7 Months and still not having a bar of solids

(( ok, so I tend to not be able to put my questions down the same way they're in my head, so please bear with me... :confused:))

My DD is just over 7 months old. Back when she was 5.5 months, I was convinced that she needed and wanted solids, and even came in here to ask about if 17 days was going to be a problem (re: allergies). I ended up offering some Avocado, which was great to play with, but that was it. :rolleyes:

After that she 'played' with some cut up pear and apple (finger food), but wouldn't have a bar of anything pureed or actually offered as food. So basically only wanted things to suck, chew and spit out. I didn't worry.

We've recently moved house, which was an extremely stressful period (especially for me) and during the move process (the week before, and the couple of weeks after), the solids went right out the window. Since she wasn't interested, I wasn't that worried.

I've tried to start back up now things are settling, but she's still not wanting it, and everything is being immediately pushed back out.

- She will chew and eat teething rusts (the Heinz Vegetable ones). She has two bottom teeth, one top just come through and a 4th on it's way (just breaking through). She likes to run her teeth up and down the rusk, which causes bits to come off obviously, and although a lot ends up down her front, I'm pretty sure she's swallowing some too.

- I've tried mashed pumpkin, and although she will happily suck/chew on the spoon, if I try to "feed" any to her, she just arches back and grabs the spoon to wave it around triumphantly.

- I thought maybe it was the taste factor, so picked up some Farax Mixed Cereal and mixed it with some EBM. Same thing - every time the spoon comes close, she grabs at it to wave it around. I make funny noises, faces etc to get her to smile and then sneak the spoon in... but anything that goes in, immediately gets pushed out and runs down her chin.

- I thought that might have been a tongue reflex thing, but yesterday (and this is where I feel like the worst mummy around lol), I was having a bad day so got McDonalds for lunch. Miss grabby was in her high chair and wanted to play with the chip box (she LOVES chewing anything cardboard). I didn't realise there was a chip still there until she was already sucking on it. Then she sucked or chewed a bit off, I could see it bouncing around in her mouth. I put my burger down, wiped my finger off and went to fetch it out, only to find it was... GONE! THIS is the first 'solids' she swallows that I know of. Bad, bad mummy! :doh:

So I know she can swallow things, but at the moment she's not even letting me get it in her mouth. She doesn't seem to be interested in anything I offer her - Farax Cereal, Pumpkin, even cut up pear and apple aren't worth playing with at the moment. I've tried some dry (nothing on it) toast fingers in the morning when I'm having my breakfast, won't have a bar of it.

Q) Do I need to be concerned? She's still happily breastfeeding full time (about 4 - 5 feeds during the day, 1 (sometimes 2) overnight). She has trimmed down lately (her bubblebubs tabs meet again), but she's also crawling like mad, which started, literally, the day we moved. When she's awake she's constantly moving, crawling to follow me, standing up on the furniture etc. Always moving. So I don't think her weight is dropping due to lack of nutrients.

:help:

I wouldn't be too stressed if she is still breastfeeding regularly hun. Izzy was exactly the same, we started her at 5 1/2 mths and in hindsight we could have waited until around she was clsoer to 8 mths really. Up until they are 12 mths old, their milk is still the number one priority as far as nutrition and their food intake goes, so keep offering different things, make feeding time fun, but don't let either of you get too frustrated by it all. I found some days she would eat everything I would offer and then the next day I would give her the same food and she would refuse it all. :rolleyes: Milk does fill them up much more than we realise and at an early stage of feeding it is all about experimenting with texture and taste rather than nutrition!Hope that helps and keep up the great work!!!

Don't worry! This is really common, and even more common in breastfed babies.
Toby was 8 months old before he would take any solids, even though we first tried at six months.
Try not to stress, they pick up on this and it just makes them associate mealtime with stress and that makes them dig in their little heels even more ;)

If she's still breastfeeding know that she's getting what she needs and she's telling you that at the moment, that's enough for her...soon enough she'll get into it but in the meantime breastmilk is enough :hug:

You totally don't need to be worried. Many bf babies aren't interested in solids until nearer 12 months. All this means is that your bm is giving her everything she needs. Nice to know hey! My first DS was the same, he had no interest in solids at all until 8 or 9 months, and was over 1 before he ate well. Now he is a really good eater. FWIW, I think I made his eating worse by trying so hard to get him to eat. If I had my time over I would only offer it once every week or two until he showed interest.

Remember that milk is the most important food until 12 months. Before that age is just about learning texture and taste. She will eat when she needs it.

