My 7 month old baby boy doesn't like food with bits in it.?

Question

How can I encourage him to eat his food without continuing to puree? What sort of food is the best. He is quite fussy and only really likes yoghurt.

Answer 1

My son was exactly like this up until the age of one and still today would retch if he found a strawberry in his yoghurt. How I got him off the pureed stuff was very gradually make everything a little thicker each time, porridge, pureed veg etc, then try him on watery stews and soups each time getting a little thicker until before he knows it, he's eating real food. Fun sweetish things might help too, my boy liked to suck on rice cakes and wotsits for a treat and this helped him graduate to the real thing.

Answer 2

My twins are 10 months old & my son will not eat lumps whereas my daughter will. I have gone back to basics & started all over again, I'm still pureeing his food but today he is having pureed minced meat in a shepherds pie which should be fun. If he's not ready for lumps then fine, just keep giving him the things he will eat but every now & then try him with lumps which is what I'm doing today. They usually have a chicken mix with lots of veg & stock which once pureed doesn't go that runny & he'll eat that no problem, it's only if the lumps are really noticable!

My health visitor keeps telling me to give them finger foods but I don't think they're ready yet, they've only just started holding their own bottles! Just do it when you're son is ready! Good luck!

Answer 3

I don't see how a baby can be scared of choking when they have never had lumps before, a baby doesn't know what consequences are. I would stop giving him yogurt for a while and try with food that is a little lumpy. Mash instead of pureeing, potato and butternut squash is good. Tiny soup pasta is good, you can get it in letters or stars, just add a tiny bit at first and put it with something that is really smooth, butternut squash again is really good for this. You have to persevere. your baby will eat it eventually and when they are better with lumps, I would introduce yoghurt again.

Answer 4

He is still young and I wouldn't worry about still having to puree foods up. You can wean him onto thicker foods gradually before introducing more lumpy foods.

Something soft that still has a bit of body that all my kids loved was rice pudding. Other things like custard with stewed apples through it is still smooth but with a bit of thickness. Cauliflower and broccoli mashed in with a cheese sauce?

Try just mashing up boiled veg with a fork rather than a puree mixture.

I am afraid at this age it is all trail and error! Keep trying a new thing till he develops a taste then use it as a base for other things.

Answer 5

OH yes, now this takes me back. At 7 months I really wouldn't worry too much, what I would do is puree it at a thicker consistency. Usually babies only get the feel for lumps when they are on finger foods, I remember the health visitor telling me 'how would you like it if you had no teeth and somebody shoved a spoon full of lumpy food into your mouth' oh gag!, don't worry, just keep trying or wait for the finger food time.

Answer 6

Your son is only 7 months old. At this age it is a choking hazard giving him anything other than pureed food. Wait until he is 10 months old and it able to sit up on his own. Also wait until he can move food around in his mouth with his tongue. And wait until he can pick up objects with his two fingers. I know it is easier to just give babies table food but why risk it. As parents we should want what is best for our kids instead of taking the "easy road." Good Luck.

Answer 7

My baby would not eat food with bits in it until after he was a year old. He got his teeth rather late, and did not like the lumpy food. He would eat the Gerber Puffs, and some finger foods that he could suck on, but not the 3rd foods. So I just fed him the 2nd foods, and what finger foods he was willing to eat. He eventually ate the chunky food, but not until HE decided he was ready. Much later than is typical, I might add. But when I tried to get him to eat chunkier foods, he would swallow the pureed part and leave the bigger pieces in his cheek pockets - he would NOT eat them! I remember one time after a nap, I found some in there from 3 hours earlier. He had left it in there that whole time, and slept with it in there, rather than eat it. I was horrified - he could have choked or something. So I quit pushing and let him eat pureed foods as long as he wanted. Which was a lot later than I would have liked, but force feeding him chunks was not working. He would leave them in his cheek pockets until they were so full he could barely open his mouth - but still, he would not eat them!

Answer 8

It takes a lot of time and patience. Try offering him a little at a time so as not to freak him out. Let him try and feed himself, give him some toast fingers to hold, he won't eat much but he'll get to try lots of different textures. Don't worry about it, seven months is very young still, my little boy is 5 and has just started eating runny food like soup finally, i've only been trying for about four years!! they get there eventually. Please do not take any notice of what other babies are doing, they are all different and get there in their own time.

Answer 9

You're his mum right , and you love him of course right , stop being such a fusspot and give him what he likes and if at the moment he only likes yogurt he'll get over that in his own good time , if you start trying to push things to eat on him then his fussinesss with food will be with him for the rest of his life !
Leave him alone , but , go out and find him every variety of yogurt on the market , and he will love you forever for that .
Well said , that last comment from Leadbelly .

Answer 10

Try childrens soups etc... my friends daughter was really bad at eating lumpy baby foods but from 9/10 month when she could chew 'proper' food such as sandwiches she has always eaten well. you may find the same. Just persevere he'll get there in the end!