9-Month Old Doesn't like Food!

My son never liked mooshed foods. We skipped that stage, and went straight to finger foods when he was ready. Avacados and bananas are great first foods, as they are easy to digest.

I kind of had the same problems, my little girl has really just started to eat some food and she is 13 months old. children do things at there pace, and my daughter has just started with a sippy cup. She did not start crawling until she was 10 months. So i did things on my babys terms and did not worry to much, most of there nutrishion comes from formula anyway.

I agree with the others, don't rsuch away the baby years. I have 3 kids (6, 8, 10) and I didn't give a sippy cup until they were a year. They were all bottle babies and I just used the sippy as a transition from formula to milk. None of my kids walked until 14 months and my oldest didn't crawl until 10 months, she rolled everywhere. I would just take it a little at a time. I would put him in a high chair with you at dinner time and see if he will want to have the soft food if he is included with dinner time with you. Good luck and enjoy the baby stage it is gone really too soon.

Dear T.,
I had almost the same kind of situation with my son. We saw specialists too. He never ate food until he was almost a year. He was breastfed only. It was not my choice, it was his.
It took 18 months and several pediatricians that I decided to see a nurse practitioner and experienced mother. She was extremely understanding and thought that maybe his issues were more from food allergies and that he was non-trusting towards food because it made him uncomfortable.
We saw an allergist and he was found to be allergic to a lot of foods. It has taken 4 years for him to understand that not all food will make him gag of give him an itchy throat or tongue or stomach ache.
At 11 months his first foods were baked potato wedges and whole soft pears. I use to be afraid to give him food thinking he would choke, but soft pears and potatoes were it for him. He ate that stuff forever it seems. We started to gradually feel more confident in letting him get interested in other things. Some days he would have nothing and would nurse all day.
If Brady's weight is good and he's growing and interacting, those are all positive things.

I thought my son would also be my only child. Now we have a 10 month old baby girl and she has been a positive influence. He now will take bites of food that he would never had dared experimented with.

There seems to be a growing number of children with food allergies in my son's preschool. It is shocking. I wouldn't want you to feel that this is what the issue for Brady is. Although many doctors don't want to give the test to a young child because they don't want to label them with food allergies so soon. sometimes they have to keep their medical costs down like our former pediatricians in California did.

Please don't get discouraged. It will get better! good luck!

My son did would not eat any kind of food until he was almost 12 months. He wanted no part of food. We started around 6 months and I kept trying and then I just gave up with the whole baby food thing and waited a while. Tired again and he still would not eat it. So I then tried what we were eating and he did much better with that. He is almost 20 months and I'm still breastfeeding him and he eats like a champ now.

Our doc was never really concerned with it. He was meeting all of his milestones and he was healthy. He did not start crawling till he was almost 10 months and did not start walking till he was 14 months. And he would not take a sippy cup till 14-15 months. He did better with a straw or a regular cup.

I know it's hard when you see other kids their age doing things and your little one is not. But try not to worry about it or push him or yourself too much. He will come around when he is ready. This baby stage does not last long enough. They grow up way to fast.

T.,

My daughter did the same thing. It's not an aversion to food, it's that he's not ready for chunky solids. I did some research when my daughter had this problem and it basically said that some babies' gag reflexes are more sensitive than others and it just takes longer for them to swallow chunky food. My daughter now eats like a pro, so give Brady some time. He will eventually eat. I wouldn't follow the speech therapist's advice. Holy cow, give the kid popsicles and ice cream and he'll never eat anything else! Seriously! Just keep giving him pureed foods and keep trying chunkier food once in awhile. All of a sudden, he'll just eat it normally. My daughter did! Hang in there.

T., I personally wouldn't worry to much my kids all ate at different times and I have a friend who never feed hers until after a year. My third son was 9 months when he started also so don't be to conserned. Have the doctor check his blood for iron levels,if they are normal you got nothing to worry about. I always knew mine were ready when they started to really look at us when we ate and tried to grab for the plate. Hope this helps

You might want to consider the possibility that your pediatrician is insane. I know lots of mothers and lots of babies and I've never heard of anyone recommending a therapist for food aversion at nine months--many children are not ready for solids at nine months and I've often found that whether or not they have teeth tends to be a good indication (my oldest daughter had teeth at four months and started grabbing at our spoons all the time; my youngest didn't have teeth until nine months and wasn't interested in solids until about ten months).

