Baby Won't Eat Veggies or Meat Baby Food

I had the same problem with both my kids. I got tired of them fussing and not eating it, so I stopped trying.
They are now 12 and 7 yrs. old. and it didn't affect there growth at all.
One thing I did before I gave up was try different brands of meat /veggie foods.
Have you tried making the veggie baby food by yourself?
Good luck an don't stress to hard. Just make sure your baby gets all his vitamins from what he drinks and ask the Dr. about starting vitamins.( he might be to young for the baby vitamins.)
Good luck.

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Hi C.,
At this point, he's just learning about new foods. I wouldn't stress too much that he doesn't want to try the veggies and meat just yet. Continue feeding him the cereal and fruit, and re-introduce the meat and veggies later. This is a learning process, and more about introducing the foods than about him readily taking them. It's more about him trying out things than it is about his nutrition. As long as he's still getting breast milk/formula, he'll be okay. Eventually, he should be more willing to eat the meat and veggies. Some kids don't even like eating these things until they're capable of eating the "real" form of them, not strained. You can probably try that by the time he's 9 months or older, but still in small pieces (rather than strained). Ask your doctor first, though. I know some kids skip the strained foods almost completely, and go to small bites of the "real" thing. (Sorry, I'm trying to think and type this while I have a little one whining because I'm not doing something for her right away - - I hope it makes sense).

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try mixing the fruit n veggies, or alternating bites. I agree with a previous poster that you seem to be in a rush. My daughter is almost 6 months and has not had any food. With my son he would eat his fruits and he liked squash, carrots, sweet potatoes, and sometimes peas n green beans. I tried giving him the meats once and he gagged so I tried them and they tasted so aweful I never gave them to him again. I waited till he was about 8 months and I would give him little pieces of shredded chicken or ground turkey. Don't worry to much about you still have a few months. My son is huge, big n strong, so he turned out fine.

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These are all signs that he is not ready. Slow down. Don't be in a hurry to get him to eat more foods. Offer different things daily, but no need to force him.

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I recently read that children cannot properly digest meats until 3 or 4 yrs old. Your breastmilk (or formula) is adequate protein for now. The book I have is great - Train Up Your Children in the Ways They Should Eat by Sharon Broer. It has a lot of information on how to introduce solids to babies and toddlers.

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Have you tried sweet potatoes? We did fruits first... Yellow foods (pear apple banana), the orange foods (sweet potatoes, peaches, carrots), then green (avocado, green beans... good luck with those beans), then red/purples (plums). My daughter really like sweet potatoes, so after I introduced that, I would do a combo scoop, like a little sweet potato with a little carrot. Did combo scoops with banana and something else also. Also, the consistency of bananas and sweet potatoes was easier for her young tongue to swallow.

Honestly, I didn't do meat at 6.5 months. That strikes me as too early. My daughter was getting her protein from breast milk and/or formula at 6.5 months. In fact, I am pretty sure we were still introducing all the various cereals between 6-7 months, plus the yellow and orange foods. I think she was much older when we tried meat. But I introduced every new foods very very slowly. One new food took at least 2 weeks of observation before introducing the next. That helped narrow down the cause of any food reaction if you know exactly what the culprit is. I also introduced scrambled microwaved egg yolk with a splash of formula (not egg whites) with melted cheese for a protein source when she was closer to 11 months. Rolled them into little balls and she loved them.

6 1/2 months is pretty early. Most babies just start eating solid food at 6 months. I really don't think you need to push meat this young. Just back off to what you were doing before, giving fruits and veggies. Try again in a month. The majority of his nutrition should still be coming from breastmilk or formula. His little tummy is probably just not ready for more yet.

Don't worry about the meats and start making your own baby food and mix fruit with vegi then taper it off so that it is mostly just vegi. You can add beans soon and that will give him plenty of protein and be better for him. Contact me directly if you are interested in this and need more info. Good luck.

M.

So why the need to give him meat? I am not a vegetarian, so am not suggesting this on a prejudiced viewpoint. (although I enjoy occasional meals without meat.) Your son can be healthy a few more months without meat. We try to teach ourselves to trust our bodies - well trust his. He is gagging because he doesn't want meat right now. Do a little research on complementary proteins (read "Diet for a small planet" for the best layman's case for no meat in diet) to make sure he is getting all the protein he needs and wait a few months to try meats again. Things can change a lot in a few months time with an infant. One of the things messing up our health and health ownership these days is thinking every person, every baby has to be dead-on to the "average" or "desired" or "suggested" guidelines. Humans are very different and no one person is the "average". Just because the average baby starts meats at a certain age doesn't mean your baby has to or that there will be any detrimental effect from a different time frame.

