8 month old DD not interested in food. LONG sorry

[happymom]

This is partially a b!tch, but I really want advice so I'm posting here. DD is 8 months old today (yay!). She nurses beautifully and happily. No formula. I started giving her food at 4 months because she was underweight and the doctor encouraged me to do so. She didn't like the rice cereal, ate a little sweet potato a few times, but mainly just wasnt interested. So I basically dropped it for a while. Tried again at 6 months, but avoided cereals because she was already constipated pretty often (don't know why). I would try giving her jars of carrots, sweet potatoes, squash etc. She refused to eat it. She only liked pears and apples. I didn't want to give her apples because they constipated her. So she ended up eating a jar of pears every day or so. Some days she would refuse to eat and I would be fine with that.

Anyways, since Monday, DD has had diahrrea. I called the pediatrician today. His advice was to cut out fruit and juices from her diet. I told him she wasn't really eating any of that anyways (she hasnt had any solids since Sunday). He was shocked and said an 8 month old MUST have more than breastmilk. Said I should be giving her cereal for breakfast every day (could mix in fruit) and a vegetable later on or chicken etc. I told him she won't eat it, he said she has to. What is that supposed to mean??? You can't force food down a child's throat!!!

This ped is really a fabulous doctor but sometimes I get so frustrated by him! Plus, I know plenty of people who don't even start solids until 9 months or so, so what is the big deal!! It happens to be that DD is small, but that's not why he was pushing the solids. When I hung up the phone, I realized he hadn't even answered my question about what to do for the diahrrea. Grrr.

OK, end of b!tch. If youre still reading, does anyone have any advice aout how to make my DD want to eat? Should I just keep offering food every day in the hopes that one day she will take it? HELP. Thanks!

[Snow mom]

Not sure if it helps, but you aren't alone. DD (8 mos) only occasionally eats solids. We don't even offer solids every day-- just when it fits into our schedule. She is getting a bit better about taking certain types of food but mainly likes things that have a sweet flavor and no texture. Now she'll eat a few finger foods but mainly puts them in her mouth and then makes horrible gagging/ coughing noises and spits them out (she's not actually gagging-- just expressing her displeasure.) I go back and forth between "solids are just for practice" and worrying a that she should be getting at least 2 meals a day of solids and is actually just getting a fraction of one. I wouldn't worry about what your pedi has to say on the issue. They differ so widely on their food advice that they can't all be right. Sorry you didn't get an answer on the diarrhea.

[brittone2]

Arrrgh...just lost my post

DS was like this. He was better about finger foods vs. spoon feeding starting around 9 months. I think he ate one jar of baby food ever (like eating the whole jar in one sitting) until he was a year old LOL. He ate a wide variety and lots of textures, but not much quantity.

He really didn't eat a significant percentage of food in the form of solids until he was over 1. His iron was tested right around a year and came back a tiny bit low, but they also screwed up the procedure (long story). We opted not to supplement and retested a week or two later and it was in the normal range...lower, but normal.

DS did not like spoon feeding and was more willing to eat w/ finger foods. He liked things like apple chicken sausage cut into tiny pieces, sweet potato fries, etc.

He's 5 and eats just fine now :)

Sometimes a lot of gagging or aversions to texture can be a sensory issue that early intervention can help with (but some of it is normal too).

Check out Kellymom for some reassurance
http://kellymom.com/nutrition/solids/index.html

DD didn't eat much quantity really but liked ground beef, etc as a finger food. I don't think we ever had her iron levels tested. DD never got rice cereal (eta: intentionally)...DS got a bit but not much at all.

eta: My previous peds and family doc (my kids see a family doc now who is wonderful) never really stressed over feeding certain foods in specific amounts. I have had friends w/ peds that were insistent upon X numbers of jars of food, following very specific order for intro of solids, etc. To me, that just never made sense...I mean, how do kids in the rest of the world and throughout history learn to eat? Certainly not w/ storebought babyfood in a certain order, etc. It just seemed overcomplicated and silly to me (JMO) and it seems to create a lot of unnecessary stress and expectations.

[HoustonMomof3]

We were right there too! At our 6 month the nurse informed me that my DD should be eating 3 full meals of solids a day. I actually laughed and said, sorry, she isn't eating any. She spits it all out.

