Refusing Solids/Spoon...should I wait and try again later?

[SThompson]

Hi Everyone

We recently tried to introduce solids to our 6-month DD.  We actually tried at 5m3w with baby cereal and EBM.  She wasn't overly keen on it.  I thought it might be the cereal itself.  We then tried carrot (2 days), sweet potato (2 days), apple (2 days), banana with cereal (1 day) and now have just taken a break.

The reason why we are breaking is that after the first day, she did not let us get the spoon anywhere near her mouth.  She turns her head, pushes it away everything.  We've tried eating with her and that sort of worked, letting just touch and feel the puree (she just played with it), giving her the spoon (it's all pureed so it just falls off).  We started at breakfast, but then quickly moved to after the 11am feed as she is in a better mood overall, but still didn't seem to help.  I don't want to force her, but it's not like she's refusing a type of food, she's refusing the whole eating experience.

She showed all the signs of being ready for solids, so I'm a bit confused on why she's really rejecting solids.

My question is - am I doing the right thing by just waiting?  How long should I wait?  Am I doing something wrong with the whole eating experience?  I know at this point it's all just tastes and textures and not actually eating the entire serving (am just doing 1 ice cube worth of food).  But - she's not even giving the taste/texture a chance because she won't open her mouth at all.

Help!

[First Time Mom]

At this age I would not worry about it at all, she will be ready and willing in no time. I would however  keep offering while the family is eating but not make a big deal of it if she refuses.

What time are you offering her the solids vs what time is she getting bf/or formula? The only thing I would maybe try changing around is the timing- if the solids are too close to the liquid and she's not hungry enought to want to try to eat.

Lastly, if you are making her foods (and it sounds like you are since you mention the cube) you might want to stick with a cereal (or jar food) for now while she's refusing, just to save yourself all this cooking/freezing time. I also don't think I'd bother changing it up every 2 days, I would stick with one food longer, especially if she's not even letting the food enter her mouth. It does take about 15 tastes for a lo to really decide if they like/dislike a particular food.

[SThompson]

We are offering the solids about an hour after her milk feed.  I can try to spread it out a bit, I just don't want to get too close to her sleep time to avoid any tummy problems.

Thanks for the advice about cooking the food.  I was actually thinking the same thing today.

I'll have a try again in a few days to see how it goes!

Thanks again

[First Time Mom]

Maybe try adding an extra 15 min to the hour you wait. However, make sure it doesn't impact her milk feed. Let us know how it goes!

[Chicane]

we just started with our 6mth old. I found that he needed just over a week to get used to spoon/bowl and the baby rice. I tried pear with him but then just went back to the baby rice and only very gave him 1 teaspoon and always at 11am - just tasting, testing, figuring it out. he needed much more time to adjust to the newness of it all than many of the books/plans suggest...maybe your LO does too? Today is the first day that I feel he actually ate - and looked like he was enjoying/anticipating it. Perhaps go back to the beginning and simplify it all, slow down a bit and see where she takes you!

[First Time Mom]

Good point Chicane, all babies are so different! My dd gobbled up solids when she first started, never refused a new food, never let it impact her bfing, always ate everything offered. My ds on the otherhand, just turned 7 months, will eat solids but makes a "I don't like this" face, is only up to 2 meals at this point and they are TINY meals (cereal for one, fruit or veg for the other, 2 tablespoons per meal) and at this point has started to cut down his bfing but to the point where he is not bfing enough (I know from wet diapers- I still count them!) so as of today we are back down to one "solids" meal a day!

[SThompson]

Update here.  I backed off last week and tried again on Saturday.  She just refused again.  I also gave her a slice of apple to mouth on and after about two sucks she gagged and vomited all over herself.  It wasn't a tart apple either.  I have also noticed that lately she is pushing the bottle away and it's becoming more difficult to feed her.  Her daily intake has dropped by about 4-5oz.
I think she is making an association between things being put in her mouth.  She doesn't like the spoon and she is now not liking the bottle.  So, we are going to back WAY off the solids for a week or two and see if she gets better with the bottle feeding.  I spoke to my mother about this and she mentioned I wasn't interested in solids until I was 9 months old.
I am just wondering- when should I start to be concerned that she's not getting interested in solids?  7 months?  8 months?  When should our little ones be well into eating them?  I know all babies are different, but I will feel a lot more relaxed if someone can tell me I shouldn't be worrying until my DD is about X-months.

[Roseii]

Hi sweetie, advice varies so much everywhere but my health visitor (UK) said "most" babies are on solids by 8 months, which did actually seem quite late to me as everyone I knew started their babes as early as possible, like 18 weeks! It's only since I learned a lot more on BW that I have seen 18 weeks is not a great idea, it's much better to wait! Fortunately for me I started DD at 5m and she did great, and at 18m the kid eats everything.
The thing to remember is that milk should be their primary source of nutrition til 12m so I would def work on the bottle issues if you can, like you say you don't want to reinforce negative associations with the solids and that affect her milk intake.
Good luck HTH

[Chicane]

Yes agree totally with Charlibob - there is nothing to worry about - I think you are doing the right thing by giving her a bit of space - even if she was accepting the solids now she would still be getting ALL of her nutrients from the milk so no need to worry about her health just yet. we went to the pediatrician today and he told me that even though we have started solids it will be quite a few months before his system can actually process the food into useful nutrients. I plan on BFing as normal through this period probably for at least 3-4 more months then might start to cut back on the bfing at bit...who knows? We have to let them guide us...

[First Time Mom]

I agree, to give her space but keep trying every so often. You don't want to force it as you don't want lo to have an adversion to foods. They are supposed to build up their solids until solids become their main source of nutrients and calories after 12 months. I have read though that finger foods should be introduced by 8 months and that some will adapt to regular food with more resistence if finger/texture food is delayed much past this age. With that said, I've heard about many los that refuse finger food or food with heavy texture until much later. They all get adjusted to solids at some point as I've never seen an adult eat puree .

[Chicane]

unless of course that puree is in the form of melted chocolate with yummy things to dip in it...

[First Time Mom]

LOL!