Goddard School in CP will be the site for a free child nutrition expo. Sponsor is Univ of Tx children's nutrition center and there will be some resources there that would be helpful. Will be in early July and call for details.

Have you tasted those veges and meat??? They are horrid! I would try different veges, but I refused to give my kids the jarred meat. Once they got their first teeth, I just started mashing up whatever soft foods I made (steamed veges, potatoes, pasta, anything with hamburger meat, etc.) I think it helped them to not be picky later on (they are now 5 and 3 and eat pretty much anything) b/c they are used to the flavorings I use and the meals I prepare.
Right now, since I'm guessing your baby doesn't have any teeth yet, you can do steamed veges mashed really well, mashed potatoes, mashed bananas...anything that can be basically pureed. You can even use a blender. I would also start giving those fruit and vege "puffs"...Gerber makes them, but Walmart has a generic brand, too. They are great for learning to pick up small objects and melt in baby's mouth so they don't need teeth to chew them up.
And as long as you are giving the baby food fruit that has no sugar in it, it should be fine to give 2 or 3 times a day. I used to feed my kids baby cereal with a little of different kinds of baby food fruit mixed in once in the morning and once at night. Just be sure you are trying one new food at a time and at LEAST 3 days apart (a week or even 2 weeks between new foods is better) and watch for a rash or any other signs of a food allergy

There are two things you can do.

First,your son will not starve himself. If he refuses, you could just end feeding time. I bet in a day or two he will try the veggies.

Another thing you could is mask the veggies and meat with the fruit baby food. Take a scoop of the veggies and meat and then scoop the fruit. He will see the fruit and if by chance if he licks he will taste the fruit. I did this all the time with my daughter. I would mask the food she did not like with foods she did like.

Your baby is not spoiled. Back off and try again try again after a few days.

I used to put a little bit of veggie on the spoon, and then a little bit of fruit..so the baby tastes the sweet first. Make sure you get the order correct.

Have patience. A baby this young is not trying to "test" you.... :)

Well I don't think it will be a problem. You can actually wait until 6 months to introduce any kind of solid if you want so the fact your baby still only wants the rice and fruit is ok. Up until 6 months they can be on strictly a liquid diet and thrive really well. If he is doing fine with his weight, I think you can just wait a month or so and re-introduce them. That is what I did when my boy rejected things, I figured he just wasn't ready and I would try again later. He has always done really well health wise. Best wishes!!:)

I agree with the other responses, that you do not have to rush the food into their little systems.
Neither my daughter nor granddaughter ate baby food. They had breast milk their first few months, then formula. At about age 1 they ate the food off my plate. You could not 'trick' them by putting the baby food on the plate and try to feed them. If they did not see it go into my mouth, they did not want it.
They were/are both healthy cherub looking babies. They are also very health conscience
eaters.

Reintroduce. Reintroduce. Reintroduce. My baby (now 10 months old)has also gagged on foods to the point of throwing up. When I reintroduce the food that she has already rejected I mix it with something she likes. Sweet potatoes and squash are usually her favorites they are a little sweet. Pumpkin is a food that is easy to mix with other foods also. I just buy a can of pure pumpkin. Over the months she has started gagging less and eating more. Of course now if she does not want to eat something she just throws it on the floor but that is not as traumatic as gagging and throwing up.

You might try mixing some fruit in with the veggie and meat, just to sweeten it up a little.

I had to mix mine with the food that she would eat...and then go back in forth between the two until she would eat it all by itself. I did that with any food she didn't like and now she is doing great.
Hope that helps.
Mom of a 10 month old

Try mixing the yummy fruit with the icky meat and veggies (apples and chicken for example). Also sweet potatoes are fairly sweet.

Get (or mix yourself) the meat with apples or pears in it. Same with the veggies. Apples mix with ANYTHING and my kids all ate it that way!

don't give your baby so much fruit just a lil cause all the baby is doing is trying you to see how long it will take you to give in to what he/she wants back aways from the fruit for a couple of days and just give veggies again or don't mix them i never did that i gave food first dessert last it's a treat so hold back on the sweet stuff til the end just so that the baby is not hungry give the baby rice for dinner too with very little fruit or non if the baby will eat it that way. But bottom line treat the fruit like its a treat. stand your ground don't get weak I know we all do when it our kids. best of luck ;o)

A few things you should know: 1) Solids are just practice at this stage - your baby is still getting all of his nutrition from breast milk/formula; 2) it's not uncommon to introduce a food more than 10 times before a baby will eat it; 3) you should not be introducing more than one new food every 3 days so that you can monitor for an allergic reaction.