My baby won't eat puree

[Summer1216]

My 7 month old baby doesn't like eating pureed food. Or anything soft/silky/smooth. He doesn't like banana. He also doesn't like that flaky baby cereal.

He likes eating pieces of fruit (very small ones) 1/8 of an inch in diameter or so. He likes the pulp from a steamed pumpkin, but only if it's a tiny bit gritty. He liked the steamed tops of broccoli (small pieces, but whole) He likes whole grains of rice. We had some cold rice the other day with our meal - You know how it gets kind of chewy/rubbery and sticks together? He couldn't get enough of it...

I don't mind feeding him that way, as it saves me effort (can just give him some of what ever veggie/rice/fruit I'm eating). I bite it a few times w/ my front teeth to make smaller pieces. Maybe he gets that tendency from me because I've always enjoyed foods with a lot of texture to them. *He also won't eat off a soft baby spoon. He likes big metal spoons, or my finger. 

I'm just wondering if there are any negative side effects I should be worrying about. I don't give him anything large enough to block his air or stick in his throat even if he swallowed it whole. He seems to mash it up with his tongue fairly well (usually), though sometimes I see recognizable pieces of things in his diaper (less and less often, but still). Is that bad for him?

Could this pose a nutritional problem of some kind?

I just worry because everyone else seems to be feeding their baby very watery, smooth, pasty stuff. Every jar of baby food for a 6-7mo old is ultra strained so it's almost like water. He won't open his mouth for it, and if I can trick him into it, he spits it all back out. 

[amma_mama]

Food is just for practice at this age, not for nutrition, so no worries there. As long as the pieces pose no choking hazard, then you are good to go. Other foods you may want to try are avocado, papaya, cooked apples or pears, other cooked veggies like sweet potato, or even some softer types of fish. Just let the baby enjoy eating whatever they like and don't worry about the purée. Who needs practice eating purée anyway?

[velochic]

My dd thrived on breastmilk alone for her first 12+ months.  She skipped the pureed food altogether and started eating regular food, cut into small bites somewhere around 14 months or so.  Babies don't need solids, they need nutrition.  Your milk is going to have the best nutrition for a good long while.  Like the pp said, the first months of solids are just practice.  Don't count them as nutrition - especially those highly processed cereals you mentioned, which are just filler.  Most babies make a very slow transition, years even, from getting most of their nutrients from breastmilk to getting them from solids.  I wouldn't worry at all about what other people are doing.  Just meet your baby's needs.

[cristeen]

We didn't do purees at all.  We started with avocado slices/chunks at 6 mos.  Now he's almost 18 mos, and will eat anything that's not tied down (and he'll try to eat those too).  Purees are not required.  You can try doing some research on "baby led weaning" or "baby led solids" to get some good thoughts on what other things he might like right now. 

[KristyDi]

DD hated the purees too, in fact she's still not a big fan of things like mashed potatoes of tomato sauce that are similar to puree in texture.  We skipped the purees too.  No problems at all and it was cheaper and easier too.

[goinggreengirl]

My son won't eat anything from a spoon! So, no purees for him either. He prefers to be able to eat things himself. Look up Baby Led Solids. Purees aren't necessary!

[Summer1216]

Oh good! Thanks for putting my mind to rest :D

[TiredX2]

I'm glad you feel better!  I also wanted to point out that the entire jarred baby food industry was started when people were regularily starting solids by 1-2 MONTHS.  By six months the kids would be eating a variety of soft table foods, not purees.  Like those horrible tiny sausages and stuff, even.

The baby food companies still want to make $, so they act as if babies need purees, but if you wait until they are ready to eat they can generally handle much chunkier foods (I mean, even regular applesauce has some texture, versus the ultra-smooth purees).

It sounds like your baby has good taste!

[Summer1216]

Well I read up on baby-lead-weening, and I really can't do that at the moment... hopefully in a few weeks! 

I am worried that he really does need the nutrition from what he's eating, because he's not taking milk during the day.

I had to start back to work (unfortunately with the money situation being a SAHM wasn't an option any longer - fortunately my husband can get 1/2 pay paternity leave for 1 year which is just enough for us to scrape by). I'm gone 3 days a week for 8 hours at a time (including driving) and one day a week for 5 hours.

