Feeding FAQ: 6-9 months – Weaning/Solids

How can I get my daughter of almost 8 months to take any solid food?

I tried to introduce solids at 5.5 months and things went well for a few days. Then she became ill with rotavirus and the doctor told me to stop weaning until the sickness and diarrhoea cleared up. This took just over 4 weeks. I tried to start weaning again when she was better but now she just clamps her mouth shut and refuses to eat anything. I have tried all sorts of foods, but when I manage to get any food in her mouth she just gags and refuses even more vigorously. I have tried some of the suggestions sent to me via the message boards, but all to no avail. She is 8 months next week and still not weaned.
I have tried solids before, during or after bottles. If I feed her formula first, she throws all her milk back up when she gags.
At present her feeds are 07.15 6ozs, 11.00 8ozs, 14.30 6ozs, 18.30 8ozs giving a total of 28ozs.
She is not putting on any weight and has dropped from the 50th to 25th percentile on her weight chart. At present she weighs 16lbs 2ozs. I am really worried and running out of things to try. She also refuses water. Apart from this issue, she is a perfect contented little baby.

The last few weeks must have been distressing for you, as well as frustrating. There are several more ideas to try to help your daughter become more accepting again of solid food. Firstly, go back to your doctor and ask him to give her a thorough medical examination. Tell him of your worries and concerns about her weight. Ask him to refer to you a speech therapist if her refusal of spoon feeding continues. A speech therapist is trained to understand all the mechanics of swallowing, and can be very useful in cases like this, when a baby has never really had any practise with taking food off a spoon. She should be able to give you some guidelines and exercises to help your daughter accept a spoon more readily.
Whilst waiting for an appointment with a therapist go right back to the beginning of feeding and offer your daughter very smooth, runny baby rice. The consistency needs to be as near to milk as possible, to see if she is more accepting. Offer it mid-feed at 11am. Try to remain calm and detached, although you are so desperate for her to accept food. She will pick up on your tension and resist the spoon. Place her in a baby chair if she has one and keep a happy, encouraging commentary up whilst you offer her the spoon. Keep smiling! Make sure that the rice is warm; it should be the same temperature as her milk feeds are. Even if she accepts just one or two spoons, it is a beginning. Don’t try to make her eat any more, but offer her the same thing again at 5/6pm.
If she begins to accept this really runny rice, add some pear or apple puree to it, but only 1/2 a teaspoon at first. When you have had a problem such as this, it is easy to get carried away and trying to make up for lost time but don’t rush her in these early days. Really advance things very slowly at first, gradually introducing the sweeter vegetables along with rice and fruit puree.
When offering her food on a spoon, make sure you use one with a smallish end; there are special “weaning” spoons available. Don’t place the spoon too far into her mouth as this will make her gag. She needs to learn how to suck off the spoon. Try with very small amounts at first and be prepared for some being dribbled out again. Scoop it up and place the spoon back on her lips for another try. The spoon needs to be angled up towards the roof of her mouth. It is her upper gums which will “suck” the food off.
Sometimes offering a small amount of food from your finger can help. Just dip a clean finger into the rice and see if she will suck on that and then offer it from a spoon.
Another idea is to get someone else, like Grandma to try. As feeding and food refusal is such an emotional thing, sometimes someone who is not so upset and tense about the whole situation is better at starting the process off. Does anyone at your daughter’s nursery try to feed her?

At the same time try to get your daughter interested in finger foods. Try her with bread which you could spread with a puree she accepts. Give her small pieces to gum on, staying with her the whole time. Finding finger foods which are attractive to her will help encourage her to pick things up and put them in her mouth. She may not eat much this way, but it is a good way to get her used to the different textures of food. Offer small cereal pieces such as Cheerio’s, which are very tempting to pick up, as are cooked frozen mixed vegetables. The more involved she is with feeding, the more likely she will accept you feeding her. Let her have a spoon to hold and show her how to dig into her bowl. At first she won’t get much but this is all part of her learning.
Obviously a baby who has gagged a lot can be worrying when they first start with finger food. Gagging is a protective reflex which helps food back to the front of the mouth where she can spit it out or reposition it. It usually happens in babies because they have been given too large a mouthful, or the texture is thicker than that they are used too.
Keep offering her water from a beaker. This can take quite a while for a baby to learn how to do. Have a try with the simplest of beakers. The ones which contain a valve are usually quite hard work and a reluctant baby is better starting with a simple spouted beaker.
Once your daughter is more accepting of a spoon and eating a little more, you can speed up the introduction of protein as she needs this at her age. If she begins to wake in the night through hunger, you may have to re-introduce the 10pm feed temporarily until her solid intake has increased enough to supply her needs in the day.