Help! 7mo old will only eat pureed food!

[aguinn]

what food(s) did you start with when you wanted to move from jarred baby foods to more adult table fare?

maybe this is normal, so please tell me if i am worried for no reason and that eventually he'll get the hang of it, but DS refuses to put anything in his mouth food-wise that doesn't come off a spoon. he also gags and horks if he gets anything in his mouth that is not pureed food. i gave him a cheerio cut in half yesterday and he looked at me like i was trying to poison him! he stuck his tongue out with the bit of cheerio on the end of it and refused to pull it back into his mouth! is it the texture? or do i have the only kid on the planet who doesn't like the taste of cheerios? ;)

it's frustrating because i'd like him to experience other textures and tastes, and i'm getting sick of shelling out cash for the jarred baby foods, but unfortunately i do not have time to make my own baby food. just this morning i tried very ripe mashed cantalope, and he did the same thing: look at me funny, gag, and reach for his sippy cup to rid his palate of the "offending" food! aaaaarrrrggghhhh!

when i'm in front of him i don't let him know that i am frustrated - i just roll with it so that he doesn't feel pressured to eat (in hopes of preventing major future eating issues...), but when we are done eating i start to worry. any advice would be helpful!

;)amy
proud momma to aidan

[deenass]

My son did not start eating "solid" (anything other than pureed) until he was 10 mos old ... he would throw up whatever I gave him no matter how small. I think he wasn't ready for how it felt when he swallowed it and he gagged on whatevre it was.

Every week or so I would try to let him have something and in January he finally showed interest in puffed rice.

He'll be one next week and completely feeds himself these days ....

Give it some time, he'll get the hang of it!

[gisele]

At my DS's 9 month appointment, I asked the ped about this because my son is the same way. He prefers jarred food, doesn't like homemade food, and won't eat Cheerios. He gags on food he doesn't like. The ped said it was OK as long as he was on at least stage 2 foods. He said don't push it, and let him go at his own pace. He will move to other foods in time.

For what it's worth, another child at my son's daycare who is the same age (both now 10 months old) is the same way.

[COElizabeth]

My son was still eating mostly pureed food at a year. He did eat cheerios by then, but that is about it. My ped was completely unconcerned and told me not to worry about it. Over the next few months DS gradually started eating more finger food, and I haven't bought a jar in months. I wouldn't worry in the slightest about your little one. Some babies eat finger foods early, and others prefer purees for a long time.

Elizabeth, Mom to James, 9-20-02

[713abc]

I was actually going to post something similar about my 9 month old...he has only been able to tolerate pureed food. We have tried fork mashed avocado and banana and he gagged and threw up with both. He even gags and then throws up if his cerial is just a bit too thick.

He showed no interest in cheerios at all until last night - he finally decided to put one in his mouth and gave a funny face but did not throw up! He continued to eat about 5 in a row and I was so happy. Then, this morning he was on about his 3rd cheerio and our luck ran out - I guess it got stuck on a place on his tongue that made him gag and up came the rest of his breakfast.

I'm trying to be patient about it and not let it bother me (though cleaning the highchair after his frequent gagging/throw up incidents is not fun!). I feel like we made great progress now that he is interested in eating cheerios, I guess it will just take a bit more practice!

Just try to be patient, he'll get past this when he is ready.

Mom to Max, 05/28/03