My 8 month old son will not eat solid food. I have tried differant brands of both ceral & baby food, even making my own baby food. Ive tried differant spoons, feeding him when i know he is hungry and he wont even open his mouth. All he wants is the bottle. His twin sister is a great eater. Any ideas on getting him to at least try the food??????
I dont think its what we are feeding him ( at least i hope its not) but the idea of eating in general
Until a year, most of a child's nutrition comes from formula or breast milk. Right now it's all about practice and experimenting for him. Just keep that in mind so you don't get super stressed.
Keep in mind that you might want to offer things BEFORE his bottle when he may be at his hungriest.
Just keep offering things and O. day, he'll get VERY interested in solids! Good luck!
Have you tried sitting him in a high chair and letting him just try things himself with his hands? Be prepared for a mess, of course, but maybe he's not into the spoon. 8 month olds are so tactile maybe he'd like to grab at some mashed up sweet potatoes or carrots and feed himself.
My son was the same way, so we quit giving him baby food and trying to "feed" him. We gave him a graham cracker, a biter bisket, whole wheat bagel, basically finger food. Worked like a charm. He started eating like a champ. After awhile we began giving him foods with a spoon. We started with yogurt and ice cream because they stick to the spoon. After awhile we gave him apple sauce. He's now 2 and can still make a mess with a spoon, but he's getting the hang of it, and he loves to feed himself.
Sounds like he just isnt ready for them. Give him a break for a week or two and then go back to the basics; cereal first and then the homemade baby food.
1) Some babies hate pureed food and start off with real/table food (of course the things he cannot choke on).
2) If you really think it is an eating problem ask your doctor about it at the 9 month visit and call your states early intervention and they maybe able to help with eating issues.
Don't worry right now if he is getting solids or not....he can still get all the nutrition he needs from breastmilk or formula.
Don't stress. Just keep trying, let him explore and play, but dont' push. He'll get there. My daughter didn't eat solids until almost 9 mos and she's just fine at 4.5!!!
since he's 8 months old, try some finger foods!
His main source of nutrition until he's about a year old should be breastmilk. So don't stress solids too much right now. Just keep offering and don't expect him to take things for awhile. There's a Make Your Own Babyfood class next week here that might give you some more ideas:
http://www.inspiredabq.com
You could always take a break from trying for a few weeks and then try again or let him watch his sister eat and pique his interest. Another method of feeding that I found interesting is called "baby-led weaning".
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baby-led_weaning
Don't confuse this with the idea of letting a child nurse and wean from the breast or bottle on their own.
Basically--instead of pureeing and trying to spoon feed, you give the child large pieces they can palm and suck, gum to introduce them to new tastes and textures.
Here are some other links--maybe your child will just want to jump right in with table food! Many children insist on table food after a few months on puree. My daughter and daycare child both switched to table food around 9-10 months old.
I really have very little new info to add, however I can relate. I have an almost 3 year old who ate like a champ, loved baby food, cereal, anything we gave him he ate. Now I have a 9 month old who wouldn't eat baby cereal, doesn't want baby food, recently he started eating finger cereals and dried fruit peices. He will on occasion eat little peices of our food, but that has only happened in the last few weeks. The way I look it at is if he is hungry he will eat. He nurses like a champ so starvation isn't in his future. Once he is done nursing if he still doesn't want to eat food then we will look into it, but until then there just isn't enough time in the day to worry over it. Let yourself off the hook and realize it will be allright. All the best. May we both have good eaters eventually!!
Hi mama!!! I remember our son was the same exact way....I would cry about it all the time!! I waited and waited untill I felt that waiting it out wasnt gonna ever come. I tried finger foods, EVERYTHING... Anyways what worked for him was putting on his favorite show, get him into that and boom he would just eat!!!!! My husband would also blow bubbles to distract him!! We would also move his highchair into different rooms or close to outside so he would look around!! I hope it works keep trying!! Xo