You are describing Caleb to a T!

He wouldn't have a bar of solids till he was 8 months. I'd put him in the highchair when I was eating and break off a bit of what I was eating and put it on the tray for him to play with. eg cheese or bread . He eventually started feeding himself.
I bypassed the puree stage and went for diced steamed vegies which he was happy enough to put in his mouth. In time he'd allow me to feed him porrige or youghurt off a spoon but it took a long time and a lot of mess.

*lets out a huuuge breath* Thankyou SO much for the replies. That's made me relax so much!

We'll go back to the 'smearing it all over our face because it's fun' phase and I won't worry if she doesn't actually eat any. I wasn't sure if she was needing solids for the nutrients as I read about how babies are born with an iron store and it's gone by 6 months (or something similar) so wasn't sure if I should be concerned for her health. That said, I only have to see how active and happy she is to think she's ok health wise heh.

So the grabbing of the spoon. Is that because she doesn't want me to try to feed her? Or is it just a play thing? I tried using two spoons - one for her to hold, one for me to feed. But she kept grabbing it. Today we had THREE spoons going in the hopes two hands full meant I'd get past LOL, but she just wanted all three instead.

I really like the idea of the diced steam vegies! I think I'll have to give that a go. I gave her some of my cheese the other day as I was having it, then of course panicked that she wasn't at the 'ok' stage for cheese yet lol. All she did was squish it and pull faces if she tasted it.

Jasmine is 7 months and wont open her mouth for solids, not interested in anything but bottles!

Haydies, it's mostly a play thing, and taking an interest in everything.

WRT to the iron stores, they run out at sometime between 6 and 12 months. Mostly bf babies need iron much later than ff bubs, as the iron in bm is more readily absorbed than the iron from any other source. BM alone will give babies all the iron they need for 12 months in most cases. The baby cereal products that you buy all have added iron, but the iron in that form is not easily absorbed, so in actual fact babies get less iron from those foods than from bm. Often when you introduce solids too early, the food replaces some milk, so the baby gets less iron than when they were just bfing. HTH.

Oh that info for the iron has put my mind completely to rest!! I read (or think I read) that it was gone by 6 months, not started to drop from then. And I also didn't know BM had iron in it... whew!

Wow lol, when they say as a mum you worry about everything, they weren't kidding!

BM actually only has a low percentage of iron in it, a fact played up by formula and baby food manufacturers. But the truth is that the baby absorbs nearly 100 of it as it is in the best form. They neglect to tell you that one when trying to sell more of their products!! Far less of the iron in food is abosrbed.

But the good news is you have absolutely nothing to worry about!!

I second the diced steamed veg! That is one thing I can can get Iz to eat, especially brocholli florets becasue they are easy to hold and she just loves them!
Good luck and enjoy the fun!

I completely gave up offering solids to my DS between 7 and 8 months. He was so completely uninterested and it (offering solids) was such a PITA, we were travelling and it was just so easy to BF. I started again at 8 or so months but it wasn't until the 9-10 month mark that he actually stated eating and BFing less.

She'll let you know when she's ready (and it sounds like you're doing a great job to me).

Thank you everyone for the replies here. Today was a busy day and it was nice to not have to try and get in a solids attempt, especially as I was trying to do it the same time every day (as I read somewhere). I did give Savannah a bit of a plain bread roll to play with, which she happily chewed on.

I'm definately going to look into steaming and cubing up some food for her to see if she wants that. She seems much more likely to put food in her mouth if it's something she can pick up and hold. I assume the food list stays the same - ie pumpkin etc to start? Or now that she's over 7 months does the list open right up? I've never known if it's a "starting solids" thing or a "6 months old" thing that dictated starting with simple foods. Brocholli is ok now? Would Carrot be ok? Or, instead of listing all the ok foods, is there anything I should still stay away from?

Also, I assume the steaming is to make it soft, with things like Kiwi Fruit, Cantalope etc... can I just cube them as is? Since their soft enough...?

Haydies, there is not much to stay away from. I would leave dairy just for now, but yoghurt and cheese will be all right when she's eating other things. No nuts until at least 2, no honey until 18 months, no strawberries until 12 months, no egg yolk until 9 months, no egg whites until 12 months - what am I missing? I think that pretty much covers it actually. It's probably best to start with fruit and veg first, and cereal if you wish, then you can add meat, bread, then fish, then egg, then just go with the flow.

