Hi, my sweet 6 month old daughter wants NOTHING to do with cereal or baby food. I pump, and she takes a bottle.I have tried offering it when she is hungry. She won't even open her mouth. If she does get some in, she spits it right back out. My son was eating cereal and baby food like a champ at this age! Is this normal?
My daughters have all done the same thing!
I have a 7 month old who only wants the breast... Or she wants what we are eating. So I decided to modify what we are eating and feed her that way. It's totally normal...every child is just different ( some more pickier than others... Especially girls ).
My son loved most baby foods. However, my daughter NEVER really liked baby food and wouldn't really eat it. She was always muchmore interested in what we were eating. So, I just gradually gave her soft foods that we were eating...she never did eat much baby food at all.
Our son did not take to solids AT ALL till he was about 1 yr old.
Some kids just take to it later than others.
It's normal.
My second child wanted nothing to do with food. I was worried and my pedi told me to chill and that he is growing just fine.
Just remember the purpose of food at 6 months is not nutrition - it is experiential and introducing texture and tastes.
Keep introducing foods to her, make her sit at her chair and "eat" with the family for all the other reasons that have to do with building family, etc. I will share that my second didn't eat any real food until closer to one year and he never wanted pureed baby food. He just ate soft table foods (oh he also didn't get teeth until later - so it all works itself out).
There isn't anything wrong with her not wanting baby food right now. Wait a few weeks and try again. As long as she is nursing she is getting the nutrition she needs, so don't force the baby food.
As an aside, my son didn't care for jarred food, but would eat small bits of food off of my plate, so you can give that a try if you want.
Before 1 yr, solids are extra. I'd offer, but only after she's had a bottle or nursed. She's getting used to the idea and it shouldn't be seen as a struggle. I know kids who took to it right off, some who needed time, some who tasted "real food" and refused a jar of baby food ever again, but happily ate seaweed. So keep nursing/pumping and don't worry too hard about it. If someone at the daycare is giving you a hard time, tell them she's fine and will eat solids when she's ready for them. My DD was about 6.5 months old when we first tried solids but they weren't a "meal" for a few months after that. She is her own person, so take HER cues, not his. :)
For the 1st year of life, breastmilk or Formula is a baby's primary source of nutrition. Solids, is NOT as nutritionally dense, as breastmilk or Formula.
A baby, does not have to eat solids at this age. For the 1st year, it is only an "introduction" to foods. Not their main, course.
All babies differ.
You need to go by your baby's cues and readiness.
This baby is not the same as your other child.
Just keep trying.
It's recommended to wait until 6 mos. to start solids, so kudos for you for waiting. So many parents push it trying to get their babies to sleep through the night.
Best not to compare the kids and this is a classic reminder. Your kids will differ greatly in most regards, food being the first.
It takes a lot of coordination and attention to start food for some babies. Have you tried holding her in your lap while you eat so she can observe what you are doing? Then they'll start to mimick and usually want what you are eating.
GL!
yes normal. do not worrry.. if the baby eats nothing but milk for an entire year that is fine.
she is not ready..stop wait.. try agian in 3 or 4 weeks.
some babies do not like baby food and prefer finger food.
baby food is just practice for eating later.
Mine is 7 months and is still refusing to eat baby foods,formula bottle when given, oatmealcereal wow can eat it plain.
So normal many things are going on right now w/baby.Lay off a few dys then reintroduce her lkes if she chooses not to eat then off it again later it takes 20 times for a baby to like a food so open the jar spoon some out put in fridge reoffer the same food over and over again don't switch back and forth till baby gets the hang of the texture smell taste
Keep trying at a later date.
Mine didn't eat this age.
It was later & I started w/the baby cereal first.
Keep trying but don't worry if she never gets into the baby cereal or foods. My first 4 had no issues. My 1 yr old is another story. He refused the cereal--all of it. I have a new box of oatmeal at home he would not eat and a box of barely used rice cereal. I never bought more. I think I bought a total of 20 jars of baby food. He just did not really want it. He preferred real food. We just gave him small pieces of carrots and potatoes/sweet potatoes, fruit etc. If it was mashed up, he would not eat it--unless of course mashed potatoes. The doc asked me if we were giving him one food at a time and having him on baby food. He kept telling me to keep trying to get him to eat food. He was. Just not baby food per se. He is now a very healthy 1 yr old at 95% for height and 80 for weight, growing just fine. He eats more than my 4 yr old. Oh, and he starting chewing from the very beginning. It was like he knew what to do instead of the usual baby reflex of pushing it around.
"Normal" depends on the kid. My daughter wasn't interested in eating food at 6 months, either. I decided not to force the issue and waited, periodically giving her tastes of things to try to get her interested. At 8 months, she decided that food was good stuff, but she never did like commercially produced baby food. (she could spit it an awfully long way, though!)
I think she found the texture too smooth - she still doesn't like smooth food, and she's 11 now. Besides, have you tasted baby food? It's nasty. Perhaps you should try modifying "real food" and see how it goes. When my daughter did start eating, I fed her small amounts of the same food the rest of the table was getting, mashed up or ground up. She liked it, and has grown into an adventurous, healthy eater with a remarkably sophisticated palate for a tween.
Both of my kids' favorite first foods were rice, mashed up fruit, and yogurt.
In the meantime, your daughter will be fine subsisting on breast milk. Better than fine - it is the perfect food for little ones.
She still is working on her tongue reflex it sounds like. Is she showing signs of readiness and interest, such as watching you bring your spoon to your mouth when you eat? When she does, she will be ready. Food at this point is mostly just for practice.
Offer it when/if you think she might be open to it. My son didn't really 'take' to baby food until about 7.5 months, and then you couldn't stop him. Remember that many children have to taste new tastes many, many times before accepting it. Baby food is a whole new world! New tastes, new texture TOTALLY not breastmilk. This is an exciting time, and let her take it at her own pace... also, try the sweeter foods first. As humans developed, they learned early on that sweet things were 'safer' (as in, you won't likely die) to ingest, while more bitter things could potentially be toxic.
Eventually, as she gets older and observes you and your family eating, she'll get interested. Have her in the high chair with a some easy-to-manipulate baby-safe foods (puffs, o's) and let her explore the food. That may help.
I would vote for totally normal! Every child seems to have their own schedule.If she appears satisfied by the milk and has been wetting and pooing as normal, then things are fine.
I'd say focus on the finder foods - peas, cherrios, puffs. Things with texture that she can grip and sample.
Good luck. She will eventually show an interest.
~C.
you probably tried this, but if not - put things in front of her that she can try feeding herself. Puffs, peas, avocado, etc. Put a few on her tray every time she is in the highchair. She may be curious enough to pick it up and eat it. Once she gets used to something solid, she will accept other stuff.
Keep an eye on it though, 99% likely normal baby nuance, but if it goes on for months maybe there is some sensory issue?
Some babies take to a new kind of food (i.e., solid food) early, some right according to the experts' time frame, and some later. If she's healthy, you don't need to worry much. Keep offering just a bit, without any pressure - things she can eat herself without your trying to get a spoon in her mouth. She may try them later - out of curiosity, perhaps, or even because she sees what her brother is eating. Then she'll think, "Hey, what have I been missing? This is good!"
