Problems with solids at 8 months...any advice?

L

Liquorice

Registered User
I am not doing very well with my eight month old son and eating.

I introduced solids at around 5 months. I started with vegetables - carrots, sweet potatoes, butternut squash - before I introduced fruit, and by 6 1/2 months he had accepted a wide range, eating plenty of greens as well, like broccoli and green beans. He used to happily eat whatever I gave him when fed individual foods or simple combinations (e.g. broccoli & cauliflower, sweet potato, leek & peas), and we had a good routine of 3 balanced meals a day.

I was following Annabel Karmel and when I moved on to stage two weaning, everything changed. I introduced meat, which he rejected, so I tried lots of the other recipes which combine many foods (and I think taste really nice) like minestrone, different combinations of vegetables etc., but he rejected most of those too.

I appreciate that he may not be ready for those more complicated meals yet, but the problem is that he has now gone off almost all of the vegetables he quite happily ate before - like butternut squash and sweet potato which used to be his favourites. The only thing he will eat is fruit. And he loves it.

I know that I can keep up his nutrition with milk so if he isn't eating well then it is not the end of the world, but my concern is whether I am instilling bad eating habits now which will only be further ingrained in the future.

Do I try different foods and then give him fruit if he doesn't eat them, so that at least he is eating something, or will this just encourage him to refuse things he isn't sure of as he knows he'll get fruit in the end? Or should I try different foods and then just give him milk if he refuses them? When we had a good solid routine I was down to 3 bottles of milk a day, now I am back up to 5 or 6.

I have also heard that if babies don't accept lumps in their food by a certain age then it can cause problems for future eating. I have gone back to fine puree in the hopes that this would help but it hasn't. Maybe I should give him more finger food, but then I worry about what to give him because he breaks chunks off whatever I have tried and it could be a choking hazard.

Maybe I am worrying too much, but I'd like to hear other people's experience and advice.
 
I'm a big fan of not giving purees and only giving regular food from six months, as you know yourself the reality is that they don't need the food and get most of the nutrition from milk so it's really not a problem that he isn't eating the purees.

What I would pick up on in your post is the fact that you worry about finger food "because he breaks up chunks off whatever I have tried and it could be a choking hazard" - that's eating! There isn't any other way of eating than breaking off chunks then swallowing them so in this case I think your worry might be standing in the way of his progress.

Some foods are more chokey than others, make sure you half or quarter skinned fruit like grapes and tomatoes, avoid whole nuts, to begin with steam (or microwave) hard fruit and veg like apples, pears and carrots so they are still hard enough to pick up but soft enough to be squished in the mouth. Give him large chunks of meat like chicken or steak which he can suck to get the flavour and nutritious juice out of, whole broccoli florets are also usually popular. Slightly overcooked fusilli pasta is a great finger food and can be swallowed whole without a problem.

If you give foods like this then you can get an idea of what he can manage and progress on to other foods as you become more comfortable. To begin with he may well cough at the unfamiliar sensation of lumps of food in the back of his mouth, as long as he is making a noise it's best not to intervene as that is how he will learn to move the food around his mouth and eat. Choking is silent so that is what you need to look out for.

I'd definitely suggest that you (and your helper if you have one) go on a first aid course and learn what to do if someone chokes. The reality is that a child can choke on a toy or running around at a party with food in their mouth just as, if not more easily than when they're properly supervised in a high chair and the important thing is to know what to do in that situation. Then you might feel more relaxed about the finger food.

Good luck with it.
 
Since when is he reluctant to eat veggies again ? I remember my daughter went through a phase where she would refuse anything if it wasn't really fine puree, and it stopped when 6 teeth finally went out !!
But apart from that, it took long for her to accept more than puree or yaourts, and would choke on any little piece.
She is now back to normal, with bigger lumps, finger foods, crunchy cakes etc...
 
