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Weaning

Find weaning advice from other Mumsnetters on our Weaning forum. Use our child development calendar for more information.

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Original poster

Feeling discouraged...8 month old doesn't like lumpy food!

36 replies

Nessamommy · 26/05/2008 20:15

My son started eating solids at 5 months. He has been really enjoying all of his food and eating lots..but everything is pureed. He will be 8 months in about a week. I have had occasional lumpy foods up till this point but mostly everything is pretty smooth. I have also been the one to feed him so today I put some food on his tray in front of him on his high chair. He just smeared it all around and put nothing to his mouth. I was advised to let him do this so that he could try to feed himself a bit. He had broccoli and potatoes for lunch today...the potatoes were mashed so they were a bit more lumpy. He gags on them and hates it. What do I do? Is this normal at this point? I don't know if this has anything to do with it, but he does not have any teeth yet. Direction and advice please!

OP posts:

Original poster

Nessamommy · 26/05/2008 20:16

Ooops...I put this in the wrong category. Sorry!

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DontlookatmeImshy · 26/05/2008 20:25

I'm sure someone will come along with some better advice but try notto worry. My ds was well into 9 months before he was happy with lumpy foods. just keep trying, he will get there in his own time.

Original poster

Nessamommy · 26/05/2008 20:29

That does make me feel better...thanks! I try to follow my baby and what he wants but sometimes you hear things about what "should" be happening. It gets me upset...like I haven't done something properly.

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AitchTwoCiao · 26/05/2008 20:33

what's he like with a soldier of toast and butter? have you tried that? please don't worry about having done things properly, everyone finds their own pace with things.

Original poster

Nessamommy · 26/05/2008 20:40

I haven't given him any finger foods on his own yet b/c I'm scared of him choking. I was going to try to do the lumpy thing first and then move onto finger foods etc from there.

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onepieceoflollipop · 26/05/2008 20:40

I think this is in the right category btw.

My dd1 showed no interest in finger foods til she was over a year old! She has turned out fine incidentally and now eats almost everything bar lettuce.

Dd2 from the start has been offered both purees and finger foods. Sometimes we found if she enjoyed the pureed version of something (broccoli is a good example) she took to it better when we offered it whole.

It sounds as if you are going from purees to slightly more lumpy foods but still spoon feeding e.g. mash as well as some finger foods? We just kept putting a small selection of things on her tray and letting her get on with it. It did take a few weeks but she now grabs things and shoves them in.

What has also worked well with dd2 is to give her things like sugar free rusks (organix imo are fairly ok ingredients wise) and as Aitch suggests a finger of toast. My dd also loves things like scotch pancakes which are nice and soft. Most babies have a sweet tooth. My dd2 struggles with more chewy things like toast, prefers bread and butter but of course they are all different.

onepieceoflollipop · 26/05/2008 20:44

Nessamommy ime they can choke on slightly lumpy foods such as mash (or stage 2 jars) possibly more than finger foods. With mashed things the lumps are quite random iykwim, whereas if they are eating toast etc they seem to be expecting little lumps to come off.

I was worried about choking. Hopefully Aitch will do a link to her blog as there is stuff (I think) about "gagging" on there which I found very helpful. They all gag, and kind of move the food forward in their mouths whilst at the same time a bit of extra saliva seems to appear and helps them to sort it out for themselves. It is a little unnerving initially but you and they get very used to it.

Original poster

Nessamommy · 26/05/2008 20:45

Thanks onepiece! Does it matter about teeth though?

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AitchTwoCiao · 26/05/2008 20:46

well, what will you do if he chokes on something else? a little toy or something off the ground in the park? better to prepare for it, imo.

as i understand it, babies suck purees off a spoon, so it's easy to see why they gag on lumps as they're sucking it to the back of their throat. whereas finger food (if the baby will eat it, of course) is a bit more under control.

anyway, if you are scared of choking (which i quite understand and agree with) then investigate doing an infant resus course at the hospital. or at least look up techniques online. makes no odds what you're feeding the baby, it's a good skill to have.

AitchTwoCiao · 26/05/2008 20:47

blog is at www.babyledweaning.com, hth.

onepieceoflollipop · 26/05/2008 20:50

dd2 is 9 months and has only got 2 teeth at bottom which appeared about a month ago.

They seem to have made little difference if any to her "chewing" ability. If she likes something enough she seems to manage to eat it.

