8 Month Old Won't Eat Solids!!

Try mixing formula in with the solids at first. It will make the solids a bit runny, but since he likes the taste and smell of that it will make the solids more familiar and make the flavor less foreign. My ten month old went through a phase where he wouldn't eat solids and this helped a great deal. Also, letting him hold somethign else while we were feeding helped ... seemed to preoccupy him enough so that he would open his mouth. Good luck!

My 2nd daughter was like that, I put her solid food in her bottle with her formula for about a month and then she took it without the formula. Good luck:-)

I finally put food in the blender and started my children on 2% milk. They seemed to like it beter. Just don't season the food efore blending.

J. K,

I had the same problem w/ my girls when they were that age. Just keep offering it to him. I could also suggest when giving him cereal try giving him the oatmeal and mix it w/ a fruit and he may start eating it that way. Good Luck!

M.

Go to a doctor
[i know no one likes doctors}

I have read some of the other advice and some of them suggest to make your own. I think that is a good idea, especially since your son likes the food you eat. KidCo makes a baby food grinder that is portable. It comes with a carrying case so that you can take it with you when you go out to eat. You put your food in it and turn the grind handle on top and it basically grinds/mushes the food that you are eating into something that your son can eat. Mom used one with myself and my brother. (32 & 29 now) I plan on using one with my child when it gets old enough to eat solid foods. (Babys R Us has it for about $13.00)

I have the same problem. I have had luck with the little cups of mandarin oranges and little cans of mixed veggies. He'll eat those then we give vitamin supplements.

Have you tried yogurt? It seems like with the fruit and milk flavors it could be a great gateway. Also, no need to chew!
Just a side note: have you actually tasted the baby food? Most of them are pretty disgusting. If he is just really sensitive to yucky taste, maybe you can put some groen-up food in the blender or food processor and see if he'll take that. (My sons loved canned pears done that way.

just my two cents, but i have a couple thoughts. first, i seem to remember my son started solid foods at about 6 months, so i understand that if "everyone" is telling you that's the age, it can be frustrating. just try to remember, he won't stay on formula (or breastmilk, if that's your routine) forever - they all eat "real" food eventually! i wouldn't worry about it until the dr. says it's an issue - as long as he's gaining weight and meeting all his other milestones he'll be okay. S., and this is just me being sentimental - i remember longing for those formula days once we got into solid foods! it's so much simpler lol. anyway, they grow up fast enough so don't feel like your son has to be on anyone's "schedule". he'll work it out eventually! just keep trying and eventually he'll figure it out.

and i forgot something else - have you tried putting a little cereal in his bottle, maybe before bedtime? that's how we started with my son (mostly because he never seemed to get full on formula anyway), maybe that would help. you can use a regular nipple, just cut the hole a tiny bit bigger to allow the thicker mix to flow through. good luck!

Is the food too warm or to cold,you can give him canned or frozen fruits and veggies just dice them up,also fresh fruit and veggies,mashed potatoes and Gerber and Parents Choice have these Graduate food containers I love em they have all sorts of food and veggies combinations,at this age they are realizing that the can eat different foods and with teeth the better.I however didn't like to give my kid's table food for the first Year I didn't want to expose them to all the processed chemicals and preseratives this young in age other's thought I was crazy. But I didn't think so.
WSAHM of 2 kiddo's

I agree with Carrie B. My daughter Aubrey has always been a good eater. She really only liked fruit at first. Veggies were out of the question! lol To start with I did put cereal in her bottle to get her used to it. It filled her up and introduced her to the different texture. Then I took cereal and mixed it with the formula and fed it to her with a spoon.I put banana baby food and cereal in w/ the formula as well. Sometimes she would take it and other times she wouldn't. Just like Carrie said, your baby will let you know when he's ready. Just keep trying.My daughter liked ( and still to this day) "wagon wheels", and dissolvable cerial. It is great for knawing on and is a different texture too. Do not force him, but always give him options. Good luck! I hope this helps. ( Trying the baby food first does help. If Aubrey made a face that showed she didn't like it, I would try it and be like " ooo that's nasty, sorry baby girl... lets try something else". lol

Some kids are not always ready to eat everything. Having no teeth makes it hard for him to chew and digest those foods. Soft foods may be all he can handle right now. They do need vegetables. Try feeding your son mashed potatoes and a little gravy. Some of those baby foods are not seasoned and have a bad taste. Try a little seasoning and a baby desert together. You can also try putting a teaspoon of only rice cereal in his formula at night. His stomach will feel fuller and he will probably sleep better at night. When my kids were babies, there doctor told me to only use rice cereal, that way if the cereal does not agreed with your child it will be easy to spot. With my grandkids, I brought a bottle feeder and put the baby chicken noodle soup and and the baby apple sauce in together, warmed it up for 20 seconds and they enjoyed it. Take your time and try soft baby foods to see what he likes. You should pray and ask the LORD for guidence.