Every single dang day I offered and every time it was rejected. I tried every flavor and combo out there. She seemed to like finger foods (soft pieces) but no baby food. I finally just made our practice sessions a part of the routine, while I made dinner, she sat near me in her high chair and I gave her finger foods and would offer solids.

Finally one day, maybe right around 8 months she didn't spit it back at me! I was so excited I called my mom and all 3 of my sisters (2 of whom don't have kids yet and didn't really know why I was so excited)!

On a whim I offered rice cereal again and she loved it. That is the one thing she will eat every time no matter what, but I am worried now that I am almost out of stored breastmilk (excess from early engorgement) to mix it with!

We just hit 9 months and we are still VERY irregular. Right now she has a bad cold and is nursing exclusively with maybe a cracker or two here and there. I have offered and she wants nothing. On a good day she has 1 1/2 feedings of solids. On a normal day she has 2 half feedings. I figure it is all practice and she will get the hang of it one day.

My advice is to hang in there. Keep offering and one day it will happen. You can't force it down her throat! Babies are ready when they are ready. They don't all sit, crawl, walk or talk at the same time. Why do they all have to eat at the same time?

As for diarrhea, my lactation consultant and pede have always told me to nurse them through it. Nurse as often as they want to make sure they stay hydrated and you can supplement with the pedialyte, though I never did. Mine didn't like it!

[cono0507]

As far as not wanting to eat, just wait and try again later. I started to try baby food with my daughter at 6 months (and put a ton of work into making homemade babyfood, etc) and she never ate anything aside from a taste here and there until she was 12 months old. She was pretty much fed breastmilk only for the first year and is thriving now at 2yrs old. I think some kids just go on their own timeline.

[wellyes]

Wow, I think your pediatrician is really, really off the mark. It's typical for an 8 month old to eat solids but in no way is it required..... according to the American Academy of Pediatrics, solids should be introduced anywhere between 6-12 months. And most of the nutrition the baby receives comes from breastmilk or formula anyway; solids are for learning and playing only.

I wouldn't worry about it too much, you're giving her the opportunity to try different types of solids which is exactly what you should be doing!

[alirebco]

DS didn't really eat solids until closer to 9 months. We started at 6 months but he wouldn't open his month and I would try every so often but he just wasn't interested. We did one meal until about 10-11 months, then 2 meals until about 12-13 months. He was on finger foods at 10 months.

I really wouldn't worry too much right now, it is just for practice..

[Ceepa]

Try not to stress. My ped. said he wouldn't worry even if a baby refused anything but breastmilk until past a year as long as the baby was happy and nursing well. Just periodically try offering different solids. Some babies want nothing to do with pureed foods and are happy to start with bits of finger foods when they're ready.

[khalloc]

My son, who is about 50% percentile (he's 16 months now) didnt take to solids until he was about 9 months old. That was BABY food solids. Even now he is picky about eating real food. I wouldnt worry about it.

[o_mom]

Just nodding along with everyone else... she doesn't need it at this age and ignore the ped. :)

You might try finger foods to see if that is more interesting to her. At that age, we would sit them in the highchair at meal times and put a few pieces of food on the tray - puffed rice cereal, bananas coated in baby cereal, sweet potato chunks, etc. It was mainly mealtime entertainment, but eventually they figured out how to get it in their mouth.

[hellokitty]

Wow, I think your pediatrician is really, really off the mark. It's typical for an 8 month old to eat solids but in no way is it required..... according to the American Academy of Pediatrics, solids should be introduced anywhere between 6-12 months. And most of the nutrition the baby receives comes from breastmilk or formula anyway; solids are for learning and playing only.

I wouldn't worry about it too much, you're giving her the opportunity to try different types of solids which is exactly what you should be doing!

:yeahthat: Plus, I am wondering (OP), how much your dd weighs? I have a family member who is a ped and he kept telling my DS1 was underwt and needed solids (even though MY ped was fine, and FTR, my ped is BF friendly, the ped family member is pretty clueless about BFing, I think almost all of his pts FF, b/c he encourages it, grrr). Well, my son has ALWAYS been in the 5th % on the growth chart, even now as a 5 yr old. He eats ok. He is just small. I hate how some peds push solids (and fats) if they think a child is underwt. Some kids are just small, it's genetic...

