My daughter is 5 months old and under the care of a paediatrician and aGastroenterologist . They have both suggested I start my daughter on solids but she hates it. I've tried rice cereal, pumpkin and apple all made up on her prescription formula. Any suggestions on how I can get her to eat? Not interested in baby lead weaning. She just won't open her mouth and when she does she spits it out.
8 Replies
It can take some perseverance. Just keep giving her little tiny bits at a time. Even if it's just dipping your finger in the food for her to suck off.
Good luck
Is there a reason you aren't interested in baby led weaning?
I found it absolutely amazing for my son, and he eats practically everything now. He was five months when we started him on it. He mostly just played with it and made a mess, but it got him really interested in food.
She needs to be ingesting and digesting the food to assist with issues she is having. Baby lead weaning won't work.
But she's not ingesting the food she is currently being offered, so isn't it worth a shot to see if she'll try it?
Making her a platter of fun looking food, and encouraging her to place it into her mouth, will hopefully encourage her to explore new tastes and textures.
Things like pastas, sandwiches cut into fun shapes, colourful vegetables cooked until they're soft enough to turn to mush if you press them between your fingers, pieces of fresh fruit cut into small pieces, etc...
She might not be interested in the purees because it looks 'boring' for her, so maybe a colourful platter of different tastes and textures could help encourage her to eat.
I think it's normal for them to take a little while for them to actually ingest an actual amount of food. The tastes and textures are all new and can take a few goes for them to like it (in saying that my bub never liked rice cereal). Does she chew on rusks? I used to dip bubs rusk into the veg or whatever, she was miss independent so she liked having control. Even dip your finger in and let her suck it off
Its hard if its before shes ready and interested. Once shes into it, im sure itll get a lot easier for you. For now id maybe try pouches that she can suck, even try give them when shes cuddling in similar position to giving a bottle.
Meat. A big chunk of meat that she can't swallow just suck and chew he would get all the colour and flavour out of it and the dogs would eat the rest. My little man never likes mush food but I always tried 5 times each food and generally what we were eating that he couldn't choke on. Sweet potato mash and home made gravy was as close as he got to enjoying baby food at three he now eats frozen fruit mush when I am eating Ice-cream ?
Also different temperatures might help. Cold food (even sweet food was a hell no from my little boy) it had to be warm (body temperature) for the first year or two. At three he eats every thing from surprise cold chips ? in the back of the car ? to eggplant and chickpeas.