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I have a 7month old in my care whose parents recently gave the OK to give him baby food. But he wont eat it! As soon as it goes into his mouth, he acts like hes choking and wont swallow it. So now everytime he sees a spoon or someone tries to put food in his mouth, he gets tight lipped and turns his head and freaks out. I dont know how to get him to eat. Ive tried all stages of baby food, he wont take any of it. Tried regular table food..nope wont have any of it. I feel like they waited too long to introduce food and now he has a texture issue and only knows how to "****" his food. All he wants to do is eat from a bottle. Any ideas???
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Another thing to add, I put some baby food in his bottle to see if its the taste of the food he doesnt like (so kind of tricking him) but he drank it out of his bottle just fine. So i really think there is something wrong.. -
I would skip the baby food and give him soft, diced up veggies and let him experiment with feeding himself. His nutrition comes from his bottle, so the food is just for fun at this point. I wouldn't put much pressure on it and just let him be. I don't usually start solids foods till around 7-8 months, but every baby is different.Comment
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Can you mix his BM and formula with cereal. and offer it to him on his fingers? If it IS a texture issue, you can gradually increase the thickness of the mixture.
Do you have any other concerns? I started my own infants and dc babies (when I took them) later 6m+ on solids and they had no issues.Comment
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OP here. I Started my son on baby cereal at 4 months. So by 6 months he was a pro and basically ate what i ate. He had a lot of teeth too. Other babies Ive taken care of were similar to my son and had no problems being fed. So thats why it was just odd to me that this DCB acted this way with food and maybe if he would have started younger it wouldnt be so strange to him? He acts very dramatic like hes choking and gagging. I dont understand why he doesnt just swallow? Lol. DCB wont put food in his mouth on his own either. Just stares, wont touch it. I tried putting it in his hand and he pulled away.Comment
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Food before 1 is just for fun.
Take a break. His nutrition at this point is okay to come from 100% breastmilk or formula. Try again in a few weeks, if it's the same, take another break and try again.
Forcing and fighting him over it doesn't help anyone. You can sit him in the high chair and offer some table foods (on the table) for him to pick up, play with, put in his mouth if he'd like, but it doesn't need to be a battle.Comment
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Quoting from another source, but:
Babies are born with a reflex that makes them push their tongue forward when something touches it -- which means they can't use the tongue to move food from the front to the back of the mouth. If you try to push the food into your baby's mouth, he may start to gag, which certainly isn't going to make his first experience with solids a pleasant one.
...Sounds like he's not physically ready for the transition. In my experience this reflex lasts a little bit longer for some than others. Wouldn't worry about it and just keep offering. Give it time and relax.Comment
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He doesn't need to eat. The more he resists, the more he'll continue to resist. Don't worry about it. Try feeding cereal once every week or two, and eventually, he'll take it. Until HE decides he wants it, and is capable of eating it, just let it go. I've had kids who won't eat solids until 8 months, one that wouldn't until 10. There's NOTHING wrong with that.
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