Need Advice on 6 Month Old Daugher Not Wanting to Eat from a Spoon!

First off, you are NOT failing as a mother. Some babies don't start solids until as late as 9 or 10 months (or later) and develop just fine. She's still pretty young and may not be ready for solids if she is refusing them. My son did the same so I just didn't push it with him. I delayed the solids another week and tried again. If he refused again, I tried again the next week. I think he finally decided he was ready around 7 1/2 months.

Also, she may not like what you're feeding her. My son destested rice cereal. It think since he was breast fed, he was used to spicier foods (since we like spicy food) and didn't like the blandness of it. He prefered barley and I ended up making my own baby foods (the book is called Super Baby Foods and it's GREAT).

I had a few friends whose babies didn't really eat baby foods at all. They prefered finger foods and when they were a little older just dove right into the table foods. It just depends on the baby. I wouldn't worry about it too much if she never eats baby food in the first place. Food the first year of life is an experiment for them. They should be getting their nutrition from breast milk or formula and not solids.

It could also be the spoon that's bothering her. The Dr Sear's Baby Book has a good chapter on feeding babies too. His take is that it the baby should be doing the driving and feeding his or herself. Perhaps she would prefer to eat with her hands to start with. You might try that at the next meal and see if she responds. She might just be very independent.

Hang in there and try not to worry about the baby food thing. She's going to be fine. You are not a failing mom because of this. As a matter of fact, you are a very NORMAL mom.

Hi C.,

I started feeding my daughter baby food when she turned 6 months old, and it took her a while to warm up to the idea. She didn't care for cereal at all, and then when I found something she did like she would often clamp down on the spoon. I just kept offering the baby food to her (although I didn't force it on her), and she soon was enjoying eating any kind of baby food I gave her -- from the spoon. She's now a year old eating finger foods on her own (which of course was another transition). Take comfort in knowing this is probably just a phase.

Good luck to you,

A.

My daughter is 6 1/2 mo. old. She just started eating babyfood about 2 weeks ago. Luckily she took to it great. Our pediatrician said though that the most important thing for her to eat right now is her bottle, so I wouldn't worry too much about. Ask your doctor though they are all different. Hope this helps some. :)

My daughter never let a spoonful of baby food touch her lips. She hated it! She also never ate the rice cereal that doctors recommend. It wasn't until Thanksgiving last year, when she discovered that mashed potatoes were so much better to eat! She was about 9 months old at that point. So, she totally skipped the baby food thing and went for soft, easy to eat people food.

You're not failing! Every baby is different - some are easy and quick to do everything by the book, and others are stubborn (I have two totally opposite girls!) and buck all the so called "normal" things babies "should be" doing. When your daughter is ready, she will eat from a spoon. Don't worry! In the meantime, put her at the dinner table with the rest of your family and make eating fun! Let her see everyone else enjoying thier food from a spoon and soon she will follow! Good luck!

My "unmedical" advice would be to back off solids. At LLL, their perspective is that babies don't NEED solids until they get their first tooth...does she have it yet? That might be another indicator. Perhaps if you just waited a week at a time and tried again it would work. Also, have you tried meats mixed with fruits? My son NEVER did the cereals-he hated them. Meat is another good "first food". Hope this helps!
R.

Has she eaten from a spoon before? Sometimes when my son refused to eat from a spoon, I would give him his own spoon to play with while I feed him...sometimes that worked. Also, I would take a bite from a similar looking spoon and show him how much I enjoy it.

But, I know that this takes time for babies to master. And, our pediatrician told us that a baby gets all of her/his nutritional needs from breastmilk or formula for the first year, and anything else is a supplement to that.

I hope it gets easier for you and your daughter. Good luck!

Give yourself a break, Mom. Babies are pretty incredible little people, she may not be ready for baby food. So all you can do is try, wait a week, try again, and so on. I don't know about you, but I have never met a 30 year old who only eats from a bottle. (Not milk anyway. LOL!)

What foods are you trying? Keep trying the same food, because it can take 10+ times trying the SAME thing before they accept it. My baby would not drink whole milk for over 3 months! I just had to keep trying to offer it. She was also slow to eat cereal at first, it took several weeks before she would take it. Be sure to try those coated spoons so the metal doesn't freak her out or feel funny in her mouth. Also try the food at different temperatures to see if that will help. If you are feeding cereal, try different consistencies, she may need her food a bit runnier (more like milk) to start. My dd has a texture issue, too. Again, incredible little people with minds of their own. :)

Best wishes.

I'll make this short since you have so many responses to read. If it makes you feel any better, my 8 month old son still pretty much only drinks formula. When I try to feed him baby food, he eats maybe a few spoonfuls (MAYBE) and then he is done. He refuses to really eat from a spoon. My older son was like your first. Had no problem. I wouldn't worry. She will eat when she is ready.

R.

Don't worry about it! Neither of my kids ate baby food. They would not let me spoon feed them to save their life. After a few weeks of struggling, I decided it wasn't worth it and just went straight to finger foods, that way they would be in control. Real food tastes better anyway. Try chunks of banana, avacado, sweet potato, cheerios, toast strips, etc. My kids are 6 and 3 now and the healthiest kid eaters I know.

Starting when our kids were 4 months old, I was a full-time sitter for my friend's baby who was just 3 days older than my son. My son couldn't wait to eat solids from a spoon. The other baby refused it. Couldn't give him anything -- no applesauce, bubblegum flavored medicine, etc. So, he just stayed on breastmilk/formula. He skipped spoon-feeding all together and didn't take solids until he could feed himself with finger foods. After that, he would take food from a spoon. I think he was around 8 or 9 months old.