7 Month Old Will Not Eat Fruit

It could be worse! I can't get my 1 year old to eat any veggies! I have tried several times all with the same results - vomit, usually all over my lap :( And all I hear from my pediatrician is 'You gotta feed them more vegetables, no sugar (fruit)'!

Try the mixed baby food like chicken and apples, chicken & Rice or beef with vegetables. My baby girl actually likes mashed potatoes with butter and I slipped some smashed up peas from my plate in to the potatoes tonight without her throwing up on me! Whoo-hoo! A small success!

And who cares if he eats green beans for breakfast! I like steak & eggs for breakfast (thats the southerner in me talking) and have a bowl of cereal for dinner! If he likes it, feed it to him! BTW, my 3 year old LOVES asparagus! Can you believe THAT!

~E. :)

I remember my oldest son doing this same thing. Then my daughter is the fruit-aholic. He hated the baby food fruit but then fell in love with bananas in small bites and eventually apples. It's just funny to me how different their taste buds are. He still hates peaches which were some of the first baby foods I gave him but now as a 6 year old he seems fine with most things: apples, oranges, grapes and bananas.

My daughter is also a very picky eater and didn't care for fruit and very little veggies. I used to mix a little of her baby food in with her cereal. I talked to her Ped and she said that she wasn't concerned but if I was worried I could give her Poly Vi Sol vitamins. I added the vitamins to her morning milk and it made me feel a lot better knowing that she was still getting her vitamins. She's 2 1/2 and still doesn't eat fruit or veggies or so she thinks, I hide them in her food, shhhh.

I'd be happy if I were you. Most kids will only eat friut. Veggies are more important anyway. When he starts drinking 100% juice, give him different varieties so that he is getting those vitamins, and just be happy he probably won't have a sweet tooth like my two sweeties! I'm with Lisa P and Pam K!
M.

Have you tried Gerber bananas with mixed berries? Also the dehydrated fruit bites? Those were the only two fruits my daughter would eat for a long time.

Hi B.,
I have the same exact "problem" with my twin boys! They are almost 10 months and like your son, they both will eat any veggie or veggie mix but when we try fruit..you would think it's sour with the facial expressions they give :) The only way I have found for my boys to eat fruit is when it's mixed with something. I'll mix it with their cereal or yogurt. Earth's Best brand of organic baby food has fruit mixes that they will eat too. But I have to say even when I mix the fruit and they eat it, I still get the "what are you feeding me?" expressions!
By the way, having a personal relationship with Christ makes such a difference in my life too! I'm mom to five children (11, 8, 6, twin babies) and I don't know how I would do it
without him.

I would suggest mixing a mild fruit (like applesauce) with one of his beloved veggies (especially with something like sweet potatoes). You might be able to slowly change the mix, less veggie and more fruit until he tolerates the straight fruit. My son started to turn a little yellow he loved his veggies so much! (Not jaundice, just a little yellow skin tone...it wasn't dangerous.) Remember it can take 10-20 tries of a new food before your little one learns to accept it. Don't give up, keep offering it! Good luck!

N.

I would not worry about it at all. At his age food is about experiencing new things esp. since he his breastfed. If you want to keep trying fruit just mash a banana or give him a little unsweetened applesauce. These are things the rest of the family can eat and are less expensive.

I personally did not have this problem, both my children ate fruits fine (they had their favorites but would eat them all). With my son (now 16) he would not eat the meats and some veggies so I would occassionally try them but would otherwise feed him what he ate. With my daughter (now 16 months) she eats anything especially if it is on someone else's plate. Now that she is on "table foods", some items are hard to get her to eat so again we feed her what she'll eat and try others some. My nephew (15 months) wouldn't eat any green vegetables so my sister didn't feed him any (he did like greenbeans until he tried peas and then he thought all greens were peas). Alll three of these kids are very healthy.

By the way, a relative breastfed all five of her kids and they were all picky when it came to foods (until table foods)but especially the boys.

