I need some help with feeding my son solids. He is 10 months old, and was born one month early. He weighted only 3 1/2 lbs due to a problem with my placenta. He is doing quite well now, weigting at about 18lbs.
He HATES solid food. All of it. So far, we have only had some luck with plain yogurt, and that is what we keep giving him. I feel like we tried everything. Whatever we offer he acts as if its poop (soory for the visual). He makes funny faces and gags, and then refuses to open his mouth. We tried offering the same food over and over, and after about 10 times switching to something different. We treied making our own, and buying the packaged one. We tried baby cereal. What do we do. Please any advice would be greatly apreciated! Thank you!
Thank you all for your responses. I guess there are some things I have failed to mention, so here they are. We have been putting rice creal and baby oatmeal in his botles for a few months now, and he likes it. He also has reflux and is on Zantac.
Yesterday (Thank you Gina!) I have bought him some Gerber's puffs, and he seems to like them fine. Probably more as something to play with, but he definitely ate some. They don't seem to make him gag like cheereios did. It is so hard to figure out what it is. I mean, he has taken a spoonful or two of peas before, and then gaged at the third one and then refused to open his mout. THe same goes for sweet potatoes. We had no luck with any of the fruits. He doesn't even seem to like the smell of them. He won't even take one bite, so it can't be the texture thing, right? I spoke to our pediatrician and she told me that persistance is the key, and just to keep trying. At times it gets pretty frustrating, and we get worried all the time. He is growing well, and gaining weight well, and even though he is still small for his age, he has come a long way. Again, thank you all again, and please do keep writing if you have any more ideas.
Many thanks!
A.
Start with plain cheerios cereal, banana, farina etc. Try blending foods in the beginning, then gradually switch to solids. Try giving him small pieces, or chicken blended. My daughter didn't take solids very well, as she was breast fed for one year. However, foods such as chicken had to be finely chopped or blended. Good Luck!
Our daughter HATED baby food. For a while all she would eat were the peas. The doc said not to worry, just feed her what she will eat, because at this age they are still getting the necessary nutrition from Breastmilk(or formula). Once we started finger foods she was more willing to eat and now at 11 months she is starting to actually eat more. Is he ready for finger foods yet? The gerber puffs dissolve really easily, they are not a substitute for a whole meal, but it may ease your mind a little if he does well with them. Also when Isabelle would refuse the baby food we tried avacado and she loved it, other mother's have also told me their babies liked avacado. Hope that helps, if you have any finger food questions let me know :-)
G.
If you have not tried this yet my suggestion would be to put the baby cereal into the baby's morning and bedtime bottles. They start to experience the texture mixed in with one of their favorite things at the moment.
I use Dr. Brown bottles and they make niples for this very thing. They call them "Y" nipples. I put 7 1/2 ounces of formula and eyeball out about one ounce of cereal which ends up being about 8 oz total, mainly because with Dr. Brown's there is line that you are not supposed to fill the bottle above, other wise I would actually give her the full 8 oz. of formula with the cereal. You can make this mixture as thin or as thick as you want (keep in mind children's sized portions though.)
If he tolerates this you could try to introduce the pureed foods again, hopefully with better success!!!
Best of luck, K.
Hi A.:
My son had allergies to certain foods and I tried the following which may work for your son:
I would buy fresh peas (and other vegetables such as spinach, pumpkin, carrots, and string beans, etc., later as he grew older I started with some meats),steam them then and then put them through the puree cycle in the blender with 2 ounces of formula wwith iron. He seemed to enjoy the foods.
Hope it works,
D.
My 1 year old daughter was very similar. I would recommend seeing a feeding therapist. That doesn't mean anything is wrong but they may be able to help you better understand what foods and feeding style work best for your son. My daughter was 8 months and still not taking solids and we found out that she was tongue tied. She had a minor surgery to correct the issue which helped tremendously. She still wasn't the best eater though when it came to table foods so the therapist helped us identify what techniques work best with her personality. It really has helped. Probably the best advice I was given was not to stress and to recognize that sooner or later they will begin to eat more solid foods. In terms of foods, what work best with my daughter are puffs, kix cereal, veggie booty, crackers, banana mashed up, cantelope, and tofu. Good luck.
My son, who is now 18 months, had the same issue. He just didn't like solid food, whether I made it or bought it. He would maybe try a spoonful or two. I was nursing him at the time so I wasn't worried about his nutrition. I suggest you not worry so much. When he is ready he will be more willing. I just keeped on offering it to him. A variety of different things. Bananas, sweet potatoe, apple sauce, squash, avocado. Eventually, when he is ready, he will enjoy more and more of this new medium. Hang in there.
hi, the only thing i can suggest is to maybe eat something soft infront of him, and over-exaggerate how DELICIOUS AND GREAT it is...and maybe he'll seem interested, then you can offer him a bite. this works with my daughter. i would suggest something like a bannana, maybe a peach, or even a tiny piece of watermelon, even if he just sucks on it to taste it, and doesn't actually eat it, at least he's trying. we've noticed that lately our daughter doesn't want to eat anything she can't feed herself with her fingers, so there's alot of foods we can't get her to eat...and we just go "crazy" over how great it tastes, and once she puts a piece of her food in her mouth, and her mouth's empty, we sneak a small spoonfull of what we want her to try in. if she likes it, she lets us get a spoonful in here and there inbetween what she's feeding herself. it seems that maybe that's what your son wants too, to feed himself, since he ate the puffs. i would also suggest getting the dried fruit, or maybe the little fruit bars, or breakfast bars. they're soft, and if you break off pieces, he can feed himself, and it won't make as much as mess as just giving it to him to do what he will. all these snacks have i think at lease 99% all real fruit in it, so they are nutricious. good luck, he'll start when he's ready, just keep trying something new every week.
It is probably nothing, but I think I would talk to my pediatrician if I were you. Some kids have problems with different textures, whether it is by feeling or by eating. It is a developmental milestone to "eat" everything and not bock at textures. I have a close friend who's son did almost the same thing and they just thought he was picky, but at age five he weighed 32 pounds and wouldn't eat hardly anything. Turned out that he had a problem with oral stimulation. Again, it is probably just your child's preferences coming out at a young age, but I would be sure. good luck.