999 times out of a 1000 babies will let you know when they are ready for new stages.

Best Wishes.

My little girl was the opposite. Starting at six month I offered cereal and baby food. No way. Did the gag and vomit thing. Later on we figured out that she craved the crunchy, would not touch the pureed stuff. I nursed her forever because she just wouldn't eat. She started with an OT before her first birthday and has since switched to different therapists, speech, another OT, just trying new things. They did a great job exposing her to different textures. She still doesn't like the non crunchy stuff, but will eat yogurt! She is 4 now!
What I would do is just have play time with different textures. The OT had a big container of beans. WIth his age, I wouldn't let him play with them without supervision of course, but it would help him get the feeling of them...you could try different objects too.
Anyway...good luck!

I had one child who I had to stop nursing early due to ppd and BAD thrush-we lept transferring it to each other.:( I gave him formula until he was a little over a year. He was not interested in food of any kind until he was almost a year old- did the spitting and gagging thing too. The doctor wasn't worried since he was gaining weight and developmentally fine. Turns out, he hated pureed foods! Still does. I sliced bananas up inteeny pieces and he started wit those, then went to crackers that crumbled or dissolved pretty quickly in his mouth. I fed him thicker baby cereal and instant oatmeal that had formula mixed in. He loved yogurt. He started eating scrambled eggs and smashed carrots and peas. Just took off once he was used to the taste and texture differences- I just sat him down at every meal with the family. Put a little of what he could eat, or what I wanted him to try on the tray and let him play for a few minutes. He almost always put it in his mouth after smearing it around. I would try to spoon feed him a taste or two, and if he wasn't interested, i left him alone and would repeat the cycle next meal. I think by the end of two weeks he was loving oatmeal and yogurt and was opening his mouth for the spoon. It did take a lot of repetition and reintroducing foods to him every meal though. I hope ha helps.:)

I am a mother of 4 and one on the way and from my experience your Brady is ok. As long as he is still taking formula he is getting the right nutrition he needs and that is important. As far as the sippy cup, i wouldn't even start worrying about that until he is at least a year. The cherios and cookies aren't only for him to eat and suck on but they also help his motor skills. But if he is doing good with that aspect then don't worry. Try making homemade mashed potatos. My kids really didn't start with the cookies and stuff until thier teeth started coming in. Knowing this is your first child i understand your concerns specially when "everyone" around you his reached different mile stones. When he is ready he will let you know. I use to give my kids watermelon peels. Its cold, hard and tastes good. The peels don't break easily and as long as you are watching him choking isn't anything to worry about. Just continue to try new things but don't push him into something he doesn't want. He will try new things when he is ready not when you are ready. Just like walking. I hope this helped a little.

Hi T.,

My 10-month old son, Dane, seems just like Brady. Dane just barely cut his two bottom teeth this month so they are only now growing in. He won't take a sippy cup, he just started crawling a week ago. He was mobile before but only by rolling and dragging himself places. He seems to be reaching all of his milestones except for the eating. In fact he has a cousin 20 days older than him and she has always reached milestones way ahead of him. I've finally learned to accept that Dane is not the same as she is and they are not going to do things the same. He is 10% for his weight by the way compared to other babies his age.

We continue to offer the foods like peas, crackers, cereal puffs, cheerios, fruit loops, ect. To this day he has not yet swallowed anything because he gags on it. He sucks on everything and then spits it out. In fact, it was so hard for us to get him to eat the baby food jars until he was 9 months. Before that we could maybe get 1-2 jars fed to him in a week. Then one morning he decided he was hungry and ate 2 jars. I was SO EXCITED! Now he eats 4 of those a day and has done that for the past 3-4 weeks.

