Baby Food Dilema

[joneshockey]

Little Miss Emily has been giving me fits about eating any type of cereal or baby food. This issue started when she got sick last time and we were trying to mix in that horrible mint flavored medicine Unfortunately, over the past 2 1/2 weeks I (nor my mom or daycare provider) have been able to successfully get her to eat anything except her formula... this has caused me MUCH frusteration and mess --- I keep trying 2 times a day, but it isnt getting any better. I am wondering if I should call the nutrtionist from her nephrologist's office and see what she suggests that i do or if I should just back off trying for awhile. I just NEVER had these issues with either of my boys (they ate like champs) so I dont know how concerned I should be... Any suggestions?

Cindy

 

[keista]

Even the sweet stuff? Custards, puddings, yogurts, fruit purees. Try those plain first, and if she takes to them, start adding cereal to it little by little. Also can try the sweet veggies - carrots and sweet potatoes.

If it's ALL foods because "evil mommy" put peppermint cr@p in it, try starting her on finger foods - cheerios, scrambled eggs, etc. Maybe if it's not a familiar "mush" she might venture to try it.

 

[joneshockey]

Unforunately, her selction of acceptable foods is VERY limited... she can only have those foods that are LOW in potassium so I have tried carrots & green beans along with Barley & rice cereal. She will never be able to have sweet potatoes or bananas (among many other foods as well) I am thinking about trying fruit, but then worry about her never wanting to eat vegetables after introducing the fruits.

It is soo bad that she wont even open her mouth to sneak any in there... if you do happen to sneak a 1/2 a spoonful in, she just spits it right back out at you --- YUCK what a mess!

 

[HaoZi]

If she's not ready and willing, she's not. You could also try enlarging the opening on one of her bottles and mixing a little bit of cereal in with the formula. It'll take some adjusting to the faster flow, so don't let first attempts totally deter you.

 

[DammitJanet]

There is a feeder bottle for foods like cereal and baby food. They sell it at toys r us and most stores. Right now I cant find it at my walmart but normally they have it there. It looks like a big around bottle with a nipple at the end but it is shorter. You put food in and she sucks it down and the bottom collapses towards her mouth.

Now...also..if you have a toys r us and babysrus, they also sell all these cool baby foods in these little pouches. I think they sell them in some grocery stores too but I live in the boonies and they only have them for older babies in my stores. You can get the early stages and cereals in the pouches at the babysrus stores. She might eat it out of those because she is sucking it out of there. I say look for those or that feeder instead of the spoon.

 

[joneshockey]

I have only seen the pouches for older kids, but the next time I visit Babies R US I will look for them... The feeder might be the better option since her foods are limited as to what she can have - I cant say that I have ever seen or heard of them, but I will look at the store when I go tomorrow

 

[InsaneCdn]

I'd be tempted to just back off on the cereal and anything else, for a week or two. Then, start with something she hasn't had - but she needs to break the association with medicine.

 

[1905]

I agree with backing off for awhile. She may just be spitting out everything without knowing what she's even spitting out because that's what she does now. Let her take a break from all foods for a week maybe, she's still getting her nutrition from the formula, make eating time enjoyable for her for a week. You don't want to make eating time a bad experience. Next week add some thing without pressure. She can probably see the stress in your facial expressions, so just be chill about it as you're giving her solids.

 

[Hound dog]

Either back off or go ahead with fruit first. Actually back in my day you started with cereal then went to fruit then veggies and so on. Now if you've ever had the misfortune to taste that cereal...omg ewww.....mine when to cereal and fruit at the same time. lol For veggies, I've always put the spoon into veggies first, then dipped the edge into fruit for fussy picky eaters. Seems to fool them every time......doesn't take long before you can skip the fruited edge trick.

Sometimes though, it's best to give them a change to forget a behavior, then reintroduce.

 

[Steely]

What about making your own baby foods? You could come up with quite a concoction with your own foods ground up into baby food. Then you could put it in a different container, or dish, and let her play around with a new taste?

 

[DammitJanet]

Amazon.com: Sassy: Baby Food Nursers 4oz - 2pk(Green) [Baby Product]: Baby

I knew I would find them if I looked hard enough! LOL. Google is my best friend. I used these with Cory and they saved his life.

 

[SRL]

I agree with backing off for awhile. She may just be spitting out everything without knowing what she's even spitting out because that's what she does now. Let her take a break from all foods for a week maybe, she's still getting her nutrition from the formula, make eating time enjoyable for her for a week. You don't want to make eating time a bad experience. Next week add some thing without pressure. She can probably see the stress in your facial expressions, so just be chill about it as you're giving her solids.

I agree. Even older kids and adults take breaks from foods with unpleasant associations.

 

[skeeter]

agree with holding off for a while.

Since we had the milk allergy issues, mine both had cereal mixed with fruit juice instead of milk. Both of mine were also VERY texture aware, and would never touch anything runny, it had to have lumps in it. So play around with the texture.
Other than cereal, I never gave mine any other prepared baby food. I gave regular, unsweetened applesauce (not sure on the potassium there). I had a small food processor and just mashed up whatever and froze in ice cube trays to pop out when we needed. I started finger foods as soon as they started grabbing for something, no matter how messy it got. Neither of mine had teeth until they were 13 months old - they just sucked and gummed stuff to death. Both are great and not picky eaters (except for the milk thing) to this day.

 

[susiestar]

Don't worry about her not ever wanting veggies if she has fruit first. I had a LOT of people tell me this, of course AFTER wiz had already had fruit, lol. All my kids had fruit first and they ALL eat veggies and always have. my kids actually like veggies FAR more than I do. I eat them because I know it is necessary, but I don't like very many no matter what you do to them.

Back off for a week or two. Pushing is the worst thing you can do. A week or two of just formula at age 6 mos isn't likely to be a problem. Given the kidney issues, it would be better to back off a bit and let her adjust and then start again rather than to keep pushing and have her end up totally refusing for a long period of time.

The feeders can be helpful, esp if problems keep her from being able to use her mouth/tongue properly to eat foods. To get cereal eaten, try miing it with whatever juice or sweet stuff she can have instead of formula.

One problem that may be contributing is that often the start of baby food leads to stomach cramps, gas, etc..... thank you is the only one of mine who had few problems with that when starting foods. We were still giving him catnip tea in the evenings with a bottle and it really works on stomach problems. If mint is not on the list of foods that cause problems with kidneys (peppermint, spearmint, etc.... - check adult kidney diets for her problems to see if mint is okay or not), then it is safe to try an ounce or two of catnip tea in her bottle of formula. Catnip is a mint plant, but not as strong a flavor as peppermint or spearmint, and much better for stomach problems (colic, etc....). The kidney doctor/nutritionist may not have a clue because few people think of catnip as something for people. It was a miracle for us though.

I hope that this is a short term problem and in a week or so she takes to baby food with gusto! have you tried sseerving it cold, or warm? Sometimes serving it at a different temperature is very helpful. Not too hot or cold, of course, but just enough that it seems different.