7 month old not eating 7m+ food

[tiggerblue10]

Little Tiggs is just over 7 months now but he hasn't started teething yet. Does this mean that I can't start him on 7m+ food? I tried to give him some today and he screwed up his face and spat most of it out. I also tried mashing it up a bit more but he didn't like it. I tried 2 different jars with different meals and he liked neither of them. I don't know whether its to do with the taste or the texture of the food. I must admit I tasted both jars myself and one of them was not very nice but the other one was quite palatable.

Is it normal for this to happen? Shall I stick to giving him 6m+ food until his teeth start coming through?

Thanks

[woofgang]

if he isn't losing weight and is otherwise healthy and happy and his motions are normal, I'd carry on giving him the younger diet provided its a healthy one.

[cazzz1975]

carry on as normal with food he will eat, all babies develop at different times, bigger pieces could be a struggle especially when you have no teeth, he may need more time to get used to new flavours as well as his palate has only been used to blander foods.

I wouldnt worry, carry on with the 6mth food for the time being and offer 7mth food occasionally.

[tiggerblue10]

He is very happy with the 4-6m jars Woof. I tried making him savoury food myself which he didn't like so I've just stuck to making the sweet stuff like apple & pear and mango & banana puree. I would have thought this was quite healthy.

[tiggerblue10]

Sounds like a good idea Cazzz. I'd hate for him to not be happy at meal times as he loves his food. I'll also continue with the porridge rice.

Thanks Woof and Cazzz, you've put my mind at rest :o)

[annie0000]

if he likes the porridge baby food, you could try giving him some real porridge - the microwavable packets are good as the porridge tends to still be quite fine, but a bit lumpier than baby porridge and the taste will be familar. You could just add a spoonfull of one of your fruit purees to flavour it up. We used to freeze the puree in ice cube trays and then just add a cube to the hot porridge that helped it to cool as well as flavour the porridge. you could do the same with weetabix - that just may help him make the jump.

The fact that he doesn't have teeth shouldn't effect his ability to cope with lumps - unless you are giving him a steak to chew on. A friends daughter didn't have any teeth until she was about 18 months old but would quite happily demolish sticks of carrot and all sorts - their gums are really quite hard!

My eldest son was a really fussy eater as a baby and we pandered to it when he was little and regret it now! Try giving him some things to hold and chew by himself (under supervision!) like pieces of toast etc to see if that helps him with the different textures.

[tiggerblue10]

Hi Annie, I tried giving Lt Tiggs a softish carrot stick which he bit and then started to choke on the bit he'd bitten off so I've stopped that for the time being. I might try him on some readybrek as long as there is no salt and sugar i it.

[annie0000]

Sorry tiggs, didn't mean that you shuld give him carrot sticks, that was an example of an older child that still didn't have teeth! You will find that he will gag on the lumps and bits of soft toast if he mushes them off, that's only natural and that's how he will learn and also that you should only give them to him if you are watching him just in case he does choke. It is scary though, but i'm sure he will get the idea eventually. I prefer the porridge to ready brek personally as I know that it contains nothing but porridge......that and the fact that I am Scottish!!!

Hope it all goes well and keep persevering. My eldest used to quite like the powdered food that you make up with boiling water - absolutely disgusting looking gunk, but like you, I couldn't get him to eat any home made savourly stuff - interestingly the only exception was Annabel Karmel's cheesy courgette something. We eventually found when he was a toddler that he actually prefers really strong flavoured foods - preferably covered in tabasco!! and he has never looked back - now over 5 foot tall at 10 and a half.

[aims1202]

if you gave him food you had made it wouldnt have an age on it so forget the ages on the jars its just a guideline and doesnt mean they have to have each one at that age.
from 6mths if your baby can sit up with support you can give your baby soft pieces of food like cooked carrot, sweet potato, avocado, banana etc just put them in front of him and see what he does, he will probably pick it up and try to put it in his mouth, he might squash it and play with it and then eat it or not, but that is weaning he is learning about different food, tastes and textures and developing his hand eye coordinantion and then his tongue muscles ready for speaking. he will love it and as he gets older and used to more things you can try pasta, meat and fish. this way of weaning is a lot easier for you because you can just give him what you eat but separate it from yours so its individual pieces, you can even take it out with you. jars are good when you havent got anything else but like you said they taste bad to us and often the baby will refuse them or later on refuse being fed! if food is all mashed up together then the different foods cant be tasted and later on some children will be really fussy. they love to feed themselves and make a mess, it makes eating more fun and less stressful. hope this helps, i weaned my daughter this way and it was amazing, she is now 2 and loves all her food! good luck

[aims1202]

just to add about choking, it is normal for babies to gag on their food, it comes back up and is not anything to worry about, if you start slowly with soft lumps and then gradually give harder things they will be fine, if you avoid lumps early on then its harder for them later and they often wont eat them, they dont need teeth to have lumps, my son was eating pieces of apple with no teeth as he didnt get any teeth until he was nearly a year old, he would suck on it and chew it with is gums!

