Baby refusing solids at 9mo

[dontcallmecandie]

My son is 9 months old and STILL refuses solids. I am so frustrated I have no idea what to do. Everytime I try he cries and turns his head and closes his lips tightly.

I've tried purees, finger foods, you name it and he just won't take it. Period.

I talked to his pedi and told me to do food play, which I've been doing but I'm really getting discouraged. He still wakes 3-5x per night and I know its because he's hungry and breastmilk digests to easily.

Has anyone gone through this? Do you have advice?

[ZacsMumme]

((HUGS)) that must be tough hun. I dont have any experience in this but couldnt not post.

Just thinking really, does he put things in his mouth at all to experiment with or is he not interested in anything going in the mouth other than BF? Does he take a bottle?

Does he drink water? Do you think he would drink something liek a smoothie through a straw? ie blended yogurt and pear or banana?

Any medical issues - Or just not keen...

[dontcallmecandie]

Just not keen.

He'll take BM in a bottle, loves water in a sippy... He'll pick any ol piece of dirt or lint off the floor and eat that though (or grass or leaves outside...)

[clairebear79]

(((hugs))) - I've never had this problem per-se, but DS did go through a stage where he would refuse to be spoon fed & it was b/c he wanted to feed himself.  So we opted more for BLW - I just put the food on his highchair tray & let him pick it up himself.  Messy but he eats so much more.  & also he always eats better if he has his meal at the same time as us & eats the same thing as us too.

A few other thoughts - Where do you try giving him his food?  Is it in a highchair & all harnessed in?  If so, have you tried sitting him on the floor (so he has freedom of movement) with a few pieces of food in front of him that he could pick & choose from?  Does he show any interest in what you are eating?  Maybe try eating something infront of him & make lots of 'mmmm', 'yum' sounds so it might tempt him?

[Lemonthyme]

What about having picnics where you put food on plates on the floor (on a clean mat) either inside or outside?  Even if you put the food directly on a clean mat it might be step 1?  It sounds like he probably wants to self feed and also perhaps doesn't like his high chair?

I sympathise on the waking up at night.  Now this might be controversial considering he's not having solids but is it worth trying some PUPD at night?  Maybe to get down to two wake ups to start with?