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| Stay at Home Moms |
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| My son is 8 months old and HATES baby food! He eats his cereal, mixed with fruit, twice a day, but when I try giving him his veggies he puts his head down and clamps his mouth shut! I 've been trying every day for the last 2 weeks, and I may get 1 bite out of him , but that's it. My cousin's baby girl is 6 months old and eats ANYTHING! What am I doing wrong? He still drinks his formula, but no juice. He won't take it! I've even tried dipping his spoon with the veggies on it into fruit, and he still won't take it. How badly does he need veggies? Any advice? Thanks in advance! |
| Posted by Angela on 12/12/2007 12:20 PM
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| Have you tried sweet potatoes? My son LOVES those (10 months) they are sweeter than most of the other veggies. The carrots are also a bit sweeter, and the peas. They have sweet potatoes mixed with corn, too. if he doesn't like them, I'd say don't force it. he's still getting what he needs from formula or breast milk. try again in a week or so. at his age, it's still mostly about trying new things- textures, etc., not that he needs to nutrients. FYI on the juice- I know that most people do juice, but my son's pediatrician advised against it- even if watered down. |
| posted by Lauren on 12/12/2007 12:28 PM
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| Have you tried real food? Maybe like cheerios, or muffins? My daughter is 13 months old and she has been eating people food since she was about 8 months. I wouldn't want to eat baby food either! lol Anything soft that he can gum and small pieces, put it on the tray in front of him and let him control it. I betcha it'll work!! :-) Good luck! |
| posted by Jaime on 12/12/2007 12:31 PM
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| Well I have 2 pieces of advice #1 try mixing a lil' vegs in w the cereal and his fruit.But the best advice I have is try your food.He may like the spices taste.They do not need salt, but Mrs.Dash uses real spices and after all spices are herbs and herbs are healthy.Smash your vegs up.Forget that nasty baby food.Have you tasted it?ew!And meat smash it up also.I bet he'll be begging your food off your plates after that.I buy the gerber hand foods.oooooo the chef bayoardee but its for babies.Smash that up and feed it to him.My no.5 baby wouldnt eat vegs at all,meat nothing.yucky as it sounds,Id chew w my front teeth and get it enough smashed for him and feed him.He got so fat lol.But now you have good stuff w the gerber things and we dont have to do that! |
| posted by Lexi on 12/12/2007 01:06 PM
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My son is 12 months now. He used to like veggies baby food, but has since stopped (at about 10 months). He will eat vegetables (real food) that we eat, if it is something sweet or something he can pick up in his own hands to feed himself.
I have been doing carrots (cooked in a bit of water and some brown suger as it boils, to make it sweeter). Then I cut it up for him to eat. It's soft and you can feed him or he can do it himself.
Have you tried mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, squash w/brown sugar on it. Try real food instead of baby food for veggies and he may enjoy it more. I have tried alot of the baby jar foods and the veggies taste awful. Around your baby's age I think is when his tastebuds really start developing.
I don't know how badly they need it, but I am sure if you can try something that works, even if just once in a while vs every day, then maybe it would be good.
Good luck! |
| posted by Carrie Anne on 12/12/2007 01:09 PM
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Wow! Thanks for all of the suggestions! My mom also said to try cheerios. He doesn't have teeth, though. He won't choke will he? I don't remember ever going through this with my 10 year old. He ate anything, lol!
