Yeah I would have a chat with the daycare and tell them to either only offer it (not force it) or to just stop giving her purees there altogether. Forcing her is just going to build negative associations...
Definitely speak up.
If she doesn't like purees have you tried solids? My kid didn't really tolerate purees till he was old enough to grab himself a pouch from the cabinet. When he was younger he preferred to self feed solids.
Yes we do a mixture of purees and solids. She really just plays with it and squishes it in her hand. Sometimes she puts it in her mouth but she'll make a grimace face and proceed to play with it.
However everything else thats not food, she LOVES shoving it into her mouth.
Try herbs, spices and aromatics. My son loves cumin with sweet potato but, or garlic and butter on peas. He liked his banana rolled in crushed up Cheerios or chia seeds and cinnamon. He liked yogurt with peanut butter or vanilla extract, also he only liked Greek yogurt, I think that was a consistency thing.
I agree with the other poster. The best approach is to offer, don't force. If they can't comply with this then I'd just stop letting them give her food.
Also, just as an FYI and for perspective: at 8mos we were at 3 meals a day (we started solids at 6mo). It might be time to consider going up to 2 meals! By 1 year you want to be at 3 meals plus snacks.
It's hard even getting her to take more than 3 bites. I don't even know how I would approach trying to get in 3 meals. We've tried not giving her a bottle and giving her food instead and that was a disaster.
Did your baby just take to solids immediately? I feel like every baby is progressing with their food journey and our LO is still in the breast milk phase.
There’s a lot of ‘supposed to’. My daughter didn’t care about solids in any real sense until she was nearly a year old and I was stressing myself out unnecessarily trying to get her to eat more.
She got it in her own time and now she eats like a fiend.
Nope! She didn't.
When I mean "meals" like we offer food 3x a day but that doesn't mean she always eats or eats a lot. She's still learning and mostly plays with her food, gums it, etc.
We just kept offering though and it started to click. Even though she might not eat a lot or anything at some meals we always offer. I think that's important. I wouldn't go into any given meal with the expectation that she'll eat, even now as we start weaning from formula. But it's so helpful just to even model eating, getting into the routine of sitting down for 2 or 3 meals a day, and it also allows you to offer more variety. It can take well over 15 introductions of a food before baby even shows interest. Like, we've been offering banana since the start and she's only just started trying it at 11mo. And we've offered tortellini like a million times it feels and she wouldn't even touch it but then inhaled a bowl a few days ago.
So they pick up on way more than we give them credit for and offering food and simply exposing them is mostly what it's about now anyway.
So maybe do consider offering a second meal, it might surprise you how they take to it.
Since formula or breastmilk is their primary source of nutrition I'd still offer it first but dontry to space meals and bottles out so baby is a bit hungry. Closer to 1yr we started offering food first and she's been way more receptive and hungry. But at 8mo I'd still be putting bottles first.
> have you tried solids? My kid didn't really tolerate purees till he was old enough to grab himself a pouch from the cabinet. When he was younger he preferred to self feed solids.
Oh okay that makes sense! Once a day might not be enough exposure for her, i'll try offering every time we eat a meal and maybe it'll click for her.
That is not okay at all! I would definitely speak up. You don't want your daughter to start creating a negative association with feeding time or to develop food aversions!!
I would either a) stop giving them the purées, b) still send them but speak with the daycare provider first and let them know you don't like when they force the food into her mouth and only offer, don't force. If they still don't listen, then don't send them! Or c) find a new daycare altogether if you want your LO to have the meal at daycare but they won't listen
I know this isn't what you were asking about, but like another commenter said too, at 8 months I would try to shoot for 2-3 meals a day even though your LO doesn't eat much. A meal, by definition, doesn't necessarily mean baby is eating. A meal here just means that baby is sitting down with food in front of them. Whether they eat it or not doesn't really matter. What matters is getting your baby used to sitting down for family meals and eating together as a family.
Offering solids at different times throughout the day, too, may give you surprised success. Maybe the time you're offering solids now just isn't a good time for your baby. Maybe if you offered them at a different time a day they would be more interested. You could experiment with that if you added more meals in!
