8 months and still won't take solids

[DeniseG]

I'm having a hell of a time getting solids into my 8 month old. I'm sure I have tried everything - rice cereal, pureed veges, pieces of steamed veges in case she doesn't like puree - pureed apple and pear. I've also given her a selection of bits on the tray so she can feed herself. As soon as she sees the spoon, she just purses her lips and turns her head away. On the odd occasion where I've managed to slip in a spoonful, she gags. She was born 6 weeks premature, could this be a factor. I'm starting to get a little worried now as both baby clinic and the doctor say she should be well into solids by now. BTW, my daughter is Hong Kong born Chinese, and we adopted here at 4.5 months. She is still on 5 x 210mls of formula per day. Any suggestions anyone?

 

[pooch]

Hi Denise - sounds tough. I haven't been in the same situation so unfortunately I don't have too many suggestions other than perhaps trying to offer solids before her milk when you know she is hungry. or maybe even give her 1/4 - 1/2 of her bottle and then offer solids so that she's not too hungry.
I have an 8 month old and he is now on 2.5 bottles of formula a day (1 in the morning, 1/2 early afternoon and 1 before bed). He has 3 meals in addition to the bottles.

He has recently been sick and off his milk and solids for a 2 weeks - point blank refused everything- so I know how frustrating it is when they clamp their mouth shut. nothing you can really do to force them!

I would keep offering and try and reduce the milk so that she is hungry when you offer. Maybe rice cereals mixed with her milk. I know some people add the rice cereal to the bottle to start with. That could be useful in your case and will get things started at least.

My son seems to want anything we are eating. not so keen on the baby puree food on his plate. Does she show an interest in eating your food at all?

hopefully someone has some good advice for you.

Good luck

 

[Konradsmom]

I know this is not scientific, but have you tried boiling rice congee ?

I say this because my son , who is also chinese born in HK, hated rice cereal when he was a baby and literally spat it out. but when we tried rice congee we boiled ourselves , he took to it straight away. There is something ( unscientific again, but I don't know how to explain it) with chinese people and rice, so perhaps you can give it a try?

dunno if it works but I can remember how my son loves congee boiled with a tiny bit of dried scallops (you probably don't have to use this at all, but being chinese, we did it the old fashioned way).

good luck

 

[pixelelf]

i did everything you mentioned, puree, sliced, diced, made porridge (he absolutely hates and he is chinese) etc... my son did not take well to solids until much later at 10mths. even then he has 4 days of solids refusal n the other days, he pretty much takes 2 meals, 1 tablespoon of food at each. in fact in his initial feedings, he'd always break out in a rash! i just kept on breastfeeding him and every solid meal was a struggle. this affected his sleep at night as well as he was waking up every 2hrs to feed!

he stopped gaining weight as much and i was very worried about it and consulted the pd. but he assured me that he's alright, and to keep encouraging him.

THEN he turned 1 yr old and the pd cleared him for table food. he eats pretty well now - 3 meals, 2 snacks, 4x breastmilk (he's now 12+ mths going on 13mths) and there's no need to force or entertain him at meals. when he's done he'll let me know and i hafta respect him and let him down the chair. i dun add salt or soya to our food at home though. other than honey, nuts, whole eggs, he's pretty much eaten most of our food, with no problems.

so take heart. as long as the baby is happy and active and the doc's checked him and says he's ok, he should be fine. the hardest part is trying not to worry!

 

[megan2008]

When I started my baby, I will give her the bottle then sneak in a spoon full of solids and she would suck it up. Eventually, she started to eat without the bottle. My baby is 6.5 months and was 5 weeks premature. Hope that helps.