My 9 month old was eating several solids such as rice cereal, squash, carrots, peas, most fruits, yogurt, etc. until recently. She was sick with 2 different viruses over the past 3 weeks and is doing much better, but we're now treating her for an ear infection and teething of her top two teeth. While sick, she would only take breast milk and a mix of water, juice and pedialyte. Now that she's well enough for solids, it seems that she only wants things that taste sweet like fruit mixed with yogurt. If I try to give her rice cereal or almost any kind of vegetable, she literally gags and is now having trouble trusting me any time I put a spoon to her mouth. I make all my own baby food and am reading the book, "Super Baby Food" which is big on nutrition and the right combinations of foods for good health. I really want to be able to give her "Super Porridge" (basically rice or some other grain and beans mixed together),but I can't get her to eat it. Now, I should mention that she has eaten some finger foods like crackers, pasta, and little chunks of avacado. I don't know if I jumped ahead too much and gave her too much variety too soon or what, but I'm worried that she's developing some unhealthy eating habits and that at her age is not getting enough solid foods as a result. Has anyone else had this problem? Should I just wait to try rice again for a month or so? Or should I try making it more flavorful with vegetables and spices mixed in? I'm really perplexed. Also, does anyone suggest a baby vitamin to make sure she's getting everything she needs? Any advice would be appreciated!
L.
Thank you all soo much for your advice and experience!! So this is what I did: Tonight I made a bean and rice stew with home made chicken vegetable broth (I make this with scraps & freeze it), brown rice, a 10 bean soup mix from Sunflower (no spices), carrots, potatoes, sweet potato, celery, onion, garlic, a little salt & pepper, celery seed, coriander, and cumin. Mildly spiced, but flavorful. I put some in the food mill and gave her a spoonful. She hesitated, took a small bite, made a funny face like she was expecting not to like it (plus she probably saw the expectant look on my own face), swallowed without gagging, and then opened wide for the next bite! And then again for all bites following! She loved it! Turns out my baby just needed flavor! Guess plain old rice cereal is just too bland. Now, the trick is to keep me & daddy eating healthy so Meadow can continue eating what we eat! Does anyone know if it's terrible for babies to have very small amounts of salt in their diets? I don't want to use it often but I know it tends to bring out the flavor of some vegetables.
my pediatricain recommended Enfamil Poly-Vi-Sol with iron because irons stores deplete around 6 mos. my baby doesnt like it so you may have to do trickery to get it down (i gave up and try on occasion). i also havent started solids.
First of all, if she's still breastfeeding then you don't need to give her any vitamins--she gets EVERYTHING she needs from your milk. Right now, the idea behind foods is to get her ready to eat "real" food so she can eventually stop nursing and eat like a big kid. Food right now is purely supplemental, it's not really meant to give your daughter added nutrients. As for not wanting to eat foods she ate previously, just keep trying. I know my son has gone through phases where he won't eat something that was his absolute favorite. Eventually he starts eating it again. Keep offering her the food, but don't force it. Try mixing some veggies in with her yogurt...or mix some of the rice with it. Don't stress about it though. As long as you keep offering her the foods she'll eventually start eating them again. Good luck!
I have a 10 month old who for the last 6 weeks has wanted to feed himself almost exclusively which pretty much rules out any sloppy pureed stuff. 9-12 month old babies become more independent by the day, especially with food. That doesn't mean you have to give up on good nutrition, just adapt. For example, my son doesn't like pureed carrots so I buy a bunch of organic carrots with the green stem still on, prepare and steam them at home and he gobbles them up. Same with other vegies like beans, peas, yams, etc. So, don't get discouraged. All of us mom's have to learn by trial and error. Also, my first child never did eat much baby food solids her first year of life, but she nursed about every 2-3 hours. She did fine and her weight was always normal. Now she's 4 and still a picky eater, but extremely healthy. Best wishes! R., married midwife mom of 2. SAHM since 3/2005 and loving it!
Just so you know that you aren't alone....My daughter stopped eating baby foods when she was 8 months old. She wouldn't eat fruits, veggies, yogurt, anything that was mushy or pureed. She was still nursing, so I nursed a lot and started giving her some solids. I gave her watermelon, pancakes (you can always mix fruit into the batter), mostly easily chewed stuff (she had NO teeth until 11 months). She was fine and when she got the chewing down, i had more food options for her. At 19 months she will anything now (except green beans). Good Luck.
