Does my baby HAVE to eat solids?

[Mimzy3]

My almost 7 month old son HATES any kind of solid foods. I make my own and we've tried. Avocados, carrots, bananas, sweet potatoes, chicken, and oatmeal. He won't eat any of it I even mixed it with the breast milk.

He only likes breast milk. He is only in the 9% for weight so I would like him to start eating more solids. Also so I can store up some milk if he would maybe not drink as much once he started to eat solids.

I've become so frustrated with trying that we've taken a break and not even tried the past few days. It is bad to wait till he's a little older to try again?

 

[HKateH]

I think breast fed babies need iron supplements after six months so I would check about that with your health visitor. Other than that, I'd perhaps consider baby led weaning!

 

[Rachel_C]

He doesn't need solids at that age but I would still try just to get on that path. That doesn't mean you need to try spoon feeding him purées though! We did BLW which was great and definitely worth looking into. I wouldn't worry about a child not eating until well past their first birthday, particularly with BLW, so it might be a good option. If your LO isn't liking it, it could be that he just doesn't like the textures and foods you're offering or he may just not be ready yet so BLW will let him decide. You don't need to worry about iron for ages yet - his iron stores don't suddenly get depleted and breastmilk is a decent source of iron anyway. https://kellymom.com/nutrition/vitamins/iron/

 

[MikaylasMummy]

I thought starting solids and engaging the chewing motion helped with speech later on?my son started solids late and didn't tolerate them well cos he was sick and his slt think lack of muscle from that caused his speech delay

 

[Midnight_Fairy]

Jade didnt eat much till later but I still offered it and didnt make a fuss!

 

[MindUtopia]

Like some of the others have said, I'd give baby-led weaning a go. There's less emphasis on quantity there and more on the experience of exploring foods. Basically, you just offer finger foods (anything you'd eat yourself, except for honey, whole nuts, and added sugar and salt) and sit back and let him play and explore. He'll eat in his own time and at that age, it's not important if they're eating and how much, but just that they're being exposed to the feel, texture and taste of food, even if most of it just gets touched, squished, thrown on the floor. More than likely, the purees you're offering probably don't taste of much (try them, probably wouldn't be something you'd want for your own dinner), but if you offer him foods that taste like what you'd eat yourself, you will be more likely to hit on something he likes and wants to try. That said, even with BLW, it won't happen overnight. We started exactly at 6 months and my daughter wasn't really eating anything for the first month and a half. It wasn't until 9 months that she ate enough to fill herself up and wanted less milk. So it's a gradual process, but if you can be patient and just let him do it, it's an awesome way to introduce them to food. My daughter eats anything now (she's 14 months)...seaweed, olives, beets, curry, today she ate a sour pickled cucumber! I really think just letting her do it in her own time and eat what she wanted from the start was key.

 

[Mimzy3]

BLW sounds like something I'll have to look more into. Thanks for the tip. I just worry about choking?

 

[bdb84]

Babies have natural gag reflexes, which baby led weaning allows them to explore. I *highly* recommend the BLW book as it goes into great detail regarding the reflexes. It really eased my anxiety when we did this with DD.

She loved to experiment (play) with food, but she wasn't a big fan of consuming much until well after her first birthday. Her biggest form of nutrition was still my milk, which is how it *should* be for their entire first year. Remember, solids are only supposed to *complement* their milk nutrition, not replace any of it.

 

[MindUtopia]

BLW sounds like something I'll have to look more into. Thanks for the tip. I just worry about choking?

If you read up on BLW, you should get a better explanation, but essentially babies are less likely to choke when they have control over what they put in their mouths, so are at more risk of choking with spoonfeeding purees than feeding themselves finger foods. It's not the size of the food that matters, it's whether they can control where it goes in their mouths. We've been doing BLW for 8 months now (my LO is 14 months) and she's never choked once and she's had finger foods and only finger foods from the start.