My DD is 7 months old. For about a month I had started testing the waters with Avocado, Sweet Potatoe, Banana and Brown rice cereal. She will not let me feed her anything. She refuses the spoon. She will eat from the table if we are all eating. She will also eat little finger foods like Oaties and Gerber fruit stars. But other than that has no interest. I tried again today, because I wanted to give her some yogurt with live acidophilus (see yeast thread). I put a tiny bit of unsweetened apple juice and wheat germ in it. She wouldn't touch as amatterof fact she shuddered like she usually does and spit it out. Then wouldn't let me try again. I feel like I am being lazy because I haven't worried about it since she is still nursing heavily. Everyone keeps asking if she is eating solids. I say not really just occasional table foods and finger foods.

Do you guys have any suggestions? Should I even be worried about it. My oldest has terrible eating habits and I wanted so badly for her to not have these same problems.

My second ds was the same way when i started feeding him solids. I pretty much gave up on any spoon fed foods and got really creative making finger foods that he wouldn't choke on because that is all he would eat. Every so often i would offer something that needed to be eatten with a spoon and the only way he would eat it was if he could feed himself. Does your dd spoon feed herself?
DS like to have a small bowl of yogurt to dip things in like chunks of banana, steamed carrots....

I wouldn't worry to much just keep offering different foods..

Julia

Your post made me smile. 13 years ago when I wanted to put DD#1 on solids she wouldn't eat either, I remember talking to a friend on the phone and saying "I'm freaking out 'cuz she's not eating, but she's not eating 'cuz I'm freaking out" LOL
I wouldn't worry at all, in fact I would stop offering, she'll eat when she's ready. I read a book once that said when a baby gets teeth they're ready for solids, so I go by that.
I started my gang on avacado too, but I have a friend (whose opinion on all things parenting I respect emmensely (sp)) who only gave her babies finger food, she said baby's have a really good gag-reflex and never worried about them chocking
So don't worry mama, she'll eat before she goes off to college. :)
anni

I only ever fed my kids finger foods. Pieces of banana and avocado big enough that they could grab and mouth them. Both did that a bit at 7-8 months and ate a few other things but not much before one year. Wait. She's happy nursing. It's actually so much better for her to have that than solids right now!

Plus consider waiting till a year for wheat germ and yogurt (wheat and dairy). I am dealing with awful food allergies with my son. If you wait till they are older to introduce allergenic foods they are less likely to be allergic to them. </unsolicited advice>

Hi,

My daughter is almost 11 months and has days where she won't eat a single thing, and others where that's all she does.
She had a cold last month and didn't have any food for 2 weeks.
I took her to the doctor and she said as long as she's having breastmilk or formula that's fine for her.
Right now they are just learning to eat but their main nutrition comes from their milk.

if she is used to some finger foods already, maybe she doesn't like the texture?
i wouldn't worry ~ maybe feed her at the table the things she will eat.
my ds is a bit older & just started w/ barley, rice, banana, sweet potatoes, & sweet peas. he seems to like them all..lol. oh, & he eats Os too. he is also nursing fulltime.

i wouldn't rush her :) goodluck

mine didn't want solids untiil she was 1 yr...don't about what other people ask???;) just evade their questions..they ususlly ask that kind of question so they can advise you:p

to get acidophilus in her you can sprinkle some on your nipple before breast feeding...or mix with formula...

don't force her into it...follow her cues. don't worry. honestly...now is just practice for eating...the nutrition comes from milk.

we went out to eat this weekend. I had some avocados...I didn't want dd to make a huge mess at restaurant, so I tried to feed dd chunks from my fork and she ate them. She actually let me feed her. Then she ate a ton of fryed sweet potatoes. She is very independent...wants to do it herself. Anyway thanks for the encouragement. In my heart I know she is getting enough nutrition and that right now is the experimental phase. Its just hard when you are around a bunch of mainstreamers who have already weaned off the breast (to bottle? why?) and started solids at 3-4 mos.

Part of me is selfish in not wanting her to start solids I admit though...dirtier CDs, mess to clean, and starting my period...yuck. I am hoping I can move right into a third pregnancy w/o starting. Wishful thinking..

I enjoyed your question because I remember being so anxious to get my first little one to eat when she was 7 months old. I felt my success as a mother partly depended upon getting her to consume food! Turns out that neither of my kids would eat til they were at least a year, and thank God for that- because the research has demonstrated that the longer a child breastfeeds, the higher their academic achievement and the lower their risk for all major illnesses! Anyway, I'd say by the time they had a whole mouth full of teeth (14 months or so), they really got going on the consistent eating. Over time, my philosophy has become, DON'T feed the baby...when they can pick it up themselves AND chew it themselves, they should be eating! If you have to pulverize and process something so that they can eat it- they shouldn't be eating it! No one in other cultures has baby food- kids eat when they have the motor coordination and the teeth to eat! That's the way God made it. Why are we always rushing everything? Oops, I'm on that darn soap box again. Sermon complete. Just listen to your child and follow his/her lead and everything will work out well in the food department. Shrinkmama

(p.s., don't buy into the myths about feeding and sleeping more- shoving food in them too early often just brings on lots of bad tummy reactions and allergies that decrease sleep rather than improve it; in addition, my favorite author, Dr. Sears, says that their is no empirical evidence that increased food intake improves sleep)

Reading this has been a relief for me, because Ron isn't really into solids yet (he's almost 7 months). When I try he reaches for the spoon and gums it and doesn't want to give it back. He doesn't take anything from a bottle, and doesn't have juice or anyother liquids yet. I love the baby safe feeder, when he does want to join us at the table I usually put what ever we're having ( a piece of steamed sweet potato, or a banana if we're having something with cheese or whatnot) and he gums on it while we eat. I'm a little too paranoid to just give him a chunck of something, good gag reflex or no.

I'm with Lauren... we only do finger foods. I don't want to be trapped at the highchair spoon feeding a child who won't/can't feed himself. Plus I figure if he can feed himself it's a sure sign he's ready for solids. Although I do occasionaly spoon feed something really messy like applesauce, it's not the norm. As far as messiness goes... always have an extra outfit in the diaper bag and plan to leave an extra tip! LOL I always tip about $2 higher because of the mess.

Grace was exactly the same. She hated to be spoonfed. She started on solids at about 10 or 11 months when she could pick up cheerios or small pieces of banana etc.. with her fingers. When the doctor asked I would just say she was doing fine and you could tell by looking at her that she wasn't starving LOL! Breastmilk was obviously enough for her. She was very chunky until she weaned at about 15 months.

My daughter Mallaigh is seven months as well. She HATES baby food or any type of mushed food like bananas and sweet potatoes.

But, if I take the sweet potatoes and cut them into very small bite size chunks that she can feed herself, she will eat them. She eats cheerios too. And her absolute favorite thing is frozen peas!! She will eat chunks of pasta or cooked carrots. She doesn't like any type of fruit though, only veggies, which is kind of backward, but hey, that has got to be a good thing. She will eat it if she can do it herself.

And if you babe isn't ready, that's ok too!