am i screwing up w/ solids again? what is your babe really eating?

[ellairiesmom]

with dd1, we tried purees around 7 mos but she really showed no interest so we kind of didn't really stick with it, had no structure to feeding solids & she nursed all.the.time. she ate solids after about a year but is definitely a really picky eater today & doesn't eat huge amounts of food.

with dd2 (currently 8 1/2 mos), i said i was going to be more "disciplined" about feeding her after she turned 6 mos, introduce lots of green veggies etc. at around 7 mos, i did introduce purees (both homemade & Earth's Best jar) but she wanted nothing to do with them. she purses her lips & won't let me get a spoon in. i would give her a spoon to "use" while i fed her but she really fought me. i introduced some of those organic puff stars (sweet potato/mango & other veggie/fruit combos) this past month, along with 365 brand O's cereal & she will eat a few but mostly just likes to play around with them & throw them on the floor. it's not like there is much to them "food" wise but i figure at least she is working on her pincher grasp?

am i setting myself up to have problems? is it ok to have a baby who just nurses until a year or so? i am pretty sure the answer here is yes, but i guess i also see all these threads about babies eating too & wonder am i screwing up. some of my friends kind of just nurse till they are over a year but a few others have these 6/7/8 mos olds that eat so much & multiple times a day.

dd2 is especially stubborn in that she refuses bottles/sippy cups etc. she enjoys sitting in her high chair at the table with us but just doesn't want to eat. do i really need to be more aggressive here?

[RaeDyCo]

DS1 would happily accept being fed for a few weeks and then, forget it. Everything was "I do it myself" (surprisingly he is still the same way at almost 3 1/2). We started following baby-led weaning around 7 months with him and it was a huge hit. He absolutely loved feeding himself.

I would steam all sorts of veggies -- carrots, green beans, broccoli, peas, etc. Also roasted larger chunks of veggies -- sweet potato, squash. He also ate all kinds of beans, shredded meats, any fruit, grains like kamut cereal.

I gave him large pieces that he couldn't fit into his mouth whole but he could suck on, take very small bites of. Or I would give him small pieces (the size of his finger tip) once he was better at picking foods up. He didn't eat a lot at one time so most of his nutrition was breastmilk but as he got closer to 10-11 months, he started eating more.

I am very lucky and he is a fantastic eater today. He will eat anything I offer him but he has never been a huge portion eater. Small, frequent meals are the best for him. ** I am not saying that BLW made him this way but I just followed his cues, never forced him to eat when he obviously didn't want to.

DS2 would never let me feed him. He is just slowly starting to eat foods, also wants to do it himself so I am doing BLW again. His portions are increasing slowly but he probably still gets 85-90% of his nutrition from breastmilk. He is wonderfully healthy and my very pro-bf'ing doctor is unconcerned.

Sorry this is so long but I don't think you need to be more aggressive. I would worry that pushing food too much may make her even more resistant.

[akind1]

I think the best you can do is offer; there is no real need for her to eat before a year - it is said food before 1 is just for fun -

I would just continue to offer her snacks and other baby-friendly foods. At 8 months DS would gnaw on anything - french fries (OK, any form of potato), celery sticks, carrot sticks, pieces of bread, apple wedges, etc. I wasn't really concerned about what he ate. Just let him explore textures and whatnot. Now that he is actually chewing things, he is actually eating alot more. and we offer most of what we eat.

FWIW, he does also eat some purees - earths best - but isn't always in the mood to be spoon fed.

[EdnaMarie]

Your older DD is three, right? That's the 3-year pickies. Sounds like she was always picky.

For my girls, we did them both the same. They eat what we eat, mashed up a bit from 6 months on, sans junk of course, but we don't eat a lot of junk so that meant that most meals and snacks were shared. They slowly transitioned to getting more and more at meals and snacks and less from the breast.

DD1 is 11 mos. older than your DD and still has residual 3-year-pickies. She eats a lot of grains, and this is a child that used to sit next to the salad bowl and just chow down on spinach. She does eat veggies at times but at others she will literally wipe the whole-wheat spaghetti noodles clean of homemade spinach-spiked marinara. Argh. She mostly nursed until a year but after that she was a great eater for about two years.

DD2 is still eating everything with relish. I mean, with enthusiasm, not ground pickled cucumbers, LOL!

