My sweet boy is just over 6 months old. We started him on cereal a month ago, and then sweet pot's last week. He did fine with those, but I've since tried butternut squash and green peas. He hates both of them, and he hardly swallowed any of the peas tonight. I tried the squash 3 nights in a row with the sweet pot's, so tonight was the first night for the peas. Do I still need to wait another 4 days before trying something else since I don't think he swallowed any? I feel like we will be stuck on cereal and sweet pot's forever! Thanks!
I thought this Q&A by Dr. Greene, a pediatrician, might be helpful:
http://www.drgreene.com/21_82.html
I found that my son was not responsive to the vegetables at first either. My solution was to mix the vegetables with cereal. He took right away to eating the vegetables when it was "watered down" with cereal. I increased the amount of vegetable and decreased the amount of cereal over time. He now will eat the vegetables on their own!
L.--Hi! I'll be honest with you, I never waited the 3-4 days. I still avoided the allergy trigger foods; nuts, strawberries, shellfish, eggs, etc. until later but since food allergies don't run in our family I didn't worry about it too much. I also didn't worry about doing all the veggies first. Who cares if you need to put a little bit of plums or apples on the spoon with green beans? They need both fruit and vegetables to grow big and strong right? And have you tasted the stuff?!!! I don't think anything you could do to baby food would make it taste (or smell) worse than it does! LOL! So if you need to mix it up, I say go for it. And if you have tried one food for a few meals and he isn't going for it, stop and reintroduce it in a couple of weeks and see what happens.
By the way, both my kid love veggies even after getting the sweet stuff first!
Good luck!
Hi L.
My name is Vicki. When my children were babies. I try blending a little together. Like I would blend sweetpotatoes with white potatoes. Or blend different things together and it seem to work. I hope that gives you an idea.
Take care.
Keep trying the peas for a few more days. It's normal for babies not to like something the first time, but he may like it after trying it a couple more times.
It also helps to alternate bites. Feed him a bite of cereal or something he likes, then a bite of peas, then another bite of cereal.
Don't worry, he'll eventually grow in his food tastes. My daughter didn't like potatoes and green beans at first, but now she loves them both (and a lot of other foods too).
L.,
Yes you need to wait 4 days between foods. Your child may have an allergic reaction to the foods and then you will not know which food he is reacting too. Besides he is getting all the nutrition he needs from his formula or breastmilk. Babies have a natural tendency to like sweet things. It will be easier to get him to accept veggies if you introduce them before fruits. Many babies will resist change, so you will have to try quite a few times before they finally accept the food. So relax and remember you are doing a great job and he is not starving.
I would wait to try anything new, because he still may have got some peas in him and if you tried something new and he had a reaction, you wouldn't know if it were the peas or the new thing. Try mixing the squash/peas/anything else he may not like in with cereal or anything else he has tried. My son was having a hard time with some of the meats, but I mixed in a fruit or veg he liked and he ate them without trouble. I could mix bananas with anything and he would eat it. ;) That way you are still trying him on new stuff and can see if he'll have a reaction to it-but know he's eating it too. He'll find something else he likes other than sweet potatoes. Try green beans next-my son LOVES the green beans and actually had a reaction with the peas at first, so green beans were the only green veg he could have. I waited a few months and tried the peas again and he eats them now fine. Hope this helps!
Our ped said you don't have to wait 4 days, but do give it a couple of days. If they are going to react, it will be sooner than 4 days. I like the idea of mixing with something he/she already eats to get the new food in. Even if the baby isn't swallowing, you still need to wait. Some could be getting ingested just with saliva. Also, some people have food reactions just by TOUCHING the food.
Choose another veg, and go on until you find one he takes. I always used applesauce on things and that made them take the veggie.
Slow down. Your baby has the rest of his life to learn to eat. Give it some more time. Try the fruits. My daughter always (and still at age 6) prefers fruit to vegetables, and both are healthy.
