7 Month Old Is Refusing Solids

My son did the same thing. I stopped feeding him solids for a couple of months, then tried again. He still had almost no interest, but I found he was interested in feeding himself. It seems my kids simply don't like other people feeding them. They really just want to feed themselves.

He has had very little baby food and pretty much went straight to table foods. He's now 27 months old and eats like a champ.

It could be that she's not ready. It could also be that she's more intersted in feeding herself. Worth a try :-)

Did I write this??? I'm right there with you! My third daughter is also exclusively breastfed and also about 7 months. She will NOT eat anything! I mean, she's even refused watermelon!! But she's a healthy girl and is generally a very happy and content (unless she's teething!) so I'm not worried. My first two would also eat whatever I put in front of them. Guess the third one's the wild card, eh? hahaha

I'm just taking it slow and trying (VERY casually) every few days to give her something: sweet potoatoes, squash, applesauce, bananas, watermelon, rice cereal, oat cereal. So far, the only thing she's had more than one taste of was the applesauce mixed with mashed bananas - she had about 1 tsp of that (I was pretty excited!).

I say just follow her cues. If she's not interested, then don't force it. I asked my mom about this and she said that when I was a baby I didn't get ANY solids until I was a year old; that was the recommendation 30 years ago I guess.

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I think it must be kind of normal. Three of my four didn't take baby food. I tried, and a couple of them were interested for a month or so, then they were done. They were only interested in REAL food. This meant they were older before they were on food, but it wasn't a big deal. I kept nursing and they grew just fine. They don't really need food at this young age (or else a lot more foods would be "baby food" naturally).

My 4th was interested in baby food until she'd been on it for maybe two months. Then she refused it and only wanted table food.

My oldest two were really old before they really took to food - closer to 14 months! I know other moms with babies like that too. Not interested until 14 months.

Your baby is still young. Some really aren't interested at a young age. I wouldn't push it, and I wouldn't stress over it. They don't need the food in order to survive. Your milk is plenty healthy for them. If babies were meant to eat baby food, I really believe more foods would naturally be baby food (like avocados and bananas and some other mushy foods are). Whenever my dr asked how they were eating, I'd tell him/her that they were doing fine...because they were:-)

Some kids take to solids like little fish to water, but some take a bit longer. It sounds like she's just not nearly as interested in trying things as you'd like her to be.
I wouldn't struggle with her about it, but I would continue offering things. Even if she only gets one bite or taste, she's still being exposed to experimenting with different tastes and textures. As she gets a bit older, she will really notice that mommy, daddy and big sisters are enjoying things she's not getting. Give her a little baby spoon and let her hold it, play with it, put it in her mouth, get the feel of it. That way, it won't feel like such a foreign object to her. Try different foods intermittantly.
Have you tasted the baby food? It's pretty gross. I learned early on with my first baby that she liked things with some flavor. She liked carrots and yams and fruit that was a little more tart like apricots and plums. You can try mixing these with the rice cereal to flavor it up a bit. If you've tried feeding her warm things, try giving it to her cold. You never know.
As long as she's gaining weight and healthy, I wouldn't struggle with her too much for now.

Best wishes.

Some kids take longer to figure out the mechanism of working that food to the back of their mouths so they can swallow. Some kids have issues with texture. I'd let it go for now. It will turn into a power struggle otherwise. Offer finger foods when she is able to manipulate them herself and give up with the spoon for right now. After a while you can put the spoon on the high chair tray and let her fool around with it. That will get her used to it, and then she'll either try to put it in her mouth on her own, or you can try feeding her again.

She's really still young, just breast feed and let it wait another month or so.

My first daughter was reaching for food on my plate at 5 months and had no problem starting with cereal, transitioning through the stages of baby food, etc. My second daughter, however, only wanted to sip water and nurse and wasn't interested in ANYTHING other than those two things until she was about 16 months old. Yep, you read that right- she didn't eat a thing and only nursed until 16 months. She has no sensory issues or anything that I can tell- she is gluten-free due to an enamel issue with her teeth (we suspect she has Celiac's,) but went straight to finger food and progressed as normal beyond that point. She is a VERY adventurous eater too- she'll try anything and her favorite foods are hummus, olives, mango, and meats. She will munch green leaves of lettuce, kale, etc for a snack.

Keep nursing and when she is ready, you will know. I would not push the traditional "cereal" stuff either- try smashed up avocado or banana. I tend to think they avoid things for a reason, even if we don't understand it. Grains might hurt her tummy :( or she just might not be ready- period.

(I let both my girls continue to nurse and they both self-weaned at the same age, even though their table-food eating habits were totally different too, for what it's worth... both at 3 1/2 years.)

unfortunately they have their own time sch but using the fruit is a great start then add the vegs at are sweet like carrots yams and work to the other stuff

Is she grasping things yet and bringing them up to her mouth? My kids did not really like to be spoon fed either, but if I put something (appropriate, of course) on their high chair tray, they would love to pick it up and pop it in their mouths. I guess they were all between 7 and 9 months.

:)

Not all babies are ready to experiment with new foods at X months, just as not all babies will crawl, stand, or try to walk or talk at the same ages. There is tremendous variation between us human individuals.

Almost every baby will become curious about foods her parents are eating. Eventually. For most babies, it's probably best to let them lead the process, as with most other developmental advances. They are most likely to enjoy their new experiences that way, and have fewer experiences with disliking or rejecting new experiences.

Unless you have some compelling reason to get those foods into her diet, breastfeeding is a pretty convenient and portable method of keeping her nourished, growing and bonded! She'll almost certainly show interest in other foods within the next few months. Babies change and develop in astonishing ways during their first couple of years.

Yes, I think it's safe to say your daughter is letting you know to quit trying to force solids on her. Give it another month - she is STILL doing that, stop and wait another month. Forcing her to eat solids before she is ready will make her first experiences into eating unpleasant then you'll have a lot more trouble in the future.

You are supposed to follow the baby's cues, not try and force yours on her. Some babies are not ready... most will automatically start to experiment around 8 months. I know my daughter (who was also exclusively breastfed) didn't want anything until about 8-9 months and we went right to organic yogurt.

My son refused most solids until 8 months. He was exclusively breast fed and never really liked baby food.

My 8 month old almost 9 month old is the same way and my first child wasn't like that at all. I am stressing about it myself so I hear ya! Our pediatrician says it isn't a big deal and that eating solids is only for a teaching basis not a nutritional basis but I am not sure about that. Feel free to message me or vent if you would like. :)

Everything I have ever read and been told has said that if you make meal time a struggle, no one wins. We were really slow to introduce solid food into our daughter's diet... a little here and there at 6 months and slowing working our way through it. If she doesn't want the food, let it alone. Food at this stage is about exploration so let her go at her own pace. Also, lots of people told me not to give too many fruits to my daughter before veggies because then she would like veggies... I've found that not to be true at all! I'd feed her whatever she wants to eat! Another thing I did was to spice up the baby food... for example, add some mint to mashed peas. My daughter hated peas and when I tasted the baby food kind, I couldn't blame her so I doctored them up and she liked them!

You may want to wait. My Bradley instructor told us about solids, you'll know when your baby is ready when they are going crazy to eat your food. That's how we did it (though it was at about 6 months) but DD did great. We also did not give baby food. She ate what we ate. I gave her the bland, mushed up version of what we were eating like potatoes or veggies or soft fruits and she LOVED it. It may be a texture thing. We did start off with the cereal/breastmilk mixer and she loved that. You'll get there. Just let her take the lead. She doesn't need any solids until she's at least 12 mths old...your milk provides it all. Great job mama!