8 month old - ZERO interest in solids

hi all
my DS2 wont have a bar of solid food - he clamps his mouth shut and has 1-2tsp a day max... somtimes he gets upset when we try (so i stop immediately) but sometimes he is happy just not interested in eating
i offer at bfast and dinner when we are eating and he has just started at daycare and they also offer in the day time
he will munch on a cruskit when we give it to him...

i know it isnt important from a nutritional basis - food for fun til they are 1 and all that - but i am thinking he doesnt even try it - will this resolve before he is 12 months? I'd like him to have some as he is also not taking bottles AT ALL at this stage so i have to go to child care and feed in the day and he is hungry all night long...

he hasnt got any teeth yet (i am comparing to DS1 who always LOVED food and got teeth at 6.5 months) if that has anything to do with it?

any advice or experiences pls share!

nope, I don't think teeth have anything to do with it.
Are you doing BLS or babyfood?
The reason I ask is because with DD I started with traditional baby food - no solids would she take until about 9months. Then I went onto BLS and she was off like a rocket.
DS I started with BLS and while he'll have a go at anything and everything he still only eats 2tbs max at any meal. He was also a slow starter and wasn't real keen on anything until after 8months either...maybe 1-2tspns at a go (not of actual baby food but just to give an idea of quantity).

All kids are different, and I just about did my own head in watching my GFs shovelling food into their kids mouths (all the same age as DS). But once I :doh: and realised that my little guy is just different....he' still ok.

That must be realy hard having to go to cc to give bf.

I agree with Kim about trying bls and also have you tried a sippy cup with ebm, this works with LOTS of babies who will not even look at a bottle

Yeah my DD wouldn't take a bottle either but would have a sippy cup (the nuby ones).

If you're not doing BLS I would try that too.

I agree with the previous posts. Definitely give BLS solids a try and you may find that is more appealing. Good luck.

I was going to suggest BLW too but I see everyone else has beaten me to it!

If you are new to it a great way to start is sit him in his highchair when you are eating, and just transfer some food from your plate to his so he knows he is having exactly the same as you. Broccoli is a great starter food as it has a built in handle, ditto carrot sticks. Chicken is also very good as it falls apart when gummed in the mouth.

Good luck!

Ditto! My first DS was a shocking eater - he was 9 months before he'd eat anything, and even then he was well over 1 before he'd eat a decent quantity. With DS2 I inadvertently did BLS - with number 2 you have less time to puree anyway, and also he would grab his brother's food - and he was a great eater from day 1.

Also, one of the great things about BLS is it gives the baby the control to eat as much as they want, and they will eat what they need. So you don't need to worry about whether they are getting enough - they are. If they are not eating much it's because they don't need much just yet.

All the best hun, try not to stress :hug:

My DS flatly refused food until he was about 8 months, I tried BLS and making my own mashed baby food but he wouldn't have a bar of it. The only thing he would eat was biscuits. Then once he started crawling he suddenly developed this monster appetite (he doesn't have any teeth yet either). As long as he's getting some BM and generally seems happy there shouldn't be much of a problem, he'll eat when he's ready.

AR doesn't have any teeth, and she's pretty good with her food. But I do find she does much better with BLS; she will eat purees if she has to (ie, I don't have dinner ready in time :redface:) but she eats more, and for longer when it's BLS.
Don't know if that's any help... hope you get the feeding sorted soon, it must be hard haivng to go into child care to feed him. Maybe the sippy cup will work?
Good luck :hug:

Hi Mamapan

DD2 didn't want solids until she was 9months. We struggled and then one day she just started eating.

Personally I would look more at just offering finger foods and let him play. Don't be concerned about how much he is getting. Your aim atm is to introduce him to new tastes and textures.

BTW I always found breakfast and lunch to be more successful than dinner time. My babies tent to be grumpy in the arvos and eating is just too much for them. HTH

thanks for the tips girls...
what kind of finger foods would you do? I give hik cruskits which he loves...
he had 50ml ebm from his bottle so far today (so i am expressing at work) - cc said they would call if he wouldnt take any more so i am hopeful he is getting there. they are trying sippy and bottles...
aaah the stresses!

