Not Really into Solids...

Updated on August 03, 2008
J.M. asks from Annapolis, MD
20 answers

my 6 1/2 month old son is a big boy...always in the 90th percentile. He is breastfed and I have been slowly introducing solids since 4 months. He still nurses every 2-3 hours during the day! I thought he would be lapping up the solids since he is always ready to eat. I'm afraid he isn't going to like food and be a picky eater. My husband and I love to cook and eat! any ideas??

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So What Happened?

I wanted to thank everyone who took the time to respond to my question and offer me your great advice! It is such a comfort to hear from other Moms- especially the more experienced ones- who have gone through the same experiences.

Your comments were very helpful and sweet...

Thank You again for ALL your help, J.!

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A.C.

answers from Washington DC on

Neither my son or my daughter really ate a lot of solids that they couldn't feed themselves. I would see other babies eat like 2 whole stage three jars and the most mine ever ate was one stage 2 jar. But once I let my son start having finger foods, he really gobbled them up and loved them. Knowing this, when my daughter was the same way, I gave her finger foods, and now at 10 months, most of her nutrition from the table she feeds herself. I would introduce finger foods and see if that interests him a little more.

1 mom found this helpful

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K.C.

answers from Washington DC on

Neither of my kids would eat baby food. I tried jarred, made my own in a food processor, etc. They would only eat things they could feed themselves. Once he can handle small pieces of soft food, try banana, cooked potatoes and carrots, peas, etc. I even strained and rinsed vegetable soup to remove some of the salt. Just make sure he's ready for that size and texture of food.

1 mom found this helpful
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C.F.

answers from Washington DC on

My chubby girl wasn't interested in solids until about 8 months, so it isn't uncommon, and wanting solids has nothing to do with whether the baby is chubby or not. Remember, at this age/stage, solid food is more about the texture to them than the taste/nutrition.

Take a step back and relax a little - you're reading an awful lot into what is perfectly normal behavior.

Good luck!

1 mom found this helpful
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L.M.

answers from Washington DC on

J.,
Some babies take their time in really going after the solids.
In my doula work I have worked with parents whose babies didn't even go for any till close to a year old. Those babies continued to thrive and be very good eaters.
My pediatrician who is also a nutritionist suggests starting babies on solids when they start to reach for food; and then veggies and fruits then grains. Take your time, it can be frustrating. You can add baby acidolphilus to help keep the benifical bacteria in his intestine. Obvious your breastmilk has kept him healthy and well so far.
L.

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L.C.

answers from Washington DC on

Our youngest was on formula and hated baby food. By 8 months I was able to get him to eat apple souce and yogurt. My my was visiting from Russia at that time and started making a lot of soups and porage. He loved it. Now at 18 months he eats anything, and loves different ethnical foods.Do not worry, some babies are just not into baby food(it's not good enough for them :))

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M.S.

answers from Washington DC on

I would give him some more time. You have to remember that until they are 1 year old, breastmilk or formula is the primary source of food and nutrients. The solids are just a gradual process to get the baby used to the taste, texture, etc. so that by age 1 they start eating more solids and wide variety of foods.

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J.F.

answers from Richmond on

Dear J.,
Hello! I hear your frustration, so I hope I can give you some sense of calm!
I am blessed to be in a healthcare field in which there are thousands of other healthcare professionals to resource. My greatest mentor is a Ph.D. Nutritionist and Nutaropath. She consistently gives out the message that parents should NEVER introduce solids before six months. Why? Because there is a linkage to allergies showing up at a later age in a child if you introduce solids before the age of six months.
That said, I wouldn't worry too much about your son's distaste for solids at this point. Breastmilk is the very best option for his first year of life. Rejoice tah the loves breastmilk for now! He will gain interest in solids as time goes on. The very fact that he has great cooks and eaters for parents will motivate him to role-model after you as he grows.
Blessings!
J. F.

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S.C.

answers from Norfolk on

Relax don't worry it is not about nutrition at this point esp. since you are breastfeeding. Just let him experience and enjoy the solids you feed him without pressure and you will be setting him up to enjoy food and meals times with you.

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M.S.

answers from Washington DC on

We started feeding my daughter rice cereal at 5.5 months. Now at 8.5 months she doesn't want purees anymore, but loves finger food. She gets a ton of different fruits, vegetables, whole grains, beans, tofu. Just make sure anything hard is well cooked and everything is cut into small pieces. Start with a puffed rice or puffed kamut cereal because it can dissolve in their mouths easily, then move up to soft foods like banana and avocado.

My daughter is on 3 solid meals a day and still breastfeeds 5 times a day. Once when she wakes up, once before each of her two naps, once before bed, and once in the wee hours of the morning (3-4am). Sometimes she doesn't have that early morning feeding and sometimes she adds one or two feedings during the day. If she seems hungry, I don't give her extra solid foods/snacks, I feed her breastmilk. Just read his signals and do what feels best for you!