My daughter ate everything you put in front of her and she had no teeth. In fact, she got her first tooth at age 13 months, but she had been eating solids since she was 6 months. Now my son, it's a different story. I am in a similar situation except, my son is older. He's 22 months and he wont eat table foods. He wont eat hardly anything that is not pureed, except for french fries, hot dogs and chips particularly doritos. I worry too as I know baby food can't fill him up, but we keep offering pureed foods b/c he'll eat them. We just have to feed him more often as he runs out of energy. Doctor says he's fine and he'll eat when he's hungry. Just hang in there and give him whatever he wants to eat.

Yeah, baby food is disgusting. Maybe try and make your own..."grown up" food is so much more appealing. Also, I wouldn't sweat it, baby food is just to get them used to eating table food. From what I understand they don't HAVE to have it necessarily...

J.,

Every child is different and will meet each milestone at different times. I have two wonderful kids of my own and they are as different as day and night. My son never liked the cereal either, but my daughter loved it. Your son could just be a picky eater like my son. Since he likes the foods you eat, maybe you could make a version for him that is more tender.

Oh boy, I have one of those....and still do. Don't worry! I know that's easier said than done. My son, who's 4, still doesn't eat veggies or most meats. We didn't introduce solids until he was 6 months. I took him to the doctor and found out he was textural intolerant; meaning he couldn't stand certain textures. He has a very sensitive gag reflex as well. As a result most of the time when my husband and I when introduce foods he would end up gagging to the point of throwing it all up. We did take him to a chiropractor and that did help stop the gagging to the point of puking (actually I was amazed with the outcome). However, he is still a VERY picking eater. As long as he's healthy and gains weight we are cool. He gets protein from things like eggs and cottage cheese. We just try out best to supplement. I totally sympathize with you b/c I drove myself nuts trying to get him to eat a "balanced" diet. Some kids just don't and 99% of the time they are fine.

Just wanted to echo most of what has already been said, so that you know you are not alone.
I am also a first time Mom, and I find it helpful when I hear that other peoples children do/did the same as mine.

My 10 month old daughter wouldn't eat "solid" food either. We started trying when she was 6 months. I was really worried. But as someone else pointed out, I took solace in the fact that there aren't too many people who only eat formula.

We just kept on trying at every meal. Threw out a lot of food because she didn't finish a jar in the 2-3 days recommended to keep it. She finally started eating more bt 9 and 10 months, and now will eat 2 jars at each meal. So she did outgrow it.

It does seem like she prefers real food over baby food. (she also LOVES the gerber puffs and feeding herself). Even without teeth there are some easy foods that you can give him:
ripe avacado
really ripe pears
cantaloup
bananas
of course you have to cut them up real small.

Also, I'm not sure what brand of food you are trying, but I've found that the organic brands seem to taste better than the gerber. I've also been surprised to find out that Whole Foods has those cheaper than Deirbergs (at least the Dierbergs in Florrisant).

It also seems that my daughter prefers the fruit over the veggies. I try to give her veggies first, then when she really refuses I switch to the fruit. She'll eat more of that, and I stick in a spoonful of veggies every so often.

Hope that helps!

A.

If he is more interested in what you are eating, then chew up a bit of food in your mouth until somewhat mushy and feed him that. That's how our great-grand mothers used to feed our grandparents. Plus, you will save money not having to buy jars of baby food. Not having teeth won't limit the kinds of food he wants to try. When my daughter started becoming interested in solids she would eat Ritz crackers like a beaver. She had no teeth just hard gums!

Have you tried frozen things? Like all natural sorbet or pureeing and freezing your own fruit or veggies? Or maybe frozen yogurt. Maybe it's a texture issue.

If he is liking the cereal but not the babyfood, I'd say he wants texture. I agree with those that said make your own. It would be terrible to let him get carb addicted already! LOL. I'd limit the crackers until he decides he will eat, try smashing up normal foods and see what he does and relax. It is ok if he wants formula for a while longer.

Suzi

No teeth yet? My daughter was like this. Finally at age one, when she got teeth (go-figure) she wanted to start eating different things. He won't be like this forever. Every child will eventually want to eat food, don't worry.