My pediatrician is also one we just started seeing recently. Dane had seen her 3 times now and I really like her. She said to continue to encourage him with a sippy-cup and always offer him the food even if he continues to spit it out. He was breastfed for the first 6 months until my work got busy again. I often wonder if it has something to do with that but I don't really know. Our pediactrician says what we have is a picky eater. He is getting the nuritionment he needs from the baby food jars and the formula and he's a happy healthy baby otherwise. He's just a tad bit smaller than other babies. We like to give Dane some sample tastes of our food but he hasn't decided that he's liked it yet. I hope when he finally does decide to cut his top teeth that these things will all change.

Dane is our 3rd baby and my two older children did not go through anything like this. They all had teeth at 6 months, no problems with different formula brands, they loved rice cereal and baby food. Dane isn't like them so instead of trying to make him like them I think I'm going to let him be him.

Let me know how the specialist works out for you. I think it's mostly frustrating for us.

-E. Hughes

Your letter made me laugh because my 22-year-old gourmet restaurant chef didn't get teeth until 10 months and I had to cook him three of each meal for him to nibble on the final product. He simply was not interested. As an infant, he hated anything that wasn't cooked fresh. The hand pureed carrots had to be hot/cooled off the stove. As he grew into a wiseacre kid, he refused to eat "cheap" food such as hot dogs or beans and preferred expensive steak dinners out to snack trips to "Tacky Hell", (Taco Bell).
The long and short of it is that he loves variety. He needs lots of stimulation and I couldn't offer him enough choices to whet his appetite.
Try lots of yummy things and he'll come around. I finally discovered this trick when my son was in grade school, but was a very tired and frustrated mom early on, feeling rejected while my son never ate.

My sister in law had the same issue with her little boy. He wouldn't eat any kinds of food, just breastfeed. It drove her crazy because she felt like she had to nurse him a lot. She took him to the doctor and they told her to patiently keep trying foods. They said a lot of kids have problems with textures of foods. Anyways, she kept trying and gradually got use to certain foods and now he's eating. He was about 10 months by the time he started. And I don't think your little guy should be on a sippy cup (maybe for juice) but let him be little. He's not even a year. Good luck.

My 11 month old son just recently began to eat more solid food. He was never interested in baby food. He hated being fed by a spoon. He would also gag on anything we tried to feed him. I kind of gave up on the baby food and didn't pressure him to eat if he didn't want to. I would always put him in his highchair during meals and put mashed up food on his tray. Eventually he would put it in his mouth and eat it, as long as I wasn't feeding him. He does much better now but he still isn't at the level my daughter was by this age. (She did have more teeth than him. That probably helped). Some kids just aren't ready to eat until a year or so. I wouldn't be concerned until he is over a year and still not eating. All doctors are different, that is for sure. I bet he will eat by a year. Hang in there.

Hey T.,

Bless your heart! I'm surprised that a doctor would freak out so much about your baby not being interested in food!

I am a SAHM of 3 beautiful boys and another baby on the way (9 weeks along). My oldest, who is now 9, was a stinker of a baby when it came to eating. I kid you not, for the first 6 months of his life he nursed every hour and a half. I could not leave him with anyone. The first few weeks he took a bottle because he was just not satisfied with nuring alone. He had to be supplemented, but then after a month or so, he absolutely refused it. He only wanted me. It was the gagging thing, the bottle would get in his mouth and he would cry and gag and fight it. It didn't really matter to me because I did have the luxery of staying home with him. However, when I tried to introduce baby cereals or baby food to him, he would gag and throw up. We tried EVERYTHING. People would suggest something, we would try it and he would do the same song and dance he always did -- gag, then puke. At first it was a challenge because I was DETERMINED to get this kid to eat, but his pediatrician at the time was not the least big concerned about it. He was exclusively nursing and was the fattest, happiest baby around. People asked me all the time what I fed him and I'd say, "You're looking at it!" (He was 20 pounds by 3 1/2 months -- weighed 9 pounds at birth) So...to get to my point...my son refused any and all kinds of food until he was around 13 months old. On his first b-day party he wouldn't even touch his cake. He was still exclusively nursing at that point, and then all of a sudden, we were at Costco one day and they had a taste test of pudding. He seemed interested so I reluctantly gave him a taste, praying he wouldn't vomit in the store -- and he LIKED IT!! So....I started giving him yougurt and other soft foods and that was it. It was a VERY slow process but before long, he was eating like a normal kid. He's now going on 10 years old and still has a very sensitive gag reflex -- we lovingly call him the "Gag Master". Your baby is fine! He is normal and he will eventually show interest in food. Every child is different! As long as he is gaining weight and developing at a "normal" pace -- whatever that is! -- just keep doing what you're doing. One day you'll see that he will be eating just like everyone else. And by the way, my son didn't officially crawl until he was nine months old (he did the army crawl forever!) Be patient! All will be well with your little guy. You'll see!!

