[myniyer]

When did your child start showing interest in food?

Our daughter is showing all signs of developmental readiness for solids: grabbing food off our plates, chewing and eating other items (like paper), pincer grasp etc etc. So we decided to start her on solids last week. (she is 8mos old) But she doesn't actually WANT the food we offer her, just wants to smear it around and play with it.

After conversations with his co-workers DH is worried that she'll need "eating therapy." He thinks we missed the window of opportunity to get her interested in solid food. I am getting a little worried too, basically doubting my intuition, I think because we don't know anyone IRL that this happened to so we have no role models. Everyone I know who delayed solids had their child basically shoving food into their mouths and inhaling it. I don't know any reluctant eaters.

If you delayed solids, and your child was a reluctant eater, how did things work out? Did your kid need eating therapy? Did s/he eventually take more of an interest? At what age? What spurred this interest?

Thanks in advance

 

[polka hop]

*

 

[allgirls]

Sophia is just now eating larger amounts of solids...she will be one on July 2. she never would eat from a spoon, I just gave her bits of cut up food and let her "eat" when we ate...

In the last 2 weeks she is really eating lots of solids...she loves food now...still no purees...she has started trying to use a baby fork in the last few days.

 

[3 Little Monkeys]

Watching with interest - my dd is about 5 weeks younger than yours and she has no interest in solids yet either. She will occasionally take a bit of mashed avocado, or banana, but nothing substantial enough to be considered a meal. I think maybe she has a real aversion to baby food - it's too bland, she wants flavor. She seems to like "real" food better. Most of the time though, it ends up more on her face than in her mouth.

 

[monkeysmommy]

I watch a little girl who is 15 months, and she was not interested in anything other than boob or formula until she was a year old, (she still had a tongue thrust reflex at 8 months!)-- and one day she just decided she would like to eat some food, and that was it. Now you cannot tell the difference between her and any other 15 month old kid. She eats yogurt, fruit, veggies, toast or cereal, three times a day, along with breastmilk, and she is extremely healthy and quite er, "robust".

I think kids are just ready to eat at different ages. 8 mos is too early to be worrying about it. Also, if she wants to smear it around and play with it, go ahead and let her. That is partly how they learn about the food. One day, she will put some in her mouth!

 

[stafl]

Playing with food is just part of learning to eat. If she wants to play in it, and maybe take a bite, or maybe not eat any of it, why not let her? There's more to food than the way it tastes, there's texture, smell, color, consistency. She's learning about her world by playing and touching and putting things in her mouth.

Eight months is way too early to be worried about any eating problems she might have later on. My first DD still spit out anything I tried to feed her at that age, and that was still well within the normal range (for a breastfed baby).

 

[sagira]

Boy am I glad I found this thread!

My little boy is nine and a half months old and gags whenever anything but pureed (stage 1 type consistency) reaches the back of his throat. Yet, he doesn't open his mouth for purees either -- not interested.

I try every couple of weeks or so (like today). I made him a pureed dish and he only accepted it grudgingly when I distracted him, but he didn't turn away his head (so I kept going until he gave me signals to stop).

I used to be worried too because I know this lady whose son had severe eating problems at five YEARS old (

). But then again, he wasn't breastfed. I'm just watching ds to see when he's ready. For the first time ever, he's watching us eat. Who knows though, maybe he just wants to play with it

Cheers!

 

[Kiki Runs]

Oh, for pity's sake. (Not you mamas, but whoever's making you doubt yourselves) I have yet to hear of a college freshman rooming w/ Mom b/c he couldn't eat food! For Pete's sake! Why does society rush babies so much? They're babies for such a short time anyway, leave 'em alone - they have thier whole lives to eat food!

FWIW, DS is 14 mos and probably 98% bf'd. We've been offering food since he turned one - he just prefers his nursies. He CAN eat food, and enjoys experiencing different tastes, he's just exploring that for now. And frankly, I'm glad! I don't have to worry if he's eating a balanced diet or not - I know!

naking right now, in fact, so please excuse typos

Kinsey

 

[tea olive]

my boys had to start eating food because my milk would drop from pg. which was all after one year. my three still has days where he eats very little, maybe about ten percent today? believe me, eating solids brings up a whole well of issues and concerns and mess that you can wait for.

 

[oceanbaby]

Eating therapy - that's hysterical! Where do people come up with this stuff?

We offered ds some rice cereal with mixed with breastmilk at around 6 months. The first couple of times he gobbled it up, and I thought that I must have been starving my kid. Then all of a sudden he refused it. Didn't want any more solid foods until 8.5 months (coinciding with when his first tooth came in). Refused anything mushy, but wanted little pieces of things here and there. Solids did not make up much of his diet at all though. After about 1yo, he started eating more solids (we did an iron test at 1yo because he wasn't eating many solids at the time - he was low but not anemic).

He's now 3yo and eats just fine, without any therapy!

I very much agree with this:

Quote:

Playing with food is just part of learning to eat. If she wants to play in it, and maybe take a bite, or maybe not eat any of it, why not let her? There's more to food than the way it tastes, there's texture, smell, color, consistency. She's learning about her world by playing and touching and putting things in her mouth.

 

[dnr3301]

Quote:

Originally Posted by myniyer When did your child start showing interest in food? Our daughter is showing all signs of developmental readiness for solids: grabbing food off our plates, chewing and eating other items (like paper), pincer grasp etc etc. So we decided to start her on solids last week. (she is 8mos old) But she doesn't actually WANT the food we offer her, just wants to smear it around and play with it. After conversations with his co-workers DH is worried that she'll need "eating therapy." He thinks we missed the window of opportunity to get her interested in solid food. I am getting a little worried too, basically doubting my intuition, I think because we don't know anyone IRL that this happened to so we have no role models. Everyone I know who delayed solids had their child basically shoving food into their mouths and inhaling it. I don't know any reluctant eaters. If you delayed solids, and your child was a reluctant eater, how did things work out? Did your kid need eating therapy? Did s/he eventually take more of an interest? At what age? What spurred this interest? Thanks in advance

my dd wasn't interested in food at all until about 10 months, then not even really that much until about 11 months. Today, at 3 years old, she is the best eater of all the kids I know. She will at least try nearly everything, and eats most things. She did not need "eating therapy," (I don't even know what that is). She started being much more interested in food gradually. I never gave her jarred foods, I don't know if that matters or not, but she always ate the same things we were eating. One of the benefits of not eating until about a year old was that I didn't worry about introducing allergens as much as the moms I know who gave their kids food earlier. I have no idea what spurred her interest in food, maybe she just finally got hungry and curious enough. Good luck.

 

[jenh]

I am also so glad that I found this thread! Ditto!
My 10 mo dd is not interested in solids at All!
for the mamas who went straaight to table food, at this older age are combos of food with lots of ingredients fine for babe? should i just give her pieces of what we have when she is ready and not worry about slowly introducing sinle ingredients to check for allergens?
Thanks!!!