6Mo Son Won't Eat Solids!

Hi J.,

First, I want to tell you about the nursing support group I am a member of. It is a online (yahoo) group called For Babies Sake. We also meet every Tuesday night in South Arlington at 7pm. The meetings are run by a fabulous lactation consultant, Mellanie. There is lots of breastfeeding support but also we all get advice and encouragement from each other on all kinds of parenting issues just like the one you've posted here.

Secondly, I want to tell you about an awesome website I found out about from the For Babies Sake group. It is www.kellymom.com. There is great info. on there on starting solids.

Thirdly, you sound just like me with my first. I was very concerned about getting my son to eat solids. Now I'm on my second child and have relaxed a lot and learned a lot more. Your son may simply not be ready for solids. I wouldn't force it. It is more trouble than it is worth at this point. He doesn't actually need anything other than your breastmilk to meet all his nutritional needs for the first 12 months. I would just occasionally offer foods to him. Eventually he will be interested and it won't be such a struggle. My daughter has almost completely skipped pureed baby foods and moved on to table foods by the time she was interested in solids.

Good luck!

Ok, I know this sounds weird, but have you tried singing to him while you feed him? If you feel silly making up songs, it could just be any fun upbeat kid song you know. We had trouble with my 11 month old refusing food, and the baby girl I take care of too, until I started singing to them. I think it made them realize that this weird foreign food wasn't scary...basically you want mealtime to be fun, not traumatic. I don't know, but it worked! Also, most babies like sweet potatoes (although I would probably start with store-bought baby food because it's hard to perfect the texture at home)...Good luck!

My son was the exact same way! He wouldn't even act interested until about 8 months or so. Every child is different. My other two started cereal at 4 months and baby foods at 6 months right on target. I just kept introducing baby food every few days instead of every day until he was ready for it. He was evaluated by ECI (early childhood intervention) to make sure he didn't have anything physical going on that kept him from eating solids. Just a thought!

I breastfed, and my son didn't take solids until he was 9 mths old. It appears to be more difficult for the breastfed kiddos to transition. You could pump and place a small amount of rice cereal in a bottle, but be careful that the nipple doesn't get clogged.
Personally, I just decided that he would eat when interested. AND, he did.
Good luck.

I honestly wouldn't worry about solids at this point. He's probably just not ready yet. Babies can get all the nutrition and calories they need strictly from breastmilk for the first year. There is a website called kellymom.com with lots of great info about nursing and introducing solids.

You may just continue to try a solid food once a week or every few days to see if he's interested, but it will just frustrate you and him to keep doing it every day when he's not ready. My daughter didn't readily eat anything solid until about eight months, even though we started trying it at about six months.

This might sound crazy but worth a try. Right now he is probably reaching for your plate if you sit and hold him and try to eat yourself. They can really chew (wallow/swallow!) pretty well at this point. He might like some control and you might just get your way with his solid diet if you tricked him. Try steaming/microwaving some carrots really soft. Cut them up in peices big enough for him to grab. Sit down with him in your lap and the carrots with in reach. Let him grab (steal) some carrots. Watch him carefully for choking but he probably won't. The more you intrest him in texture the better his eating will be in the coming months.
Try letting him have some carrotts on his tray latter on.
B.

Do you have one of those fresh food feeders? Munchkin makes one and I found that it was a good way to introduce foods. I put frozen peaches, grapes, bananas, and mangos in ours and my daughter loves it. My daughter started on sweet potatoes and loved it as well. Also, I make all of my own baby food. I wanted to make sure I knew exactly what my baby was eating, but I have also heard that the fresher the food is, the more likely the child is going to like it. I don't know if it is true, but you may want to try it. I go to wholesomebabyfood.com for ideas. Good luck!

PS: My baby didn't like avocado by itself, but try mixing it with banana.