For the next few weeks he's going to be home with a sitter until DH takes paternity leave (1 year). DS won't take a bottle, and seems to prefer just eating solids during teh day while I'm gone. At least that's how it seems - but I can't be sure how much effort the sitter is putting in to spoon feeding him milk. It's time consuming. He won't do it for me (obviously). I came home yesterday and he'd only had half an ounce of milk to drink in 8 hours!!! (Except for the 1oz that was mixed in with his cereal, and about 1/2 oz of water, and the fruit he'd eaten.) Unfortunately we can't get anyone else (very small, rural town). 

He's sleeping next to me at night and nursing on demand every 1-2 hours through the night  which is tiring and hard - but I'm willing to tough it out until his daddy is home with him.

Anyway - Should I be worried about his fluids? Do I need to be worried about his nutrition?

He's only been with her 2 days so far, and only has another 5 days (one this week, four next) to go til DH can stay with him. 

[Friday13th]

How about a sippy or straw cup?  Neither of my kids knew what to do with a bottle but they could both use cups with a little help by 7 months (DS1 preferred a straw, DS2 likes the soft spout sippy so maybe get a few to try?)  And if you're worried about him being hungry maybe leave something high in fat like avocado for the sitter to give him in small pieces (you can roll it in crushed cereal if it makes it easier to grab or he prefers that texture)

[Summer1216]

It's not that he *can't* drink from a sippy cup or small cup - he just won't (so long as it's breast milk). He will take very small amounts of water, it just takes forever and most of it goes on his shirt. I don't think he's really getting more than a few drops. (>.<)

Oh - and he has had loads of different kinds of foods. 

papaya, mango, tofu, avocado, sweet potato, beef, apple, carrot, cucumber, banana, blueberries, bell pepper (to suck on), white rice, brown rice, barley, oatmeal...  and unfortunately when I wasn't looking - strawberries, and oranges (both of which he was fine with). He hasn't shown any allergies or intolerances to any of those things - he LOVES strawberries.

Thanks for the input though!

Edited by Summer1216 - 3/3/11 at 4:08am

[PapayaMom]

It sounds as though your baby has reversed cycled, taking in nutrition during the night instead of the day, many believe humans spent most of history like this as mothers would be working in the fields etc. during the day with her baby wrapped and sleeping on her, then at night the baby would feed on and off and get nutrition then. Think about it this way, if your baby was nursing every 1-2 hours during the day then sleeping 8 hours without nursing at night you probably wouldn't be concerned. Look at the baby, is he peeing, pooping, meeting milestones? Over the course of 24 hours is he nursing appropriately? Just because he is doing things differently, doesn't mean it is wrong.

As for the original question we have never done purses we give the babies large foods like a stem of broccoli or half a banana and let them self feed, I believe they take manageable bites and they have an amazing ejection reflex should something slip further back. My girls are great eaters and the baby has been loving exploring solids on his terms.

Good luck, it is hard to navigate these things when your baby follows a different path

[craft_media_hero]

ITA with all the PPs!

My baby is doing pretty much the same thing--he nurses all night and a few long nurses during the day, but mostly just sipping for breastmilk comfort. I give him daily avocado sliced in wedges with the peel on so he can hold it--so far he has not eaten any of the peel, and he gets really excited for his avocado! Same with mango--leaving the peel on and slicing in thin strips makes it easy to self-feed. Also crispy things seem easier for him to gum down--he had a crispy slice of salmon the other day, it was really cute, or a (homemade, whole wheat) pizza crust. 

He doesn't really like to be fed at all and makes yuck face about banana and baby cereal (but likes fried plantain and real cooked grains like quinoa or brown rice). My little man is really loving experiencing food, but eating very little of it, if that makes sense. It's more like for play and taste.

I am not worried about it at all and would not be in your shoes either. As pps said, it's all about exploration at this stage, and your breastmilk is nutritionally superior to any solids.

And I second the rec for "Baby Led Weaning"--it's a quick read, maybe available at your library or through ILL?

[SandraMort]

I guess I don't need to go into detail on baby led weaning, since it's been covered well.  Just wanted to let you know that all four of my healthy kids went straight to table food without purees in the middle and it all turned out well.  Life's good.

Sandra

[raksmama]

I would not worry about it if I were you, especially since you are BFing.  My son was the same way at age . He did not develop a good appetite until he started eating “real” food, whatever we ate, but mashed up.