From the Bottle to Spoon

My twin boys started solids about a month ago and are doing great with it. My one son had no trouble but the other had the same issue with the spoon. What i did was take the spoon with the food on it and gently tap it one his bottom lip. He started to then begin to open his mouth and once it was open I got the spoon in and allowed him to get used to it. It did not work all the time but he now is doing a great job. My advice on the bottle chasers is that it may be confusing her. You want to allow her to get used to the difference between the spoon and bottle. If you want to give her a chaser do it once she is finished with the cereal . Hope I was of help to you.

I actually am feeding my daughter pears with a spoon. She will actually take my hand with both of hers and bring the spoon into her mouth lol. She does have the reflex with her tongue where she will push the food back out but she eats pretty well. The cereal you are feeding your baby isnt too thick is it? If she doesn't take too well to the spoon try using the spoon more than the bottle...have you tried any fruits or veggies? My mom had me start my daughter on bananas and she didnt like them so we went to pears and yesterday she ate the whole jar at one feeding...she has never done that lol. But if you need to use a bottle to wash down the cereal maybe it is a bit too thick? Try thinning it a bit more.

Although your ped have given you the ok to start solids, your child may not be all that ready. At that age, there may be a strong extrusion reflex - where the baby automatically pushes anything out of his mouth that feel foreign. If that is still there, than there is no point in trying to feed her. I would start by letting her sit in the high chair and letting him chomp on a baby spoon (one of the platic ones)

Keep in mind that a baby was made to be breastfed for the first few years of life; the primary nutrition source is breastmilk/formula. Starting solids at this age is more for the novelty and practice aspect of putting food in the mouth; they do not get much out of it nutrition wise, so don't stress if it takes a while.

As for the formula chaser, I would not do that for risk of aspiration.

You also just may want to forget about it for a week or two and revist then - babies do chane so much even in a few weeks!

About me: mother of three and have been working with children since I was 15. I am RN and currently working on my BSN.

Hi!
When my daughter started solids, we were told to start wit rice cereal which Emma hated plain! Main thing I can say is be patient. It takes time for kids to get used to new foods. I have read that sometimes it takes offering a food 15 times before a child eats it. The cereal is pretty blah.. maybe ask the pediatrician if you can mic in a lil fruit. That's how I got Emma to eat rice cereal=)

We treated solids like meals. We gave them at breakfast lunch and dinner with a bottle afterwards. You have to give your son some time to get use to moving the food to the back of his mouth with his tongue. This is a learned response, and giving the bottle to help wash it down isn't going to help. Just make the cereal very runny, liquidy. Up until this point he's only known how to suck so he needs to learn the tongue movements to move food to the back of the mouth.

I would say to just keep trying the spoon - there is no other way to make them learn, and she will be fine with it once she gets the hang of it. I don't know if the bottle is necessary unless you are making the cereal very thick. We never out daughter a bottle with it - that might be a habit that you don't want to get into, since she may want the bottle more then the spoon.

I don't have any special suggestions, just keep doing what you are doing!

MY DOCTOR ACTUALLY TOLD ME TO START FEEDING MY SON AT THE END OF HIS THIRD MONTH, WHICH WAS VERY FRUSTRATING. THEY STILL HAVE THAT TONGUE REFLEX TO PUSH EVERYTHING OUT, SO YOU HAVE TWO OPTIONS: WAIT A FEW WEEKS BEFORE TRYING AGAIN OR KEEP GIVING HER THE SPOON FOR PRACTICE. I SUGGEST THAT YOU KEEP GIVING HER THE SPOON, BECAUSE YOU'LL FIND THAT EVERY NEW THING YOU TRY TO TEACH YOUR BABY WILL BE A TASK. IT'S GONNA TAKE A LOT PATIENCE. AND I AGREE WITH ONE OF THE OTHER MOMS, DON'T GIVE HER THAT BOTTLE UNTIL SHE'S DONE EATING( IT WILL FILL HER UP). INSTEAD, IF YOUR DOC SAYS IT'S OKAY GIVE HER A LITTLE WATER OR JUICE AFTER SHE'S SWALLOWED. THE CEREAL IS A LITTLE HEAVIER TO TAKE IN AND SHE MAY NEED SOME HELP.

the only bad thing about giving her a bottle after every bit is that it gets her used to drinking after every bit which could develope eating problems as she gets bigger and it will fill her up faster and she wont learn to take in more solids. try after giving her a spoonful try puting a pacifier in her mouth (if she takes one) this will help her learn to move food from the front to bad of her mouth better. As she starts to eat more she will get better at it and you can give it to her every few bites or so to help her swallow and then eventually she wont need it at all. once she learns you probly wont be able to get it in there fast enough for her lol. let me know how it goes. good luck

Hi. My sons were both different. My first did not want anything to do with solids until he was 6 months old...actually at the end of his sixth month. He wasn't getting the spoon thing so I decided to wait until he was ready. When he was...he was really ready. Loved to eat. With my 2nd, he was eyeing my food by the end of his 3rd month and even mimmicking me eating. So right at 4 months we started cereal and he got it right away and loved it. I think just because a doctor says it's okay to start doesn't mean you absolutely have to start...see how she does and if she's just not getting it, maybe she's just not into it yet. Wait a few weeks.