When one is ready for solids and the other is not

We have tried solids a few times this week and Owen does amazing, he has all the signs he's ready - opens his mouth for food, tongue reflex is gone, he could eat a whole bowl of oatmeal all by himself. But Rhys is definitely not ready, he still has all the opposite signs that Owen has. But my question is should I just feed them together despite Rhys not being ready? I realize that it takes time for babies to learn but Rhys is exactly like my older DD and we tried and tried solids with her- it wasn't till 9mos till she was ready. We try to keep the babies on the same schedule - I am not sure if this would throw them off or not. What would/did you do????

 

i wouldn't force the baby who's not ready. they don't have to reach the same milestones at the same time. i would respect their individuality and let rhys make his own journey towards solids.

i have an owen, too, and in our case he's behind his brother for solids readiness. he's also gone on food strike (very strong willed and doesn't want a spoon in his mouth). we feed jacob as normal and we just try little bits with owen as he'll tolerate it. since solids are still just for practice it's okay. we keep their bottle feedings at the same time, but if owen won't tolerate food we let him play while jacob has his solids. forcing owen doesn't make him more willing to eat, it makes him more resistant.

i've also found that putting them both in their high chairs and letting owen watch jacob eat has helped owen become more interested in food. today owen even ate a bigger breakfast than his brother because i made a game out of it. you could try that, but if rhys still has the tongue reflex it may not simply be a matter of getting him interested. still, it can't hurt to let him see you feeding his brother and enjoying food.

 

i agree with PP. when DS was ready for solids and DD wasn't, i just put them both in their highchairs and let DD play while i fed DS. i always offered her a bite or two but never forced the issue and she eventually decided that she was ready.

 

I agree, I wouldn't force him. Let him sit & play while you are feeding Owen and maybe occasionally offer him a bite to see if he's interested. I'm sure he will be following in his brother's footsteps before you know it!

 

I tried solids around 4.5 months and neither one was ready, so I just played around with the food and tested for allergies. I'd give them a few bites every other day. Eli was ready at 5 months, and Mark at 6.5 months. I kept putting Mark up there with Eli when they ate, and I'd give him a bite here or there. Just when I was ready to give up he finally started eating. So I kept them on the same routine even though Mark was really getting any food down.

 

We've gone through the same thing. BK was ready and Aurora was not. I still offered her solids every time I fed BK, but she didn't always take them. Then one day...it clicked. I also found out she much prefers applesauce to anything else so she ate better on applesauce days. Now, she still eats less but she eats every meal time.

 

Same here, Ruby (my IUGR baby) wasn't ready when we started Amber so she would play with a spoon and bowl while i fed her sister. About a week or so later i would offer her some cereal and at first she just didn't do anything it just sat in her mouth neither swallowing or spitting out lol we kept offering it and a few days later she started tasting it and now there is no stopping her, she loves solids so much i have had to wean her off them abit as she started refusing her milk haha

 

QUOTE(sullivanre @ Jun 27 2009, 05:11 PM) [snapback]1371277[/snapback]
so I just played around with the food and tested for allergies.

This is what I did. Erick was ready right at the 4mos mark (he was drinking 40oz easy every day!) and Kayci wasn't. Whatever I fed Erick, I'd squeeze in at least a few bites so I wouldn't have to go back to one thing every few days when she really got into it.