8 month old only on purees - HV expressing concern

[tribpot]

Hi all,

ds is a healthy 8 month old and putting weight on well. But I weaned late and rather unenthusiastically because dh has a number of food intolerances that I wanted to be wary of (wheat, dairy). So far ds will happily tuck into fruit or veg puree but won't take anything if it's lumpy and as for finger food - forget about it. Whilst he is happy to eat paper, chew on the remote control or indeed my mobile phone, offered a rice cake he will simply throw it on the floor. Even if I eat one too, to demonstrate that it is indeed food.

Took him off to be weighed today at baby clinic and the hv seemed rather concerned that we still hadn't progressed beyond the puree stage. In fairness, we don't often eat with him as my dh can only eat once a day as it causes him so much pain, so has to do so in the evening. I skip breakfast and grab a sarnie on the way to work in the afternoon as it's the only time I find to do it.

To that end, as I want to get ds started on breakfast soon, I think I will start sitting down with him for breakkie first thing and see how he gets on with cereal, but I guess I just wanted some MN reassurance that my ds is okay. The hv's view was if he didn't figure out how to eat more solid solids soon, I would need to bring him back to baby clinic. (God knows what they would do there, give him a pamphlet to read?)

[FairyMum]

My children have also been on only puree at 8 months. Not sure why HV is so worried.

[Twiglett]

you need to eat with him .. even just a snack

if he likes purees how about giving him well cooked vegetable sticks to hold .. or to use as a spoon for mushy stuff

or start making his puree thicker with baby rice

I don't think its something I'd worry about unduly but I would try to get him on to lumpier foods .. finger foods just to save your own sanity

[VeniVidiVickiQV]

Having the same problem with my DS tripbot. He is 10 months and have been trying since 6 months.

He did start to eat finger foods (well suck them) a couple of weeks ago but since having this nasty virus going round has gone back to about 5 spoons of puree and then refusing.

I dont have any advice im afraid, but will keep up with your thread to see if anyone has any advice

[tribpot]

Thanks - actually I do thicken the puree with baby rice cos he's refluxy and it helps to keep it down, but it's still pretty smooth. I've tried carrot sticks and stuff and he's having none of it. I guess we just need to persevere and as you say, I need to eat with him.

[VeniVidiVickiQV]

Eating with DS makes no difference - hope it works for you

[LIZS]

Try not blending the purees so throughly, so the texture is a bit coarser, adding a spoon of cooked proper rice or tiny pasta bits, or offering some finger foods of the same flavour ie cooked carrot batons or broccoli florets. dd didn't eat lumps until later than that as she'd gag (reflux) and at just over a year she started to tuck into "proper" food of her own accord, so think your HV is a bit premature in her concerns. Try to find an opportunity to eat with him even if just at the weekend so he can see you enjoying essentially the same meal.

[Blondeinlondon]

Don't worry
My DS is a year old now and still prefers fine puree
Likes finger foods but tends to reject any rogue lumps in food

[bobblehead]

Scatter bits of fluffy finger foods about the floor, preferably first licked/ sat on by a cat. When he goes to pick them up, take them away telling him they are yucky. They will then become irresistable to him. Certainly the way dd seems to enjoy food best!

[chipmonkey]

LOL bobblehead! Thought you were talking about my ds3 there!

[welshmum]

Hi Trib,
Ds is 9 months now and still mostly on puree. I've made inroads at breakfast with wheetabix, fruit puree and a bit of milk which is a bit lumpy. He's starting to understand a tiny bit about finger food but not really eating much of that at all. He's got a pretty keen gag reflex too......that's where we are - and I try not to worry about it too much. He'll be on solids by the time he's 16 I guess......

[lua]

What? are you actually going to worry about anything an HV said?



Now, seriously. I don't think it is a problem. But certainly he will have to do it someday... so you might as well keep offering, to help it click, IYSWIM...

I am actually having the opposite problem. Ds refuse to eat anything I gave him. He must eat on his own I just so regret giving the dog away!!!


P.s.: Trib, life is a bit of a drama these days - as you can probaly can tell by the weird tone of my comments... Sorry I didn't reply to your e-mail!

[donnie]

I would agree that it isn't a major problem. How much milk does he have though? because my mistake with dd2 ws giving her too much milk so she wasn't really hungry enough to get stuck into the solids. I cut out one milk feed a day ( she has 3 x 6 oz per day now) and her appetitie for solids improved.

[donnie]

ps she is nearly 10 months

[tribpot]

Perhaps I should also add the hv said "and will he eat chocolate if you offer that?". Er, WHAT? I dunno, I haven't tried him on a fine merlot yet either, my mistake!

He still has a good 5 bottles a day (of milk, not merlot), I am extremely reluctant to drop one to try and force his appetite at the moment.

We did have a mini-breakthrough earlier inspired by this thread, I gave him a bit of bagel and he sort of gnawed upon it for a while. Wheat has been taken! We await to see the result.

Thanks for all the replies; welshie, lua good to see you both again, lua hope things aren't too stressful just now.

[MummyPig]

tribpot, reflux babies can take to solids in a very very different way to many other babies. Often they are rejecting things that will make them uncomfortable. Your hv probably doesn't have much experience with refluxers at this age, otherwise she would be congratulating you for getting so far already. Any small thing like a cold can also set them back again. My ds2 (a refluxer) was in hospital at about 7 months and the nurses were really pushing me to try to get him to eat more solids (as if anyone in hospital after a serious operation would feel like eating much). He eats really well now, probably better than his 4yo brother, so I don't feel I did anything wrong by taking it at his pace. I can't remember when I started giving him ricecakes but the first 'finger food' was steamed pieces of pear or apple, so not as 'crunchy' as a ricecake. Similarly carrots could be pretty well cooked, so they go to mush when he squeezes them. Not much fun for you to clean up, but it will get him used to playing around with his food and perhaps some will get in his mouth.