Just keep doing your job as mom by continuously offering new foods. AND DON'T FORGET to offer the same foods he has previously turned down. Young ones constantly change their taste preferances.

I could bet money that when he gets some teeth, he will eat.

Maybe he just doesn't like the baby food. There were only a few baby food veggies that my kids would eat. Squash, carrots, and Green Beans were about the only ones they would eat. Try smashing up your veggies and add some water to them so they smash up better and see if he will like them. We always bought the frozen veggies. As for fruits, try applesauce or smashed up bananas as most of the others may be too hard for him to eat right now. you can also make cooked apples and smash them up. I used to cook the baby carrots and they would eat them well especially after they were a year old and eating more solids.

my kids are teenagers now and love veggies. They won't eat the canned ones though but love the frozen as they taste more fresh and not salty and mushy like the canned do.

Try the stage 2 foods. They are thicker and have more texture. Also keep at it. It can take 15-20 trys before kids will accept new foods.

First, talk to your pediatrician, get the baby a physical, and see if there is a reason he will not eat solids. It may be that he is not ready(according to what the pediatrician finds out in the examination). On the other hand, you could have the possibility of a child that has a strong will--yours must be stronger. You may have to put out the food at the mealtime--something healthy that will not spoil quickly--and sit him at the table with everyone else. When the meal is over and he has not eaten let him up, leave the food out and let him know that when he is hungry, he can come back and eat what has been prepared for him. This could be a several day battle. If by bedtime, he hasn't eaten that food, put it in the refrigerator and start the process over for breakfast--eventually he should be hungry enough to eat what has been put in front of him. Once you have won the battle, be sure to always have a variety of food for him to try. Don't withhold water or juice from him, but refuse to give him formula and crackers. Also, do not let your baby to snack from you or your family out of pity. If after the several days he refuses to eat, allow him to have formula but no crackers, then start the process over again. You certainly do not want to starve your baby. May the Lord bless your endeavor.

If he likes the food that you eat, have you ever just put pieces of your dinner in a mini-chopper to blend it up for him? We did that with stew and other foods that my son could eat what we were. Our food tastes better, and then you're only making one meal.

Most of the best ideas I have learned as a mother seemed to be found outside-the-box.

Each baby is unique. We often think they are supposed to fit into some standard of expectations that are based on narrow ideas based on averages. Your baby is not here to see how 'average' he is. I look at each child and ask if these arbitrary expectations are realistic and use a bit of common sense.

My son's unwillingness to eat was just as you described. I thought he might not want food because he enjoyed nursing. I discovered the his willingness to accept solids BEGAN AND GRADUALLY DEVELOPED AS HE BEGAN TO GROW TEETH. After discovering this, I thought, "Now doesn't it just make sense that a child will not want food that needs to be pureed or chewed unti they have teeth? Maybe there are other digestive faculties that develop at the same time they grow teeth. Maybe the appearance of teeth are the visible indication of these digestive developmental stages. Maybe I should listen to and observe my child's body and the unique pace of his development. Today he is a strapping, 6'3" young man with a full set of teeth he enjoys using for a variety of culinary delights.

There are many metabolic changes that occur throughout infancy and early childhood. As we grow, we stop making the necessary digestive components to metabolize the proteins in milk and some even lose the enzymes for processing the carbs in milk. As these biochemicals diminish, others begin to develop. There are too many complex metabolic processes to explore here. The simple fact is that, as we develop different digestive enzymes, it can change the flavor of saliva and certainly change what we crave to eat. In these matters it is often true that 'Baby knows best'.

The only little trick I did employ was to gradually introduce foods I could blend with milk, like a bit of banana. This may have helped him develop interest in those flavors, but I feel it allowed him the amount and balance that his body was ready for. I also learned that he was sensitive and disliked sources of foods that were treated in some way or were not organic. By the time he was a year old, I began to notice that he was far more likely to refuse the foods we had not grown in our garden. They can taste things which our adult taste buds can no longer detect.

I always found that observing what my child's body was telling us and having a bit of faith in that information led us to many creative solutions. It always worked better than trying to find ways to 'trick' him. Patience and faith paid off for us.

Best wishes to you and your dear family!

Have you tried those teething nets...they are a mom/dad invented item that you put fruit/veggies in and they suck on them thru the net to help with teething. You can freeze the fruit or just have them cold. Might be worth a try. They sell them at Walmart for 3 or 4 dollars. Anytime we have a shower to go to we always buy stuff for when the baby is older and that is one item I always get. I just wish they'd had them when my kids were little. They are very safe also and wash in the dishwasher. Worth a try.

my daughter was like that for a while and i started making her food and she seemed to like it more i just put food i steamed and cooked in the food processor and she started eating other than that i have no clue i would say he will eat when he is ready as long as he is still taking formula then is should be ok.best of luck.