FWIW I never did puffs or anything like that. Only table food. It was easier. Also, I let them feed themselves from the start. Since it wasn't purees that was no biggy. They loved feeding themselves. Yes, it's a huge mess every time but at least I have time to eat.

Good luck!

[jess152]

My 11 month old is at the same point. We don't have a lot of structure to his 'meals', he's still a nursing fiend, but he has gotten to try lots of things.

We usually give him something off the table that we're eating. It's no extra work for us, just mashing up carrots, potatoes, fruit, etc. He's just checking it all out at this point, a few bites here and there, not really a full meal, which is fine.

A word on the sippy cup: with our DS's, we've just given them a small, child-sized cup with a handle and let them figure it out. We start them off with half an inch of water in the bottom, so if they end up wearing it, it's no big deal. It's a simple skill to learn and they have it in no time. Plus it's EXTRA cute to see a baby drinking out of a tiny cup! I guess the sippy has its place, like for travelling, but we've never used one and never missed it either.

[GuavaGirl]

I can only answer the 2nd question.

My 8 month old usually eats food 3 times a day...
4 ice cube squares (~2 TBS each) at each meal....[1 meat, 1 starchy/root veggie, 1 green or non-starchy veggie, 1 fruit]

We started about a week before he hit 6 months, and it's gradually built up to this amount since then.

Plus breast milk on demand, and a few sips of water with each meal.


So far he has had: avocado, spinach, chard, zucchini, fig, apple, peach, nectarine, banana, prune, yellow summer squash, chicken, lamb, beef, pumpkin, parsnip, beets, & carrots.

[Sfcmama]

Wow - I just signed on to write the exact same post!!! DD will take a bite here or there, blw style or purees but nothing consistent and refuses bottles. When talking to DH about it, I think my concern about her starting solids is more related to my desire to be away from her for longer periods of time and not worry abbot her "starving."

Great responses so far and I look forward to hearing more.

[octobermom]

I posted this on another board but I'll repost it here as it kinda fits... Its a day in the life of my journey with solids and self feeding my current littlest...
SOme quick background. My oldest has apraxia and she is VERY food sensitive will choke and melt down over many many foods, it cause a lot of tension between us because for a long time I assumed shes was more stubborn than anything.. I also do regret saying ohh shes just not ready yet when at 6-7-9-9-10=11-12 months shes was still unable to take in a solid food.....
SO I tend to over think how to handle the baby... SO the post... and please don't flame me over the food choices...

Please indulge me the whole food and baby thing both thrills and terrifies me because I stupidly think I'll mess up and end up with another extremely picky eatter...
Proceed by stating what I'd assume everyone here knows Margaret is still at the breast she is still primarly BF and will be for quite some time.. The following is pertaining to her intake of solids...

So we've been in probalby a 85/15 split between jarred foods and whole foods with most comming from a jar.. Its easier

Till recently... She is showing more indepencance, shes turning down more prepared stuff grabbing for things more and whinning if shes is not getting what we are having..

So I'm starting to give her mini meals of what we have and then trying REALLY hard to let go of what in my head it "success"

So like today we have homemade Mac N cheese with slice tomatoes baked chicken and salad..and for dessert bannana pudding (just instant jello vannilia waffers and sliced bannana)

I put on Margarets high chair
1) slice of tomato (I already know shes not allergic)
2) a strip of chicken (once cooled)
3) like 3 maccaroni pieces
4) i vannilia waffer
5) I slice bannana cut in half

And I waited.......
she picked up the tomato and sucked on it...
spotted the cookie abandoned the toamto and went to town
finished and whinned..
I pointed to the chicken and encouraged her to try it..
she picked it up smushed it and dropped it in her lap
picked up the toato slice again
sucked it dry
found the maccroni picked all three up
tried putting it in her mouth one ends up stuck on her cheek another falls on the floor and the third went missing never did find that one....
I stabbed on off my plate and tried to see if shes take it she refuses
I pointed to the bannana
shes tries to pick it up but its too slippery and she keeps dropping it... but thinks its funny and the Cecilia thinks its funny that MArgaret thinks its funny..
Mommy tells Cecilia to worry about her own food...
I go get another whole bannana break off 1/2 slice that in half and hand it to the baby and hand Cecilia the other half and say here eat this...
cecilia whines ...
I threaten to make her eat the pudding and she agrees to the bannnana
(yea that a threat in her book)
Margaret gums the top half of her bannana down to a sticky mush then squishes the rest and giggles...
she spots the pudding on the table and trys to reach for a cookie....
I hand her another...
she smiles and enjoys her prize...

