Not interested in food!

[Joanne]

HI
My little girl is 6 1/2 months. I have been trying the last month to start her on solids but she is just not interested. The only way i can get her to eat is to use her pacifier to trick her in to opening her mouth and then shovel the food in instead. I am giving her the food about an hour after her breast feed. I don't know whether to just keep trying (it is really frustrating for me and her!) Any advice??

Jo 

[teezee]

at this age i wouldn't worry about it much. it takes some longer to catch on and like having solids. i wouldn't worry about 'tricking' into eating as bm/formula is the main form of nutrition anyways at this point! keep trying and don't be frusterated by it and soon enough she will start eating..when my dd was teething she would refuse solids (she LOVED her solids..) and i would panic and get frusterated with the situation which only made things worse as she could feel the tension. the next time it happened i just shrugged it off and she ate much sooner..

[Joanne]

hi
Thanks for your input. I will just keep offering and see what happens! I think u are both right about the 'tricking' her into eating. This being a mum thing is hard- even the second time around!

Cheers Jo

[Marisa's Mom]

I wouldn't worry about it. Some babies start solids as early as 4 months, others start later. My DD didn't start showing interest in solids until she was 10 months old. And yes, we tried giving her some baby cereal on and off every few weeks during the few months before that. Breastmilk was her primary source of nourishment. I let her set the pace of when she wanted to transition into solids.

[Joanne]

Thanks Marie
So did you try your little one on a regular basis? Did she sometimes eat and sometimes not at all?? We have been trying for a few days then stopping then trying again. I have given her food 2-3 times a day for the last week. Sometimes we have success, today at lunch Emily ate a little bit of yogurt. I thought I will just keep trying a little bit at a time at each meal time. Is your little one breast fed? How often did you feed her when you were introducing solids. Up until now I have just fed Emily when she was hungry (prob about every 2 1/2 - 3 hours) Today I have tried to stretch her out to 4 hourly to see if that makes her any hungrier for food. What did you do with feeding?

Kind Regards Jo

[Marisa's Mom]

So did you try your little one on a regular basis?

No, we didn't try giving  her baby cereal on a regular basis, not like every day or anything like that.

We would offer some watery baby cereal. She would refuse it or show she wasn't interested. So we didn't push it. Then we'd wait a week or two before trying again. Still not interested. Ok, wait another week or two before trying again. We were in no big rush knowing that she'll let us know what she wants and when she wants it.

Is your little one breast fed? How often did you feed her when you were introducing solids.

When I was breastfeeding (we breastfeed until a couple weeks after her 1st birthday when she decided to self-wean  ), we would offer the baby cereal in the evening about an hour to 1.5 hrs after nursing. The idea was to try solids about halfway between breastfeeding, a time when she was neither completelly full nor totally starving. She'd get really cranky if we tried the solids experiment while she's hungry for food. And she wouldn't be interested in trying solids if she was allready full.

After she started showing interest in solids, we'd give her watery baby cereal in the evening, then top her off with  breastmilk just before she goes to bed. We gradually (over weeks, not days) increased the "thickness" of her baby cereal.

Once we got comfortable with solids in the evening, we added another solids feeding during the day. So breastfeeding sessions were the same, just inserted solids midday and evening.

The whole idea in the beginning was for her to get acclimated to receiving food off a spoon, and to get used to new textures in her mouth.

Hope this helps...

[Joanne]

Hi Marie
That definitely helps, thankyou! I have been doing similar to what you have said except I think I have been a little more stressed thinking 'she has to eat!' but I am just going to relax and let her lead as you said. We have actually had a few successes today and yesterday with Emily eating a bit more Rice Cereal and also some vanilla yogurt. Fingers crossed it keeps getting better. Like you said she is getting used to eating off a spoon so we are just taking it nice and slow and as soon as she seems to be getting cranky I stop. Thanks so much for your help. This web site is so good to talk to other mum's to see what worked for them

Kind Regards
Jo

[Marisa's Mom]

That definitely helps, thankyou! I have been doing similar to what you have said except I think I have been a little more stressed thinking 'she has to eat!' but I am just going to relax and let her lead as you said.

Yes, relax. She probably picks up on your stress levels, LOL. Those little ones notice a lot, and they understand a lot more than they let on.    At Emily's age, it's more of a "getting acquainted" stage rather than "solids as main nourishment" stage.

If she doesn't like Rice Cereal, try a different kind.  DD prefered Oatmeal Cereal, she didn't care for Rice Cereal. All babies are different, of course.

This web site is so good to talk to other mum's to see what worked for them

Yes, I agree! I've learned much from the more seasoned moms here. And I love how everyone here is so friendly ...  and they treat each other with respect, despite differing opinions (if any).

I'm a first time mom, so everything is so new to me and I often wonder whether I'm doing things right whenever DD throws us a "curve" ball... most of the time it just turns out to be a "normal" thing. 

[Joanne]

Thanks Marie. I am a second time mum but Emily is so different to my son that I feel like I am doing it from scratch sometimes   I definitely think Emily was picking up on my stress .

Thanks again for your help

Jo