refusing spoon

[lilemer]

Darling DD is 9m next week and for a week now has been completely refusing to take food from a spoon have tried picnic, finger foodsall different foods etc used to feed self banana but now none will take slivers of pear if hand fed and this is it.
how long can she live on pear alone!! i am getting REALLy frustrated and swearing under my breath while trying to feed her and baning things in kitchen as i dump more and more food ( she is in high chair in different room as i vent) I am terrified of giving her food isshoos but an getting v . Help please she is my first and my family are in a different counrty if i mention i am worried about something they worry and i just don't want to stress them out. help

prbably done to death this one......no advice out there

oh well continue panicing alone then

Don't want you to go unanswered!

Firstly you have got to chill out! Babies can live on milk alone until over a year old if required, and she won't starve!

I suspect you being so tense and stressed out has got her a bit panicky about it too.

I haven't got advice or experience on a food refuser but it would seem logical to me to take a huge step back for a moment. Milk is the source of nousrishment just now, food is NOT essential to her survival right now, so you need to be treating it with a laid-back, "this is for fun" attitude.

I'd suggest bunging her in the high chair a few times a day (when she's cheerful/not tired) with a selection of finger foods and just eating your own food for ten minutes or so without peering at her or trying to feed her at all. Or try letting her play with food on the floor/in a cot/playpen etc.

Seems obvious but are her teeth bothering her? I imagine this whole phase will pass but you have to calm down about it, she won't die of pear overdose!

Things DS (also 9 months) likes are dried apricots, raisins to pick at, strawberries, fingers of bread or toast, ricecakes, broccoli, yoghurt to squish in his hands. Just some ideas - I wouldn't offer too much at once because it's sensory overload, but just let her play around and if she puts it in her mouth then great, if not no matter. And chill out, it will be fine in the end

Hello, my DD is doing this to at the moment, she will not eat anything from a spoon so as from today we are doing BLW, and she sits and plays with her food and sometimes some goes in. Have a look at some of the baby led weaning sites to get some ideas.

Agree it could be teeth. Perhaps just sit her with you while you're eating, stick food on your plate she might like, sit near enough so she can grab it, and if she doesn't, you eat it, and so it doesn't go to waste. Plenty of milk, lots of her seeing you enjoying food, and relax - lots of babies who have been BLW'd from the start don't get it (and therefore eat much) until around this time or later. It's a phase!

Thank you all so much for the much needed advice. yesterday evening she would open her mouth for yogurt so i hid sweet potato in it she was not too impressed but ate some. if she won't eat her savoury do i just not give her dessert this is what DH thinks would be best but my she will starve paranoia will give in and give her sweet stuff just to see her eat something. think paranoia may stem from scales at 8 week check at gp where she had lost weight and then to have her check by the health visitor on usual scales and weight gone up well seems gp not checking scales work! sisne that horror feeling that i had not been feeding her enough i get v stressed about her eating and am hating weaning am crap mother

"Don't worry" (ha ha ha ha like it's that simple!) My DD was hospitalised for 2 months from NYE just when she should have started eating solids and had real 'spoon' issues. Persistance is the key. We did finger foods aplenty and the dietician said that as not heaps of food was actually going in, we should try to make every mouthful count. ADD THOSE CALORIES (like melt cheese on it, put cream in it, fry it etc). Having said that, DD's fav food is broccoli...
She also said that it was a good idea to try the spoon again sometimes as gloopy foods can be great for adding calories (her only prob with BLW was the absence of gloop). But don't stress the baby out with the spoon. If it doesn't work, don't worry and try again another time.
As my DH said "well, you don't see 50 year olds refusing the spoon, so stop worrying!" (of course, he nearly got a slap...)

hi puppetmonster i hope your DD is better now i take it the hospitalisation was not due to "spoon" issues and is she any better at spoon stuff now. amazing how DH's always seem to me more relaxed about baby stuff