Solids

I just need some reassurance that my children are not going to be 10 and still only eating bottles. We started solids at 4 months, once a day. They are still just spitting back out everything we put in. We put it in, they spit it out, we put it back in, they spit it back out, and so on until there is more drool than food on the spoon! I know this has to be completely normal, but please someone tell me it's completely normal, that your babies did the same thing, and that they did learn to eat eventually!

 

It sounds as if it is too early. I know that is not what you want to hear, but they seem to still have the tongue thrust reflex. I'd back off and try perhaps once a week. They will get it, just at their own time. My two started at 6 months and DD did great! ...for a month. Then went on a 3 month refusal period. It was fine. She didn't need it, my milk was good enough. Don't stress... it'll happen when they are ready! Seems like it is too early for them right now. :hug99:

 

QUOTE(JicJac @ Jul 1 2008, 11:05 AM) [snapback]854700[/snapback]
It sounds as if it is too early. I know that is not what you want to hear, but they seem to still have the tongue thrust reflex. I'd back off and try perhaps once a week. They will get it, just at their own time. My two started at 6 months and DD did great! ...for a month. Then went on a 3 month refusal period. It was fine. She didn't need it, my milk was good enough. Don't stress... it'll happen when they are ready! Seems like it is too early for them right now. :hug99:


I wondered, but the pedi said definitely go ahead and start them, and then I thought, well, they just need practice.

 

QUOTE(Mom to Jack and Anna @ Jul 1 2008, 10:07 AM) [snapback]854706[/snapback]
I wondered, but the pedi said definitely go ahead and start them, and then I thought, well, they just need practice.

Every baby is different. Most pedi's will say the recommended 4-6, some have stronger opinions on the subject. I remember when my twins were about 8 months old and I was wishing they were just on my milk (cuz it was a lot easier & less messy)! Don't rush, they grow up too fast as it is.
Remember the saying: The days are long but the years fly by! It is soooo true!

 

Nope-totally normal this early, it is all for practice right now, dont stress just keep offering and they will eventually get it. I just started trying and sometimes they do well and other times wont have anything to do with it. I only try once or twice a week. My ped said they dont "need" it yet so I dont worry.

 

I agree with Jackie. Every baby is different and some still have that tongue thrust reflex past 4 months. Its all for practice so if you want to keep going with it thats fine, or if you want to take a break and try again in a couple of weeks, thats fine too.

 

it might just be too early for them...they might not like the texture. my ds did not eat solids until he was 9 months old!! just clamped his mouth shut almost every time i tried to feed him. i was so worried and everyone told me to relax, he will do it on his time. he eats like a champ now!

there is no rush...they will eat

 

We started solids at 6 mos (4 mos adjusted) and had the same problem - especially with Nathan. I started adding oatmeal to thicken the purees and I started putting the spoon a bit deeper into their mouths and scraping the food off the spoon using the roof of their mouth. I don't put the spoon in deep enough to gag them but far enough back so that the food had a chance to go down their throats instead of out of their mouths when they thrust with their tongues. Nathan *just* figured out how to keep more in than spit out in about 2 weeks ago - right around the time we started finger foods and he figured out how to chew.

Good luck and don't fret. They will get it eventually.

Christy

 

We also started ours later so it may be to early. But DD was having a lot of tongue thrust issues that were solved as soon as we got the maroon spoon. Perhaps they will help. http://www.theraproducts.com/index.php?mai...roducts_id=7223

 

I went through the exact same thing!! I also asked this through another post about a month ago and most said that it was too early... Well I didn't feel it was (for my babies) so I kept trying and sure enough a week later my son was taking solids and then a couple days later so was Aly!! It's totally your call on whether you want to keep trying or stop and wait a couple weeks.
This is what we did...
We made it part of the afternoon/bedtime routine... We did at the same time every day, fed them in the same place.. Some days they loved just pushing the food out with their tongues but we made sure that they were happy and not fussy. As soon as they seemed like they didn't want to do it anymore we would stop. We wanted feeding to be a fun thing and not torture. It took us about 4 weeks for it to finally work but it did. We probably could have stopped and waited 4 weeks and it would have worked but I loved watching them try, and singing songs about the food and getting them used to their high chair. But like I said this is what worked for us... We also switched to oatmeal cereal and the both seemed to like that much better then rice.
Hope this helps, and good luck! Just have fun with it!

 

Thanks all! You made me feel better. It's amazing how you can psych yourself out. I was doing really well with telling myself it was just for practice (we only do it once a day and stop when they get upset), but then you start to think, are they ever going to get it? I don't know if it's really a tongue thrust issue. I get the food in and they kind of move it around in their mouths or make faces like they don't like it (Anna often smiles at us) but then after a few seconds out it comes. Is that tongue thrust? Anyway, I think we will keep trying since it's probably not hurting them. And they'll get it eventually I'm sure. At least we are ruling out allergies, right?