My 9 month old loves all food...but he does go through days where he only wants sweets. Try the sweet veggies...since you make your own baby food try sweet baby carrots sweet potatoes. or with the veggies (i don't know if you feed her meats) mix in a tiny bit of a fruit that compliments the food. like ham and pineapple. or apples go with everything. We don't make our own baby food but we will buy like the chicken dinner dip the spoon in apples after we put the dinner on his spoon. so it gives him the sweet flavor but he gets mostly the dinner.
quick thoughts - I'd try backing off just a little bit (ie, waiting for a week or so before trying again), maybe making it a little more flavored (ie, adding sweet bananas or fruit to cereals can make it more palatable to her) or even just straight out adding sugar/syrup then reducing the amount till she'll eat it straight again (without the sugar.) Same principle as it's better they drink flavored chocolate milk than sodas/juice and no milk at all.
Try the super porridge mixed with yogurt. Mixing a new thing with a familiar favorite may help. (Or, introducing something you *want* her to like with something she *doesnt* might make her eat that as the better choice of the two flavors for that day.)
Baby food *is* rather bland. and I still have vivid memories of a medication I had to take once that changed my taste buds - after a day or so on the med, NOTHING tasted good, EVERYTHING tasted bad! It was horrible. (I wish I remember what it was, that would be a good diet aid LOL) Anyway, it's possible that it changed your daughter's taste, or she has just decided she likes other flavors better.
We allow ourselves to like & dislike things, certainly our children do too. Same thing with "food moods" - sometimes we just dont feel like eating xx but next week we'll want it. We dont want them to get stuck in a rut, which is why we present things repeatedly and (when they get past the baby stage) make my kid take 3+ bites of something they've visually decided is "yuck" at dinner - first to see what it tastes like, 2nd to taste, 3rd to decide if they like. And if they still decide they dont like the swiss chard or whatever it is, at least they've gotten 3 bites in them, fine.
For babies & toddlers, it is said that it takes 3-5 (I forget?) tries before they'll like something new.
Hi L., if you are giving her meds still that can have something to do with it. Meds tend to affect your taste buds and make you not hungry. If you are not giving meds, then children tend to change on what they will eat as they grow. My child when she was a baby used to eat all veggies and a variety of foods. As she got older, I could only get her to eat oatmeal for all three meals. Now she is eating alot better taking in some veggies and some meat and cheese.
I know it is frusterating but dont give up. Keep trying to give her different things and she will eventually eat.
Hi L.,
I love that you make your own baby food. That's awesome. Anyway, as a mom of 4, I can tell you that our babes go through different stages of eating just like they go through stages of development differently. One day love bananas, next day won't have anything to do with them. Fun fun fun to figure out;) I'm guessing that because her infection and illness affected her eating habits for now. Maybe stronger foods like veggies just taste too strong...or maybe they are too bland and that is why she wants the sweeter stuff now. You know when you are sick that nothing tastes good? In general, babies prefer the sweet tastes, and later in their toddler years, they prefer the "white" looking food....colorful veggies look and taste too strong. Kids have something like 30,000 taste buds and as we age it is reduced to like 3,000. Huge difference! The flavors of food is 10times intensified for children! I can't fully explain why some babies love all kinds of food then start weaning them out as they grow. My best guess is because when we give our babies food - either home made or from a jar, there isn't much flavor because we don't put alot of spices/herbs/salt etc in them. Even though homemade food tastes a million times better than jarred foods.
I personally don't subscribe to any one way of doing ANYTHING. It usually is better to introduce babies to one food at a time..but usually it's to make it easier to detect any allergic reactions. Really, the foods that are most responsible for allergies are nuts, eggs, dairy, wheat, some seafood, and acidic fruit. I'm not an allergist or Dr. so I'm sure there are other culprits. I do know that honey shouldn't be introduced to wee ones younger than 1 yr because of bacteria in the honey.
I also think it's great that you are introducing a variety of foods to your daughter. I don't know if it's too much for her. If she's been doing fine with it, just continue:) It seems like she's getting the nutrition she needs from her variety of food. If you do have her on a vegetarian diet, just make sure she gets her protien and iron from other sources, like legumes and greens. Quinoa is a great source of protien. Babies/children need protien!
For now, while she's on her aversion to her usual foods, just take it slow. Try giving her a veggie with a bit of herbs in it to make it tastier. If she wants the sweeter tasting foods, maybe you can mix some pureed carrots or sweet potatoes with her applesauce. Get creative. I understand your concern of her getting all the nutrients. But look at her eating over a weeks time, instead of just focusing on one meal or one day. Focus on her overall development and behaviors. If she's nursing and you are eating well then she is getting what she needs. No need for extra vitamin supplements.
Also, babies really can't develop unhealthy eating habits unless we force the habits on them. Stop and look at your own feelings and relationship with food. What were the "rules" placed on eating while you were growing up? What do you want to take from that or leave? We parent how we live...everything from discipline to feeding, to playing, sleeping and every child rearing issue in between.
Best wishes in your parenting journey.
A.
mom of 4. Birth and parenting mentor
www.birthingfromwithin.com