Oh and if it makes you feel any better DS2 refused to eat solids until he was past 8 mo old. He would keep gagging on the baby food. So, we skipped the baby food phase and went straight to tiny bite sized food that he picked up and I fed him and he was totally fine with it. It was actually REALLY nice to pass the gross baby food phase...

[pb&j]

I haven't read the other responses, but I have an 8.5 month old who, until two days ago, had no interest in food, finger food or otherwise. I have been offering finger foods and purees every day for 2.5 months. It had been pretty frustrating for me, because her older brother had been a champion eater since he was 6 mos old.

And then two days ago, I put some shredded cheese on her tray, and down the hatch it went. And some cut up grapes. And down the hatch they went. And some cut up avocado, and down the hatch it went. And then she even ate a jar of baby food. And she did the same yesterday! It may be a fluke, or that switch may have finally flipped.

But really, babies only *need* breastmilk or formula the first year. She is fine. She'll get to solids on her own schedule.

As for the diarrhea, just keep nursing her as much as possible. That's the best thing for her.

[infocrazy]

Didn't read everything but agree that DS1 would NOT eat hardly any baby food. He would eat adult oatmeal, regular applesauce, finger foods etc... At about 10 months, we gave up and just went to more finger foods and he went crazy eating!

My only problem was that when he was about 9 months, I couldn't keep up with his demand pumping and needed to supplement for a month with formula while I was at work. As soon as he went table foods at 10 months though he outright refused bottles and had water at daycare, and nursed at home with me. He was never really a bottle fan though.

He is now a great eating 4 yr old, who just called having cauliflower a treat!

[rosiegirl1]

I'm on the other end of the spectrum - my 5mo is obsessed with food. Obsessed. And cups. I finally got her a sippy cup with handles, and I just put water in it, but it's like she's completely parched. And she's not. All that to say - each kid is different. I wasn't planning on offering as many solids so soon, but she's so into it, and she screams if I only give her half the container, that I'm feeding her rather regularly. And she can sit up on her own...

But at the other end of things, she can't roll and shows no desire to do so. In other ways she seems perfectly normal. Kids develop at their own pace...

[maestramommy]

Is it possible your DD has a tummy bug? That might explain the diarrhea if she hasn't had solids since the weekend. As for eating, Dora (DD1) was not really interested in solids until 10.5 months. Sometimes she would eat, sometimes she wouldn't. And even when she did I was actually tallying the number of spoonfuls she took because they were so few. I tried all sorts of foods, not just jarred fruits and veggies. It turned out (for her anyway) she wasn't really hungry during the day because she was nursing a lot at night. Once I nightweaned her, she started eating more significantly. Never did take to infant cereal. Just didn't like it. So unlike her younger sister, who ate everything that wasn't nailed down starting at 6 months.

And btw, both girls were bfed, and both were little. DD2 was even littler than DD1 and in fact fell off the chart by 12 months. She back up now, in the 3rd percentile:p

[happymom]

Wow, thanks so much for all your responses. I really appreciate it! You all have made me feel so much better. :love5: I don;t actually know how much DD weighs because she hasn't been to the doctor since the 6 month appointment. (This pedi does a well visit every month till 6 months, then every 3 months). But she's still wearing 6 months carter's if that tells you anything. I'm not worrying about the weight right now (I used to) because she is developing just fine and has been staying on the same curve since birth.

Just one more question. Does DD need to have teeth in order to eat finger foods? She does not have any teeth yet. She also does not like having any pieces in her mouth and always makes a face and spits it out....What could I be offering her?

Thanks again so much again!!

[brittone2]

Wow, thanks so much for all your responses. I really appreciate it! You all have made me feel so much better. :love5: I don;t actually know how much DD weighs because she hasn't been to the doctor since the 6 month appointment. (This pedi does a well visit every month till 6 months, then every 3 months). But she's still wearing 6 months carter's if that tells you anything. I'm not worrying about the weight right now (I used to) because she is developing just fine and has been staying on the same curve since birth.

Just one more question. Does DD need to have teeth in order to eat finger foods? She does not have any teeth yet. She also does not like having any pieces in her mouth and always makes a face and spits it out....What could I be offering her?