P.S. -- My son had a full set of teeth (20 teeth) by the time he was 14 months old. The first teeth poked through when he was 4 1/2 months old. Having teeth didn't make any difference to him whether or not he wanted to eat. Hang in there!

A.

T., I really wouldn't worry at this point. My son was similar and was primarily breastfed until he was 10 months. He had allergies and also aversions to texture. He didn't start getting teeth until he was one, so I couldn't blame him for not wanting too much texture. He is now 1 1/2 and a very good eater, but still has issues with some texture, like scrambled eggs, tofu or broccoli. I've heard that some kids are just like this, so I just get creative; for instance, he will eat French toast and egg salad. I would suggest just giving it time and be patient and try not to show him stress around food. Does he eat yogurt? If he is doing some dairy, whole milk yogurt, like YoBaby, is a great source of protein and calcium. If he's not doing cow's milk products yet, you could try goat's milk yogurt. I know how frustrating this is. Good luck!

My son was also behind with food (and still is a little bit). He kept getting ear infections so we were unable to introduce new foods and when we finally could he would do the same "vomit" face. He liked applesauce, and the other Stage 1 foods. A few of the Stage 2 (fruits only) would work too. As far as solids we are just taking our time. He turned 1yrs old about two weeks ago and has only been getting more interested in food in the last 2 or so months and he is still picky. My son also only has two teeth and I am not sure if that is related. We found that he would be more likely to try something new if he saw us eating it. I sit with him and offer him a piece of what I am eating. I let him take it and put it in his mouth. This is a very slow process that usually ends with him only eating maybe a bite or two at a sitting but he gets better at it every day. In fact, just starting this week he is taking everything I offer and at least tasting it. He really only likes a few foods though so we still give him formula (with whole milk since he is 1 yrs old) for nutrition. I recommend trying cheddar cheese, craisins, raisins, sandwich meats (ham, turkey). These are all small soft finger foods that worked for my son. They are also colorful so they peaked his interest. I hope that helps!! Goodluck!

(ps. the Stage 3 jar foods are nasty. Don't waste your money. Go right for the real food!! :) )

My almost 10mo will not eat anything past stage 2 and only recently stopped gagging on puffs and cheerios. He gags on any chunky food and sometimes it makes him throw up. My oldest child still did that at 2 1/2, he gagged on thick oatmeal. I still have a high gag reflex. Eventually he will get there, I promise he won't eat baby food forever. And eventually he will be more interested in what you are eating anyway.

T.
We had the same problem with Samantha my daughter who just turned 7 months on Friday. She would gag and make herself vomit if she did not like what she was trying.... which was everything until about 2 1/2 weeks ago! She now likes to eat stage one baby food but I have to mix the meat products with either applesauce or pears; she does not like peaches, she still gags on those!! It took some time as you can see for her to eat babyfood also. Just be patient and keep trying that is what we did. GOOD LUCK

My son had senory problems with texture and temps. Try heating or cooling his food differently. Room temp. was my sons preference. We also let him play with food on his tray. Mashed potatoes with cheerios mixed in or anything with different textures helped him get used to these things in a fun way. We also bought a set of textured toothbrushes just from Target in the baby aisle and would massage his mouth with the different toothbrushes and let him chew on them, supervised of course (this was a suggestion from our feeding specialist). It took a while but we never made a big deal about his eating habits (in front of him). We always put bits of whatever we were eating in front of him at meals and let him try it if he wanted. He is four now and the biggest eater in our house. Some textures still bother him, but we still always offer those foods to him. Keep trying different things. Sometimes children just need time to develop.

