7 month old refusing all solids?

[BettysBaby]

Hi everyone,

My DS is 7 months old as of today, and after what I thought was a great start on solids has been completely refusing them for almost 2 weeks now. I'm really not sure how concerned I should be, or what I should do to get started back on the right road, any suggestions are so appreciated.

He is a silent reflux baby, well controlled now on Prevacid and Zantac. He's 90th percentile and just over 20lbs. Before he was on meds we resorted to distracting him to get him to eat, which became quite a habit and now he won't eat his bottles without some entertainment, his favorite being baby tv on my iPhone. (frustrating, especially when out.)  We give him a few toys and his own spoon in the high chair but i so desperatly want this tv distraction to end with the bottles I haven't tried it to see if that's what he's waiting for with the solids. I don't think that's it because he took them pretty well for 2 or 3 weeks but thought I'd mention it in case..

Before starting solids he was taking 36-40 oz on a 4 hour easy with an 8oz DF. Once he was taking about 3 tbls/day solids for about 10 days I thought I could start to wean the DF (and hopefully help some of our NW too) but as soon as we hit 2oz he both stopped his solids and started waking for milk so I'm back up to 4 or 5 oz DF. Here was our food day today-

-7am 8oz bottle
-8am offered cereal and blueberry purée, bananas as finger food and tried pears too refused it all
-11 am 8 oz bottle
-12:30pm offered carrots and zucchini and finger foods refused to even open his mouth to try it
-3pm 8oz bottle
-4pm- ate one mum mum cracker in his bouncer
-6pm offered sweet potatoes and a few other purées and finger foods he did like before refused it all
-6:30 6oz bottle (has always eaten twice before bed, this BT bottle is 10 oz)
-7:30 3oz bottle (has just started leaving an ounce)
-10:30 4oz DF (still hoping to wean this so keeping it small)

Do I need to drop his milk a bit to encourage the solids? Maybe by an ounce each? I'm scared he'll start waking for food again if I do.

He did get really backed up for about a week so I'm wondering if he knows the solids were to blame for his sore tummy and that's why he's refusing them? Or is this a routine issue, not enough time in between milk and solid feeds? The only thing he will accept are mum mum rice crackers.

I'm not forcing him to open up or eat anything, but am getting a bit nervous with this flat out refusal... 

Thanks so much for any thoughts!

[clazzat]

I'm afraid I don't know a huge amount about the amount of milk they should be having at this point - I bf all of mine and therefore am free of the stress of how many oz they drink! - but I think it might be the case that you need to cut the milk just slightly to encourage him to eat solids. I think my first step would be to combine the last two bottles of the day - I used to split the feed at 5 and 6, but it started to mean that they didn't take enough at the end of the day and they woke overnight for food. I think that if you do combine those feeds then you will be able to drop the df as well.

As for solids, at this age it is still not their main source of nutrition - it is about getting used to flavours/textures rather than being meant to replace milk. Soa try not to stress too much about it - keep offering different foods (it's great that you are giving purees and finger foods) and let him lead the way. Is he getting any teeth? That does often put them off eating solids, particularly in the early days.

[snowbird]

When did you start him on solids? Might be worth offering finger foods so he can be in control of whether he eats anything.

Solids are just for fun for the 1st year so I wouldn't worry xxx

[*Becky*]

I agree with clare. Personally I would drop the 6.30pm milk feed and just give milk at bedtime. I would also cut the 4pm snack if he is not that bothered and then you might find he is hungrier for his tea. Like PP said before 1 it is just for fun. This is what we do with DD and she is 6.5 months.

8oz bottles at 7am, 11am, 3pm and 6.30/7pm.
Solids at 8am and 5pm.

I plan to introduce lunch around 12pm when she is about 9 months and drop the 11am bottle.

[*Becky*]

I also agree about trying finger foods as he may prefer to eat this way.

[BettysBaby]

Thank you so much for the thoughts ladies, I've started to wean the 6:30 feed these last two days by only offering 3 oz so he's switched and has taken 6oz at 7:30 right before bed. Hes not too happy about yet as he's always always eaten quite a bit then, but hopefully he'll adjust. I'm at 4 oz and 9:45 or 10 for the DF, but I think I'm going to make sure the two feeds before bed are combined first and that he's ok with that before going down more on the Df, what do you think? and again no solids today but I'm going to follow your lead and offer them at 8 and 5 as well.

Do you ladies have some suggestions for good finger foods to try? thanks so much for the replies!

Also, to answer your question I had started him on rice cereal At about 5.5 months, and started offering purées just shy of 6 months. So really he only had 2 weeks of actually eating them, and has now been refusing them for 2 weeks. No teeth yet, but he has been fighting a cold?

[LouiseV]

Why don't you have a read through some of the baby led weaning supports and websites?

We started having feeding issues too. The last thing I wanted to do was create issues around feeding but I was given some brilliant advice by a top psychologist:
1 food under one should first and foremost be fun and preferably baby led - so now I do some purees (just things he loves) and offer him all sorts of finger foods from steamed broccoli, toast - anything is fine as long as they can bite small pieces off and theres no salt added (or sugar) The BLW pages will help you get your head around it (and no they can't choke)
2 Babies of this age start feeding REALLY quickly - so I thought he was getting distratced after a couple of minutes but in reality he had finished feeding. My health worker said most 6 month olds can feed in 3-5 minutes.
3 My LO stopped eating solids altogether when he was cutting teeth. This is when I freaked out and really looked into baby led weaning

All the best - it is so scary and frustrating when the aren't eating well isn't it! I'm sure you are doing a marvellous job of keeping the anxiety to a minimum with him and figuring this tricky time out!

[snowbird]

We're blw but LJ's got a cold and has gone off her food a bit. Could be that!

Finger foods can be anything - brocolli, carrots, cucumber (good to suck on ESP when teething), toast with toppings ( like mashed banana, soft cheese, cheese), rice cakes, potatoes including sweet (parboil and roast a bit do they don't fall apart)...anything they can pick up. I even give LJ mashed potato in clumps now we've been doing it a while.

Xxx

[*Kara*]

The BLW pages will help you get your head around it (and no they can't choke)

Have to add in that choking is a very real risk with any baby being introduced to solids in any way - BLW or purees.  I KNOW that there are a few BLW mommies here who have had a few scares - and I am sure that there are puree users who have also had a scare or two.

So yes, choking can and does happen.  Gagging is normal for any baby as they learn to use their tongue to control food.  Choking is real and very scary.  It's important to know what to do when it happens.

[clazzat]

Agree with kara - choking is always a risk and it is important to be vigilant and to know what to do if they do choke.

However, one of the benefits of blw is that they are more in control of what goes in their mouths and also use the muscles more so are often better equipped to clear anything that does go down the wrong way themselves.