May daughter just turned 9 months. She has always had a good appetite, and still does, but something strange has been happening. I recently read that at 9 months she should be eating chunkier food and also not to sweeten things like yogurt and oatmeal. So instead of blending her oatmeal in the blender with fruit, as she had always eaten before, I gave her plain oatmeal in its normal texture. She gagged and threw it up. The same thing happened at another time when I gave her plain cottage cheese. Today it happened when I gave her mashed potatoes. Mind you, when I give her things she has had before, pureed peas, corn, squash, spinach prunes or yogurt with half fruited yogurt mixed in, she is fine. I even was able to give her the non-pureed oatmeal when it had pureed mango in it. In the circumstances when she has thrown up, she had eaten one of these 'approved' foods just before that, and I was able to feed her without a problem after the retching, too.
What is going on? It seems lt's the unsweetened blandness of the foods. Is that possible? Two months ago I had introduced plain yogurt and that made her gag, although not throw up, and it has never happened when it was sweetened.
She was started on Similac formula, having been adopted at 6 months.
Has anyone else had this experience? Any ideas?
thanks
S.
Why did you ever sweeten things. It seems that is what she likes. If it is not sweetened,
she will gag and throw up. So you can either continue to sweeten things (not a good idea)
or just be ready for this to continue until she gets the idea that the party is over.
I would never eat plain oatmeal or yogurt, so I can completely understand why your baby wouldn't. You don't have to follow everything that you "read." I still mix baby applesauce into yogurt and oatmeal. Babies need to taste something and fruits are fine mixed into oatmeal and yogurt. Things like greenbeans, etc I never gave my son chunky, just the pureed babyfood stuff. I never heated it up but he liked greenbeans. I tried to move to stage three but he would not eat anything with little chunks in it, he would just spit it out. Just try different things and see what works. bland stuff is gross for me so yes, that is probably why it is making her gag, that and it is something new and she just didn't like it. My son is almost three and still will not eat mashed potatoes ... too bland I guess, but he will eat french fries and I just give him rice instead of potoatoes. What works for some doesn't work for others. You don't have to serve bland foods. At one year my son was eating taco meat. Just don't serve her plain oatmeal or plain yogurt. :)
I am pretty sure she is gagging as her way of getting the "unpleasant" ie unsweet food out of her mouth. Babies can absolutely make themselves gag (they are just trying to get the food out of their mouth) and that can accidentally lead to throwing up. I would just go slowly by reducing the amount of fruit you put in foods instead of going cold turkey. Also you could try to spice it up with other flavors instead of fruit. We had to mix apple sauce into everything for what seemed forever to get our daughter to eat it, but eventually it stopped (mostly when she started eating interesting chunkier foods).
She just may not be ready for the more solid foods. Take it slow and try again at another time. My daughter did the same thing and I slowly added the foods again. She may not be able to chew them properly and they are getting stuck. Take your time and don't rush her. She will get it. Not all babies are the same so try not to compare or go by what "they say" try to read your child and see where SHE is at. Go with what she likes. Good Luck!
My daughter was very similar. She was horrible at eating solid foods. I used to break Cheerios in half when she was 8 or 9 months old and somehow, the food would slip to the back of her tongue and she'd gag. Ultimately, the situation got better, but I can't remember how old she was at that time.. Strange your duaghter is having his reaction to very soft foods.
Hi S.
I know that a lot of babies might be able to handle foods at nine months but not all.
Sounds like if she has full normal food it triggers the gag reflux. Continue to cut her foods in half, it won't last forever. Better for her to eat with ease, so make it easy.
Some kids gag til about 4 or 5, but if it continues til 6 be sure you are still telling the MD it is happening. How do I know? I have one who was diagnosed with a malfunctioning gag reflux, and at 5 I guess the MD convinced me that the gagging was normal, and we were so used to it we didn't notice it anymore.I stopped telling. I know that sounds bazaar, but it looks like anorexia at 11.
God bless you with His answer.
Obviously she's not ready. Take it slower.
I would take all advice with a grain of salt.
Does your daughter have any teeth qt 9 months? I can't imagine eating plain cereal without actually being able to chew it, so use your common sense and don't give things she can choke onor is unable to taste fully without chewing them. babys tastebuds are not developed yet so let her lick, pick, touch, play with, smell, just like you would if you fell on a deserted island and see food that you never encountered before.
Introduce and follow the lead, all kids are different.
My son is 3 and he eats raw broccolli loves it, I am baffled, but he won't eat other plainer foods.
Seems like mixing in her accustomed flavors is a great idea - and then over the weeks seeing if you can slowly phase them out (3/4-1/4, 1/2/-1/2, 1/4-3/4, etc). Thankfully she can still eat. Phew!
