Nearly 11 month old will still only eat purees

[StrugglingWithSolids]

Hi, hoping for some advice please. Apologies I think I posted in the wrong place the first time.

I'm really struggling with feeding with my little girl, she's almost 11 months. She started weaning on purees with no issues. We tried baby led weaning but she just didn't seem to get it. She constantly wants to put everything in her mouth that she shouldn't, but you'd put actual food in her hand and she'd just stare at it.

It was really stressing me out so my health visitor said to stop putting pressure on myself with BLW and just spoon feed her. We've been doing that and gradually trying to move to chunkier textures but she just won't have anything unless it's really well mashed or blended. Anything with lumps or chunks she just spits out. I've tried persevering and just offering her the same things over and over again but she just won't have it.

She has a really good appetite and if you give her something smooth she will eat it all. But if it's not smooth she won't touch it.

I'm just starting to really worry as she's getting older and we don't seem to be moving on from what she was eating at 6/7 months. I feel like I'm failing her.
She's got 8 teeth, she's smashing all of her other milestones but we really struggle with food.

How can I help her accept different textures? When should I really start to worry if she's still not getting it?

Thank you.

When you feed purees you need to gradually thicken them as they get older - that’s why puree feeding is more difficult, overall, than babyled weaning because you really need to make sure the textures move up appropriately to let them handle solid food. By 8-9 months a baby that started on purees at 6 months should be eating finger food.

I think in your position as DC is 1, I’d do a really quick transition from pureed food to finger / mashed / lumpy foods. follow baby led weaning guides on first finger foods. We gave ds slices of soft ripe avocado, tender shredded chicken, whole strawberries from 6 months - they’ll be safe transition foods for your ds too. But progress quickly if possible.

If you get stuck or baby refuses to eat it might help to talk to a health visitor.

I think I'd probably carry on with the purées but offer her finger foods at the same time at every meal, or after she's eaten her purée. She might just ignore them or throw it on the floor to begin with but hopefully she'll pick up that she's supposed to eat it eventually, especially when she realises it tastes nice!

You need to thicken the puree too else she’ll just choose the familiar texture.

Thanks for the replies, yes we are still offering finger foods as well but she just stares at them.

I have been trying to thicken the purees, I used to blend everything and now I'm mashing with a fork instead. But if there's any lumps she won't eat it at all. Maybe I should go back to blending but with less liquid so it's thicker but still smooth?

I don't seem to get much help from my health visitor to be honest. I have mentioned it every time I've seen her and she's just said not to worry, babies all go at their own pace etc. But she's nearly 1 and still only on purees and I don't think that's normal!

Has she been examined by the GP or HV, ideally the GP really since but HVs can be very hit and miss and yours doesn’t sound great, to check that there isn’t actually a medical issue that’s stopping her from swallowing chunkier stuff e.g. tongue tie or enlarged tonsils?

Can you dip a finger of toast in the puree and give them that? I did BLW and they do spit a lot out at the beginning, you just need to persevere and acknowledge that you will waste food

Is she seeing you eat the finger foods at the same time? You could try offering her things to dip into purees, or using a finger of toast or a roasted carrot etc. as a "spoon" to feed her the puree until she figures out it's all edible. Does she hold the spoon by herself or is she accustomed to an adult always spooning the food in?

Agree with others that they seem to eat less with BLW foods so if you're used to seeing her put away a big bowl of puree it won't be the same volume with finger foods.

"Porridge fingers" worked for us - google the recipe.