Mostly rejecting spoon & not self-eating.

[tattlebaby]

That all sounds perfectly fine. They don't need food for calories and nutrition until a year and she really should be getting most of her calories as well as hydration from milk. Food is just for fun and exploration. You probably need to start off with foods that are easier for her to pick up - try cucumber sticks, a 1/3 of a banana, half a nectarine, some big chunky pieces of pasta (think like the giant penne), a strip of roasted chicken, toast fingers, etc. They can pick up peas and blueberries once they develop their pincer grip, but that takes time and practice. I wouldn't expect it to happen right away. You might have a look at the Finger Foods thread or look up some baby-led weaning recipes. Our daughter started at 6 months (her first meal was roasted parsnip and carrot sticks, mashed potato and a yorkshire pudding), but she didn't develop a really confident pincer grip until 8-9 months and wasn't eating in any real quantity until 9-10 months. It takes time! Especially if she has to re-learn a new way of eating, which finger foods are for her. Just think about things that are easy for her to pick up and give her time to play. Don't cut up her food really small. It will make it so hard for her to eat. The reality is she's almost a toddler. She will need to start eating real foods soon, even if you delay it a month or so, the recommendation is usually from around 8 months, even if you started with purees. Your partner and your MIL just have to get on board and accept that she can't be on purees til she's 5 because they can't deal with it. It's for her benefit and it's what all kids her age are starting to do. Seek advice from your HV or GP if you need support to get them to come around to it. Keep feeding her milk on demand. She'll be fine. It's just a process. All baby animals start on milk and then naturally wean to solid foods. Baby cows and baby monkeys don't choke and they don't struggle to make the transition. It's natural. It will happen.

Oh, and you can literally give her anything you would eat yourself minus added salt, sugar, honey (until age 1) and whole nuts (they are a choking hazard until much later). So however you would cook something, you can make it for her, assuming it's not covered in salt or sugar. If you use herbs and seasonings on meat, then you'll do the same for her (really, it's the same food, no need to make something special). Our daughter's first meal was parsnips and carrots roasted with garlic, rosemary and sage. She loved it!

Your absolutely right, thank you!

 

[SarahBear]

That advice is outdated. If there are no food sensitivities in the family and you don't currently have any reason to suspect sensitivities, it's OK to go forward with foods. If issues arise, it's a good idea to back off and then re-introduce slowly. As for meats, I would recommend introducing liver first. It's really high in iron and has a very easy texture to eat. Even if you think it's disgusting, your baby might not care. The average baby doesn't really care about flavors of foods and eats mostly for texture. When you do introduce other meats, they can eat it pretty well, even with out teeth, if you cut it against the grain so that it's not stringy. You can cut up pretty much any meat for a baby as long as it's not over-cooked and dried out. Fish is also an excellent meat as the texture is soft and easily falls apart. When Violet first started eating, the level at which she liked a food, was generally related to how close it was to meat. Meat was her favorite, followed by eggs, then cheese, then avocado and banana, and other fruits and veggies ranked pretty low. We didn't do any grains until after a year.

Oh I see. Did you use any flavorings in your meats? Like herbs? for flavor. What is the best way to cook meats for baby?

I didn't add anything special. I just cooked most meats the same as I would for myself... I didn't really cook meat for her specifically unless I was cooking liver. For liver, I tried a couple different things. I don't remember what worked best.

 

[tattlebaby]

Thanks everyone. I hate to have to turn back to purees at this point, but its been over a wk now with no stool, baby really does feel lighter and seems a little irritable at times, could always be teething, yet I'm always wrong lol. She is beginning to nibble on certain things, like the puff snacks and tiny pieces of banana when its given to her. Its almost like she favors fruits now over veggies..Great . Mother in law says to just buy her prepackaged baby food jars, cuz those she likes. Guessing my homemade foods are tasting boring to her..idk what to do anymore.

 

[SucreK]

Thanks everyone. I hate to have to turn back to purees at this point, but its been over a wk now with no stool, baby really does feel lighter and seems a little irritable at times, could always be teething, yet I'm always wrong lol. She is beginning to nibble on certain things, like the puff snacks and tiny pieces of banana when its given to her. Its almost like she favors fruits now over veggies..Great . Mother in law says to just buy her prepackaged baby food jars, cuz those she likes. Guessing my homemade foods are tasting boring to her..idk what to do anymore.

At this point, I'd say just give her what she'll eat. The last thing you want is for meals to become a stand-off. You are doing great and you're clearly an awesome mom for doing so much research. It'll all come in handy, but maybe not this week.

 

[SarahBear]

If she's loosing weight, that's when you should be concerned. Perhaps it is time to just give her what she will eat, even if that means store bought purees while continuing to try to offer better stuff. If she's loosing weight, how much milk is she getting? She should still be able to take in enough milk to not be loosing weight. Milk should be her primary sustenance at this point.

 

[LorraineMM]

All will happen in its own time xxx