My son was doing this also. I ended up correcting it by buying the feeders that have a nipple on the top like a bottle but the openings are wide enough for cereal and food to pass through. I bought them at Babies'R'Us, that was the only store I was able to find them. I started by mixing in just a bit of cereal with about 3 ounces of formula (you can only get about 4 ounces in the feeder) and he would down that. The feeder also has a little plastic piece on the "bottom" side that you push towards the nipple to begint he feeding and you can push it up as he is eating, although the plastic piece is usually pulled up with the contents of the feeder. I would add a little more cereal every couple of days. Eventually we got to mixing the cereal with either a fruit or a vegetable and now we are starting with soft table foods. My son is almost 8 months old. Hopefully this helps.

My son is 6.5 months and won't really eat pureed foods either. He evven gags on applesauce! He dosen't have teeth, but he is very good at chewing with his gums so I have been giving him soft fruits and veggies cut into small pieces, like peaches and banana. He loves eating finger foods! He has also had ground beef, puffs, cheerios, saltine crackers, rice, peas.....we just started this so I am sure by next week the list will be longer. Maybe you could try this with your son.

Both of my daughters hated cereal, but would eat the other foods eventually, I just had to be persistant. I also swithed them to what we were eating as soon as possible. By 12 months they would eat waht we were eating or a variation. It is not only cheeper, but easier. My girls wanted to feed themselves also so I would just give them a bowl that was suction-cuped to the high chair and a spoon (then bath!!!). There is a great book you can get at the library by Annabel Karmel that is 100 baby food purees. There were lots of things I never even thought of and she does a great job at introducing texture slowly. Good Luck!!!

I didn't read all of the other responses, so forgive me if this is repeat info.

It sounds like he wants things with more texture than just baby food. I would serve him what ever you are eating but mush it up more. For example, if you are having peas or brocolli, cook it a bit longer than normal and then mush it with the back of a fork. Do the same with fruit, but cook it a bit first.

Although you don't want to give him too many carbs, well cooked noodles are great. Buy the whole wheat kind. You can mix them in the baby food or you can make your own veggie sauce with tomato sauce and spinach in the blender and then mix it with macaroni or shell noodles. (I found the bigger noodles were easier for my son to pick up himself but I also used the tiny shells and bead pasta too.)

You can even shred a little chicken or give him some well cooked ground beef. Other suggestions: shredded cheese, yoghurt, cottage cheese, crushed pineapple.

Over all, I wouldn't worry about it too much. Eventually he will eat, it is just a matter of time. As soon as the milk is no longer enough, he will be grabbing everything in sight. My son was a late teether (12 months for first teeth) so I can totally relate. We had to get creative, but now at 3 years old, he is a very good eater and loves his veggies.

J.
www.MindBodyBabyStL.com

I have a 10 month old that is the same way. Don't worry about it. Babies get all the nutrition they need from Breastmilk/formula until they are 1 year old and beyond. What they eat now won't mean they will be a picky eater later. I was worried too, but after doing a lot of reading I learned that babies will eat what thier bodies need, and if they are fully nourished they will seem "pickier" with solids.

Solids are just for fun at this age, more of an experimentation of different textures and tastes. So just keep introducing things, but don't worry too much.

my son wouldn't either. He did not like any of them. When he saw the pediatrician, she said to hold him down and force feed him. NEEDLESS TO SAY, we never saw that doc again, filed a complaint against her.... and saw another doc. He said let them eat what they want to eat. Eventually they eat food. You can get them vitamins other ways and if you want try to mix some into their formula that way and see if they'll fall for it. My son didn't. He went from formula to table food. He's 15 now so I guess it's ok if they don't like it.... he even survived a year of only potato chips! Some kids are just picky!

When my daughter was little she didn't have any teeth until after she was one year old. I asked the doctor once about what she could/should eat without teeth and he told me that their gums are harder than their teeth so she should be able to eat anything we would eat. If he wants what is on the table, I would let him have it just make sure it is cut up so he doesn't take too big of bites. I also had a friend who had to serve her 5 month old from the table as he refused rice cereal and all baby food. As long as you are around while your baby is eating, I don't see it as a problem. Hope this helps!!!

He may just like to feed himself. You may want to try coking some veggies super soft and giving him that to feed humself. Good luck!