats a lot better when we don’t put pressure on him. We put him in his high chair during meal times, put a bit of whatever we’re eating on his tray and sit down and eat ourselves. We don’t try to encourage him to eat at all and just focus on eating our own meals. He loves to join in with whatever we’re doing so he usually copies us and eats some of his as well. Obviously every baby is different and this might not work for yours, but maybe worth a try.