Babies Don't Want To Chang To Solids

[hlfourie]

Sorry that supposed to be change not chang (they're still too young)

Hi all,

I have twin girls, 6 months old now. We have been trying various brands of baby cereal and they just don't want to eat it. They start crying when they just see the cereall bowl.

Does anybody have any advise as to get my babies to start with solids and have them enjoy it and not consider it as a punishment.

Any advice will be appreciated..

Edited December 3, 2008 by hlfourie

[kingwillly]

plenty of time yet.

should be between 6-12 months, certainly not earlier that 6.

a little at a time. mix with bottle.(or breast)

one new food every other day or so.

[Boo]

yep dont force it & dont use solid as a replacement for milk.

Maybe start by offering some milk first, then offering a little food (this should only be at this age no more than a taste of the tip of a teaspoon maximum) then more milk. Mix cereal with their regular milk & make it very thin consitancy, like a thick milk, but dont' force it.

As they get used to eating you can increas volume offered & also can thicken the consistancy.

If they dont like cereal then try a little boiled & mashed carrot, again mix with milk. It is a sweet flavour & they may like it better.

Have a look at the Annabel Karmel website for lots of very good tips of weaning. Also the birth to five years book Uk mothers receive when pregnant. We have it pinned at the top of this section.

[Boo]

Birth to five years

[torrenova]

I asked here about a year ago and got some good advice.

Our daughter eventually started on some cereal / porridge thing, becoming thicker as time goes on. Carrots were big on the menu from purée to raw now. Rice cooked with vegetables and reduced and mashed / sieved early on worked wonders but as Boo says, it is not to replace milk.

Then some fish, eggs and onward and upward to where she eats more or less simplified stuff that we eat. She still loves her milk and has just gobbled down 8oz of milk only about an hour or two after eating rice, fish, vegetables (loves veg !) and some soup.

She does pester us for our food at times so sometimes when ours is spicy, I remove some before adding spices or just suck the spice off the pork first !

I was so worried (first child and no experience at all) and now I just go with the flow, asking where I feel it may help but things do just seem to come naturally, even though you cannot plan when that might be.

[hlfourie]

Thank you all for the good advice much appreciated

[Sakeopete]

A bit off topic but my wife was telling me how some mothers in Thailand start giving their babies rice at 2 weeks of age. Apparently the mother chews the rice then feeds it to the baby. Their belief is it satisfy the babies hunger better than milk but as I pointed out raw rice has little nutrition compared to breast milk. I wonder if this practice has a detrimental effect in the baby's development?

[bina]

they dont give them raw rice; they do what most 'primitive' societies' mothers would do, they chew the food that adults eat and give it to the child. the saliva partially digests the food just like with us, when we chew our food, the saliva and mastication start the digestive proccess. so they chew the cooked rice, and put it in the baby's mouth.

i did the same thing when my daughter was older about 4/5 months, still breast feeding. i would chew banana or even later, chewed almonds (less allergenic than peanuts although peanut allergies here are very rare unlike in the states) , and gave it to her... some people think its gross, its actually good for the baby, it also helps to share the same bacterias, and as most people know, babies share our own bacterias so as to develop good immune systems to the things that we are exposed to in every day life, without being over exposed to 'outside' bacterias unneccasarily.

actually recently met quite a few mothers doing this, (usually the same ones that also breast feed forever and dont use disposable diapers, but keep their babies w/o, naturally ...)

we also would put some cereal on a finger and let the baby suck from finger first, rather then giving it in a bottle. my duaghter hated the texture in a bottle, and it took her a while to get used to the first cereals. some people here use cornflour (corn starch cereal, not the stuff used for polenta) for babies before using other cereals that are 'granier' in feel.

bina

israel

[dumball]

A bit off topic but my wife was telling me how some mothers in Thailand start giving their babies rice at 2 weeks of age. Apparently the mother chews the rice then feeds it to the baby. Their belief is it satisfy the babies hunger better than milk but as I pointed out raw rice has little nutrition compared to breast milk. I wonder if this practice has a detrimental effect in the baby's development?

Rice ? Why do you think many Thais are 'Stunted' physically and mentally ? Because they are fed by the "Stunted ' parent who truly believe only the 'Old' way is proper .

[kannon99]

If they do not want it at 6 mo old, there is no rush. They are saying they don't want it. Some babies do just fine with NO solids until 9 mo or longer!

I have 16mo old twins and they breastfeed 24/7. They have only minimal interest in solid foods and and had no interest until 10mo.

In my opinion, rice has very little in it that's good. Start with fruit or veggies instead. Bananas is easy.