[boxtops]

My SIL didn't use any jars, she just liquidised whatever food the family were having - keeping it chunkier as he got a bit older.

[DTCwordfan]

we pureed fresh veg and fruit and used little plastic trays, big enough for a meal, and then froze them down.

One session every two to three weeks - about 45 mins with cooking and pureeing and using a mouli was what it took.....

[tiggerblue10]

The cheesy courgette thing sounds quite tasty Annie. Might give that a go.

Thanks Aims, I will try the BLW as well.

[tiggerblue10]

Thats what I've been doing with the fruit DT.

I should probably start doing exactly that Box, preferably before I add salt and pepper.

Can you tell I'm a first time mum? Lol

[albaqwerty]

kiddiewinks do not read what they are supposed to do :D

Go with your instincts and all will be fine xx

[Chaffinch]

Agree, make your own food, why use jars and guide lines, imagine if pizza said for over 21's, its the same really. banana can be mashed, oats is oats in or out of a jar. give him lots of diferent tastes and textures, he'll soon let you know what he likes and dislikes. eg when you give a baby icecream for the first time he will always screw up his face, its not because he dosent like it or its "too lumpy" its just cold. Let him have a go at everything, then you will end upm with an unfussy child

[tiggerblue10]

Thank you everyone for your advice :o) x

[Rosetta]

Have you asked your Health Visitor for advice Tiggs. How is he with the taste of savoury food, if you can develop this it will be great for his future food likes and dislikes so that he doesn't develop a sweet tooth. You also mention adding salt and pepper, ask advice about this as it may dominate the flavour of foods so that he doesnt get to develop enjoyment of the different tastes. all this isn't easy though, sometimes you just have to persevere. Accepting lumpier food might just come later for him, as previously said babies develop at their own rate

[tiggerblue10]

Hi Rosetta, I think I've got an idea of what I need to do from everybody's replies Rosetta. I won't be adding any salt or pepper to his food. I'll just make up food normally and put some aside for him before adding condiments for myself. I don't think I explained that very well before. Lol

[annie0000]

lol at the salt and pepper, but it does take me back to when my eldest was a fussy eating toddler - we used to trick him into eating - we'd get him doing jigsaws and then just shovel it in - probably not the best idea really, but we were desperate to get him to eat. Anyway - when he was about 2ish we decided enough was enough, if he wasn't eating it himself we'd just take it away - he'd still get his usual drinks of milk and snacks etc - we weren't going to starve him. Anyway after about 2 days of not eating very much, after my OH had fed the boys lunch(we had a 1 year old as well who eat anything!) and eldest again hadn't eaten much. OH then made himself a bowl of beans to have with toast. He'd put tabasco, soy sauce and loads of black pepper in them. He was just sitting at the table to eat when eldest went and got himself a spoon, sat down beside him and started scoffing his beans! He loved them, not probably the best food for a toddler, but after that he never looked back - he just loves spicy food. He likes currys, chilli, peppered fish, salami and puts tabasco on pizza and pretty much any other food he can get away with.

We'd been giving him food with no seasoning and typical child friendly food - macaroni cheese, rice pudding, yoghurts etc. with the exception of macaroni cheese (with lots of pepper) he wont touch any of that food now. Maybe if we had been brave enough to give him the food we like (all the spicy stuff) we wouldn't have had the eating problems that we had with him.

The only benefit was, was that he was amazing at jigsaws! When he started nursery they couldn't believe how good he was, the thought he was cheating in some way when he could do a 50 piece jigsaw with no picture in the matter of minutes, so they used to just sit and watch him do it - I think they thought he was some child prodigy - I think we just messed with the wiring in his brain when he was a baby!

[Rosetta]

Lol Annie, been there . After two days of toughing it out you toddler was ready to try anything. Problem is dealing with this power struggle is hard on the resolve for the parents, the thought of them not eating fires up the parental guilt big time lol