Thanks again so much again!!

nak-
no teeth needed. Kellymom has a list of finger foods. I'll write more later.

eta: little pieces of banana or avocado (you can roll in some ground oatmeal, use rice cereal, etc. to make it less slippery) are sometimes good to start with. Here's one list from Dr. Sears:
http://www.askdrsears.com/html/3/t030500.asp
http://kellymom.com/nutrition/solids/finger-foods.html

[mommyp]

Just one more question. Does DD need to have teeth in order to eat finger foods? She does not have any teeth yet. She also does not like having any pieces in her mouth and always makes a face and spits it out....What could I be offering her?

No teeth needed, gums are good mashers! At that age I got some great ideas from the website www.wholesomebabyfood.com.

[Snow mom]

Wow, thanks so much for all your responses. I really appreciate it! You all have made me feel so much better. :love5: I don;t actually know how much DD weighs because she hasn't been to the doctor since the 6 month appointment. (This pedi does a well visit every month till 6 months, then every 3 months). But she's still wearing 6 months carter's if that tells you anything. I'm not worrying about the weight right now (I used to) because she is developing just fine and has been staying on the same curve since birth.

Just one more question. Does DD need to have teeth in order to eat finger foods? She does not have any teeth yet. She also does not like having any pieces in her mouth and always makes a face and spits it out....What could I be offering her?

Thanks again so much again!!

No, the first teeth they get are biting teeth rather than chewing teeth. No teeth here yet either.

I started to think about starting solids early because of being "underweight" and really am questioning your doctors judgment on this issue now. BM is so full of various nutrients and fat that I have no idea why filling their little tummies with something else would be beneficial (unless it's an issue of not enough BM, but formula seems like the better solution in that case.) Anyway, that's just my gut feeling on the issue but I'm fairly certain that I've seen numbers that support it.

I wouldn't worry about the weight/ size with what you've said. Someone has to be smaller than average, right? As long as she's following the curve she's been on and seems happy it's fine that that curve is below 50%. I don't know why having the biggest baby is such a competition that doctors push so hard. DD is also wearing Carters 6 mos but we don't expect her to be huge with the genes she likely got from us.

[brittone2]

I started to think about starting solids early because of being "underweight" and really am questioning your doctors judgment on this issue now. BM is so full of various nutrients and fat that I have no idea why filling their little tummies with something else would be beneficial (unless it's an issue of not enough BM, but formula seems like the better solution in that case.) Anyway, that's just my gut feeling on the issue but I'm fairly certain that I've seen numbers that support it.




Yes, Kellymom has charts up with fat content, etc. for various foods. Breastmilk is the fattiest food on the list :) If you overdo solids, IMO, you risk displacing some of the most nutrient-dense part of their diet...breastmilk :)

Even if you aren't looking purely at fat intake, breastmilk is one of the highest foods in terms of calories per ounce

http://kellymom.com/nutrition/vitamins/babyfoodcalories.html

IMO, too many solids can displace the amount of milk, which doesn't seem to be a good strategy for weight gain IMO.

[MamaKath]

The mamas here have offered lots of thoughts and reassurance. My kids were all about nursing at that age, not so much about food. I let them nurse, then offered different things to them (bananas mushed, avacado mushed, cheerios, etc). Just watch, pears will make them poop, it is one of the things our ped recommended as a laxative if we couldn't get prunes in.

[DrSally]

What? I know some peds are so into getting solids started, but really BM is their main source of nutrition for the first year, and solids are for fun and practice. BM has the most calories of any other "food" per oz, so I don't know why he was in a rush to get her started on solids. DS started at 5.5 mo b/c he showed signs and I increased meals very, very slowly, so I could keep his nutrition primarily BM for the first year. DD was 4 weeks early, so I started her at 7 months (6 months adjusted), and she wasn't interested for months. She really only started eating more than a few oz at a time at 10-11 months! I wasn't at all worried about it. My ped said she'd have to go to a "feeding clinic" if she wasn't eating better by 12 months. Whatever. There are many, many moms who haven't started solids until around 10 months, going by their babies cues. I am totally against forcing a baby (or child) to eat.