Hi Frenchy, it has been about one month now that he has gone off the veggies and other food he used to like. So from about 7 months. He has two teeth, but he had these before when he was eating well. He may be teething again, though, as he does dribble a lot at the moment and he has had some really grumpy days.

jvn, yes, very over-cautious on the choking front. I just can't tell when it is okay. I have tried to give him food but often I take it off him - even when he is really enjoying it - because I suddenly get scared that something will go down the wrong way. You are right that he needs to learn how to eat himself. I gave him watermelon which he gnawed on for ages and ages, but then just threw it up / spat it all out because he hadn't actually swallowed it but just stored it at the back of his mouth instead... I like the idea of giving him things to suck on so that he gets to know the taste. I should do a first aid course, definitely. I'm sure that will make me a lot more confident.
 
You can eventually try to give him veggies again in different shapes. I know my daughter never likes crunchy carots, but is ok with well cooked. I would then give it to her in a shape she can easily catch.
Don't worry about the watermelon, my kids did and still do the same thing ! now my daughter is just smaching it in her hand and does not eat it at all ! but I prefer to give some to her as she gets used to have some fruits in her plate... whatever she does with it !
 
my kids eat a lot of fruits and veggies and i think it is because whenever they are hungry that is what i give them for snack. i introduced them as finger foods (veggies I steamed til really soft - carrot, broccoli, melons (for chinese soup) so that my daughters could just hold and feed herself) kind of messy, but if you bear with it, they will eventually get the hang of eating and enjoying the food. with my daughters they were very stubborn about self feeding and when i fed them, they would not eat at all...i just made sure they did not walk around with the food, but sit in their high chair to eat (which is a good habit to instill anyways). fruits i introduced as finger foods too - pear (the green soft one), banana, steamed apple, canteloupe (over ripe ones), as they progressed with more teeth - then i added strawberry, apple (over ripe ones - not steamed), orange....

each meal they would have a different veggie and as dessert a different fruit - 3fruits and 3 veggies / day. whether they like it or not, i will continue to introduce but perhaps in a different "way" - perhaps the veggies are cooked differently, or the fruits placed in a different bowl / plate. it really worked for my kids. also when i say "finger foods" i really do make sure that the foods are long and thin strips so that they don't choke and can have a good grip on the food...
 
Hi Leslifu, what about meat / protein? What did you give your children for that?

Doudoub - no vitamins, but my son should get all the nutrients he needs from milk I think....at this age anyway.
 
Hi Liquorice, my daughter is almost 12 months and is a bit of a fussy eater. We started her on solids at 6 months and she didn't really start eating until 10 months and even now, whether she eats or not depends on her mood. We've spoken to her doctor about this and he said not to worry - some babies don't start eating properly until they are well over a year old and just top up with milk as necessary. What I do now is offer her solids (a mixture of purees and finger foods) and if she doesn't want the solids, I just try to feed her more milk afterwards.

Also, if you're concerned about choking, have you tried giving your son some of the biscuits/crackers that melt in their mouths? They will melt as your baby keeps them in their mouth so you don't have to worry even if they refuse to chew on them.
 
My baby is 8 months old. For proteins, we give
- Tofu mashed into bits with veg/fruit puree
- minced meats/fish with mashed veg/fruits with pasta or cereal
- plain yogurt as snack, strange but she likes it even though she "shivers"

She loves breads. We tear them to long strips and let her feed. On days she's fussy, we let her suck on cold apples/pears. Seem to help.

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started with minced meats (beef / lamb / chicken) and steamed fish (cod mostly - because it's soft and no bones) pureed the minced meats as they did not have many teeth yet, but by 10mins they did not like the pureed foods and so I would just cook it with more sauce and also longer to make the meats softer - made a lot of bolognese sauce with pasta when my kids were around 8mths....also did a lot of white sauce - lamb stew...well, lamb with peas (frozen kind) that was cooked till the whole thing was really soft. my kids really liked both. didn't do pork as it gets dry very easily when it is over cooked and not easy to swallow, even for us adults! :)
 
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