Hi,

My daughter just turned 6mos old and she does NOT like baby food or juice.. She did sort of like carrots for a few days but that was 1/4 of the jar then she would jaw lock her mouth,, Now, she gags when I try to feed her... She even gags at fruits, desserts, cereal, juice...

The Dr told me to wait until she is really really hungry this way, she would most likely eat but NOPE she gags and cries..... he said I need to try to get her at least eat one jar a day for now then try to increase......She is not having it....He also said even though she is a big baby that she needs to eat more than just bottles because if not she will lose weight.. She eats 6 1/2 ounces at a time usually every 3hours and if she wakes up in the middle of the night I just give her 3ounces since I thnk she wakes up and wants to eat for habit vs veing hungry..

I have 2 other children and I never knew a baby that hated juice and baby food..
Ps. It was a tiny jar he said to try to get her to eat a day,. but, I have been introducing food for one month waiting days in between and notta! I am shocked she doesn't like even juice..
the juice came into play when she was really sick and couldnt eat formula and we tried juice and pedal and she hated both

I agree with about 90% of the other answerers...I cannot believe your doctor said that to you! Is this a family practise doctor or a pediatrician? I have NEVER heard that a baby should have food (and especially juice) to increase their weight. In fact, I have heard that that is why doctors reccomend breastfeeding until a year old...cause babies get most their nutrients from milk (or formula) until about that age. My daughter is 8.5 months. I tried cereal and juice at about 5 months and we've been trying every since. SHe's breastfed and certainly likes that better. It would be nice if she would eat more baby food (She eats MAYBE a jar a day now) but the pediatrician said it was no big deal, not to force the issue and she'd eat when she wanted to. And I totally believe that cause some days (like just a few minutes ago) she'll eat a whole jar of bananas really quickly and maybe tomorrow she just won't open her mouth for it at all. WHich is fine by me.

First off, I would absolutely totally skip the juice.

Secondly, I would follow your baby's lead, but I would not worry about what your doctor says either. Find some mom's in your area who are more "expert" on infant nutrition. Most docs are clueless about what infants need or want. I didn't formula feed; I breastfed on demand with all of my babies. But after the first (with the first, I followed my pediatrician's "schedule" to a T), I followed my BABY's lead and it was much better.

Only my first would eat jarred baby food. The others ate what we ate, but I also delayed introducing solids with them until they were literally demanding it. Try some finger foods for now, but I truly don't believe that they NEED fruits and veggies and cereal at 6 months, especially if breastfed.

I bet if you go to motherind dot com, you will find some GREAT advice and you will also find some local moms to guide you.

Good luck!

We always cut the nipple hole a little bigger and mixed some of the dry cereal in and shook it really good, that is how we started out and you could do the same with applesauce and misc. to get them used to a little different taste.

Are you feeding her shop bought jars? If so, there may be something added which she does not like....try just giving her vegetables that you've put in a blender yourself....freeze little portions of it so you have a weeks supply. Sweet potato....potato....and carrot may work...

she really does not need to eat a whole jar a day especially to start out wiht that's a little much. just keep tryin but dont force her. she doesn't NEED the food right now it's just a way to show her a new way to eat. breastmilk or formula sould still be her main nutr

First off...sorry, but a baby that age doesn't need juice yet, especially if she's fighting it.

Just keep trying to introduce things to her...sometimes it takes 20 times for a kid to actually eat a new taste.

Some babies are still exclusively breastfed at this age, so unless she stalls her weight gain (they usually level out around this age or so anyhow), or loses, I really wouldn't be concerned about her nutrition.

She's taking in a good amount of formula, so don't sweat it too much. You will find something she likes...

#1 She does not NEED anything other than formula (or breastmilk) regardless of her size. In fact if a baby isn't gaining enough weight the first thing they do is stop or cut back on solids. Solids are not as nutrient, calorie or fat dense as formula. Also babies with allergies may refuse solids until 9-12 months; this protective measure should not be overridden.

#2 When starting solids with a baby that is developmentally ready -which is between 6-9 month regardless of size do NOT need their food pureed. Let her feed herself. My son would never let anyone put a spoon in his mouth, he feeds himself or he doesn't eat. And he was a huge baby he was 20lbs when he was 4 months, he started solids around 7 months and was 25 lbs (which is more than triple his birth weight of 8lbs 2oz), and even then he didn't eat any real quantity of solids or more than one meal a day until he was a year.

http://www.llli.org/FAQ/solids.html
Babies who are ready for solids can usually feed themselves. Mothers often report that they knew their babies were ready when they picked up food from a plate, chewed it, swallowed it, and wanted more.

Listen to your baby! Babies with a tendency to allergies may refuse solids until later in their first year. As long as they are growing well and are happy and healthy, there is no need for concern.

http://www.askdrsears.com/faq/bf4.asp
Many parents have the misconception that all infants will be ready for foods between 4 and 6 months of age. The truth is that very few infants are developmentally ready at 4 months. In addition, it is now recommended to delay foods until 6 months in order to decrease the chance of allergies. I also have found that some infants are not developmentally ready for solids until 8 or 9 months. You can click here to read about what signs to watch for to determine when your infant is ready for foods. Breast milk is nutritionally complete for at least the first year of life. This means that infants can go for at least a year on breast milk alone, without eating any foods, and be nutritionally complete. Offering foods between 6 and 12 months of age is simply for social development and to get infants used to eating.

I encourage parents not to try to coax their 6 month old into accepting solids before he shows many of the signs of being ready. This can create a picky eater and negative feelings about eating.



http://www.borstvoeding.com/voedselintroductie/vast_voedsel/rapley_guidelines.html#choke
Many parents worry about babies choking. However, there is good reason to believe that babies are at less risk of choking if they are in control of what goes into their mouth than if they are spoon fed. This is because babies are not capable of intentionally moving food to the back of their throats until after they have learnt to chew. And they do not develop the ability to chew until after they have developed the ability to reach out and grab things. Thus, a very young baby cannot easily put himself at risk because he cannot get the food into his mouth in the first place. On the other hand, the action used to suck food off a spoon tends to take the food straight to the back of the mouth, causing the baby to gag. This means that spoon feeding has its own potential to lead to choking – and makes one wonder about the safety of giving lumpy foods off a spoon.

It appears that a baby's general development keeps pace with the development of his ability to manage food in his mouth, and to digest it. A baby who is struggling to get food into his mouth is probably not quite ready to eat it. It is important to resist the temptation to 'help' the baby in these circumstances since his own developmental abilities are what ensure that weaning takes place at the right pace for him. This process is also what helps to keep him safe from choking on small pieces of food, since, if he is not yet able to pick up small objects using his finger and thumb, he will not be able to get, for example, a pea or a raisin into his mouth. Once he is able to do this, he will almost certainly have developed the necessary oral skills to deal with it. Putting foods into a baby's mouth for him overrides this natural protection and may increase the risk of choking.

try to mix certain things together. like mix the rice ceareal with fruit and veggies with fruit. sometimes different combos will work. i had the problem with my son wanting a bottle in the middle of the night like that and when i told my doctor i got yelled at! try to water the bottle down more and more every night to make it less desirable. she will eat if she gets hungry enough! she wont starve i promise. hang in there! i know how frustrating this is! good luck!