Eating Solid Foods

Hi L.,
My son wasn't interested in food either, but he would eat the Gerber fruit puffs and they basically melted in his mouth. The very first food I got him to eat was macaroni and cheese and I would cut the noodles up really small. You can either buy it in the gerber foods or make it. I would recommend starting off with bland tasting foods or foods with bright "interesting" colors.
GOod luck!!
M.

I went through this with my daughter around the same age actually. It wasn't only just table food she didn't like, it was also the lasagne and other stage 3 foods with larger chunks in them. It took her a long time to realize she had to take her time eating and 'chew'. She would spit out all bigger pieces onto her tray. I just ended up going in stages with her, such as waiting (like you're saying) and tried again with lasagne for one, then once she mastered those bigger soggy pieces we moved onto more table foods and such.
I did also in the meantime get those toddler cookies/crackers that disolve in their mouth. I watched her of course but she loved to suck on those to start and then learned how to bite and chew - so those in one did the trick and she loved them! Hope this helps!

Hi L.,
I wouldn't worry to much. My son loved those Gerber puffs and wagon wheels. Start him off with those and then do plain food like pasta without sauce. I found my second son liked alot of plain foods. Also Zwidback (sp?) toast is good too. Every child is different. My first son took to food well but my second was a little harder. Good luck and be patient.
Chris

My 10 mo old is the same way. He will sit in his highchair and eat any type of crackers all day long (or Gerber puffs), but won't touch any other food I put in front of him. He turns away and bats at my hand if I try to put anything but babyfood in his mouth. I think it's just a transitioning period and his willingness to try new things will start to widen. I'd wait to involve the doc unless you start to see him dropping weight or going without any food. It's amazing the stubbornness some babies have!
~L.

My little guy who is 17 months old at the end of the month went through the same thing. My girls who are older i didn't have no problems with switching them. My little guy i just offered different things especially if i knew they would disolve in his mouth. Like cheese curls. They like sucking on them plus they disolve easy. I still have the problem with him swallowing things whole. So like carrot sticks and stuff like that he doesn't get. Noodles oh boy watch out lol He looks like one of those kids on tv that are eating noodles lol He taught himself how to take tiny bites when he got his 2 front teeth. Like grill cheese. There is some things that he doesn't like ..... corn. Any type of corn he doesn't like.... not even sucking on corn on the cob. You just have to remember all kids are different and if he an't losing weight or having major issues... Just keep offering things and he will get the hang of it. Just keep a close eye on them. Good Luck !!!

my middle kid had this same problem when he was little (he's now 37 and father of an almost 1 yr old!!)...he had such a strong gag reflex that he couldn't even eat from a spoon!!....i used to mix strained meats and strained veggies (or baby cereal and strained fruit) in baby bottle and use a nipple that i modified with a very hot ice pick to create a large hole....was the only way he could eat til he was nearly two....doctor said he just has an extremely strong gag reflex....he eventually was able to start eating regular foods.....tho even now he still has occasional problems where he has to excuse himself from the table and quietly throw up in the bathroom....he's learned by trial and error to take small bites, chew his food very well and not eat too quickly...

i know this is probably not what you wanted to hear....but i wanted to let you know that other people have had the same problem...and that it is 'survivable' even if not curable

D.

Yes, I had the exact same thing happen with both my boys. They're so used to being able to just swallow their food without chewing that they gag when they try to eat food that they have to chew - it's like they don't realize that they need to chew it and just try to swallow.
Gerber Stars worked well with my kids. They are very light and can be chewed but eventually melt in the mouth. They worked wonders in helping my kids learn to chew food. Plus they're like little vitamins that taste good. But don't be too concerned about him learning to eat solids. I know I was very concerned with my 1st but, as you would guess... they all learn. :)

I had somewhat the similar problem when my son was 8 months old. He refused to eat gerber 3rd foods. Everytime I would try to feed him these foods he would gag until he actually threw up. It was so frustrating. My doctor finally recommended that tear up pieces of toast, fruit, things of that sort and lay them on their tray. My son eventually got curious enough that he started eating table food and now can not get enough.

I think sometimes it just takes longer to develop not only the taste for table food but the physical ability to deal with all of the different texture and chewing. If he isn't losing weight, he's probably fine. I had to do a pretty gradual transition to table foods- I don't know what kind of time you have available- but I made my own baby food and what I liked about that was that I had more control over the texture and thickness and could very gradually increase the thickness of foods. Then I made foods that were in pieces, but super easy to mash- small pieces of steamed squash, sweet potato and carrots, ripe avacado. And just kept gradually increasing in thickness and size. And even with this, it wasn't perfect- sometimes I'd have to thin something down more and try the thicker version in a week or so and suddenly he'd be ready for it.