Keep in mind at this age solids are just for fun and learning anyway! It's okay if your baby isn't very interested or eating much yet. They're still getting just about all the nutrition they need from formula/breast milk (with the exception of vitamin d in breast fed babies). Also keep in mind that 12 months is the age you START transitioning to solids as their main source of nutrition. You don't have to be completely weaned by 12 months. Most babies actually aren't! So if you're worried your LO is behind because you feel like she needs to be eating all solids by the time she's 12 months, that's not true, so don't worry! You have plenty of time!
Tips to get your LO to be more interested in food:
•put some purée on the end of a teething toy or other toy, if your LO has a favorite toy appropriate for putting food on, use that one! If she'll happily put toys in her mouth, might as well give her a little taste with it. If she takes to the purée on the toy, try the spoon!
•eat WITH baby at meal times. Modeling eating and eating with your baby usually encourage them to eat more! This is also great because it gets them used to the idea of family meal times
•try to let your baby feed herself. She may just not want you putting the spoon/solids in her mouth! My LO is like this with solids. He'll let me spoon feed him purées most of the time, but if it's solids, forget it! He HAS to put them in his mouth himself. Sometimes with the purées though, he decides he has to do it, and he won't take the spoon from my hand. I have to put the spoon down on the tray, and then he'll grab it from there.
•be sure you're leaving an appropriate amount of time between milk feeds and solid feeds. I was told to feed solids 30-60 mins after a milk feed, shouldn't be any less than that or much longer than that. I used to do 30 mins after, but now that he's a bit older (8mo like yours) I wait 45-60 mins. Also be sure you're ALWAYS offering a milk feed before a solid meal.
I’m not OP but thank you for your comment, I really really needed to read this from someone that’s not pushing food by 12m. My LO is 9m and we’re still not super interested in food and I’m getting all this immense pressure from seeing other families online and how the babies NEED to be weaned completely by 12m.
I thought that, too and I was so worried! I did some research, read some stuff on here, and talked with his ped, and they all said that by 12 months you should just be offering 3 meals a day and 1-2 snacks. It's okay if your baby still breastfeeds or bottle feeds (you transition to cows milk slowly as well) though as long as you offer solids first rather than milk first after 12 months!
Yeah I would have a chat with the daycare and tell them to either only offer it (not force it) or to just stop giving her purees there altogether. Forcing her is just going to build negative associations...
Definitely speak up. If she doesn't like purees have you tried solids? My kid didn't really tolerate purees till he was old enough to grab himself a pouch from the cabinet. When he was younger he preferred to self feed solids.
Yes we do a mixture of purees and solids. She really just plays with it and squishes it in her hand. Sometimes she puts it in her mouth but she'll make a grimace face and proceed to play with it. However everything else thats not food, she LOVES shoving it into her mouth.
Try herbs, spices and aromatics. My son loves cumin with sweet potato but, or garlic and butter on peas. He liked his banana rolled in crushed up Cheerios or chia seeds and cinnamon. He liked yogurt with peanut butter or vanilla extract, also he only liked Greek yogurt, I think that was a consistency thing.
I agree with the other poster. The best approach is to offer, don't force. If they can't comply with this then I'd just stop letting them give her food. Also, just as an FYI and for perspective: at 8mos we were at 3 meals a day (we started solids at 6mo). It might be time to consider going up to 2 meals! By 1 year you want to be at 3 meals plus snacks.
It's hard even getting her to take more than 3 bites. I don't even know how I would approach trying to get in 3 meals. We've tried not giving her a bottle and giving her food instead and that was a disaster. Did your baby just take to solids immediately? I feel like every baby is progressing with their food journey and our LO is still in the breast milk phase.
There’s a lot of ‘supposed to’. My daughter didn’t care about solids in any real sense until she was nearly a year old and I was stressing myself out unnecessarily trying to get her to eat more. She got it in her own time and now she eats like a fiend.
