Eating Issues for an Infant

Don't sweat it. My oldest daughter, whom is 7 years old now, didn't care for food much either. Just keep encouraging it. By the time she was a year old all she wanted was the food versus the milk. Now she is a beautiful, healthy young girl. I now have a 4 month old that wants to eat and drink both. It just goes to show how each baby is different.

First and foremost, your baby knows what is best for her for the most part. If she does not want to eat certain foods you may want to check for allergies. My daughter would eat anything oange, but nothing else for a month. It is normal for a child to be picky at one time or another in their lives, and as long as they are getting nourishment, it is nothing to worry about. Every infant reached their own milestones in their own time.

If she is not willing to try solids yet, let her wait. There is no need to rush her growing up. When she is ready to eat solids, she will watch you eating with much interest and stare at your food. It is a pretty easy signal to pick up on.

I notice you said "bottle", so I assume she is formula fed. A lot of parents who formula feed their children add cereals to the bottle at some point before starting solid foods. If you did this (do this), she may not be interested in switching because the bottle with solid food added to it is just more convenient for her. If you add cereals to the bottle, I'd suggest you stop doing that. It may make her more interested in solid foods that come from a spoon instead of a nipple.

Hi L..
i had the same problems with my daughter. you didn't say if your child is trying to eat baby food or if she's rejecting it altogether. My daughter would try it, but then she'd just push it out of her mouth with her tongue. this went on until she was 10.5 months old. at that point i took her to a specialist (ear nose and throat doctor maybe?? it was at a hospital, so i don't remember) that did some swallow tests on her to see if there was something wrong. there wsan't. they advised me to keep trying to get her to eat, but also give her the bottle. if there was no improvement in 1 month, i should bring her back and they would start a desensitizing program, whenre they would get her used to different textures and foods. meanwhile, i offered yogurt, mashed potatoes, chocolate and vanilla pudding, rice cereal, all the fruity babyfoods, you name it, if it was mushy, i tried it. Nothing. still wouldn't eat. then, about 3 weeks after that doctor appt, i picked myself up some mcdonalds. she sat in the high chair and refused the foods i offered. she seemed interested in my food, so i gave her a fry (a soft one, with no hard ends!). imagine my surprise when she not only ate it, but she wanted all of my fries!!!
i am not recommending a mickey d's diet, but apparently my daughter did not like mushy stuff!! she ate fine after that, as long as the food wasn't the consistency of baby food. to this day she won't eat much of that kind of stuff, except for pudding and yogurt...which she loves. my advice is to try all kinds of textures, and stuff that smells good to you might smell good to her, too!!! i know that people have definite ideas about what to feed babies (don't give them sugar, don't give them junk food, etc), but sometimes you gotta do what ya gotta do. my girl is now 4, does NOT particularly like McDonalds OR French fries, is not hooked on junk food, eats salad, veggies, meat and is my best eater. she just needed to eat what smelled good and wasn't mushy. i am glad i did not have to take her back for the desensitizing program, too.

good luck!!

K.

L.,

Maybe she does not like the baby food. My daughter never liked the baby food so i would give her carrots, mandarin oranges, and easy to digest food that she would eat. I also made my own baby food which she would eat. Whatever we made for dinner I would just blend up and feed it to her and she loved it. I also started giving her a sippy cup from seven months on she would only get a bottle during nap times and bedtime. By eleven months she was off the bottle for good. So hopefully something works for ya.

Good luck

I would suggest to add some baby cereal to her bottle.. she how that goes. then mabye later on start off with bananas(baby food) my daughter loved that. just when u do feed her don't change the food everyday, that way if she has an alergic reaction to anything u will know from what food. also limitting her bottles a day helps cause if they are full they will rejuect the food. Good luck
J.

My younger son not only showed disinterest in food, he showed utter DISDAIN for it. I just gave up for a day or two then tried again. What ended up working for us was letting him feed himself. Now, this is messy and sometimes more food will end up on the floor than in your baby, but my little guy loved it. We bought the self feeder toddler food and just cut it up smaller in some cases or left it alone if the food was soft enough. Make sweet potato fries in the oven, they are soft and super healthy and easy to pick up. Bananas are a goody but kinda slippery so hold off until your daughter is adept in feeding herself. My son who will be a year on the 30th will finally let me feed him jarred food. Just watch their cues. If he shakes his head at me he's done. When I used to ignore his signs he didn't want me anywhere near him with a spoon. Let her run the show and see what happens. Hope this helps.
J.
I also have to say I disagree with the limit bottles to twice a day. My dr. told me when I was going through this that they need at least 24-27 ounces of formula or breastmilk each day. "real" food isn't supposed to be the mainstaple of thier diet yet. They need the fat and nutrients from the milk.

Hi L.,

I had the same problem with my boys. Try the yummy jar baby foods. My sons LOVED Gerber Peach Cobbler (not simply peaches), but the Cobbler. Also try the Gerber Oatmeal Cereal containing cinnamon and applesauce. After this works for a while, try mixing your daughter's favorites with some of the more bland baby foods that your daughter really doesn't like. My mom used to mix my son's favorites with the bland jar meats. I don't know why it worked for Grandma and not me (she was really slick at it), but I could at least get my sons to eat the fruit baby foods. Hopefully this may spark your daughter's interest. I hope this helps!

When my lil one was transitioning from a bottle to actual food I think I started giving him a sippy cup that had the rubber tip to it so he thought it was a bottle and when I gave him formula I mixed a lil bit of milk with it so he got what milk tasted like. It seemed to help. As for the other foods just try a bite of food and then give me the formula.

Limit bottles to just twice a day. If she is full from a bottle she won't feel like eating later, and bottles are easier for her they allow her to be lazy during feedings. Also limit juices, the sugar in them will give her the feeling of being full. She will eat when she is hungry. Make feeding time very routine without distractions. If there is too much going on around her, she may not be very interested in eating. Also, allow her to feed herself with soft finger foods such as cooked carrots or pasta. It will make eating time interactive and more enjoyable for her.