I think that their gums are quite tough, certainly before she had teeth she would clamp down painfully on me while I was b/feeding and from that experience I would say she could chomp on most foods. (ouch)

The only real things she has problems with are bits of meat, but a friend suggested I steam chicken as that makes it a bit more "melt in the mouth" rather than chewy.

onepieceoflollipop · 26/05/2008 20:51

btw I meant to say that it is lovely to hear that he is enjoying his food and eating well, that (imo) should help ease him onto more finger foods etc.

hairtwiddler · 26/05/2008 20:54

The teeth thing really isn't an issue. DD was 16m and had finger food from 7months. She could eat anything she was offered, as long as it was 'gummable'.
I think the suggestion of toast with butter or philly cheese is a good start. Or a sweet potato wedge. Maybe even a plain rice cake?

hairtwiddler · 26/05/2008 20:55

I should have said she was 16m before she got any teeth!

Original poster

Nessamommy · 26/05/2008 20:57

I am feeling better! I am going to give him some finger food for supper tonight. My mom had suggested doing the lumpy foods first then finger foods, but now I'm starting to see the correlation between the two.

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AitchTwoCiao · 26/05/2008 20:59

and don't be disappointed if he doesn't pick them up. steamed carrot is good, really really steamed . and he probably will gag, but it's a learning curve. have a look at what people have said about it on the blog, see what you think.

Original poster

Nessamommy · 26/05/2008 21:05

What about some banana cut into pieces?

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BirdyArms · 26/05/2008 21:09

My advice is to relax and try a variety of things every so often - I think it's definitely too early to worry. I struggled to get ds2 to eat lumpy food until he was about 12 months - was a real surprise to me because ds1 ate finger food from around 7 months. I tried every few days but he would gag and choke and often bring up anything else he'd eaten - he had a mouthful of teeth so that definitely wasn't the problem. Some things were better then others eg baby pasta in sauce he would sometimes manage. He's still, at 15 months, not great with finger food - he will eat a sandwich if I feed it to him but won't hold it himself - but he will feed himself breadsticks and rice cakes himself so it's obviously just laziness with him.

onepieceoflollipop · 26/05/2008 21:13

Banana is good but quite slippery!

Lots of fruit such as banana or very ripe pear would be good.

Also steamed/boiled veg. I used to make it slightly softer than I would for the rest of us but that's just my personal preference (and I tend to cook even root veg quite lightly when it is for the rest of us)

Things like carrot, squash, parsnip etc served in kind of "chip" shapes may go down well, especially if your ds has already enjoyed the taste of these things in pureed form.

onepieceoflollipop · 26/05/2008 21:15

BirdyArms interesting posts - it was the opposite way round with my 2 dds.

In fact with dd1 eventually to prove to myself she could definitely pick up food and eat it rather than be spoon fed mush, I put some chocolate buttons on her tray. Surprisingly she soon got the hang of things. She was 14 months btw, not a tiny baby, but I am still a bit to admit it.

BirdyArms · 26/05/2008 21:28

OPOL - the joy of having problems with no 2 rather than my pfb is that I did the chocolate button thing without a second thought! He still wasn't mad keen on picking but would at least manage to eat them without choking.

Agree that banana is good thing to try, that was one of our first successes, and well cooked pieces of butternut squash.

onepieceoflollipop · 26/05/2008 21:37

BirdyArms she sobbed and howled when she saw the chocolate buttons on her tray and realised I wouldn't pick them up for her!

Prior to this (at nursery and at home) she used to physically hide both arms behind her back and lean forward with her mouth wide open, like a little birdy actually.

The nursery had a staff member working one to one with her for a couple of lunchtimes - still no luck. This was a child btw who NEVER put anything in her mouth (no toys, absolutely nothing at all, especially not food)

Eventually I realised she and I had to sort it out together, and we did. From that day on she went wild at the colour of Cadburys' products!

missbumpy · 27/05/2008 10:47

Having exactly the same problem with my 7mo (almost 8mo). She's still not any good with lumps in puree but weirdly is fine with lumps when she is chewing on a bit of veg or bread and some comes off in her mouth.

Original poster

Nessamommy · 27/05/2008 17:54

So I tried some soft cooked apple last night and a couple banana pieces, and some pieces of bread this morning. He seems to like that there is something to play with but nothing is really making it into his mouth. He's trying though...it's kind of cute! This morning he might have been getting a bit frustrated at not getting anything into his mouth.

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AitchTwoCiao · 27/05/2008 20:20

and that, dear lady, is a learning curve. leave him to it, he will crack it soon enough.

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