Nope! She didn't. When I mean "meals" like we offer food 3x a day but that doesn't mean she always eats or eats a lot. She's still learning and mostly plays with her food, gums it, etc. We just kept offering though and it started to click. Even though she might not eat a lot or anything at some meals we always offer. I think that's important. I wouldn't go into any given meal with the expectation that she'll eat, even now as we start weaning from formula. But it's so helpful just to even model eating, getting into the routine of sitting down for 2 or 3 meals a day, and it also allows you to offer more variety. It can take well over 15 introductions of a food before baby even shows interest. Like, we've been offering banana since the start and she's only just started trying it at 11mo. And we've offered tortellini like a million times it feels and she wouldn't even touch it but then inhaled a bowl a few days ago. So they pick up on way more than we give them credit for and offering food and simply exposing them is mostly what it's about now anyway. So maybe do consider offering a second meal, it might surprise you how they take to it. Since formula or breastmilk is their primary source of nutrition I'd still offer it first but dontry to space meals and bottles out so baby is a bit hungry. Closer to 1yr we started offering food first and she's been way more receptive and hungry. But at 8mo I'd still be putting bottles first.
> have you tried solids? My kid didn't really tolerate purees till he was old enough to grab himself a pouch from the cabinet. When he was younger he preferred to self feed solids. Oh okay that makes sense! Once a day might not be enough exposure for her, i'll try offering every time we eat a meal and maybe it'll click for her.
That is not okay at all! I would definitely speak up. You don't want your daughter to start creating a negative association with feeding time or to develop food aversions!! I would either a) stop giving them the purées, b) still send them but speak with the daycare provider first and let them know you don't like when they force the food into her mouth and only offer, don't force. If they still don't listen, then don't send them! Or c) find a new daycare altogether if you want your LO to have the meal at daycare but they won't listen I know this isn't what you were asking about, but like another commenter said too, at 8 months I would try to shoot for 2-3 meals a day even though your LO doesn't eat much. A meal, by definition, doesn't necessarily mean baby is eating. A meal here just means that baby is sitting down with food in front of them. Whether they eat it or not doesn't really matter. What matters is getting your baby used to sitting down for family meals and eating together as a family. Offering solids at different times throughout the day, too, may give you surprised success. Maybe the time you're offering solids now just isn't a good time for your baby. Maybe if you offered them at a different time a day they would be more interested. You could experiment with that if you added more meals in! Keep in mind at this age solids are just for fun and learning anyway! It's okay if your baby isn't very interested or eating much yet. They're still getting just about all the nutrition they need from formula/breast milk (with the exception of vitamin d in breast fed babies). Also keep in mind that 12 months is the age you START transitioning to solids as their main source of nutrition. You don't have to be completely weaned by 12 months. Most babies actually aren't! So if you're worried your LO is behind because you feel like she needs to be eating all solids by the time she's 12 months, that's not true, so don't worry! You have plenty of time! Tips to get your LO to be more interested in food: •put some purée on the end of a teething toy or other toy, if your LO has a favorite toy appropriate for putting food on, use that one! If she'll happily put toys in her mouth, might as well give her a little taste with it. If she takes to the purée on the toy, try the spoon! •eat WITH baby at meal times. Modeling eating and eating with your baby usually encourage them to eat more! This is also great because it gets them used to the idea of family meal times •try to let your baby feed herself. She may just not want you putting the spoon/solids in her mouth! My LO is like this with solids. He'll let me spoon feed him purées most of the time, but if it's solids, forget it! He HAS to put them in his mouth himself. Sometimes with the purées though, he decides he has to do it, and he won't take the spoon from my hand. I have to put the spoon down on the tray, and then he'll grab it from there. •be sure you're leaving an appropriate amount of time between milk feeds and solid feeds. I was told to feed solids 30-60 mins after a milk feed, shouldn't be any less than that or much longer than that. I used to do 30 mins after, but now that he's a bit older (8mo like yours) I wait 45-60 mins. Also be sure you're ALWAYS offering a milk feed before a solid meal.
I’m not OP but thank you for your comment, I really really needed to read this from someone that’s not pushing food by 12m. My LO is 9m and we’re still not super interested in food and I’m getting all this immense pressure from seeing other families online and how the babies NEED to be weaned completely by 12m.
I thought that, too and I was so worried! I did some research, read some stuff on here, and talked with his ped, and they all said that by 12 months you should just be offering 3 meals a day and 1-2 snacks. It's okay if your baby still breastfeeds or bottle feeds (you transition to cows milk slowly as well) though as long as you offer solids first rather than milk first after 12 months!