Baby will only eat jars/packets

[Mooble]

Hi all,

My dd is 7 months. We started weaning at just before 6mnths on a mix of purée and finger food. All home made. initially things went well and she ate really well. However solids seemed to irritate her reflux and we have since been struggling (I posted on that in the reflux board).

When out and about I give her jars of baby food and it has become increasingly obvious that she only eats jars and hates my cooking!

She does not drink very much milk because of the reflux and has gone from 75th to 25th centile in weight, although thankfully she has not lost weight.

She eats finger foods ok, I give her pieces of fruit, cooked veg, rice cakes etc she sucks on these well but doesn't eat too much of those. More goes on the floor than anywhere else!

Should I just start giving her jars more to help her gain weight or persevere with trying to get her to eat home-made food?

Thanks for your help.

[ZacsMumme]

As long as the jars are appropriate for her age, and don't contain allergens or food she is intolerant too then honestly, I don't think it matters. she's only 7 mths, and sure homemade is best, but the important thing is nutrition and that she has good accomodations with food and eating, learns to enjoy food and develops the appropriate swallowing and chewing abilities over time.

All this said I would keep offering other options, and keep an eye on her reflux. Are you offering solids after milk?

[lilisuze]

Jar purees are much much smoother than any puree I ever made at home with my blender. My ds was never a texture kind of guy, and hated my purees, but loved jars. Equally he didn't like the stage 2 jars, just the purees. Now at age 6, he still likes either smooth, or table food. I'd go along with the jars

[Mooble]

Jars it is then! She gets jars before milk. She is offered milk first but rarely takes milk. She rarely takes milk until drowsy (if at all).



I will try homemade at least once a day and hope she learns to like it. And there was me thinking I could cook

Obviously not!!

[ZacsMumme]

I would try if you can to get milk into the solids if possible. Or even offer it with them. At this age you want milk to be their primary source of food and 'filling up' on solids can upset their tummies etc. That said you can't make them drink can you! xx

[creations]

has gone from 75th to 25th centile in weight, although thankfully she has not lost weight.

Did you mean here that her height/length centile had dropped but weight is steady?  Height/length might level out with the next growth spurt.

My DS also took very little milk (around half the advised amount, always worrying for me!) but weight was steady so although I worried terribly he did gain well.
I always gave milk an hour before solids and in the early days he would want milk straight after solids too which actually increased his intake so it's worth a try to get some more milk in.  I agree that it is very difficult to make them take milk if they just won't take it, but I'd still keep the focus on milk as much as you can, as Sara said this is their primary food, it contains more fat and nutrients than solids at this point.
You could also try adding milk (formula or breast) to home made purees rather than water and perhaps some solid foods made with milk such as milk pudding (just thicken formula with corn flour and heat until thickens, add flavours which are natural such as whizzed soft berries or a smooth apple sauce).

Do the jars you use contain sugar? Some of them are very sweet which could be one reason for her preferring the jars. You might try adding some sweet fruit to your home made purees to see if they are more palatable for her, a small amount of raisins added when you puree will spread sweetness throughout the food. I would continue with the finger foods too, sounds like she likes those even if not so much gets eaten. To reduce the 'burden' of cooking lots of puree which is rejected you might be able to just whizz a small amount of the food you make for the family/adults and also some of the veggies as finger food.

I would also offer cheese to increase her dairy/fats intake. Fingers of cheese to gnaw and suck on, cheese sauce or grated cheese, or some added to the purees (which also kind of seasons food, I added cheese where I might have wanted to add salt for instance).

Not sure where you live but in the UK all babies are recommended to take a daily vitamin supplement (in drop form for this age) you might want to look into that too, formula has all the vits and minerals needed but if she isn't taking much then she's missing out on these.

[weaver]

My LO2 was mostly BLW, but she had a definite preference for completely smooth purées (those Ella's packet things) and solids, never anything in-between. She still loves yoghurt and that sort of smooth texture.

[Mooble]

In terms of weight I mean that she only put on 200gr in 4 weeks when she should have put on a bit more than that.

Funny you should mention yogurt weaver. That is the one things I can guarantee she will always eat!

I will try a multivitamin for her. We are going back to the gp today so will see what happens.

[weaver]

I'd be cautious about 'should have's with weight and growth generally - they all grow at different rates and times, and very often in spurts rather than in smooth progressions.  I'd try not to worry too much about weighing scales, just go by what you can see with your LO.

[creations]

In terms of weight I mean that she only put on 200gr in 4 weeks when she should have put on a bit more than that.

Oh I see what you mean - sorry I misunderstood.

Agree with Anne about growth coming in spurts. We're advised here not to get LO weighed more than once every 2 months after they are 6 months old, the aim is to reduce the amount of worry which can be caused by weighing. Obviously there are times when LOs are weighed more frequently though.

Another idea (which will seem contradictory to my previous ideas but you might like to try) is to reduce the amount of dairy solids for a few days and see if the milk intake goes up.  After trying every sort of solids dairy to increase my DS's intake I finally went the other way, cut all dairy solids out and he increase his milk, as formula has all the fats and nutrients which solids don't fully offer at this age I was pleased to find a way to increase and regulate his milk (although it stayed lower than expected).  I mention this because I see your LO likes yoghurt, she might feel she has had 'enough' of the dairy foods so not take milk so readily?