Hey L.. I have a 7 1/2 month old boy. And, don't worry... he's probably just not ready to move on. My little boy did the same thing. For the first few feedings he ate like a champ and then it just seemed to stop. He'll pick it up again when he's ready. Unfortunately, you'll probably waste a little food continuing with your routine. Go with the cereal and sweet potatoes for now and re-try the others next week. My little one acted like he hated fruit and would actually push it away, but now he will eat everything we try. It happens pretty fast in the scheme of things. You may want to try carrots next.. don't really have a real reason other than we also started with sweet potato and carrots were the next food that he ate well. Good luck!
My daughter is a week away from being 9 mos and I totally remember thinking we would never get anywhere waiting. :) The recommended wait time is 3-5 days, my mother however told me that she never waited with my sister and I. Allergies aren't really in our family and back then she wasn't advised to wait. Now that we have tried most everything out there with my daughter and she is on stage 3, I only wait 24 hours before introducing something else. I just made that decision on my own. I decided that if she was going to react to a food, it should take place within 24 hours so what was the point of waiting. It is a personal decision. If allergies run high in your family then it may be best to just keep trying the peas for a few days. My daughter hated them, supposedly my sister and I did too. My friend has a daughter who wouldn't eat anything orange! They say to try a food 15 or more times for a taste to develop, so just give him time to get used to peas. If you want to move on to something else, why not? Like I said, take your family history in to account and then make a decision. Just because there is a new rule of 3-5 days doesn't mean it is the be all, end all. Dr.s change rules all the time, so even they aren't 100% knowledgeable. Follow your gut and your heart, people have been raising kids far longer than modern medicine has been around. Good luck to you and many blessings!
If there is any advice I can give you....no fruits! Once they have sweetness...they don't want veggies! Did it to my son...it was very hard getting veggies down. Try mixing a little sweet pot's with the peas. See if you can get him to eat that. Since they are sweet most babies like them. If he doesn't like something mix sweet pots with it and gradually back off sweet pots and maybe that'll work for him! My sister has a six month old and she didn't listen did the fruit thing..now she has to add fruit to some of the chicken and veggies to get him to eat them. Hope he likes them mixed up!
When I say no fruits...I mean wait until after he has had all the veggies. :) Good luck! ~ K.
You need to wait. Also it can take up to 15 times for a kid to like a certain food so keep trying the peas. I start with green foods before yellow foods cause greens ones are bitter and if they get the sweet yellow foods first they dont like the green ones. I know its too late for that but just keep tring the peas.
Maybe you can try mixing the sweet potatoes with the squash one night and then with the peas another night so that the sweet potato is the dominant flavor. I would slowly mix less and less in until he is solely on the peas or the squash. If it doesn't work you can still mix them for him so that at least he is eating different veggies!
I asked my daughter's doctor about this..because she didn't like fruits...I know supposedly they are supposed to love them! Anyway, she said to try a new food for three days...bust she did say that they only need one baby spoon full each day. So if you can get him to eat one a day for three days you are ok... My daughter also loved sweet potatoes...I tried mixing things with it...like apples and pears...and she didn't like either to begin with. I would make a small dish of each and then just spoon a little of the apple and a little more of the sweet potatoe...she ate it right up...I could also make combinations with her oatmeal...which she loved. Anyway...we are still working our way through foods too...she is jsut seven months old...but is getting better and liking them quite a bit more. We didn't start her on veg/fruits until right before her 6 month birthday and she is just now getting to where she eats a fair amount...and even now there are days she doesn't want anything...especially at breakfast. Anyway...good luck...and my daughter also loved carrots...and prunes...
I agree with Amy M. I didn't wait for either of my kids. We don't have food allergies in our family, and I avoid all the foods that are most prone to baby allergies.
If you aren't doing so already, I highly recommend considering making your own baby food. The food tastes so much better for your baby when it isn't from a jar. I didn't introduce food until my sons were 8 months old, and they eat a combination of fruits and veggies. Trust me, making your own is a great deal easier than most people anticipate. Its cheaper, and you can control exactly what your baby is eating.