Dear B.,

It is great that your son loves vegetables so much - usually it is the other way round, that babies love fruit because it is sweet, but won't eat the vegetables.
If he loves the veggies and is eating plenty of those, then I shouldn't worry about it. It is far more healthy to eat vegetables than fruit, because in general they have more nutrients and fiber without the high sugar content of fruit.
As far as the breakfast choices go, who says a baby has to eat what Gerber classifies as "breakfast"? If your baby would love to eat carrots and peas for breakfast, then let him eat carrots and peas!

Best wishes, L. P

Hi B. C. I am assuming that you are refering to jars of baby food. Have you tried mixing the fruit right in with his veggies? Sounds kind of gross, but works like a charm for me and that way I can make sure my baby is getting both fruits and veggies. It just adds a little sweetness to the veggies without being too sour which is probably why he doesn't want to eat the fruits in the first place. Good luck to you.

i would count yourself lucky. usually it's the other way around, and kids refuse vegetables since fruit are so much sweeter. unless your doctor says otherwise, i don't think there's anything wrong with eating only vegetables and no fruit. vegetables have so many vitamins and minerals in them. in some cultures they eat vegetables for breakfast, so it's not mandatory to have sweet fruit with oatmeal in the morning.

My son never would eat baby food. I thought he hated vegetables and we were going to have a struggle but once I gave him real veggies, just mashed with a mortar and pestle, he loved them. All baby food tasted awful to me so I'm sure my son felt the same way. I would prepare big people fruit for him--peel the membranes off of sections of orange because he could easily eat the pulp on a spoon. And I just cut grapes and other forbidden fruit into very small pieces. Their little gums are sharp enough to cut just about anything and he did all right with it. Baby food is a waste of money as far as I am concerned. My son never ate it without a fight and we threw away more than we used.

Hahaha, my 3 year old wont eat fruit. She ate it as a baby just fine, but now will only eat grapes and the occasional mandarin oranges.
You can use the fruit in place of oil in cakes. But I would try mixing them w/ meat or veggies and see if he will eat that. Maybe just 1/2 a jar to a full jar of meat/veggies. If not, just periodically try it. Dont give up. But its not really that big of a deal if he doesnt want fruits.

Hi B.. I am a SAHM of 3 boys 12, 7 & 2. I have one who hates veggies to this day and the other loves them! Have you tried real pieces of fruit yet? Maybe he doesn't like the baby food stuff. And it can be a whole lot cheaper too. It's a lot easier to have him loving veggies than not. Hmmm...maybe he has an idea...spinach oatmeal...the new flavor of the month! Just kidding! LOL

And you are so right about asking Jesus Christ to be Lord of your life being the BEST decision ever made. I completely agree with you 100%!!!!

In all that you do be sure to F.R.O.G. it! =)N.

My 15month old didn't really care for babyfood fruit either, so I had to offer fresh fruit. Bananas, small chunks of apple, mango are/were her favorites, but not all the time. As the temps gets warmer outside, your baby will want more fruit, just like everyone else.

I wouldn't stress over it. Let him decide what he wants to eat. It'll pass sooner than you think.

~L.
www.notaboutfood.com
www.accesspilates.com

It looks like the others have already covered it but I will say again don't worry about it. Some people don't introduce solids at all until 8 or 9 or even 10 months. The second half of the first year is for experimenting with foods and giving him a chance to get used to new ways of eating and new textures. As a baby I wouldn't touch any pureed foods on a spoon but when my mom chopped up food for me that I could put in my mouth, I gobbled it down. I just wasn't ready for solids until 9 months. That's one of the many reasons why breastfeeding is so important. Don't bother buying the jarred baby foods. When he's ready for fruit banana is super easy and you can mash up some of the other fruit for him and even try mixing it with breastmilk. I've also talked with some moms who didn't introduce fruit the first year since it's so sweet and most children go for it easily, she wanted to get them used to veggies and other foods first. I'm sure he'll eat fruit later but give him the good stuff for now. :)

My daughter did the same thing at first. Try mixing a dash of cinnamon in...she gobbled it up then!!