Hi L.,
I would probably get your your son checked out to rule out anything medical since he's already 10 1/2 months. He may just have a sensitive gag reflex. We went through a few years of that with my oldest son. You could generally count on him to get sick when eating and such. He has outgrown most of it though and we learned what not to feed him and to deal with the situations out in public-well best as we could ;-) He's 11 and still breaks off the ends of fries and takes the crunchy parts off of chicken nuggets. Good luck
~D.

It sounds to me like he's actually on track. My daughter had a bit of oral aversion too. She gagged on a lot of foods as a baby. She eventually outgrew it, though at 5 she still won't eat foods with nuts or seeds in them. But 10 1/2 months old I think is fine to just be eating third foods. If he still has problems after he's one, maybe mention it to his doctor at his one year old check-up. But I personally wouldn't be concerned at this point.

I have a 9 1/2 month old. Her physical therapist gave me an Developmental Food Continuum for babies and it encourages oral exploration of adult foods starting at 8 months . For example, big pretzel sticks, raw carrot sticks, toasted bagels are all things that babies enjoying holding and exploring with their mouth and tongue (not eating.) They offer texture too. After this, meltable hard solids are recommended. These are foods that disolve with saliva only. Examples: biter biscuits, graham crackers, thawing frozen pancakes. By 10 months they recommend soft cubes of avocado, overcooked squash, kiwi, bananas, etc. From there he should be able to gradually handle more types of solids.
Try not to get discouraged! Remember it usually takes a kid 10 exposures to a food before he tries it!
I hope this info helps! This feeding style has worked well for my three children!

My oldest son did the same thing and did not want to eat any solids and didn't until he was just over a year. He was on formula the whole time and gagged on cheerios as well. I tried making everything as soft as possible so it would be easier for him and he would gag. When I took him to the ped., she said when he is ready to eat he will eat. And he did and hasn't had a problem since.

Hope this helps!

I as well have a 12 month old who is finicky about certain foods, he gags very easily, so i've just been gradually giving him stuff that he likes, sliced cheese, (ALL broke into ity, bity pieces) pizza, bologna, bagel with cream cheese (he likes strawberry cr.chz) noodles, bannanas, rice- the flavored packets, that have carrots, and peas in them....he loves! He also likes the fruits and veggies, stage 2. Stage 3 he usually gags on- maybe it's the flavor- i don't know. also he likes the little fruit puffs- But HE MORE THAN anything likes to feed himself!!!
but i DO NOT sit and feed it to him, if so just tiny bites, because if he gets a mouth full of food- then he gags and it all comes back up.
I may bring this up to our Dr. too-at his 15 month check-up because if he gets over upset about not picking him up immediately from his nap- he'll cry til he throws up, or if he drinks too much formula before bed, and he fights going to bed the way it is....then he'll throw up his whole bottle??
and i want him to have a full tummy at bedtime, bacause he is petite...and my family is (NOT) also- because then he sleeps longer- (he gets up once or twice a night, for a drink from his bottle) he is my youngest & was my smallest baby of 4. I have a 15 yr son, a 13 yr. old daughter, a 2-1/2 yr. old daughter, and then my 12 month old son. He weighed 6 lb. 11 oz. when he was born, and he now weighs just over 20 lbs.- he has weighed around 19 lbs for the last 4-5 months.... never seems to gain, he's getting tall, and growing proportionate, but he is very active- as well???
don't know if this helps...but you are not alone.
take care,
Rochelle
SW Minnesota

I know this is very common! I think just keep trying, easing him into more textures. It will happen! Good luck

I wouldn't worry about it. My son was almost a year old before he would do table foods and even some #3 baby foods. But once he got started there was no going back to babyfoods. They all go at their own pace. Don't push him, he'll eat it when he's ready.

W.
www.ubah.com/P2249

my oldest had the same problem. I had to wait until he was thirteen months before he ate any real solids. as long as he's still getting formula or breast milk, it won't hurt him.

Yes I too expeirenced this and my son is now almost 14 months old and still perfers some baby food. I got him on some regular foods, by introducing regular oatmeal, crunchy breadsticks and oyster crackers. Eventually he was able to do certain fruits, vegitables and breads, but even at this age we are still working on meats. My friend was giving her daughter hot dogs one day, and were told hot dogs are bad so I had never tried them, but while we were there I thought I would give it a shot, He loved them, just make sure your cut the pieces into at least half moon shapes so to prevent choking. Also, when your eating let him try yours, they usually will try anything they see you put in your mouth first. Hope this was helpful. Sometimes I guess it just takes a while. But once they get it, it seems to get better very rapidly... At 10 months my son was still on mostly formula he was so picky...

I would say there's no need to worry. Babies are designed to be nursing for the first year+ of their lives. So getting other food in them usually it based on what the baby wants. Forcing him to eat something before he's ready; I really don't think there's a need. He's still really young, I wouldn't think that alone would be cause for a doctor appointment. As long as he's getting nourishment from breastmilk or alternative milk source, he's getting what he needs. Don't worry mom, you're doing great!