Getting Baby To Eat...

**foxxyroxie** · 02-20-2012, 05:49 PM

A friend of mine has 3 children, the youngest is an 8 month old son who she has breastfed since birth. Her problem is he absolutely refuses to eat baby cereal or baby food!!! She's tried mixing the breast milk with the baby cereal, tried every kind of fruit and vegetable and he still refuses to eat. She's even tried formula to supplement the breast milk and he refuses that too!! It's posing a problem because the breast milk is no longer satifying his hunger and she is having to breastfeed almost every hour. Her other two didn't give her any problems when it came to introducing solid foods. Any suggestions, help, tips, etc. for her I can pass along to her...

**bonnotsm9** · 02-20-2012, 06:40 PM

I had one like that. It was hard, but eventually he did start eating solids. He's 13 now, but if I remember correctly, I refused to breastfeed him during the day until after he'd eaten some solid food. It took a while to find something he liked. I started with that and added others once he discovered that regular food wasn't so bad. He also never would eat baby food. He went straight to soft table food. It was more interesting to eat some of what his siblings were eating.

**Menifeemom** · 02-21-2012, 01:00 AM

I wish I had a trick to make this easy, but I don't. My son has been the same way until recently. I prepared cereal several times a day and didn't give up. I would nurse him for a little while so he wasn't crying and then would try to feed him some cereal before nursing anymore. He hated it and it has taken a full month of doing this several times a day, but he is finally starting to accept the cereal.

**leighcat** · 02-21-2012, 06:54 AM

My youngest (dd) breastfed to 19mos. I only weaned her because I needed medicine that wasn't safe for her.
We didn't feed her baby food at all. No baby cereal or anything like that. We gave her some of the food on our plate, just mushed it up really well. She had a hard time with it at first, but since I was eating it she wanted to try it too. The first things we gave her was mashed potatoes and other mashed veggies and fruits. Applesauce without sugar, etc. If he sees mom eating it too it may get him to eat it.

**zakity** · 02-21-2012, 03:33 PM

What about "baby led weaning"?
What about homemade babyfood?
Would the child possibly have texture issues?

**danielleseaman** · 02-22-2012, 08:56 AM

As someone who has had this problem, the one fix (she isn't going to like it) is to stop BF cold turkey. She can pump and put it in a bottle, but the only way to switch from breast to bottle at this point (if she has never used a bottle) is to completely cut off the breast. AT this point the baby should be more amenable to trying the foods as well, it is probably a texture/sensory type issue. My oldest (he is now 9) did not like baby cereal in any way shape or form, but eventually accepted the fruits and some veggies. After accepting the fruits regularly, I would gradually add a little cereal to the fruit, teeny tiny bits at a time, so he was getting a little more substance, but he never did eat just plain cereal with or without breast milk or formula, I tried it every way I could. My youngest on the other hand would only eat baby food (no matter what I did) until he was over two, and still doesn't eat much, he is almost 4. I want to throw something else out there, my oldest is Asperger's and my youngest (who also had feeding issues) is Autistic, one of the early signs is feeding issues. I am not saying this is the case, but she might want to keep a close eye on milestones so that if there are any problems they can be caught as early as possible. I saw it at 6 months with my youngest since I knew from the experience of dealing with my oldest's food issues, so I knew something wasn't quite right. Good luck, I also just want to add, my daughter is our middle child and considered "typical", she had no feeding issues.

**Libby** · 02-22-2012, 09:56 AM

A few friends have told me that their kids 'told' them when it was time to transition to solid'ish type food b/c the baby wanted to eat whatever mom was eating. These children now can eat spicier food then I can! (she doesn't give it to them often either) So to get them to try new foods, she adds a teeny bit of hot sauce to it.

**Jamauk** · 02-22-2012, 10:58 AM

Babies do not nutritionally need cereal. If he has no interest in it at all, I'd say skip it and just go with table food. My youngest's first food was a mashed up avocado. To this day he LOVES them. After that we went with squash, peas, etc....I cooked up big batches and froze them in ice cube trays, then in ziplocs.

I'd thaw out a few chunks for him for his meal to make sure he was getting his veggies and then he could pick at whatever we were eating. This is my child that will now eat anything. He's never had a spoon of baby food in his entire life.

**frugalwarrior2** · 02-22-2012, 11:19 AM

My kids didn't like baby food and esp. not baby cereal. 8 mo. is plenty old enough for real food mushy or in smaller pieces. I am confused as to why she is even still trying it actually. The 2 questions are does he have enough teeth and will he chew.
If he wont chew it or just holds it in his mouth I would seek the peds help for testing. At 8 mo. my 2nd ate turkey and stuffing. Of course he has quite a bunch of teeth and everything was broken up. And yes he was also breastfed until 21 months.

**FrabjousDay** · 02-24-2012, 10:38 PM

Honestly, I wouldn't be stressed about it. My son didn't have interest in solids until around 13 months when he abandoned breastfeeding and started eating everything he could get a hold of with his wee little mitts (bananas and sweet potatoes were favorites). We started offering various foods around 8-9 months, but didn't force anything and we never bothered with cereal. He transitioned when he was ready, and has been a great eater ever since.

**Nana2two** · 02-25-2012, 11:58 AM

My daughter was 2 days shy of her first birthday, no more breastmilk Went to table food and whole milk. Never looked back.

**Happyfamily2000** · 02-25-2012, 05:50 PM

Based on the sage advice of our family doctors, I did not worry about the baby not eating formal food of any kind until they were 10 months or so. Some ate earlier, but they do all learn to eat.

It is awkward and a complete learning experience.

We also did not bother with baby foods and cereals. We made our own of everything.

I would not withhold nutrition to force feed the baby an awkward substance. Baby foods should not be counted on for sustenance until the baby is a year or older.

The one piece of advice I would give your friend is this. When baby is ready, he will let you know. When he does, give him real food prepared for his abilities. Not that jarred or boxed baby food stuff. There are tons of baby food "cook books" out there.

Our first foods were fresh avocados, fresh bananas (jarred has citric acid in them to prevent discoloration and taste funky), and steamed/pureed pears. All three must be done fresh as they will discolor. But you can freeze the avocado quickly and it should stay green.

**pinecone** · 02-25-2012, 07:30 PM

If he is gaining and thriving I wouldn't sweat it too much. My DGD is almost 8 months old with only 2 teeth but seems to be working on a few more. She thinks cereal is ok but forget veggies and baby fruit. DD found a mesh feeder at Wmart and puts ripe fruit in it. that goes over well as it is cool and feels good on DGD's gums. I haven't seen it as she is about 1,000 miles away in Denver.

piney