How do I get my baby to eat solids

amother

OP ↓

Tue, Sep 17 2024, 9:41 am

Baby is almost a year old. Breastfeeding exclusively on demand. Will barely take a bottle of mother's milk, and only when literally forced and starving hungry ( tried on Tisha Bav).
While crawling around the house will grab on random items and put into mouth. I'm constantly busy fishing out pieces of paper, tissues, grass etc.

Food wise, baby will rarely take anything. I tried putting food on highchair tray but it gets thrown around. On a spoon, the tongue pushes everything out or baby spits it out.
Today I tried putting food on the floor in the hopes of baby picking it up randomly, but it didn't help. Pieces of paper were picked up instead.

What is going on?

amother

Antiquewhite

Tue, Sep 17 2024, 9:44 am

amother OP wrote:

Is she a good nurser? How often is she nursing?

Does she play and experiment with food on her high chair? Bring it to her mouth at all?

Has she ever been evaluated for a tongue tie?

Can she drink from a straw cup or open cup? Can she eat purees from a pouch?

Have you tried putting her on your lap and sharing your food?

amother

Seafoam

Tue, Sep 17 2024, 10:12 am

amother OP wrote:

Which foods have you tried giving?

amother

↑ OP

Wed, Sep 18 2024, 9:30 pm

amother Seafoam wrote:

Which foods have you tried giving?

No tongue tie - We checked it out.
BH a good nurser and is quite chubby.

Foods we've tried, with a spoon and/or self-feeding, include mashed banana, avocado,pureed carrots, sweet potato etc.
Baby has a good pincer grasp, and will pick up peas, corn pop, Cheerios etc but somehow it doesn't make it into the mouth, vs dirt, paper and toys that do.

amother

Denim

Wed, Sep 18 2024, 9:57 pm

Change the texture of what your giving.
Change the temperature too. All these things are a factor. Make it not stressful. Before milk so child has an " appetite" and isn't overly full. See about something more crunchy. Don't be scared to try a little out of the box. Let baby play w the food too. Will the child put a teether in their mouth? If yes put some food on there.. even those pacifiers for food. Rice teethers with mild flavor. Start small. If baby is very happy playing that may be distractimg. Try sitting on a highchair with some food baby can self feed and you sit down and eat too. As long as baby is growing and gaining it doesn't sound like an emergency bh but this type of issue should be looked at by a feeding specialist if not resolved.

amother

Currant

Wed, Sep 18 2024, 10:16 pm

At this stage babies are supposed to be moving away from breast milk as their main source of nutrients and shifting towards real food. I would start the day offering food and not nursing and only nurse as a top up. I’d also still keep putting finger foods on the high chair even if they get thrown as she’ll eventually take interest while spoon feeding her oatmeal or mashed fruits/veggies.

michimochi

Wed, Sep 18 2024, 11:36 pm

Have you tried having baby on your lap when you're eating and letting baby have free access to the plate? Mine started exploring food this way. Obvi be aware for safety, but maybe baby would see that as a more interesting way to investigate.

That being said, as amother Currant mentioned, baby requires more nutrients and protein than milk can provide at this point. If solids aren't working out, it may be worth a try to give meat broths to supplement the diet.