My daughter is 8 months old and is exclusively breastfed. She doesn't like baby food, jared or home-made. i have been trying since she was 4 months old. I was just talking to her dr. today because she likes things like... tomoatoe soup, butternut squash soup, etc and i was worried of the sodium content. He recommended low sodium soups and that those are great. So i went to trader joes and bought tons of boxed soups for her. I put them in sm. containers already portioned out so that its easy to prepare. She also likes toast with a little jam on it, yogurt, and cheese.
She JUST started eating these things maybe not even a week ago.
Don't give up! I don't think anything is wrong with your baby they just all have different times they want to eat.
My ped. told me it was OK to not eat food for a whole year as long as i keep trying.
Good luck and email me if you have any questions
A.

I have 3 teenagers. all great, but different. My first child was a lot like your Brady (also no teeth at 9 months, came at 10 mths).
At 9 months i was so happy that he could hold a bottle up on his own! I put a nipple on bottles of apple-carrot juice (by Gerbers). I also ended up making alot of soup (and freezing it in small portions.
no rush for sippy cups as they use them for YEARS. But i would take him to a dentist (if he hasn't started going yet).
As for cruising. My boy climbed (toilets, dishwashers,drawers)but he didn't crawl. It turned out that be had no place to crawl. I was too afraid to put the poor boy down (we lived in an old small house with stairs). If Brady is all day in an environment when everyone is bigger so he is never put down to roam ....just make sure he has a large space to crawland not "over"protected.
My son crawled (we moved houses- large empty spaces) for less than a month before he walked (he walked sometime in his 10th month).

There is no rush. It all goes so fast. Right it all down, because you won't remember half of it.

My son is now over six ft tall, very athletic, but still very critical of his food (and cannot overeat)

I would NOT use sugar ladened foods like ice cream and popsicles to "Lure" him into eating. Sugar will never produce good health!

There IS a reason he is not eating the foods offered him. What that is, I dont know, but offering him inferior food (which sugar is) is NOT the way to go! My suspicion is that he may be highly allergic to foods, and is why he is not interested. It is his body's way of protecting him. I would therefore avoid any grain products and other foods that can be highly allergenic, but instead concentrate on veggies like green beans, sweet potatoes, squash. Dont use the prepared baby foods, start with fresh that you cook yourself, as they are much more appealing.

The book "Super Baby Food" by Ruth Yaron will be a big help.

PS My 26 yr old daughter didnt start eating solids until she was nearly a yr old, and she is very healthy today.

Hey T.,

I just wanted to let you know that you are not alone! My cousins baby (8mo) wont take any kind of food PERIOD and is only breastfed...lucky her lol. I also do daycare and I watch a 9mo and a 10mo. and they both move at very different rates. My 9mo old is very picky and she is just starting to eat stage 1 baby food and she has a very strong gag reflux but the more I work with her the better she gets. She is also NOT rolling over,crawling or scooting...she only sits up. My 10mo old is all over the place but not crawling yet and he loves to eat but doesnt sit up although he can pull him self up and stand alone! But they are both perfectly normal kids!!! Then there is 5mo. old that mimic everyone else and can already get up on his knees and scoot short distances and he rolls everywhere... and my 3.5yr old NEVER ate baby ffod at all...he went right to solids and sippy cups and 4mo! But he was also crawling at 6mo and walking by 8mo...sad thing is I feel like he was never a baby! It just depends! Not sure of any suggestions but keep at it...she will eventually grasp the food concept.
T.

T.,
I agree with the other posters, no need to worry this early. My youngest (of 5) wouldn't eat cereal or baby food, nothing but the breast at 9 months. I tried over and over. Finally I just started with smooth table food and he gobbled it up. Avocado is great when it is ripe. It is full of good brain building fats. I would take whatever was on the dinner table, mush a bite between my two fingers and finger feed him. This really only lasted a month or two, then he was grabbing my plate and eating foods with more texture. He never liked mashed potatos, though. He is 7 now and won't eat potatos in any form, not even french fries! Sometimes I think it has more to do with change than the actual food. He still doesn't like change of any kind and will eat the same thing for weeks on end. Best of luck.