Yay for taking EBM! :dance:

Finger foods... AR loves cruskits, broccoli, zucchini, pumpkin, banana, pears, mince, peas - the cutest thing ever is watching her chew one pea :lol:
She looooves chicken, i will sometimes give her a chunk which she loves but she tends to rip & tear and I worry about big stringy bits. So I prefer to chop it up for her, and she just shovels handfuls in.
We've tried carrot but she['s not overly keen on that.

That's all I can think of atm, but there are good ideas in the BLS thread.
:)

Just a few ideas with the finger food because I've found that my DS has gone off the pieces of veggies, so I've started giving him things like bread with cream cheese or avocado, avocado sushi roll (he loves these, he devoured two thirds of one yesterday, I couldn't believe it!), pasta (tortelini is a hit cos he can suck out the inside), little steaks cut into strips etc.

He was also not too keen on food (except cruskits LOL) but since giving him a few more grown up things he is doing much better and he will sometimes eat from a spoon if it is something he loves like yoghurt or mac and cheese, but even then I have to let him put the spoon in his mouth.

HTH

Hey MamaPan...

H is more interested in finger foods...we do the cruskits too with cream cheese, hommous, grated cheese, grated apple, grated pear, chicken dipped in tahini, wholemeal bread with vegemite, little pasta shells.....i basically use what we are eating, but obv make it safer for him.
One thing ive found fantastic is those net feeder things - you know those things where you may put chopped up oranges, watermelon, etc, and they can suck on the net so no choking occurs ?? DS loves this.....
Oh...and we have no teeth her either, so i doubt that would have anything to do with your DS....
Sounds like your taking the right approach though - relaxed, chilled, he will launch into this new world when he feels ready, in the meantime, keep offering, holding back when he puts up a fight...

GL hon...

Can't offer any advice, just sympathy because we are in the same boat and I imagine we still will be at 8 months. I've tried a range of pureed and finger foods and she rejects it all. She doesn't get upset just won't eat, so we keep trying but there is no indication of a turn around yet.

That's great that he's taking some EBM Pan. Tricky little beggars aren't they?

Finger food...Nate just gets what we have...he's thinks it's his right anyway to have it lol.
Another thing I found with him is the highchair. He will happily sit in his chair and start to eat, but three or four mouthfuls in, he's done and gets antsy. However if I put the rest on the kids table, he'll finish it. Not ideal i know and messy, but he'd eat three times more like this.

MamaPan, my DS is just about to hit 9 months and still isn't really all that interested in food. He's getting better though. We're doing BLS and started offering food to him at 6 months. Its taken until now for him to much more readily pick food up and take it to his mouth, move it around and actually ingest much at all really. I've just been following his lead.

As for finger foods - anything goes really. For dinner he usually gets bits & pieces of whatever we have. If we eat pasta, we make it with penne or rigatoni tubes so its easier for him to pick up. If we have a stirfry, I just keep some of the veg & strips of meat (if the sauce is not ok for him). If we have a roast, we just give him the meat & veg as we would eat it. For brekky I sort of help him with some yoghurt and fruit. And for lunches I usually give him an array of fruit & veg that I happen to have in the house on any given day. He loves cucumber,tomatos, apples, pear, kiwi fruit, plums, prunes, pototo, pumpkin, avocado etc. I've just started offering kruskits too with avo or vegemite spread.

In the early days I did test him to see if the puree & spoon feeding would make any difference - none whatsoever. He is a really suspicious little character and would just try and take the spoon away from me or refuse altogether. He needs to pick up his food, feel it, look at it, taste it etc before he decides whether he goes back for a second go IYKWIM? Yesterday the faces when he tried kiwi fruit were hilarious - then he realised, yep - that's good I'm having some more!