Was eating fine, now refuses to? Any Ideas???

[Courtney L]

Hi,

LO is just over 6 months. 2 weeks ago we started solids, he took to them great! Opened wide, was excited, ate most of what I was giving (rice cereal). Then he got sick (all this last week) he is better now but will not eat, he refuses the spoon whereas before he would grab it and put it in his mouth! I want him to enjoy eating and don't understand why the drastic change. Would it be because he was sick??? I keep trying every morning, the last 3 days we mixed his cereal with pears and he will take a few spoonfuls but nothing like he was. Any suggestions to get him re-interested???

TIA

[B J]

I had the same problem with my little guy who will be 7 months next week.  He loved the rice cereal for the first few days and then he refused to eat.  I tried oatmeal and he didn't want it either.  I then tried mixing in different vegetables with the cereal. It took about 2 weeks of trying every morning before he started eating again, and now he is doing really well.  In the morning I now give him rice or oatmeal cereal with fruit.  I started with 1 tbsp and he is now eating 3 tbsp of cereal mixed with half a jar of fruit.  Since he was doing well with breakfast, I started giving him dinner also, which is cereal mixed with veggies.   

I was really frustrated when he stopped eating at the beginning as it looked like we were off to a good start.   Don't despair!  I would just keep trying and I'm sure he'll start enjoying it again.

[Mimi 2]

Keep trying.  It may take him a while to have an appetite for solids as he was sick.  Maybe you can try introducing a new food.  Another possibility to is do lunch instead of breakfast for a while.  Something that is interesting and new to pique his interest again.  Bm/formula is still more important than solids at this age so don't worry too much. 

Babies goes through these phases of solids rejection/pickiness.

[Courtney L]

Well thats good to know, he still gets his bottle before solids. I usually wait an hour after he eats. I am going to try bananas tomorrow, maybe he will like that and maybe I'll wait until lunch time instead of first thing in the morning.

Thanks!