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B.H.

answers from Norfolk on

Until your son is around a year old, his nutrition is not coming from solids, but from breastmilk. Don't cut back on the breastmilk, he still very much needs it.
I would keep trying a wide variety of foods. Babies will not like something one day and like it the next. But more to the point, what makes you think he doesn't like it? Just curious as to what he's doing, spitting out or turning his head?
Babies at that age don't have particularly good motor control and often times spitting food out simply means he's trying to figure out how to eat it. Turning his head may be his way of trying to do something else, other than actually refuse the food.
Also, a 6 month old's appetite will often be very small, so a handful of bites might just be all he wants or needs of it.
It's not terribly common for a breastfed baby to cut down on milk when given solids. The milk is where his nutrients come from, so is likely to be what he wants more.

Try visiting www.kellymom.com for questions about breastfed babies and solids. The whole site is dedicated to breastfeeding, so there's a lot of useful info there.

Good luck!

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A.G.

answers from Norfolk on

Not being into solids is completely fine, until one year of age solids are extras - breastmilk or formula is the main sorce of nutrition. Keep up with the breastfeeding as much as you can, in the end if you need to supplement with formula do so. Keep offering solids and don't push them since they aren't that important nutritionally.

Some anecdotes:
My friends child would not eat solids at all until 12 months, ate baby food for two weeks and went right to finger foods. She isn't picky, always wants to eat, and eats just about anything.

When I was born 30 years ago the thinking was that it was best to avoid solids the WHOLE first year. I did not have any solids until I was one and then I took to it just fine.

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K.B.

answers from Washington DC on

I know you have already received a lot of information about "don't worry about it - they'll eat when they are ready". BUT - here's a different take.

I am going through the exact same thing - only my chunky boy is 9 1/2 months and still won't eat baby food - we've been trying since he was 5 months old. He was a breastmilk baby until 7 months when I had to introduce formula because my production couldn't keep up with his demand - so now, he's 1/2 breastmilk and 1/2 formula. My pediatrican recommended I keep trying - but it was getting very frustrating for me. I would try to feed him baby food and cereal and no doing - he didn't want it at all - he'd push my hands away, close his mouth, spit it out or gag on it. We finally started putting it in his bottle so that he was at least getting some. We also started to give him crackers and he loves them - but we didn't think he was swallowing them - he'd spit a lot of it out or would gag to get it out. Finally the pediatrican recommended I take my son to an occupational therapist. So - here is where we are now - we had our OT evaluation this week and they played with him and watched him eat, etc. He was chewing on pretzel sticks, carrot sticks, etc (hard munchables) and doing wonderfully, but when we tried to feed him baby food, he refused it. The outcome of the evaluation is that he is adverse to "wet" foods like cereal, baby food, etc. he doesn't want them in his mouth and doesn't even want to touch them with his hands (he won't play in it if it's on his tray). SO - the recommendations are: feed him hard and soft munchables (pretzel sticks, raw carrot sticks, cheese sticks, green beans, slices of soft fruit like mango, etc), continue to put the baby food and cereal in his bottle, put the baby food in a ziplock and let him play with it that way (so he doesn't touch it), let him run his cars through the baby food on his highchair tray, etc. until he starts to get used to feeling it on his hands and he may even then decide to put it in his mouth.

I think you have a little time still - but consider talking to your pediatrican about seeing an OT feeding specialist. I am in Prince William County and they have a wonderful early intervention program for infants for all kinds of issues - my son is in it now for the feeding issues (he'll see an OT 2x per month) and my daughter is in it for speech (she's 2 1/2 and sees a speech therapist 2x per month). Let me know if you want more information if you are in PWC.

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E.E.

answers from Washington DC on

i have a big boy too. he's 35 pounds at 12 months. don't worry too much about your boy eating or not eating. sometimes babies aren't *truly* ready to actually eat food until closer to twelve months. it's perfectly normal and common for breastfed babies to nurse every 2-3 hours until that point as well. my boy just started going longer stretches between nursing at around 7-9 months. your baby will eat up plenty when he's ready, and he'll love your homemade food! you've given your baby a wonderful start by continuing to breastfeed!

M.J.

answers from Dover on

If you're trying to get him to eat more solids, cut back on the breastfeeding to once every 4-5 hours so he'll be more apt to eat solids when they're offered would be my advice!

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M.R.

answers from Roanoke on

Hold off. If he isn't interested, he may be telling you he isn't ready for it. He is still young. The majority of his calories need to be from breast milk or formula until around 12 months, and you can (and should) continue past that, especially if he isn't into foods at that point much.

You are meeting his nutritional needs. But you also need to follow his lead. Take a break from it for a couple weeks. He's getting what he needs right now both nutritionally and emotionally.

