9-month old hates solids - help!

A little background: Nicholas was a "failure to thrive" baby the early on but has been gaining steadily the last couple of months. We have developmental delay issues caused by genetic abnormalities. (I'm not sure if that is contributing to our eating problems or not.)

Our problem is that he hates solid foods!! We've tried rice cereal, oatmeal and whole wheat cereal -- mixed with BM and formula, thick and thin. We've tried green beans, squash and applesauce. We've tried lots of different shaped spoons, even my finger! I added cinnamon/sugar to the oatmeal a few times and he almost tried it.

He hates cold things, everything has to be warmed just so.

The best he did eating was with home-made acorn squash my DD and I had pureed. He ate some off my finger.

Any suggestions? I really need to get him to start enjoying something besides his liquid refreshment!

Thanks!

 

:hug: Solid feeding can be very frustrating. My dd took to solids great when we started at 6 months. Then, for some unknown reason at 7 months she refused everything! :shok: I would then try once a week until she started back up again at about 10 months old! So, she took a 3 month break from solids. I know you are concerned about growth etc... so the situation is a little different, but in reality, the formula/breastmilk he is getting is providing him with everything he needs at this point. :hug: Just keep trying. They say that babies often needs several tries at getting to likes something, it could be texture or taste. Hang in there! It'll happen!

eta: Have you tried feeding him while he is sitting in your lap? Perhaps a change of scenery.. in front of a baby video (Baby Einstein etc)? Just something to distract him a little bit.

 

Neither of my twins will eat any type of cereal. They spit it out. Rice, Wheat, Oatmeal, nothing. I try it once a week, I've tried adding fruits and veggies, juices, yogurt juices, formula and I get funny faces and food on thier shirts. One would ONLY eat veggies until a couple weeks ago the other was ok with them. You just have to keep trying and eventually they will start. I have actually seen a couple that would never eat baby food and went straight to little peices (I mean little mush in mouth peices that they fed them) of what their parents eat (you could try this if you think he is ready).

My sister in laws doctor told her that at 5 months (I don't know if this is adjusted with actual age or adjusted age or not) their taste buds are coming in at full force and it makes foods very strong. What might be a little sweet to us is overwhelming to them. I think this is why my son didn't like fruits. He would give a funny face and start crying.

But like PP said it is really just about teaching at this point and they don't NEED it. So just keep trying and try not to get frustrated. Good Luck

 

If he doesn't like them, then wait a week or a month before trying in full force again. There's no rule that says babies have to eat solids by a certain date, and even those of us who introduced solid food late have toddlers who eat normally. I had one daughter who liked solid food almost immediately when we started at 8 months. My other daughter really wasn't interested until she was almost a year old. And now at not-quite-three, she's a great eater and willing to try just about anything. Last night for dinner she gobbled down lentil stew, whole wheat pasta, mangoes, and green beans. So you never know! For your son, breastmilk or formula provide all of the nutrition he needs at this stage. The only thing you're doing by pushing solids is stressing yourself (and maybe him?) out. I wish someone had told me at 9 months not to worry. But I did worry. I really thought that if Piper didn't eat solid food "on schedule" that I was doing something wrong. And it stressed me out to no end that we didn't get off of bottles by 12 months like everyone told me I was supposed to. We phased out all bottles by 18 months, and just a year later... you'd never know that we were on the late end of the food and drink milestones.

Hang in there... and really... if he doesn't like cereals, or vegetables, or fruits... give him time!

 

My daughter hated anything pureed and did what Courtney said - went straight to mashed. She totally started eating when I stopped offering pureed. Other than that, i have no more ideas - other than the aspect you already mentioned about the genetic abnormalities.

(NAK)

 

I'm sorry you're dealing w/ issues---we have our own feeding problems, and it is beyond frustrating!! Besides what everyone said above, have you thought of going to see a feeding specialist? Your doc shoudl be able to refer you. I know we dealt with aversion and they told us that could cause problems when it came to solids down the road--so part of yoru eating issues could be related to your failure to thrive issues. Or, were they preemies? That for sure can be related to feeding issues--as ours are. We saw the feeding specialist once for the aversion and they were great in helping us and we are thinking about going back now that we are trying to get more solids and table food into their diet and are having some major problems with one DS.

Good luck!!!

 

If it continues to be a problem (like in a month or two) I would see if an occupational or physical therapist could help. My boys started solids at 7 months and Jake had a really hard time with it. He has a very sensitive gag reflex and I had to take things really slowly. Then when it came to finger foods, all he would eat was purees. It took about 6 months to get him to eat finger foods. I'm wondering if you try what PP suggested about trying mashed or even using a mesh feeder if that would work. I'm not sure if there is a medical reason for babies having purees first other than getting them used to eating.