8 Month Old Wont Eat Baby Food

I guarantee you he wil not be on a bottle forever.

He doesnt need to eat anything. All of his nutrition for the first year comes from formula or breast milk.

food is just practice for eating.

he does not have to ever eat baby food.

give him table food.. small bits of banana, canned fruit is soft .. rinse it off so it isnto so slippery.. canned veggies are nice and soft.. most breads and crackers are soft..

dont worry.. he is fine some kids move right on to food.. others dont likeit at first..

but he can eat anything you eat.. just cut it small.

cheerios are good and easy to pick up..

Raising kids is really a long experiment. :-) Each one is different. So life is filled with trial and error.

My older 3 never had any "stage 1" foods... They always started with "stage 2" and very quickly moved to "stage 3" and table food. To put it bluntly, babyfood is horrible tasting. Its not suprizing that some kids don't like it!

Are you giving him a bottle BEFORE/ during/ or after he eats? Do not give him a full bottle until after he eats.

Any table food is good. If its good for you, its good for him. Avoid spicy seasonings and such. If making tacos just scoop out his part BEFORE adding the seasonings. Spagetti? Take out his portion of noodles and don't mix in a ton of sauce.
Don't add salt to his...
Make sure that his diet is varied. That he's getting veggies AND Fruit AND what ever your main dish is.

Make sure to cut up the food pretty good. There are baby food makers out there that you put your table food into and it smashes it into a thick puree/ chunks that a younger baby can handle

http://www.lehmans.com/store/Kitchen___Helpers_and_Access...; would be an example of what I am talking about...

Some kids HATE the nubys. Some love them. Just like with pacifiers and bottle nipples, trial and error.

My niece would not drink from a soft sippy cup, but loved the hard ones. Another niece wouldn't drink from either but would drink from a straw type.
All my 3 liked their nuby style.
Don't get stuck on what one or two people said work for them, but try different things till you find out what works for baby. Also try giving him sips from a regular cup... You never know what will work. :-)

Good luck and keep trying!

S.; its ok some babies all they eat the first two years is breast milk, in the old days some kids never had baby food, all they had was their bottle, or mom, he will eventually do this, some feel you should do things according to when the child is ready, and others feel you should do things according to what is supposed to be done, there is not right or wrong answer for you , do what is best for your child, some kids dont go to baby food, some may go straight to reg food, ? in a baby food fashion, like some good ole mac and cheese, of course chopped finely after cooking, or cheerios, offer finger foods, like try a cheerio and hand it to him, you eat one too, put him in his high chair and let him play in it, or in the cheerios, also you can chop up spaghetti , and maybe he wants to eat what you are eating, if not then the bottle may be fine, he also may enjoy the interaction a bottle may give him, he loves to be held, he might need you to sit with him and feed him while he is on your lap? like a jar of baby food, you may spoon into his mouth while you hold him on your lap, or scrambled eggs? very tiny chopped up , mashed potatoes, canned fruits finely mashed, or a banana, offer small bits of things that you eat, after mushing it, put it on your finger and insert it into his mouth it could be he has not been able to know something may be eaten, they need you to feed them, start with like baby cereal usually rice is good, you can add a bit of baby juice to it, to flavor it a bit, and if you make faces of it, while he is eating he will not eat, he needs to see by your face and example that eating such things are ok, either way enjoy him while he is little and do what you can, and dont fret over it too much my oldest was breast fed for that first year, nothing wrong with that , so do what is best for you and your son, have a good day , D. s

No worries! Your baby really doesn't need anything but his bottle til he is a year old. Keep offering, he will get it eventually.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baby-led_weaning
http://www.rapleyweaning.com/
http://babyledweaning.blogware.com/

Here is the list I used when introducing foods to my baby.