Hi B.,
I wouldn't worry about it - he'll eat it when he is ready. My daughter is 8 months and will only eat Prunes with Apples and SOMETIMES she'll eat oatmeal with cinnamon and apples. I talked to my pediatrician and he said it wasn't a big deal. Keep trying it but if you feed him squash for breakfast - that's ok.

They don't have a sense of what is a right food for breakfast like we do. We wouldn't think of eating squash or sweet potatoes for breakfast but if that is what he'll eat go for it!

Feed him whatever he will eat, and don't worry about the foods he won't eat. I had one who would not eat baby food at all. I tried all the jarred food, nothing. I pureed food at home, nothing. When he was able to handle very small pieces of food, then he ate regular food. He just did not like ground up food, he still won't touch applesauce!

Hi B.,

Wait a month and try again. In the mean time contact the dietician at The Children's Hospital of the King's Daughters and talk to the Nutritionist.

Hope that helps. Good luck. D.

My older son ate loads of veggies when he was eating baby food, but won't eat any now... at 3 1/2. My younger son hardly ate any baby food at all. Seriously. He kept spitting it out. I started him on rice cereal at about 5 months and he'd have nothing to do with it - I tried again at 6 and 7 months, then gave up... started giving him stewed veggies... super soft carrots and green beans, etc. Yogurt and soft toast was good for him - I chose cinnamon raisin bread... tastey and the raisins are ok because they're cooked and soft. Now, at one year, he's an eating machine!

If your little guy is still gaining weight and happy with veggies, let him be... he'll expand his palate later. Be careful, though, if you feed him too much orange food like squash and carrots, his skin might show a little orange tint. It won't hurt him, but it might look kinda funny! ;)

Good luck!

This is probably not a bad thing, maybe he just doesn't have a sweet tooth. I would just substitute veggies where you would give fruits. Read up on veggies that are high in Vitamin C and make sure he gets them.

B.,
Your child is still nursing and that is a great thing. I'd suggest that you try buying just regular fruit, not baby food. You can get a simple food grinder for it. If he doesn't like the first few bites, you can eat the rest yourself.
Hope this helps
L.

My son, now 4, didn't like fruits for the first 6 months on solids. He loved spinach, squash, green beans, peas, pretty much all the veggies. And luckily for me he still loves veggies! And he also loves fruit now, too.

I wouldn't put too much worry into it right now. As long as your baby is eating healthy and is gaining well, having veggies and cereal for breakfast, lunch and dinner is fine.

Good Luck.

I so love, how many are open sharing about knowing the Lord!
Way cool!!
...I really wouldn't be concerned!!
The Lord showed me that until they have teeth, which is how He made it, why feed them food!!!
If you compare the nutrition between the different containers you might not see much difference!!
Are you a sweet eater?
Nursing is super, much better than everything else, can't be duplicated,ever!!!
If he doesn't care for sugary stuff, woo hoo!!!
But breast milk is sweet! Make sure you are getting your vitamins and he will get them too! Even eat plenty of yogurt which I say over and over again on here, and both of you will profit!

I care for twins and the one suffers with yeast in his body and the fruit only encouraged more yeast growth.
Eat the fruits yourself and again he will profit!!!
Breasfeeding, what a wonderful divine gift!!!
Be blessed!!!
P.

It is perfectly acceptable to eat veggies at breakfast or for every meal of the day. Babies have no preconceived notion of which foods to eat at which meal. Veggies come in a variety of colors and have plenty of vitamins and minerals, sugars, etc. Since he is still breastfed and it sounds like he eats cereal he is certainly getting plenty to maintain health. His tastes will change many times over the next few years. Often foods they like initially, they prefer not to eat later and then go back to eating them again. At this time of life, it's all an experiment for them. If he doesn't like fruit don't fret. Just save the unopened jars you have for another week or month. They really last a long time if they are still sealed. It's okay not to have a sweet tooth yet :)

He might not like how strong the sweetness of the fruit is. Try mixing some applesauce with butternut squash or some other comibinations. For things my 8 month old doesn't like, we add 2 teaspoons of formula/breastmilk to it so it gives him something familiar to eat...