ETA: I had the same conversation with DS's ped as pp. He wasn't eating solids at his 6 mo appt. and she was shocked, saying he needed to be eating 3 meals a day. I asked her how that could be if the AAP recommended starting EBF babies on solids at 6 months?

[jent]

Just chiming in that my DD didn't start out eating well but we waited it out and she turned into a _great_ eater. We tried the soft finger-foods approach too (bananas, avocado, softened Cheerios, cooked veggies) and that helped. I don't know that finger foods were necessarily that much more enticing, but I think it helped because it let her be in control of the situation, rather me trying to offer the spoon and DD reacting by avoiding/rejecting the spoon. Kind of took the pressure off both of us.

One problem that we did end up with (and possibly one reason why your ped and others push solids) was that she had low iron. Not a huge deal, we used an iron supplement for a while and then she caught up, and we introduced meat in the diet. If I'd known, I'd have introduced meat sooner with her finger foods. Your ped will probably test her iron level at 9 or 12 months, so you could ask at the next visit if she still isn't eating much solids.

[TonFirst]

I second (and third) the posters who suggested finger foods. My daughter had no - ZERO - interest in being spoon-fed. Finally, when she was close to 8 months old, I dumped some Cheerios on her high chair tray and she went to town.

For her, I think she wasn't interested in being spoon-fed because she was at the table with her brother, who at age 4, was completely feeding himself. The only things she ever let me feed her were applesauce and yogurt.

(Also, I am shocked - SHOCKED, I say! - that a thread on feeding on this board made it to three pages without someone recommending Ellyn Satter's "Child of Mine: Feeding with Love and Good Sense.")

[Katigre]

I'm with everyone else not to worry. My DS refused solids until he was close to a year and then one day started eating and I was shocked b/c he'd refused for so long.

I'm doing baby-led solids with DD right now and liking that approach a lot more than jarred purees b/c it puts the control of eating squarely on DD's shoulders and takes me out of the equation which is very freeing (and i hope sets her up for good food self-regulation as she grows up).

www.babyled.com

[happymom]

Thanks again for all your input. Its really so helpful to me. Its amazing how stressed out I felt after speaking to the dr. and how relieved I feel after reading all your posts. Phew.

Finger foods make sense to some extent, but there are two reasons why I havent introduced them yet. One is that DD doesnt seem to like having pieces of food in her mouth- whenever there's a TINY piece in a puree that I made for her, she makes a face and moves her tongue around till she gets it out. I think she just doesnt know what to make of it. Is that common? I'm guessing that it is and the solution would be to just keep giving it to her until she gets used to it, right?

The other issue (and prob the REAL one) is my fear of choking. In my head, I just don't get how she will eat a cheerio with no teeth and not choke. I mean, I know she can mash it with her gums, but it just seems so LIKELY that she will choke and I am **terrified** of this happening. Its a real phobia for me (its kind of in the family). Not sure how to get past this.

Katigre thanks for the link about baby-led weaning. I read it briefly, and it makes sense because DD always salivates over the food we are eating at dinner. The only thing is, she can't have most of what we are eating. For example, dinner tonight was barbequed chicken with stir-fried vegetables as a side. Should I have just given her a tiny piece of the chicken even though it was cooked in a marinade? At what point do you not worry about the ingredients in the food youre giving your baby? (obviously no honey or milk, but I mean besides that.) And again, won't she choke on the chicken?

Thanks. You guys really are awesome.:jammin:

[traciann]

I think the reason your Ped wants you to offer cereal daily is because babies at 6 months of age need a source of iron in their diet.(from Baby 411) If your baby was on formula it wouldn't be an issue because formula usually has it already added.
I was in the same boat with my baby as well. She wouldn't take any solid food until after 7 months, only breastmilk. I just kept trying and one day she ate the entire jar. Now i just make sure she get gets fruit with oatmeal mixed in to make sure she is getting enough iron.
My dd has eaten cheerios for quite a while now, and she only has 1 tooth. Those gums can do more than you think. I have also begun offering dd some bites of what we are eating (spices and all) and she does great!

[pb&j]

DS only had about 4 teeth at a year (front teeth, no molars) and was pretty much on table food by then. As long as you cut things up very small, she will not choke. She may gag and upchuck, but she won't choke.

