My baby hates solids

Mine loved baby rice with a bit of ground cinnamon mixed in until he got his first cold and then we moved on to a blueberry banana mix and an orange banana mix. I try new things once in a while but my friend who is a RD at a children's hospital and has two little ones assured me that there is no need to rush into solids.

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My first didn't like anything solid until 9 months. Nope, wouldn't take them, ever until then. It's pretty normal, babies really don't work around our schedule.

K.

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Try real food, I bet you'll have better results - something like a mashed sweet potatoe or banana. My kids would eat rice cereal or baby oatmeal, but only if I mixed it with something yummy.

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My little 10 month girl is so-so on solids. But she never really showed much interest until the end of the 8 month--even though she was VERY interested in what we were putting in our mouths since the fifth month!! I tried smooshed apples and oatmeal too, but no luck! I think the texture is too much for them. Things that work well: boiled rice (to the point of mush), squash to the point of mush, tofu, ground up beans (using a baby mill). Good luck!!

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I do a baby-led approach to solid foods, as noted here: http://www.borstvoeding.com/voedselintroductie/vast_voedsel/rapley_guidelines.html

In our family's case, I do breastfeed very long, which is perfect nutrition, so I don't worry about the solids my children eat until much later. For what it's worth, my second son ate very few solids until he was well over 1 year old.

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I agree with Lori. The baby rice is just yucky. I would add applesauce in with the baby oatmeal and warm it a little. And bananas....you can never go wrong with bananas.

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My little one will eat rice cereal and rice cereal only. I've tried everything and he just spits it right back at me. We're giving real foods a try soon.

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I would suggest you give solids a break for a couple of weeks, As some of the comments above show not every baby wants solids at 6 months. I would be interested to hear how you get on when you try again in a couple of weeks - he may still be uninterested.
David Robinson

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I would breastfeed for a little bit FIRST. That way, you know he's not overly hungry. Then plop him in the high chair and make a fuss about what deliciousness he's about to encounter. (Have the food all ready to go.) I do rice cereal mixed with formula. Make sure you add lots of liquid so it's smooth, no lumps. Then add some bananas. I think apples are a bit too tart to start with-judging from the look on my 7 month olds face. This is baby number four for me, and this has worked like a charm every time. We always start this on thier six month birthdays. He's eating like crazy now. Good Luck!!!

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All babies are different, there is no switch that'll turn at six months and make your baby love solids. Your doctor will most likely urge you to try more, but if he doesn't want to why push it?

I've also heard rice cereal isn't ideal baby food as it contains practically no nutrition. Gah, I could go on and on, but I'll spare you and instead second what Karen said - go read that website! Lots of interesting information and debunking.

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My daughter never liked baby food of any sort but willingly ate some table food. She loved real bananas, mac and cheese, jelly bread, and waffles. As long as she could feed herself, she'd at least try it.

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My first three children all started solids around 7 months. With my first it was because of pressure from the inlaws-but she didn't really take to them until she was about a year old. My second child seemed ready at 7 months and I later found out that was when I got pregnant with my 3rd child so my milk supply had been significantly reduced(it doesn't work that way for everyone but mine always dwindles when I get pregnant). So I don't know when he would have been ready if I hadn't gotten pregnant. The third was just ready at 7 months and it wasn't a big struggle. Every baby is different. Remember-jarred baby food is a relatively recent invention. Babies used to be on breastmilk or formula much longer-with a slow addition of table foods-before the popularity of baby food and cereal. (I've read baby cereal really adds very little nutritionally anway. The iron is poorly absorbed by the baby's body)

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At 6 months, the baby is barely old enough to try solids, so what you're describing sounds perfectly normal. Baby cereal tastes a lot like powdered cardboard and formula tastes like the worst sort of powdered milk. Mixing the two doesn't really help either one.

If nothing else, try mixing the cereal with breastmilk--you only need maybe half an ounce to make a serving of baby cereal, so it shouldn't make a huge dent in your time (to pump or hand express) or supplies (if you're pumping for work or something anyway).

Also, if the baby's had a food enough times that you know he's not allergic, then you can move on to something else. I'd go for orange vegetables next--sweet potatoes, carrots, squash. Those are sweet enough that many babies love them, but not as sweet as fruit and won't spoil them too badly before green veggies (pureed unsalted green beans are about as bad as plain rice cereal). Once you get a couple of other foods down, you can go back and mix in some cereal for that extra bit of iron that they provide.

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Let your baby take his time! Actually at around 6 months old, many babies start becomming more picky. The little darling that was really curious a month ago now refuses everything... If I was you I would even stop trying for a week for or two.

Let him sit in his chair whenever you eat, and if he seems intrested, let him try a small, mashed piece of whatever you eat (as long as it is baby-safe.)

I know it is said that you should not start with fruits, because they are sweet, but if nothing else works, I would still try for example bananas. One of my kids was very picky as a baby. After a while I gave him fruit and that seemed to make him interested in eating.

Over time I could introduce other foods as well including baby food.

Good luck!

For some more inspiration, check out the following link: http://www.easybabylife.com/baby-food.html

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