Picky Eater

[Bebeblessings]

We started my daughter on solids about 3 weeks ago. We are blending our own food rather than using pre-made. Her first food was avocado and she was so enthusiastic about it for about two days, then started turning her nose at it. Next, we tried bananas. She never really cared for them. Today we tried puréed carrots. I was hoping it might be a happy medium between bland avocados and sweet bananas. Again, she turned away and pushed it out of her mouth after a bite or two. She is 6 months tomorrow and has shown many signs of being ready for solids, but no luck with the right food so far. Any advice? Are there any tried and true veggies/fruits that we should try next?

 

[RaquelDee]

Just keep offering, it's really about the experience of tasting at the moment rather than about getting food in her tummy. A mouthful or two is all I would be expecting a baby to take at 6 months for the most part. Avocado, banana and carrot are all good choices. Pumpkin and sweet potato are also good - you can roast and then either mash, or offer small pieces for her to try feeding herself.

 

[Bebeblessings]

Thank you Raquel. I'm glad to hear that her behavior is normal! I will try sweet potato next and see what she thinks!

 

[happynewmom1]

I started my second and third out with sweet potatoe and they both loved it! This baby has gone from enjoying things to turning her nose at them but not sweet potatoes yet. She still seems to like it. So hopefully that's a good one for you

 

[loeylo]

Keep offering things that they have previously not been interested in. I didn't offer many sweet things like fruit until she was a bit older as I didn't want to get her used to a lot of sweet foods. She disliked some things, but we offered again a few days later and she liked it.

Now, she is 10 months and eats anything. Even mildly spicy foods are okay. As long as you introduce new foods one by one before combining foods. Gracie has some allergies and even now we need to be careful about adding new foods to her diet. We only worked out that she is probably allergic to oranges today.

 

[Bebeblessings]

Thank you happynewmom and loeylo! I'm hoping she likes the sweet potatoes. But I will continue to reintroduce the other foods and see what happens. I would like her to like those foods as well, since they're so good for you!

 

[MindUtopia]

It takes time. I would just persist with what you're doing and then starting to incorporate more of the foods you actually eat into her diet, even if you're pureeing them. Bland pureed avocado probably wouldn't taste nice to you and you probably wouldn't make it for yourself, so start introducing the tastes of your actual foods you do eat in your family. If you want to carry on with the purees, that's fine. Personally, we did baby-led weaning and it was wonderful (and so much easier). We just offered whatever it was we were eating, with some modifications or substitutions as needed, for her to feed herself, no purees, just normal food. You might just find she's more interested feeding herself and having a wider variety of foods than being fed the same thing over and over again. My daughter's first meal was roasted carrots and parsnips with rosemary and garlic (whole in chunks), mash potato and a yorkshire pudding (like a popover), so it doesn't have to be bland, one thing at a time and pureed.

Whatever you choose though, no, you likely won't see it take off right away. I would say we didn't see her eat anything really at all for the first two weeks and then only small amounts until maybe 9 months and then after 9 months, it really took off and she started to eat proper, sizeable meals. I would just give it time and let her explore more textures and tastes and try not to overthink whether she's eating much or not. It's all a learning process.