Of my 19 month old twins, my son is my bottle boy! We did not have the same challanges that you are facing as far as gagging. He would throw his food in the floor and refuse to eat, basically starve himslef until I caved and he got his milk bottle.

I would put on cartoons and slide his high chair so he and his twin sister could see (she is the exact opposite when it comes to eating) and eventually he slowly started to eat on his own. I would alternate the sippy cup and bottle with meals, but it would be water or waterdowned juice.

Yes, there were nights that I would wake up from him crying since he was hungry and wanted a bottle, I gave it to him, and there were some nights that i would sneak in and leave a room temprature bottle of water in his bed so that if he woke up, he would find it quickly and "hopefully" not realize it was not his milk.

You are doing all of the right things, listen to your gut instinct. I know my dentist reminds me all of the time to stop giving my son a milk bottle with bed, but I know I did the right thing.

Hi T.,
I wouldn't worry about your son not wanting to eat more solid foods yet. Both my daughters refused to eat baby food - any stage. I wasted so much on money on barely touched jars. My daughters pretty much drank their bottles exclusively. I graduated them to the next level of formula for 9mth to 24mth olds, when they were one. I also started offering them more of what I was eating or a mashed up version. It was slow go, but my daughters are healthy eaters now. They are 3 and 2 have no trouble eating. I also let them both have their bottles well past one and my doctor had no problem with it. I just made sure I brushed their teeth and brought in a sippy cup as they got older.

So don't worry and just follow your son's pace.

Hi T.,
We had issues with our son when it came to eating food as well. He never had problems with baby ceral or food but when it came to table food, he had no interest. I am a big believer in all kids developing at their own pace and at 9 months, I really would not worry. My son would gag on regular food and throw up and it was very upsetting for me. I can recall when he was 13 months still not really eating table food but not wanting to be fed baby food any longer either. I went to a nutrionist and she suggested that if he was not going to eat the baby food, give him whatever we were eating and let whatever was going to happen, happen. And it all worked itself out. He ate! My suggestion is if your son will easily eat the baby food, feed him that and introduce simple stuff over time but not for nutrional purposes. Pretzel rods are good along with the other stuff you mentioned. Don't worry...you'll get there. 9 months old seems young to me for your pediatrician to expect him to be eating table food, using a sippy cup and cruising. I could see if he was 15 months but not 9. He's still a baby. Enjoy it because befor you know it, he won't be. Good luck.

First of all, I do think that your pediatrician might be taking things a little far. Just because your little one isn't quite "average" does not mean that there's something dreadfully wrong. Kids mature at different speeds. Give yourself and your sweet baby lots and lots of grace. He'll come along at his own speed.

Our little one had a hard time with textures too. He ate "baby food" up until he was a year old or a little older and would gag on anything solid. However, he rapidly caught up and is doing just fine now with table food.

I'm a little concerned that your specialist recommended giving ice cream to an infant. So much sugar so young??? Just a personal concern.

Just remember "lots of grace." Some pediatricians do a lot of fussing for nothing. If it were I in the situation, I would be firing my pediatrician right now. If you choose to keep her, just remember that life does not consist of keeping up with the average baby.

Blessings!

Hi there...I'm a 32 SAHM and I have 4 children. My sister has 7 children. I must say I agree with your first pediatrician's opinion. They all grow at their own pace. I have a 3 year old that wasn't talking much at all and I took her to a speach therapist for an evaluation. After I left I came to my own conclusion that she simply didn't feel the need to talk with all these other people around talking for her. I began to really focus on reading more books to her, talking to her and encouraging her to repeat things that I said to her. now, 6 months later, she won't stop talking! If your baby likes runny food, let him have at it...he will soon be curious enough to try new things when he becomes more aware of other kids and adults eating food around him. I wouldn't worry too much. Enjoy him being a baby for now. Before you know it you'll be telling your 10 year old to pull up his pants, that your tired of seeing his boxers hanging out! Good luck and God Bless. A.