How Can I Get My 9-Monts-old Son to Open His Mouth?

What you can try for now is just put dry cereal in his bottle to thicken it and be more filling. Get the nipple with a larger hole in it . After about a week of this he will miss his food maybe 2 weeks. When you go back to foods start with fruits to tempt his taste buds. If you keep tricking him you will make him angry and he will push the spoon away more

It has been many years since my children were this age, but I found that if I let them pick their own utensils and plates, they did much better.

Sounds like this might be a psychosymatic thing. Sounds like he is associating the sickness with food/spoon. I would take him to pick out his own spoon and try again, new spoon equals no sicky. However, I would let him try feeding himself this time.

Otherwise, as long as he is getting nutrients, I wouldn't worry. Just keep up the formula and introduce other foods that he can eat with his hands. Let him set the pace for eating with a spoon again.

Hope this helped.

My daughter (who is now 9 months) went through the exact same thing about 2 months ago only I think her was due to teething. Anyhow, I did the exact same thing you are doing. I waited until I knew she was hungry. When she wouldn't open her mouth, I pretended I was going to give her the bottle. She would open her mouth and I would sneak food in. This worked for a couple of bites. This went on for about 2 weeks. I didn't force it, I just tried to feed her solids when she was hungry and she would have a few bites and then drink her bottle. Eventually, I didn't have to use the bottle anymore and she is now eating welll!! Just be patient.

I agree with lots of the advice here. I would try to just sit him in his high chair with some Cheerios or other foods he can feed himself. Try this when you know he is hungry, and I would especially suggest something that will taste good to him - the Gerber fruit puffs or small bits of banana, etc. Then just let him be. I would sit at the table and eat my own lunch or a snack or something, but just leave it at that. If he's interested, great! If not, give it a few days and try again. He is definitely old enough to feed himself if he is interested. I know with my three, I kept my first on baby food for quite some time, and each of the subsequent kids got started on "real" food earlier and earlier. I would say my daughter (now 22 months) was completely off baby food at one year, and at nine months she was probably down to only breakfast being baby food.

Good luck to you, and don't sweat it. It will pass!

M.

I would try giving him a spoon and one for yourself. Maybe he wants to try to feed himself. At least it will be a distraction. He may think that it's a game to try to get him to open his mouth. If you cut back on the number of formula feedings slowly and replace it with peaches, or cooked carrots or peas or something like that.

L.,
I would try buying some new spoons and bowls etc. for him to play with while he is in the high chair. He will be excited to play with them and then you can get the food in when he is not paying attention to you. Good Luck!

Two things - hold his nose. And yes, I know that sounds like torture, but if you hold his nose, believe me, he'll open his mouth. After you do it a couple of times he won't want you to do it anymore because holding his nose is unpleasant, so he'll open his mouth on his own.

Also - lots of fun feeding games like "airplane" or "choo-choo" helps.

Good luck!

Has he got teeth? Maybe he's ready to start feeding himself....messy, yes, but gratifying, very much. Try placing a few nuggets of food on his high chair tray and see what he does. Make sure you're eating at the table with him so he is mimicking you. When he gets less messy, you can put the food on a plate and teach him to use a spoon himself. Make sure you have a teething biscuit or cookie for dessert. Good luck mommy.

Ours didnt eat anything by spoon until 10mos old, due to several issues. We were told she was fine. I DID decide to make "concoctions" in the bottle, though. I would take 4-6oz formula, plus some stage 1 or 2 baby food, maybe a little fruit and a little meat, whatever, and add them in. Not much, just to keep her on having things of that kind of taste in her diet. But it was probably unnecessary.

I would back off for a could weeks. Chuck the spoon. Try offering the simplest of finger foods, like pieces of banana or Gerber Graduates Finger Food Fruit/Veggie Puffs (they melt in baby's mouth), or just cheerios. No, he doesnt need teeth to eat, he wont choke. Just keep things the size of your fingernail or so.

If you dont offer anything at all by spoon, he may forget why he had any aversion to the spoon at all. If it continues, talk to your pediatrician about seeing a Speech Therapist who specializes in food aversions (they deal with it because its a matter of the mouth).

But chances are, its just a phase, one of many he'll have in his childhood about food.

Whatever you do, do NOT force him to eat. It will only make things much, much worse both now and long into the future.

First of all, relax. They will eat if they want to. In the meantime, you may try sneaking some rice cereal in his formula if you want him to have added nutrients. Will he take a sippie cup? Try that with the formula and maybe some cheerios within reach or some of the flavored puffs. He will re-adjust, but you may have to try some different things in the interim so he knows it is okay to eat. Whatever he had before he was sick, you may want to avoid. Just like adults, those things can trigger yuck for them too. If he is happy and healthy, relax - also you can try all-natural fruit juices too in the sippie cup. See what he thinks -diluting them is fine too. Basically it is like starting over, so relax, enjoy him and let him, in this case, guide you to likes and dislikes. God Bless!