I agree with lizs's ideas for gradually introducing other flavours/textures - but just be aware it might be pretty slow. There are some other ideas in the middle of \link{http://www.infantrefluxdisease.com/feeding_tips.php\this page} from infantrefluxdisease.com. It's called something like 'transitioning from baby foods'.

Sitting down to eat with him does really help, you might find he starts to be more interested by what's on your plate than on his spoon. Who looks after him when you're at work? Would they be able to sit down with him for a mid-afternoon snack as well?

One final thing, any 'solids' at this point are really extras, his real nutrition is from the milk (whatever kind he is getting) so I would be wary of cutting out milk too soon. As you can see from \link{http://www.kellymom.com/nutrition/vitamins/babyfoodcalories.html\this table} most baby foods are very low in fat and calories compared to milk.

[Marie12]

What about trying him with small pieces of baby rusk or biscuit that dissolves in the mouth?

[saadia]

I think eight mths is way too young to be worrying about this. Both my dss were having purees till they were about a year old. They would gag and vomit on anything solid. Agree with those who suggested gradually thickening the puree. I think HVs put far too much unnecessary emphasis on this, mine was the same but I ignored her.

Both dss' favourite meal was pasta, broccoli, grated cheese and tomato all whizzed up together. I gradually reduced the smoothness, making it lumpier and lumpier. Ds1 was particularly difficult with chewing but I just went along with it and now at age 4 he is fine.

[uwila]

Hiya Trib. Think your health visitor is bonkers. So long as the composition of the food is nutritious who cares what consistency is? DS (9 1/2 months) still eats the 4-6 month purees. He prefers then and eats more that way. He does like to munch on rice cakes. But, lumpy food: no thank you. My only complaint is that I need jars that are twice the size because he wants more quantity than comes in those little jars. But, no big deal. We just eat two.

DD, on the other hand was miserable miserable little eater at this age. She would eat maybe half a pureed food jar at this age, and chunks no way! We went fro puree to finger food. So with DS so lng as he eats I'm not going to complain. As it is his breakkie is about twice the size of hers (she is almost 3).

Silly Health Visitors!

[chipmonkey]

I don't know any 20 year olds who are still only eating purees, do you?

[ghosty]

I was going to say exactly the same as chipmonkey.
My Health Visitor said that if DS didn't go onto more lumpy food we would 'miss the boat' ... errr, pardon?
Both my two stayed on pureed food for ages and then moved straight onto finger food missing out the 'lumpy' stage ... I think that may be to do with the fact that they didn't get teeth until over 8 months and used to gag on lumpy food.
DS is now 6 years old and I assure you he never eats pureed food and DD is 2 and she never eats pureed food either.
Tell your HV to take a hike!

[tribpot]

Thanks again to all for the support. Actually ds tucked into a couple of rice cakes today, couldn't believe it. He must have heard the threat of having to return to baby clinic if he didn't behave. (He hates being weighed). Obviously most of said rice cakes ended up decorating my kitchen floor but it's still progress!

MummyPig, thanks for the reflux-specific advice, very helpful.

Btw, in terms of milk, I haven't moved to follow on milk as I perceive no reason to do so, plus a potential risk in overloading him with minerals because he's still having so much milk per day. Given he's not getting much in the way of vitamins and minerals from his food content, is this still the right thing to do? I think from six months iron levels need to be supplemented either by food or by follow on milk?

[uwila]

Hi Trib,
Move to follow on milk when the quantity of milk consumption goes down. That's the whole point of it. Baby get all the nutrient without filling up too much so he/she still has room for solid food. But, if your little darling is not much into solid food then I see no reason to abandon infant milk.

So long as he is happy and not malnourished, don't worry about silly heath visitors.

Oh, and you'll love this, my nanny has been getting a hard time for other nannies because DS is eating purees from the jar. They all said they cook their own food for their charges and oh he really shouldn't e on purees. I said "so what?" If he's getting the nutrition then that's what matters. Couldn't care less if he drinks it or chews it.

[kiskidee]

follow on milk is unnecessary. it only exist in the UK because of the ban on advertising formula for babies under 6 months. Babies cannot digest all of the iron available in regular formula so putting higher concentration in follow on milk does not mean that a baby will absorb any more. it would make more sense to put a bit of juice in the diet as juices (vit c) aids the absorption of iron.

my dd (10.5 mo.) eats very little except yoghurt. bit of oatmeal. everything else is a farce. only in the last week has my hopes gone up that she is starting to fancy other foods.

there is no point trying to hurry up a baby to eat. you will stress yourself and stress the baby. my mil, 5 kids and 12 grandkids has seen all sorts and isn't concerned about my dd's diet either.

our only success with dry foods has been Cheerios (today!) on Wednesday she would only touch them and throw them off the tray. On Thursday she put a couple in her mouth and spat them out. yesterday she chewed through a few and spat them out. This morning she happily chewed up quite a few but still hasn't worked out she can swallow them. Just keep offering things.

[chipmonkey]

Interestingly enough, my neighbout comes from Donegal and she said a lot of her Mum's elderly neighbours expressed surprise that her dd aged 12 months was taking any solids at all, that it wasn't the thing in "their day".

[bobbybobbobbingalong]

I'm more concerned about your dh TBH. Your baby sounds fine.