I have tried mashed potatoes, but he doesn't really like them, either. Weird kid, huh?! I will try "our" food instead of the baby food. I really hope it works! Thanks again! |
| posted by Angela on 12/12/2007 01:24 PM
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| They have cheerios that have stuff on them,fruit loops,apple jacks.What i did cause of paranoia ,is, i cut them in half.Small as they are circled.I also give my daughter hot dogs/cheesy and plain and i strip cut then 4 xs then i cut the 4 pieces in half.all the pieces are quarter moons.I microwave them til they are warm.Makes em softer.So many babies have choked on hotdogs not cut right. |
| posted by Lexi on 12/12/2007 01:31 PM
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| I don't know if it will work but do the usual ceral and fruit mix and add alittle of the veg. but, don't put to much so he can't taste it yet he'll still be getting the nutritions he needs from the veg.hope this helps. |
| posted by leean on 12/12/2007 01:44 PM
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Hey Angela,
I agree with all of the mom's who say you should attempt to feed him more of the sweeter veggies to begin with. Babies have more taste buds on their tongues than adults and are more sensitive to the way things taste. The reason babies generally do not like veggies is because most vegetables are bitter. Additionally, most poisonous substances in nature are also bitter. So, babies almost have a natural aversion to anything bitter (as do most pregnant women during the 1st trimester). It was a survival mechanism for our ancestors. You could try steaming the veggies and puree-ing (sp?) them yourself. This is actually a lot cheaper than buying jarred baby food. I would stay away from giving your child sugary cereals and 'grown up' food if at all possible. Most pediatricians will give you a food schedule of what is age appropriate for your baby to eat, and most of the time sugary foods and junk foods are not on the list. I would also be careful with too much juice. Depending on what kind of juice you give, it could be full of sugar. I hate to sound like 'Debbie-Downer', but I am a physician myself (although not a pediatrician) and pay very close attention to what goes into my baby's mouth. People forget that food is actually medicine. It can add to health and boost the immune system, or hinder it.
Hope this helps,
Allison |
| posted by Allison on 12/12/2007 02:13 PM
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| My 2 yr old never ate baby food either, so i just gave him regular food in small pieces and he loved it. He always wanted what we had. He didnt have teeth either so I had to be careful. |
| posted by Ashlee on 12/12/2007 03:03 PM
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| Yeop smushed vegs def better then that baby food.If any of you like to read and are interested we are having a book of the month for Jan.There are 3 books to pick from and you can just type in book club and join to see.We will be disccussing books after we read them and the next month pick and read another.Libraries are good to order them if they dont have them in stock. |
| posted by Lexi on 12/12/2007 03:13 PM
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| Angela, In response to what someone else said about sugary foods, cheerios are good for your heart and are NOT sugary. You could also try mac and cheese, my daughter ate this all the time when she was first doing people food. It's mushy and she hasn't choked once, on anything! She did have like 2 or 3 teeth though when I started giving her people food. Also, as far as what the pediatrician says, you have to do what you feel is right for your baby, not what a textbook says. If he's not eating veggies, then he will start not being healthy. You need veggies for strength and growing. Just a suggestion. Hope he eats for you soon! Jaime |
| posted by Jaime on 12/12/2007 04:19 PM
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Our kids were brought up on mashed whatever we ate and no fruit juice.
I don't know if this will help but here goes---
We had a pediatrician that recommended giving them what we ate and nothing else and they wouldn't grow up with "Food pickyness" and we didn't give them fruit juice because it made our son have diaper rash from the acid in it (esp. apple juice).
Neither of kids have any finicky eating habits or food allergies. Except white flour makes all bloated and groggy. |
| posted by Tina on 12/12/2007 09:48 PM
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| Angela, My son is 8 months old too, and he barely eats any solid foods anymore. He ate them for a couple of months, then he became ill with an upper respitory infection, and now he will occasionally eat peas and that's about it. I spoke with a pediatric dietician and she told me to try the baby meats, but that didn't work. He gave me a face that said "what the heck is this!" The dietician didn't seem real concerned at this point because he is eating his formula. Most of his nutrients are coming from this anyways. While it is frustrating, I am just going to keep trying to give him samples of different "baby food" flavors, or I will start mashing my own. I will mash foods like carrots or sweet potatoes- plain. I'm really paranoid about what I feed my children. My first child was around 2 years old before I gave him watered down juice. I also didn't give him cheerios until he was closer to 1. They do make "puffs" that are found in the baby food section and melt easily in the child's mouth. Those may be "safer" for a child without teeth. I tend to err on the cautious side. |
| posted by Lisa on 12/12/2007 11:58 PM
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| Tina is that ,that gluten disease?My bro-in-law has that.No flour and so-on? |
| posted by Lexi on 12/13/2007 09:33 AM
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Hi Lexi,
I think you are referring to Celiac's disease. My best friend has that. No we don't have it. Our choices are because we have learned that many neurological, bahaviour or health related problems stem also from food allergies. When determining what was bothering me (when I was diagnosed with Fibromyalgia) we spent weeks experimenting with foods. for two weeks we went without Processed White Flour (enriched bleached), and then discovered it caused bloating, grogginess, headaches and more carb cravings in our family.
