8-month-old refusing solids. Any ideas?

[jc16bergman]

Hi -

I have an 8-month-old daughter who has been mostly refusing solids for the last couple of weeks. She may take a few bites of certain foods from a spoon, like yogurt, and she will sometimes eat pieces of cracker or cheerios that I put on her tray, but that is about it. I started feeding her solids (rice cereal, then fruit and veggies) around 5 1/2 months, and she did really well for a while - she was very interested in eating and would eat anything. Now, even before she tastes what I offer, she turns her head away, clearly rejecting the food. She'll pick up bits of food from her tray but mostly doesn't eat them. I am breastfeeding her, and that is still going well, so I'm happy that she's at least getting that, but I'm worried about this solid refusal going on too long. Has anyone experienced something like this? Any ideas for what I may try?

Thanks!

Juli
Elsa-born 3/4/04

[tarahsolazy]

Juli,

I can't help much, because my DS is 8mo and has never really liked solids. We are just now making more of an effort to give him something to try every day. Solids are for practice at this age, with BM making up most of her calories. I would advise trying not to make a battle of it, little ones can sense that stuff, sometimes. You could contiue to matter of factly offer her solids once or twice a day, esp new finger foods, and just let her do what she wants. She may want to feed herself, try putting mushy stuff on the tray with her cracker bits, Cheerios, etc. I think my DS wants to feed himself, he also rejects the spoon, but puts his hands in the food and sucks it off his fingers. Messy, but cute. HTH.

[missmelis01]

Hi Juli-

My son and I are going through something similar, though my son never really took to solids from the get go.

Is it possible that your daughter is teething? Decreased appetite for solids is a symptom of teething (http://pediatrics.aappublications.or...ract/105/4/747).

I wouldn't worry about your daughter's change in appetite. As long as she is still nursing well, I would take the eating casually -- don't press the issue, and when she is ready again, I am sure she will let you know! :-)

[jc16bergman]

Thanks Melissa and Tarah for your advice. She is, in fact, teething, so maybe that has something to do with it. I know, intellectually, that I can't seem too interested in whether she is eating the solid food or not - I don't want to turn it into a long-term issue. I just need to keep reminding myself of that.

Thanks again-

Juli

[brittone2]

I have an 8 month, almost 9 month old actually DS who isn't terribly interested in solids either. For a while he took quite a few spoonfuls at a time (we started at 6 months) but lately he hasn't shown much interest.

I still offer about 2x per day, but I just kind of let him do what he wants with it. If I spoon feed him he'll eat 3-4 spoonfuls usually and that's it. He is trying to finger feed himself but rarely gets anything in his mouth successfully ;) He enjoys trying to steal whatever I'm eating though!! I buy "go go grahams" (organic graham crackers) from Trader Joe's and he's stolen a bite out of them before. Go figure, as it is something I don't want him to have. I try and avoid that due to the sugar in them and the wheat as well. My mom has a wheat allergy so I'm being cautious and waiting until at least a year (I think that's technically the recommendation regardless though).

I just bought some rice pasta and rice bread (no allergens) for him to try to finger feed himself. He seems to enjoy holding a strip of the bread and chomping on it. Not sure how much he really eats per se though. But it makes for fun fine motor skills practice and he likes being in control over what goes into his mouth.

Don't sweat it. Solids are definitely for practice and I think it is totally normal to not be all that interested. Just continue to offer when you can and let her go to town with some things on her high chair tray. Maybe some will make it into her mouth LOL.

I understand your worry though. Most people think it is crazy DS isn't into solids but I try and keep repeating to myself that at this age it doesn't really matter anyway.

[jc16bergman]

Thanks for the advice, Beth. We gave Elsa some tofu cubes this weekend, and she actually ate a couple. She also now eats zwieback toast. It does, of course, have wheat, and unfortunately, nearly no nutritional value. That figures, huh? Today I tried varying the times that I offer solids as opposed to breastmilk. It seems that if I offer solids first, she gets mad and demands breastmilk, but if I give her breastmilk first, then of course she's not hungry after. I'm going to keep working on it, and keep offering solids. Thanks again-

Juli

[steph2003]

I'm glad someone else posted on this. My almost 9 month old son has no interest now in solids. He used to take a good amount of jar food but now hardly anything & I have to work really hard to get him to take bites. I try to offer some finger foods as well & he is semi-interested in that but definitely more so interested in the bottle.

[jillc]

Tarah,

Thanks for suggesting putting mushy stuff on the tray w/cheerios. Abby would eat cheerios all day if I let her, but she's kind of so-so as far as most solids go. I tried putting some yogurt on her tray today, and she had a fun time putting her fingers in it and then sucking on them. Made lunch a bit more messy, but otherwise she wasn't interested in yogurt. Fun for the whole family!