My now 13 month old daughter was very slow to take to solids. She is now eating well. I just wanted to make a post to say how relieved I was to read on mumsnet about other children who were also late starters and maybe to reasure anyone who is currently in the middle of it that it does come good in the end.
She still eats like a bird i.e. very little but now will eat solid food that needs biting and chewing and also eats bigger quantities of puree food which is still her main stay.
Up until 10 months she would have a strong gag reflex on anything not pureed and throw it all up. And anything pureed she would eat a couple of mouthfuls happily and then refuse anymore. She has always enjoyed her milk and was breastfeed for 8 months and then changed to formula with no bother. I had lots of advice given by others! and tried her on lots of different stuff but apart from a passing curiousity she just seemed to have no interest at all and would just hold out for her milk.
I tried feeding her at different times (pre & post milk) and would keep trying with different tasters everyday.
We also had a few false starts where she was willing to eat more but then got a bad cough which seemed to encourage her to gag more easily and would gag on about the 10th mouthful and bring the whole lot up again.
Ultimately you just have to go at their own pace because then at about 11 months she just started eating bread sticks etc. pretty much overnight (well over a few days) and has continued to improve ever since.
Now we're on the other side I would say my advice is keep offering, make comedy minscule portions so you're not throwing away loads, stay calm even though it's very tedious and ignore everyone elses baby of a similar age who all seem to be able to eat 3 course meals.