To avoid unwanted ingredients, I usually put aside a little of what I am cooking and make it plain - without sauces, etc. For a piece of chicken that was just marinated, without any other sauce, just cut some up from an interior portion that didn't have contact with the marinade.

[brittone2]

I think the reason your Ped wants you to offer cereal daily is because babies at 6 months of age need a source of iron in their diet.(from Baby 411) If your baby was on formula it wouldn't be an issue because formula usually has it already added.
I was in the same boat with my baby as well. She wouldn't take any solid food until after 7 months, only breastmilk. I just kept trying and one day she ate the entire jar. Now i just make sure she get gets fruit with oatmeal mixed in to make sure she is getting enough iron.
My dd has eaten cheerios for quite a while now, and she only has 1 tooth. Those gums can do more than you think. I have also begun offering dd some bites of what we are eating (spices and all) and she does great!

The flip side is some people think the iron in cereal is not very easily absorbed
http://kellymom.com/nutrition/vitamins/iron.html

eta:
http://www.kellymom.com/nutrition/solids/first-foods.html

[Katigre]

The other issue (and prob the REAL one) is my fear of choking.
This is something I was worried about too, but I haven't found it to be an issue. [Though I think all parents should know how to do deal with choking b/c it's a safety hazard with a baby/toddler due to them putting so many random things in their mouths - not food in particular]

Learning how to eat is a developmental milestone just like crawling or walking. Our bodies are designed to develop those skills if given the time. Babies have the ability to learn how to chew and swallow food and they have built-in protective mechanisms to prevent choking while they do this - like the gag reflex and their tongue movements.

DD doesn't even have to consciously think about it, I watch her mouth take care of the food she puts in it just fine without my interference (though of course I sit with her while she eats just in case, and also don't give her foods that could easily plug her windpipe like grapes).

I give her french-fry/potato-chip-sized pieces of food that are big enough for her to pick up on her own and put to her mouth to chew. She sometimes just sucks on it, sometimes she gnaws and gets pieces off. I watch what happens when she gets a chunk in her mouth - it moves around her mouth and usually ends up near the back of her throat. At that point she either swallows it or her body makes the gag reflex happen to move it out of the way (this is NOT the same things as choking - the gag reflex prevents choking) and her tongue pushes it out of her mouth. All without my needing to interfere (though of course I sit there with her).

Without any teeth I've been quite impressed at what DD has been able to bite off and swallow (that shows up in her diaper the next day). Part of doing BLW is trusting the child's body to know what to do and have the capability to learn without too much interference. Eating is necessary for human's survival, and it follows that our bodies have the capability to learn how to do that effectively if given the chance :). It's not like driving a car where you need a 'learner's permit' (purees) for awhile before you can prove you're ready for bigger chunks. Purees dont' help a baby learn how to chew food appropriately, only regular food does that - so it's just when you decide to let your baby learn that.


The only thing is, she can't have most of what we are eating. For example, dinner tonight was barbequed chicken with stir-fried vegetables as a side. Should I have just given her a tiny piece of the chicken even though it was cooked in a marinade? At what point do you not worry about the ingredients in the food youre giving your baby? (obviously no honey or milk, but I mean besides that.) And again, won't she choke on the chicken?
At her age I wouldn't worry about additional ingredients (assuming it's all healthy - i make our marinades from scratch so i know all the ingredients in them). Spices aren't an issue (obviously not too spicy) and neither are oils and that's what it in a marinade. I would have given her a piece of chicken sized like a french fry for her to pick up and suck on, as well as a few pieces of the vegetables - again, the potato-chip-size works great for DD (think the size of a slice of cucumber or zucchini).

[happymom]

Thanks for all your replies again. Katigre, thanks for taking the time to explain all that to me. I will try feeding her some chicken and veggies by dinner tonight. I get freaked out when she gags, but you're right, its not choking and I guess I will have to get used to it.

Thanks again! :)

[brittone2]

Hope you feel reassured. I agree w/ the PP that discussed baby-led solids for solids. We pretty much did that approach w/ my DD (my 2nd child). I'm not sure she was ever really spoonfed (maybe yogurt?).

I really stressed when DS (my first) didn't like solids, but just let it go with DD and did baby led.