4-6 months - rice cereal
6 months - Barley, Oat cereal, Applesauce, Bananas, Pears, Peaches, Peas, Carrots, Green Beans, Sweet Potato, Squash
7-8 months - Chicken Turkey, Lamb, Beef, Avocado, Egg Yolk
9 months - Yogurt (whole milk), Cheese (like swiss and Cheddar) Pasta, Beans, Tofu

At 6 months I introduced all the vegetables first and then the fruits, so they would learn to eat veggies. I also made my own baby foods. I started off with the store bought ones, and then just cooked the vegetables and put them in a blender until very smooth, and froze them in ice cube trays.

My daughter had the opposite problem, she seemed to only like the super smooth baby foods and no lumps. However I started giving her mashed banana instead of blended banana and soon she overcame the issue of texture.

I also mixed my vegetables with formula to add more calories and nutrition at first. This might be one way to win your child over. But don't get into the habit of having to make special concessions for your child for every meal, it will only get worse as they age.

My daughter didn't want to drink formula from a sippy cut, only water. However once she was a year old I threw all the nipples from her bottles away and only gave her milk in a sippy. The first day she threw a fit (similar to all my other attempts to switch her over). She refused to eat and just screamed and got hysterical. I finally gave her some banana to calm her down so she wasn't starving and hysterical, and then gave her the sippy cup (the soft spout nuby's were my choice). Once she was calm she drank all the milk and never gave me an issue again. However, even if she had continued to fight it, she would've learned with time. You just can't have the bottle to fall back on when its time to switch, or you'll give in. They know how to push us. ;) I'd wait until he's a year old before making the switch.

Remember, this training is a parenting issue. You are establishing your role as Mommy. If you give them food to eat, they need to eat it. They spit it out, you shovel it back in. At this age they are not really ready to like or dislike foods like an older child or adult would. (my mom always tells me how good I ate bananas as an infant and why can't I like them now... obviously I didn't care what I was eating at that time and eventually developed taste preferences) They will eventually eat it. Even if it takes a few hours each meal for a few days. Eventually they will get with the program. Consistency is your key here. DON'T GIVE IN EVER. This situation will continue to occur with various different things as your child grows and training them to obey is imperative to them being happy and healthy as they grow up. And with food its so important for them to learn to eat healthy stuff, childhood obesity is so prevalent in our society and mostly its based on parents being lazy, lazy about training their children to eat right and lazy about taking the time to prepare healthy foods.

You can do this! Good luck!

S.,

My son was the same way, refused to eat baby food. Don't worry, he won't be on the bottle forever. Try cutting up small pieces of what you and your husband are eating and giving it to your son once tiny piece at a time; that's what I did with my daughter. Baby food smells awful so I can't imagine it tastes good (except Dutch Apple Dessert, that's pretty good) ... if you're worried about giving him too much in the way of spices then cook a little for him without as much of the spices; don't completely exclude them or the food will be somewhat flavorless. Good luck!

I agree with the first 2 posts. Just give him what you are eating. If you are preparing healthy food for you, then it should be fine for him.

Just don't give up on any one 'thing'. Dr. William Sears, author of more than 30 baby and childrearing books, tells that it can take up to and maybe a little more than 10 attempts to offer a food before it is accepted. I highly recommend his advice, I've had the honor of working with him for over 6 years. His son, Dr. Jim, is one of the doctors on the ABC show, The Doctors. You can read a little bit about their advice on their website, www.askDrSears.com.

I also have a number of strategies I could help you with getting your son to eat. I am taking a series of wellness classes taught by a Naturopath who has her PhD in Nutrition. I have serving size recommendations for all ages, kid friendly recipes, and other goodies. The best of all, I work with a company that has been able to make a gummie that contains the nutrients of 17 different fruits and veggies (comes also in capsules). This would be one way to make sure he is getting adequate nutrition as eating habits and the fruit and veggies from the grocery story don't contain the nutrients needed to prevent disease.

