Getting 6 Month Old to Eat Cereal and Fruit

It sounds like he's not ready yet. Some are like that. My son didn't start eating until 7 months, but he's still a great eater now. He did the exact same things. Don't worry if he's not eating food right now. Food the first year is just an experiment. They should still be getting their nutrition from breast milk or formula (and not food). I would just give it a rest for a few weeks and then maybe try again. He'll be eating soon enough.

http://www.kellymom.com/newman/16starting_solid_foods.html
http://www.askdrsears.com/html/3/T032000.asp

My sons never ate baby food! I wouldn't pressure him too much because you don't want him to form a negative association with healthy foods. Have you tried putting a piece of banana in one of those mesh food holders for babies? My son LOVED that (the texture is great for teething too). You can put ice in it, cooked carrots, basically any fruit, grapes, chicken, etc. I think some baby foods might even have preservatives in them so that mesh teether is a great alternative to making your own baby food if you're lazy like me.

Don't stress about the feeding. He'll eat when he's ready and he may just want different textures like my kids did. Both of my guys (now almost 5 and 2.5 years old) eat almost everything.

Good luck!!
A.

WHen a baby spits out food it is because they still have the reflex that prevents them from choking on milk, and are NOT ready for solids. That is a sure sign he isn't ready. His body isn't mature enough. It has nothing to do with training him to eat or trying over and over til he gets it. Just wait.

My last 2 didn't get solids until 9 and 10 months and are fine, healthy little boys with no food allergies and they eat everything.

Just be patient, some day you will have to feed him half a pizza, I have a 14 year old son, lol!

My kids had a rough start of it so I bought one of the cereal feeder bottles. It lets them get used to the texture. The texture was what my kids had the biggest problem with at first. When we were eating, I would put them in their high chair at the table (it is family social time and they need to be included too...ha) and had a couple of the fat spoons they would play with. They started mocking us and so I would make a little cereal and feed it to them as we were eating. It took a while but they finally got the hang of it.

Have you tried switching cereals? Some babies prefer rice over oatmeal...
Try doing fruit alone, then adding a little cereal.
He may not be ready... but I'd keep trying.

Edited to say: When my son spit out food it was because he didn't like it. If you keep trying, as lots of us did, the baby will eat from a spoon.

Good luck.
E.

Try leaving the spoon in his mouth for a couple of seconds for him to suck on it. He will eventually get the hang of it. Do not feed him cereal in a bottle. He will become a lazy eater and will end up overeating. My nephew would over eat when he was fed cereal through a bottle. He'd end up spitting up all over the place. Good luck!

I agree with Amy. Don't force the issue. It is not necessary for babies to have anything other than breastmilk or formula for the first year of life.

That being said, he may not be ready for food yet. I would wait 2 weeks and try again. If you don't think you can wait, try mashing up an avacado very finely. I used my food processor. My 7 mo daughter loved this because the texture was buttery. It remains to be her favorite food, but she now eats a variety of foods. She still doesn't like baby food fruits and sometimes she does and sometimes she doesn't like cereal. She loves Baby Yo yogurt, baby food mixed garden veggies, and baby food jarred oatmeal with cinnamon and pears.

Good luck ... relax, he'll get there, how may adults do you see running around with a bottle? :)