So their it is a day in the life of my youngest eatting.. I know it wasn't the most nutrutious in any way.. but its a HUGe mile stone for me that I allowed her to taste and experment with the textures in her own way..

Deanna
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[ellairiesmom]

thx for all these great responses.

octobermom-i would never flame you over food choices! that's more food "categories" than i can get dd1 (whose 3!) to eat in 1 week.

sfcmama-i have only left dd2 3 times in 8 mos...i am mostly ok with it (although i haven't lost any weight & can't help but blame it a little on being so confined? or maybe i just don't want to blame myself lol) & now we figured out that if dh drives them around, she will sleep & i can kind of be gone a little while. but dh & i are going out tonight for the 1st time since march & i know my mom is going to give me a hard time about her still not taking any bm from something or eating something to hold herself over. but its also about sucking & she won't take a paci either.

thx to all!
i have to run to try & buy a pair of jeans for tonight's date...i will reply to more of the posts later. i might be balled up in a fitting room crying after the jeans experience though ... my belly is just so much bigger than my legs & jeans are just impossible...

[4Blessings]

I think you are doing just fine
Our youngest DD is 10 months old and eating very little solids. She will try one bite of anything and then turns her head away. She still bf's on demand (often) and is over 24 lbs so I'm not worried at all. She will drink water from an open cup but will not drink bm from a cup, bottle, or sippy.
Our older kids are great eaters so it does not concern me when solids get off to a slow start. Every child is different. Some will be picky eaters no matter what you do

[slgt]

DD#1 showed no interest in food/was EBF until about 10-11 months. She never did purees - I think we started with yogurt, Os, oatmeal, maybe some mashed banana & applesauce, avocado, etc.

She's now 2.5+, and I would not call her a picky eater beyond normal toddler squirrliness - she will happily eat chicken soup, lentil curry, Thai food, whatever (as long as she's in the mood to be cooperative in the first place!) I think kids let us know - if your kiddo isn't ready, don't push it.

[jillmamma]

I have had some success with my DDs using one of those mesh feeder thingies with the handle they can hold onto and chomp away when they did bot want to be spoon fed or do finger foods.
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[marinak1977]

nak I am very lucky that DS so far seems to not be picky. He pretty much goes for anything I offer him. We've been doing BLW since about 6 months, because he was just too interested in trying our food. We started by giving him large chunks he could hold and suck on (cucumber, watermelon, green beans, BBQ rib bones ) and now he is also self feeding small chunks. He prefers to feed himself but occasionally consents to me putting a piece of food into his mouth or taking something off a spoon. He hasn't turned much down yet (except maybe grapes) and seems to prefer savory to sweet ()
He goes absolutely crazy for lox He also drinks from a cup with a little help, and I offer him water with every meal. He will signal when he wants it and when he's done. He is probably 90% BF and some days he gets less solids because I've just been too disorganized to be consistent.

[tallulahma]

i delayed solids with all 3 of my babies.

dd1 is a picky eater, dd2 will eat anything- anything. like sauerkraut, kimchi, hummus, spicy, etc. ds is only 10 months and barely eating more than one snack a day for fun.

i dont think delaying has anything to do with how they eat. i think that its mostly personality.

[Lirazel]

My 9m DS sounds similar to your kids. He hates purees, so I just give him tiny pieces of whatever we're eating. It took him *forever* to figure out chewing and especially swallowing, but he gets it now. But he still doesn't eat more than a couple teaspoons of food before getting (what I assume must be) bored. I figure that as soons as he figures out that eating fixes hunger, he'll want to eat more. He likes lots of foods, just in very, very small portions.

[lizsky]

I think you're doing great.

My DD also hates purees, but likes to knaw on food from my plate. She doesn't ingest much (as evidenced by her diapers!), but thats ok. I also noticed that she's enjoying some foods she rejected a week ago (LOVES spinach now! Maybe its because I sauteed it with garlic? ) My family thinks I'm weird because I'm not doing purees, but she's a lot happier knawing away at the real stuff. And I'm really happy that she seems to like spicy food!