Refusing cereal after liking it?

[story3girl]

My LO is 6 mos + 1 week, and we've been giving cereal for about 3 weeks.  Right from when we started she loved it and would devour it off the spoon.  This past weekend we tried to give her some strained carrots and she was very strong in her expression of dislike, so I backed off.  Only now, she won't eat her plain cereal again either!  She turns her head away and tries to smack the spoon out of my hand.  I thought maybe she just didn't trust me and thought I was sneaking carrots in, but even when I get some on her lips, she makes a face and shudders and tries to spit it out.  I've tried both rice and oatmeal, both of which she liked before.

I don't want mealtimes to be a huge fight, since I know most of her nutrition is still coming from breast milk, so should I just back off for a little while?

[~inbalance~]

What about trying some other fruits or vegetables instead?  I agree you don't want to make a fight of it.  But you can still offer. 

[Texomamama]

How about mixing something in to the cereal?  I often give my 6.5 mo oatmeal with pureed fruit mixed in.  Carrots are generally well tolerated as far as veggies go, but I think squash and sweet potatoes are more of a "fan favorite" if you know what I mean.  Have you tried those?  Have you tried fruits yet?  Pears, apples, peaches, are all common first foods for babies.

I have always thought that cereals were as about as bland as can be, and once LO has been on them for a few weeks, you can move on to something else.

[story3girl]

Thanks, maybe I'll give squash a try tonight.  We tried the carrots mixed with the cereal, and separate, and both resulted in lots of food on me and not a lot in her mouth. 

Ped said to do veggies before fruits so she doesn't develop too much of a sweet tooth, but I'm so tempted to just try bananas or something else  that I think she'll like easily. 

[~inbalance~]

Honestly, I don't think it matters if you do fruits before veggies.  It's true that pureed fruits are probably more appealing than pureed veggies, but once you get to finger foods it doesn't make a difference.  Try what you think will work. 

[Texomamama]

Agree with Martina.  Once she starts on finger foods (and as she gets older and her taste buds mature), her palate and likes/dislikes will be much more evident.

My Pedi told me the same thing about veggies before fruits.  My DD1 was ambivalent about all veggies in pureed form, but once she started eating regular food, she was much more open to them.  Now, she is 3.5 and loves most all veggies.

[story3girl]

Thanks ladies!  The squash + cereal was a hit, and now she's back on the cereal even alone again, so I guess it was a fluke.

One more question - do you usually introduce a new vegetable both by itself and mixed with cereal?  I tried because I wanted to offer both, and she devoured it with her cereal but seemed skeptical of the texture by itself.  I'm trying to be "good" and only offer a new food every 3 days to watch for reactions, but we are up for sweet potatoes in another day or so and then I'd like to try greens.

Right now, we are doing cereal + squash for lunch and cereal for dinner.  My goal in a few weeks, when we have a bigger repertoire is to do cereal for breakfast, cereal + single (new) veggie for lunch and mixed veggies for dinner.  Does this sound reasonable?

[~inbalance~]

I think your plan sounds good.  Do what works for the two of you!!  You will find that she goes through all sorts of phases of likes and dislikes.  Don't get disheartened, just try something else. 

[genawomack]

My little guy did this as well.  I stuck some cinamon applesauce in with the cereal.  He adores it now.  I hope it helps.