It is a very common thread in health problems with women and if you are at all interested further I recommend reading a book called The Yeast Connection from your library.
Boys have a tendency to have allergies to wheat products and of course processed sugar is at root of health problems with everyone.
I share all this with the best of intentions as I am currently helping my daughter bake cookies for a party tomorrow :)
So that being said I recommend doing your research now and make a plan after Christmas for any major changes :)
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| posted by Tina on 12/13/2007 11:41 AM
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YOU aren't doing anything wrong. Remember that your son is a person all his own and comes hardwired with his own tastes and preferences. Some of those may be similar to yours, some not so much. DON'T take it personally, it is not something you are doing wrong; he just came out not really preferring those flavors. Also don't compare him to other babies -- that is no different than comparing one adult's preference for a certain kind of food to another adult's preference for it.
Babies do tend to prefer what tastes more familiar to them, so you might try pureeing him some of the meals you make for the rest of your family. I wouldn't worry too much if they include a little seasoning, especially if it's a seasoning other than salt, as this may make the flavors a little more palatable to him. If he's been bottle-fed for a long time this might make it a little harder for you, since he's gotten really used to one taste, so you might try mixing a very little bit of his veggies with formula & cereal (since you know he likes that) and see if he takes two bites instead of one. As your success increases you can increase the ratio of veggies.
On the other hand you may also find that his tastes are really, really consistent. My daughter HATED anything with meat in it as a baby, and now that she's 4 1/2 she still really doesn't like most meats. Veggies are pretty important, so in the meantime you might check with your doctor about whether he needs a multi-vitamin supplement or whether the quantity of formula he's taking will cover any deficiencies for the time being. Odds are it will, but you still want to try to introduce the tastes as long as it doesn't make everybody completely miserable. As he gets older and more foods are accessible to him you might find his magic food. There is a great cookbook, First Foods, available at onestepahead.com and also at amazon and many baby stores, that can give you lots of good suggestions for trying new foods on babies.
Hope this helps! Remember, this is NOT something you're doing wrong. Babies are people, and they don't really know what's good for them. And as with everything else about a baby, if something isn't working, just wait two weeks and it will change. Hang in there! |
| posted by Cindy on 12/13/2007 01:43 PM
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| Last night I put down some cooked diced carrots and put them in front of him. He picked them up and put them in his mouth and he ate them!!! Yeah! Then I put one mac & cheese noodle down. He put it in his mouth but it came back out. I think he liked it b/c he kept putting it back in his mouth.???? I'm going to keep trying! Thank-you ladies! |
| posted by Angela on 12/13/2007 04:16 PM
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| Oh good!I am so glad for you.You sound like you are def in better spirits.I hope he enjoys all your food you make for him. |
| posted by Lexi on 12/13/2007 07:38 PM
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| Angela you are doing just fine. As you can see from these other well experienced mothers that everyone goes through this somehow on some level. |
| posted by Tina on 12/14/2007 04:45 AM
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I was going to suggest real food too...hopefully something works. My daughter ate veggies all the time and then one day *poof* NO MORE...
Shay
**NEW SITE**
http://friendzconnection.freeforums.org/index.php |
| posted by Pixie on 12/19/2007 03:21 PM
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| I haven't read through all the other posts so please forgive me if I repeat something. My son gave up on baby food and formula at six months old. He is now 13 months and ever since he was 8 months has been eating table foods. We chopped up anything small for him, and even got him liking all kinds of veggies by steaming them and mixing them in with stews, ravioli and other things we knew he'd eat. Best of luck! |
| posted by Melanie on 12/19/2007 04:20 PM
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| if you give him juice try mixing it with water:) the veggie part i used to mix applesauce with it sounds gross but it worked lol good luck |
| posted by lovemyboys:) on 12/19/2007 09:53 PM
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