[amie-b]

hi all

my daughter is 10.5 months and will not eat food from a spoon. any suggestions? i want her to eat other things than her bottle. thanks
amie

[mattecook]

I started my daughter now 16 mos on soft table food when she was about 8 or 9 months old. Just soft things like carrots, noodles, avocado, bannanas. Things like this that she could mash in your own mouth. Feeding can sometimes be a struggle, Emma is just coming out of a 3 month phase of not liking any fruit other than bananas and blueberries but she is not fully to where she will eat any fruit I place in front of her. Cheerios or Alpha Bits are also a wonderful food to let them start feeding themselves with.

Good Luck
Ami

[khaki17]

I could have written that exact post! My daughter would not let me feed her with a spoon at all. It was so frustrating. What I did was to prepare myself for a mess and simply place the food on her tray. She loved it. She smeared her hands in it and eventually some of the food made it into her mouth. Now she is a pro at using a spoon and a fork (and has been for several months). After eating, I stripped her down and it was bath time. For my daughter, I think it was an important developmental step. She needed to explore the food first. Now she is a great eater!!!!!

Goodluck!

[JohnnaMJH]

I just wanted to chime in that William, almost 8mos, hates regular baby food from a spoon. After three weeks w/us he might eat one or two spoons after I repeatedly scoop it back in his mouth. He will however eat cheerios and other baby-friendly finger foods. I just bought some Gerber fruits that appear to be little dried chunks of apple that dissolve pretty quickly and he ate two of those. For whatever reason, he also seems to hate baby food. I have a feeling he will move on quickly to soft table foods that he can manage.

Good luck!

[lisam00]

When we met Ava's foster mom on our pick up trip, she went on and on about how great Ava ate from a spoon. Ha, not for us! While in Guatemala we just figured she was adjusting. When we got home, still no interest in anything but her bottle. After a couple of weeks, she started to actually get more and more spoonfuls into her mouth and now she eats anything on a spoon within a 10 mile radius of her mouth!

God bless,
Lisa

[resabelle]

I second everything said above and I would add pasta pickups. I cut them in half but Dylan started eating them at about 10 months. Some with chicken, some with just veggies. I did the same thing above with fruit and just let her feed herself. It is messy but she eats well.

[smmars]

Ditto, try soft finger foods. Matty hates the spoon!!!

Bananas, peaches, pears, pasta, crackers, cheerios, peas, cut up green beans, carrots, cheese, whole grain bread in tiny pieces (spread with cream cheese), cereal bars (nutrigrain type), basically, anything gummable (is that a word???)

[alyssa&avery]

Ditto what everyone else has said !

Avery came home at 7 months and absolutely hated baby food. Of course, it took about 2 weeks of him spitting and spraying it everywhere for Mom to get the hint. His foster mom was already feeding him table food.

He never liked to be fed, preferring to do it himself. Yes, it is messy but he has a grand time feeding himself. You'll be surprised once they get the hang of it what all they can eat. By 8 months he was eating whatever we were having, just cut appropriately and the right size portions.

At 22 months he almost has the hang of a spoon and a fork, but when he's really hungry will still use his hands.........it's a work in progress. I strip him down to his diaper when he eats...........it's so much easier and cuts way down on the laundry not to mention stained clothing. If he's too messy then he gets a shower and if not then he just gets wiped down really well.

Some of his early favorites were: any ripe fruit, steamed veggies, Kix, bread, pancakes, waffles, pasta.

Try her on a few things and see how she does!

Lori

[Bexter]

Finger foods are great. Ditto to all the foods mentioned above, plus Gerber Fruit Puffs and Veggie Puffs. I think they taste bland but Eric loves them.

I find it helps to keep Eric entertained during dinner. He gets bored and then won't eat. The old trick of an airplane coming in for a landing works well. He also likes a set of animal finger puppets (he likes the parrot the best). Good old conversation works too. Right now, it's "dadadada" and "bat, gat, dat" - whatever that means!