9 Month Old Rejecting Food

Hi M.,
So the reason I think your son isn't wanting to eat food is because he is simply not really ready for a lot of solids yet. He should still be primarily nursing. The way you can tell is by their teeth. He has only just broken in with his first two. Teeth indicate whether or not a child has developed the adequate digestive enzymes, good bacteria and matured digestive system needed to properly break down their food. All children mature differently. I think many women are confused that if at 6 months you can introduce solid foods, you should introduce solids. The rule-of-thumb is actually this: Do NOT introduce foods any earlier than 6 months at the very earliest--it is physically impossible for a baby to digest solid foods earlier than this. But if your child has not developed teeth at this age and is not grabbing for food out of your hand, you still should hold off on feeding them solids. The consequences of NOT waiting can be a weak digestive system and allergies to name a couple (and from experience, these are much more frustrating to deal with than a heavily nursing baby). If he's waking up hungry at night to nurse, this is normal. He is probably going through a growth spurt; and your milk is sufficient by itself for his complete dietary needs as long as you are maintaining a good diet and plenty of good fluids. Usually, around 9 months, babies tend to switch to heavier feedings at night to make up for their growing activity level during the day. The best advice I have is to follow your child's indications. If he needs to nurse more, feed him more often. Good first foods are avocados (good fats and filling), yams, brown rice. But don't force the foods issue--at this stage, a child is just experimenting with food. Breastmilk is still a complete meal.
Good Luck!
J.

I went through this with my daughter- she's almost 10 mos. The only difference is she NEVER liked baby foods. She hadn't developed the pincher grasp yet so she had a hard time feeding herself table foods. So anyhow, what I ended up doing was feeding her mostly bottles, but when we sat down for meals my husband and I would feed her little bites of whatever we were having. She FINALLY developed the pincher grasp and has thoroughly enjoyed feeding herself "big people food." I asked her pediatrician about it and he said not to worry-- at this point formula/breasmilk should be their main source of nutrition. But I feel you with the up at night thing. She sleeps so much better when she's got a belly full of solids.

Good luck!

Maybe he is ready for table food. I would try dicing up things that you are eating and see if he is able to/willing to eat that. My son had feeding issues and never ate baby food--he went straight to the Graduates and table food. I thought it was weird at first, but he is a great eater now, and not picky. By 9 months he was eating toast, crackers, diced peaches, diced cooked green beans, and diced cooked carrots. Otherwise, you could try making him smoothies, if his teeth are making it too hard for him to eat.

Our son rejected foods around that age due to his esophogus hurting from reflux. When we started him on reflux meds, it went away in two days. You mentioned he's underweight. If he spits up a lot, or if this continues, you might check into Zantac for him. It worked very well for our son. It is a script for the little ones. GL!

I wouldn't worry about pushing solids at this point. Your milk is still more than enough for complete nutrition at his age. I would try not to stress too much about it. I know a lot of moms who say that as soon they stop stressing their baby starts eating!

Good luck!

Dear M.,
Your breast milk is plenty for him at this age. While you would like him to eat, don't think he won't do well with just breast milk. You may need to increase your supply by drinking more water, eating better- increase some of your grains, oats, good veggies etc. and resting more- sleep when he sleeps.

I introduced foods to most of my children when they were about 7-8 months, depending upon their interest-(when they would start demanding food, I knew it was time to at least give them some finger foods!) but some of my children didn't become very interested until they were 11 months old. All but one of my babies were on the slim side, but very healthy and alert. Not every baby wants foods early...it's ok to wait and reintroduce them when he gets through this teething bout.

For my children, I would take a large carrot, trim down the ends so they were about 5 inches long from the stem end. Then I would round the ends- my children loved to have something cold to chew on. There are teething rings you can freeze that may be helpful and gum treatments for infants while teething.

Just keep nursing- your milk will increase and he will get the nourishment that he needs.
Best to you,
H. B.