I'd be happy to help in any way that I can. Feel free to contact me at any time. Good luck and don't worry too much. In health, D. ###-###-####

My son has always been a very picky eater and was slow going with actually wanting food. When he was 5 months old, I started trying to give him cereal and stage 1 veggies and fruit. For the longest time, we went through stages where he would eat food some days and none on others. Also, he would really only eat one actual food meal per day for a long while and I had to gradually increase him to two meals and so on. I was worried about it because I saw other kids the same age just eating everything in sight. My ped said not to worry, to just keep trying, and to keep in mind that, until they're over 1 year, they don't truly need baby food yet, its more for practice. At that stage, they can still totally get what they need from formula or breast milk. My son finally started becoming more interested in food at about 8 months, but, still it was slow going. He totally has/had food texture issues too and it took him a LONG time to want anything besides purees. I know you said your son doesn't like baby food and I have heard of lots of others whose kids are the same way. I think that you should ask your ped what table foods are good to offer right now and just keep trying with both purees and table foods, just watch out for choke hazards. I know it's frustrating and it makes you worry because you want your baby to get enough nutrition and be "on track" with all the other kids. Believe me, it still drives me crazy because my son, who is now 20 months, is STILL very picky. He has about a dozen things that I can get him to eat and that's about it. It takes him a long time to try new foods and, even the ones he likes he sometimes decides to reject for periods of time. I just keep offering him what he will eat and trying to throw in something new here and there. I have to figure that, at some point, he will start eating a larger variety of foods. UUGG! Who knew eating would be such an issue! Anyhow, keep trying and try not to get too frustrated and worried...I'm still working on that part myself. :0D Oh, and, as for the sippy cup, my son also didn't want to use one for a long time. He LOVED his bottle. We finally got him totally off the bottle when he was about 14 months old. Up until that point, he would only drink juice and water out of it and stuck to the bottle for milk. Then, one day, he just started using his sippie for all his drinks and we never gave him a bottle again. Don't worry, it'll happen.

I would try yogurt, making cereal by itself without the bottle, oatmeal, applesauce. Have you tried straw cups?

Hi S.,
My youngest gave up baby food at 7 1/2 months. I bought a baby food mill and basically ground up whatever we were eating and gave it to her. She loved it. I only did that for a few weeks and then she wanted bigger chunks (she only has two teeth on the bottom as well, but she'll eat anything) She also became quite attached to her bottle at this time. I would recommend a different sippy cup. My problem with the nubys is that the soft nipple is too similar to the bottle. They get frustrated because they expect formula to come out. Gerber brand with the handles are my favorite for this age because the spout is still a bit soft, but doesn't feel like a bottle. Good luck, and remember this is just a new phase and it will pass. :)

Do you feed him before you give him a bottle? He may be full and that is why he is not eating the baby food. Do you give him a variety of baby food? For example give him a meat and fruit (a little of each), alternating the food. If you continue to have problems, you may want to speak to another doctor or a nutritionist.

Keep trying he will eat it. He is only 8 1/2 months old. I wouldn't be too concerned yet about him liking his bottle.

I also think that at 8 months, most of their nutrition comes from formula or breastmilk. My son started eating solids at about 8 to 9 months, and it was either homemade puried veggies or whatever we were eating. I would also add that I am sure most peds would recommend against taking a vitamin supplement at 8 months (earlier post) and I also think that juice at 8 months seems very early. My son is 16 months and I still won't give him juice.

I did not feed my daughter store bought baby food. She would only eat the organic kind, so I used my food processor and would make her different fruits, veggies, and meats. I would pour them into ice cube trays freeze them, then put them in a zip lock bag. It was just as easy to dethaw this baby food as it was to open a jar. There is really nothing more in the jarred baby food than is on the label i.e. peas are peas with perservatives. At 9 months she usually had what we were having for dinner, but ran through the food processor. As far as the sippy cup, have you tried putting formula in that? I would offer my daughter the sippy cup at meals and only the sippy cup. She played with it more than drank from it for the first year, but she caught on and loves her sippy. At 8 1/2 months I would not worry about switching to a sippy cup and breaking them from the bottle yet.