What happens if baby won't open mouth?

[Amberc]

Will start weaning soon and wondered what to do if LO won't eat any solids as the few teaspoons i have tried to give so far to see if the tongue thrust reflex has gone have only met with tightly closed jaws!

How old is your lo? Six months is only a guideline and many babies have iron stores that will last them longer than 6 months.

My son refused to open his mouth until he was 28 weeks. He then skipped purees and went straight to finger foods. By his first birthday he was eating a tiny portion of sunday dinner with nothing mashed or pureeed. He took food when he was ready. Babies are all different and none of them have read up on child development.

It is hard to believe but your lo will let you know when he is ready for something more than milk.

I suggest that you let him play with lots of soft finger foods like a stick of banana or a piece of melon. Even if it just get mouthed rather than eaten its a learning experience.

If he doesn't want the food you offer, give him milk instead and try again another time. His major source of calories for the next six months will still be milk, so it really doesn't matter whether he takes a teaspoon of pureed banana or not. There's no rush.

Why are you trying him with teaspoons of food now though, if you're not ready to wean yet? Relax - the more you worry about whether he will eat/whether the tongue thrust reflux has gone/what to do if he doesn't eat, the more he will pick up on your anxiety and the tighter he will close his mouth!

He's a couple of weeks away from his 6 months birthday (IYKWIM). He can sit unaided for 5 minutes, he eats 200ml a feed every 3 hours so he's pretty much there in terms of the guidelines. He tasted a tiny bit of apple on the end of a spoon and went mental. The same happened with baby rice as I thought he might want something blander, same with carrot. Of dear. Maybe I will have to wait and do the BLW route after all? I guess my worry with that is that he will choke on something.

shitehawk - was just 'testing the waters'

I had this problem with dd2. We started baby led weaning from about 8 months which helped.

blw?

BLW baby led weaning - putting soft finger foods in front of them and letting them take the lead.

So doing it later is OK? people only really talk about weaning early not weaning late!

my ds2 was like this, I gave it a few days and for a couple of months (6-8months) he would sometimes be happy to eat, but since then he has never let me or anyone else feed him with a spoon.

In the long run it was better as he could feed himself really early on.

"So doing it later is OK? people only really talk about weaning early not weaning late! "

Six months is just a guideline and babies do vary when they are ready for food like any other area of development. Contrary to what some people might believe your baby is unlikely become anemaic just because he starts eating solids slightly later. I think you just have to trust your baby.

I believe the advice is to offer food rather than forced feed. Ultimately if your baby won't take the spoon there is not a lot you can do.

Neither of my ds's were ready to wean at 6 months. Ds1 started eating at about 7/8 months and ds2 has only just decided he wants to eat solids at nearly nine months. Now he's started though he just doesn't stop.

So don't worry if he doesn't start just yet. He will in his own time.

Ok we'll see what happens then in a couple of weeks time. Fingers crossed. He's been in a terrible mood today anyway - cheeks like two little beetroots so maybe he just wasn't in the mood.

you could try giving him an empty spoon just to play with, chew on etc. I did this with dd ans tho it did mean she always grabbed the spoon she got quite adept at feeding herself, and it meant she could regulate herself how much went in (in the early days, practically nowt!).

I've done that and he does stick the spoon in his mouth so that's good. I think I have discovered what it is as he sucked a bit of mush off a spoon today. Also he has a mesh feeder which I out a bit of nectarine into and he sucked the life out of that too. Is definitely an 'I don't know how to eat without sucking' thing. hmm. I guess he'll have to learn!

I have the same problem with my 6 month old. He just doesn't want to open his mouth which is new to me as my first boy opened his mouth very wide the first time he saw a spoon.
Good to read others have had this problem and now feel more comfortable to wait a bit.
Would like to know how often you offered food to find out when they were ready? Every day or once a week.

What reallytired said. I started weaning DS at 26 weeks and he has refused anything off a spoon since about 32 weeks, so we BLW'ed from then on . Clamps mouth shut, turns head away and goes beserk in high chair ((We had always done a mix of finger food/purees before then).). I am just teaching him to use a spoon, but he is very adept at finger foods. He also had a Sunday dinner on Saturday (IYSWIM). If you are BLW you may think that your baby is not getting much, but DS has never had problems putting on weight, even though it might seem that he eats like a bird!

He is very nearly one now, and toasties are his new fave!

This thread is from Nov 2008

Thanks for the tips. Fingerfoods sounds like the way forward.
PS know it's an old thread. I'm just going through this experience now and thought it might be useful to use the same chat. Am new to mumsnet, so apologies if this is wrong :0