Oh yeah, be wary of things like whole grapes and sausage with skin on, these can be choking risks, and of course bones in fish etc. Other wise go with the flow and see how she goes. If she is eating the same meals as the adults early on, this makes life so much easier.

ETA - oh and also stay clear of juice, it is high in sugar (even when it says no added sugar) and if introduced too early usually stops them drinking milk and water which is better for them and all they need to drink. Neither of my boys have had juice yet and DS1 is 3.

I've stayed away from adult milk (Rev) because I remembered reading about Cow's milk not being ok for the first 12 months. I did give her some cheese to play with the other day, but that's all she did was play. I'll keep that aside from now on though.

Pretty much any fruit and veg is ok? (besides strawberries and grapes as you mentioned) Obviously no onion or obvious choices, but plums, grapefruit, watermelon and other non standard (apples, bananas etc) fruit is ok?

For some reason when I think veggies I can only come up with Carrot, Potato and pumpkin... any other suggestions? My MIL said to stay away from peas and beans as they give bad gas?

Apple Juice - thankyou for that tip. I did pick up a bottle of baby apple juice as I thought she might like a liquid form, but she wouldn't take it. 1) didn't seem to like the flavour, and 2) she doesn't drink from a bottle, only chews the tip.

Sounds like you're doing a great job! I second the staying away from juice. They don't need it, and if they develop a liking for it it can create all sorts o fproblems down the track. I don't plan on giving DS juice for a long time yet. (But I'm a dental nurse, so I tend to be anal about these things ;)) When you do introduce cows milk, make sure it's full-cream, not Rev. Same goes for cheese and yoghurt, any dairy really.

In regards to the finger food, check out this thread

https://www.bellybelly.com.au/forums...o-i-start.html

You might find some tips there :) DS loves zucchini, beans, carrots, broccoli, sweet potato, basically any vegie is okay for them.

No more apple juice, and full cream... got it. Didn't know that, thanks!! And thanks for the link, I'll be having a good read over that tonight.

Another question: Is pasta ok? We had spaghetti the other night and I let her play sith some plain, non-sauced pieces of pasta. I got told to stay away from wheat when she was just starting, but is it ok now?

TBH I can't actually remember what age wheat products are okay :redface: But I know that DS luuuuurves pasta, either in a sauce and spoonfed, or just pieces of penne for him to self-feed. Someone else should be able to tell you what age that will be okay :) Other good finger foods are sandwiches (a tip - cut off the crusts and roll it up, so she can hold it more easily, kids love it!). DS loves avocado sandwiches. Cruskits are also a bit hit in our house, with a bit of cheese for a snack.

And don't forget lovely fruit! Chop up banana, pear, kiwi fuit etc etc, and let her have a go.

I think wheat is 7 or 8 months. It would most likely be fine now. So pasta is a good one, bread also - although most commercial breads are high salt - so are cheeses for that matter. So best to check the labels and not give too much.

And yes, as Janie says, all dairy products until age 2 should be full cream, and beyond 2 you can use your discretion - I still use full cream for my boys.

Little Update: We had our first real 'hit' tonight, and it was the last thing I would have tried - Meat! A bit of veal to be precise...

Thankyou to everyone here for helping me let go of the worry! :grouphug:

(See Blog for photos since I can't post them here).

I've just read all the replies in this thres and even though people have helped me indivudally, it's so nice to read about other people in the same situation and to get ideas! I don't mean that in a bad way - I don't want you having trouble but YKWIM!! Anyway my DD isn't interested either AT ALL but I am really getting better at stressing less and listening to all the advice here. Good luck Haydies!

I would offer her anything she can hold in her hand and nibble at that you're eating (assuming, if I'm right, that you eat a lot of fresh and unprocessed food bar your Maccas episode!). There is a lot of credit in the concept that babies don't need mashed food, or need to be fed food - they can pick at and eat what they feel like, without having it fed into them.
Anyway, DS is still not huge on solids, Bfeeds mostly at night if I'm not with him during the day (like 3 or 4 feeds a night on those occasions) so I know that if he doesn't eat much solids, we're making up for his vitamin and mineral intake somewhere in 24 hours. I do eat well, too, with hardly anything processed, so we're both doing well in that respect.
So, you're on the right track for 'baby-led solids' :)

Hehe yes, the Maccas isn't a big part of a diet (well, not normally). Unfortunately moving house + no kitchen for the first two weeks thanks to the the builders crushing the main drain pipe meant we've been eating out more than we like. All over now though!

I'm glad to hear that you are making some progress and feeling more relaxed. I think she will be hooked on finger foods in no time!