He probably feels like adults feel when they get sick, he associated the food with him getting sick. So don't force him. See if he'll eat finger foods. I put my son in his walker and put Honeycombs or Gerber finger foods on his tray and let him eat that for breakfast. He likes Graham crackers and also give him cheese slices. He can also eat at 9 months, pieces of banana. Watch him though. My son doesn't always eat from a spoon, but trust me he eats!!! I hope this helps.

You can let him feed himself, hence, the spoon becomes a non-issue. There's really no reason you have to spoon feed a nine month old. From my experience (used to work at a licensed child care center), it's developmentally appropriate for your baby to feed himself with his fingers until he's ready to handle a spoon himself. I'd say, don't even bother giving him a spoon until 15 months. After that, he'll eventually start using it if you offer it at each meal.

Hi L.-
I can imagine how frustrating this must be. I am a speech therapist with early intervention and I mostly work with families with feeding concerns. I would recommend you call your local Early Intervention office (can be found on line) and request an evaluation. It's very simple and free! The one suggestion that I will give is not to trick your child into eating. You might get in a bite or two but it never works long-term and often makes the situation worse. Any kind of tricks like distration with tv or toys don't address the underlying problem and can compound the issue. Our children need to trust us and they need to willingly consent to eat by opening their mouths. Good luck to you!

Good luck, we call that shut mouth syndrome. All of our kids have had this at some point or another

Your responses have been awesome so far! Only addition that I have is a "baby food nurser" bottle from Amazon. It isn't a normal bottle. It holds stage 1 or stage 2 baby food, and the baby sucks the food out of a small hole in the nipple, just like they would do for a milk bottle. The bottom of the "bottle" follows the food towards the nipple... It's a nifty tool. I used it for when we'd be travelling and I didn't want to deal with the mess of feeding my babies in the car. If you get one of these, one warning is that applesauce and pears seem to be too liquidy for the feeder and will slowly leak out of the bottom. Watch out for that. With this handy contraption, you can feed your baby an entire jar of babyfood without even needing to wipe their face or change their bib... imagine that!

This exact same thing happened with me and my daughter. Same age and same thing (she got sick). Just start giving him finger foods and see what he does. But DON'T force him to eat anything. You want eating to be a fun, enjoyable experience, not something he is scared of or hates. My daughter never went back to eating baby food from the jars and she barely eats anything I put down for her. The best advice I get is that she'll eat when she is hungry or ready. As long as he is still getting nutrients from the formula, don't worry. Let him develop his eating habits at his own pace.

Have you given him real food or are you still giving him baby food? I would start with cheerios and allow him to feed himself. Bananas are awesome. Toast with some jelly and butter cut up in little pieces. This may get him interested again. good luck

I would try cutting foods into tiny pieces he can pick up himself. Have you tried that yet? Maybe he would eat better if he could feed himself- on his own terms. Another suggestion (that has worked really well for my 8 month old) is to put frozen veggie cubes or bananas in one of those mesh feeding bags? They sell them at Babies R' Us. Some are not fans of them, but it's one of the ways I can get my son to eat solids a couple of times a day. I think the coolness also helps his teething gums feel better.

Good luck,
T.

Ditto on the letting him feed himself. I'm not entirely convinced that he's associating food/spoon with being sick. He probably gravitated towards the bottle while he was sick because sucking is very comforting. Now that he's better, it shouldn't be an issue (but maybe it is - every baby's different!) Have you introduced a sippy cup? You might want to try one of those Nuby cups with the flexi straw and flip top. Those closely resemble sucking out of a soft nipple without tipping over the bottle. You can also try just sitting him at the table whenever you eat and see if he wants anything off your plate. Once he becomes interested you can put a few things on his tray to feed himself. Eventually, he'll get to the point where he can have his own plate & utensils. It will be messy - so be prepared!

Sorry to tell you, your son is growing up - he'll be a toddler soon!

L.,

sometimes kids can make a big deal out of nothing. i would say let him gain his curiosity back.. the more you push it, the more they seem to fight. i suggest laying off for a few days - let him have his formula, even if he seems to need more than usual. you didn't say what kind of sickness he had. i know when i've been sick with vomiting, my stomach seems to be sensitive for a couple weeks afterwards - seems a bit irritable and easily upset.

he will come around i'm sure. some days my son isn't as hungry as others... and at 9 months your son can still get a majority of his caloric intake from formula if needed.

when my son was your sons age, he seemed obsessed with the Gerber puffs... try some finger friendly foods like the other moms suggested... it can't hurt :)

good luck... this too shall pass.

~J.~

I love Tammy's advice.
Biggest tip I can give, is not to make a big deal out of it. If Tammy's tips don't work, don't even offer foods for a day or 2 - he'll survive just fine on the formula. Maybe after taking a break, he'll be ready to eat again.