Actually, the recommendation now is to wait until 6-7 months to introduce solids, to lower risks of allergies, and if they are exclusively breastfed and you don't introduce iron in the diet until 7 months, their bodies actually wind up processing iron BETTER by age 1, and have higher hemoglobin levels (info taken from a La Leche book, with studies to back it up)

Two of my children weren't ultra interested at 7 months, in fact I know many moms that wait until they are developmentally ready ... signs of that are sitting well, turning their head if they don't want any, picking food up and putting it to their mouth.

Pureed baby food is starting to become a thing of the past, while parents are waiting longer and offering soft finger foods.

I like the idea of watching the baby since they are all so very different.

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G.T.

answers from Norfolk on

Hi J.,

It is wonderful that you are breastfeeding. Solids should only complement breastmilk/formula for the second half of the first year. Breastmilk should still be the primary source of nutrition. When eating solids, they should really only be having a few spoons for the entire day. Unfortunately, we are overfeeding by expecting our babies to eat the equivalent of a baby food jar all the time. You and your baby are fine. Listen to his cues. He knows what he needs. Breastfed babies tend not to be overweight later in life as they have always determined the amount of their feeds when breastfeeding.

G. T.

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A.F.

answers from Washington DC on

My breastfed daughter was not interested in solids until she was about 9 months old. It's OK. Breastmilk has all the nutition babies need for a year. Your son will eat when he is ready. AF

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J.C.

answers from Richmond on

J.,
Your baby is so smart-- for him to choose breast milk over other food at this age is exactly what his body needs. Breast milk is the PERFECT food for him, and nutritionally complete. It changes composition as he grows, to address the nutritional needs he has at the age he is at. Isn't that just so amazing?

I've breastfed five babies, four of whom didn't start solids until they began to make clear to us that they really were ready to begin eating bigger-people foods. This meant that they were anywhere from 9 months to about 13 months old before really beginning to eat foods on a regular basis. My fourth baby got probably 95% of her nutrition from breastmilk until she was 13 months old. If you research the nutritional benefits of breastmilk, you'll find that they truly don't need anything else for a very long while-- much longer than our society and our pediatricians understand to be true. That we in our country start giving our babies foods during the first half of their first year of life is really a bad habit rather than having any sound nutritional roots. The sooner our babies first are introduced to foods other than breastmilk, for instance, the more likely they are to develop allergies to all manner of things, not just that particular food. Doctors either don't know or don't tell this as a regular course of practice....

I'm including a link to an awesome resource you've likely heard of-- La Leche League. This page is about what makes human milk so special and perfect for babies. You may already be aware of a lot of the facts on this page, but some of it isn't common knowledge, and it may calm your fears about your baby needing other foods to remain healthy.

Here's the link: http://www.llli.org/NB/NBMarApr06p82.html

None of the babies I nursed who started solids late by pediatricians' standards, or the norms around me ended up to be picky eaters or not liking foods. They all love good, healthy foods now, and are very healthy kids. In fact, the good foods that you and your husband prepare and that you eat will influence your breastfed baby's tastes in a big way: the flavors come through into your milk, and these are the foods that your baby will be drawn to. (An example of this is how mothers in some cultures eat very spicy foods, and their breastfed babies become accustomed to the spices, as it shows up in diluted amounts in their mamas' milk!!)

When my pediatricians asked me if my babies were on solids at their checkups, I just smiled and said yes, and that all was well with that. I wasn't lying-- they were eating a few solids here and there, but their main source of nutrition was exactly as nature intended: the perfect milk coming from their mama.

Good luck, Mama. You are such a good mother for being concerned about your little one, and your baby was so fortunate to be born to you!!

Warmly,
JennyC.

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J.W.

answers from Richmond on

My daughter refused every babyfood I offered her starting at 6 months. By 7 months I was despairing of nursing an 18 year old! My mom and I went out to lunch at 7 months and she had green beans on her plate - we were at a little diner, so they were really soft - canned I'm sure. She tore a piece off and offered it to my daughter, and while I was having a heartattack that she would choke, my daughter happily chewed away.

Lesson I took from that - if she couldn't chew it, or it required a spoon - she wouldn't eat it. Sounds like you guys love to cook - so - we have ALWAYS fed my daughter whatever we were eating - no separate meals. Whatever we had, if it was a vegetable, I just cooked her portion for a few more minutes until it was softer, and cut meat into tiny pieces as she got older.

She wouldn't eat yogurt, applesauce, or things off a spoon until she was 18 months - 2 years old. We finally learned she was a texture eater and prefered chewable - some babies prefer smooth. She wouldn't even eat cereal!

She did NOT turn to be a picky eater, and will munch olives and capers while she watches us cook on the counter. Don't give up!

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T.S.

answers from Washington DC on

give him a chance...he's only 6 months and all he knows is how to suck. He doesn't even know what food is, what it does or how to eat it. He'll get there, you just have to be consistent (that goes for everything).

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