9 mo old not eating solids

[juniper_mama]

My nine month old is not really eating solids at all. I've been trying to feed him all these lovely purees I've been making but he doesn't like the spoon or is really distracted by it. Finger foods have a bit more success but not much. Should I think about iron or Vit D supplements since he's only getting breast milk? And do you have any suggestions for healthy finger foods that babies seem to like?
PS. He's nearly 25 lbs (on breast milk alone) so clearly not suffering too much! Pretty full on for the mama milk bar though!

[SollysMom]

I wouldn't be too worried about it. My older son didn't eat much in the way of solids until he was 18 months and my supply dwindled because I got pregnant again. Then when his brother was born and my milk came in, he stopped eating solids again, but only temporarily. At almost 3, he still nurses and doesn't eat much, but I don't worry about it.

I did/am doing BLW with both of my boys and it's so much easier than spoon-feeding purees. If finger foods are working better anyway, I'd just stick with them. I probably wouldn't worry about supplements either - for the vitamin D just make sure to get out in the sun a bit every day, though you may want to supp vit D in the winter. And our doctor told me that even though breastmilk isn't high in iron, the iron in breastmilk is very easily digested. Other good sources of iron that my kids love(d) as babies are chickpeas/hummus and raisins/dates. If you're not opposed to it, you can feed him meat too for iron. But really, for DS2 (7.5 months) I just offer him whatever I'm eating as long as it's something he can hold. Sometimes small modifications, like I'll steam baby carrots for him or freeze some of my green smoothie into a popsicle for him.

ETA: Your breastmilk is still the perfect food for him and won't magically stop being so at any certain age. As long as he's nursing enough to meet his caloric needs, he's fine.

[velochic]

I tried some homemade baby food with dd when she was about your ds's age and she just didn't want it either. He's already getting nature's perfect food and based on what you've said, is thriving. My dd didn't start solids (and started with chopped up table food) until after a year, and even closer to 1.5, was still getting most of her nutrition from breastmilk. I wouldn't worry one bit!

[alegna]

My dd was really not interested in solids until around a year. She would never tolerate being spoon fed either.

-Angela

[kiwiva]

We didn't start solids with DD until almost 10 mos. She was tested for iron at 12 mos and wasn't low. I don't think anything in her diet at that time had much iron, she never had eaten any meat and at that age wasn't eating leafy greens. Vit D she wouldn't be getting from whatever you'd feed her, other than formula. Do you know your D levels? If you were low during pregnancy she is likely to be low from what I've read and they are now recommending supplementing vit D for whatever that's worth. I didn't supplement DD at that age but if I had a baby now I'd lean that way myself. I was very deficient though. You can get her sun exposure this time of the year.

As for baby friendly finger foods, we started with avocado. DD LOVED it. Banana was also a favorite. Summer squashes are good. Sweet potato "fries." Frozen blueberries are still her favorite at 3.5. (note that blueberries and avocado stain clothes). Really any veggies can be cooked soft. Melon is a good one. Those are some of the things we did in the early days.

I wouldn't worry one bit about it though. Breastmilk is the perfect food. Offer, she'll eat when she wants to and offering finger foods is so easy.

[artzy_fartzy68]

A lot of breastfed babies don't eat solids before one year, and really all they're doing is "practicing" before then anyway. don't let it worry you at all! I totally would just forget the purees at this point, they're for the under 6mth crowd (I've never used them personally) and just give him smallish pieces of whatever y'all are having at meals. Use common sense, of course.

[ChristyMarie]

At 9 months my son had just started tasting a few things but really wasn't that interested. He didn't consume a majority of his calories from solids until he was about 18 months. Some kids just aren't interested yet, I wouldn't worry about it.

[juniper_mama]

Thanks for all of the reassurances. For those of you with LOs who started eating solids at a late date, did they have sleeping troubles? DS is up many times a night and it's wearing me down. He slept through the night during months 3,4 and 5 and then around 6 mos started waking up once or twice. Over the last few weeks it's been almost every hour and I'm concerned that maybe he's hungry.

[tallulahma]

My first two didn't have any solids until well after 10-11 months and didn't eat food as a nutritive source until well after that.

It was mostly explorative eating....

My ds is 7 months and he tastes food, because he is already crawling, sitting unassisted, pincer grasping food etc etc... But I'm still not feeding him food... He can mouth it or chew on it, but I think introducing food too early could actually lead to vitamin deficiencies and drops in breast milk supply. Seems like its best to not fill their tummies with anything but breast milk if possible....nothing they could possibly eat would have the complete nutrient profile.

[tallulahma]

Oh and I never supplemented with vit d either, fwiw.

[alegna]

Dd who didn't eat solids forever sttn most times from early on. Ds who ate solids tends to wake at night a lot more.

IME two entirely different issues.

-Angela

[tallulahma]

my babies have all slept with me, and did what I considered sttn.... they slept next to me, nursing off and on all night

what might be going on is that the baby is going through a growth spurt... mine seem to need to nurse way more at night at around 6, 9 and 12 months... my LLL friend always says your milk is higher in fat content between the hours of 3-5a.m. so babies tend to want to nurse more during that time.