won't eat vegies

Hi,

I have been feeding Madison solids twice a day for nealy a month now - rice cereal in the morning which she loves and vegies for dinner. Everything was going well until a week ago, she no longer wants to eat vegies. I've started mixing them together and she refuses to eat her dinner. Even cries when I try to feed her. She has had pumpkin/zuchini, pumpkin/broccoli, brocoli/carrot, broccoli/sweet potato, broccoli/potato/carrot and other variations of this. Madison now sticks her tongue out to taste what she is getting to eat, if it's rice cereal she then opens her mouth. However if it's vegies she closes her mouth and won't open it at all. I'm thinking of going back to one vegie at a time. Has anyone else had this problem - what did you do?

There is another topic in this section called "feeding solids to a 6 month old" that you should have a look at.

Try mixing some ricotta or parmesan cheese in with the vegies. Or try some other foods.

hi, I would go back to basics, maybe just try pumpkin on its own. Have you tried her on apple? Pear? If you mix these with rice cereal you get more Iron because of the vitamin c.How old is Madison? My boy did go through a fussy stage, Was your first a good eater? Apparantly when there teething they go off food (or just certain types) My boy hates potato even when I try to discuise them.
Goodluck.

Hi mishka,

Thanks for your reply. Madison is 6mths 1week now and yes my first was a good eater, that's why this is so frustrating. I didn't want to introduce fruits yet as I have been told that once they get the taste for sweet food it is harder to get them to eat savoury. I did try just pumpkin with a little potato today for her dinner and she still refused to eat. Her dinner has been at around 5.30/6ish.

Anyway, I've decided to stop the 2nd feed for a couple of days and start all over again - back to basics just like you suggest. It's becomming a bit stressful in our house when it's time to feed her and that's no good for anyone. Poor Jacqueline(our first) got the brunt of it tonight.

hi well i had exactly the same problem with my daughter she wouldnt have a bar of soap of any sort of vegies so i started to use sweet potato,carrot and potato all in together and i will put a couple of drops of gravy in them and she will eat them all up no worries you could also try vegemite that always seems to do the trick to goodluck.

Try giving just mashed potato without anything mixed with it for a while. It's bland, but that's what I did. Mine loves anything resembling food, which is lucky, but it's worth a shot for you if you haven't already tried it.

Hi Yonny,
I've heard that you should try vegies before fruit aswell, but Id rather my boy eat some fruit rather that no fruit or vegies but she might come round.
Mind you, my health nurse told me that if they are hungry they will eat anything, so how far apart is her lunch or bottle from dinner? My son has his bottle 3 hours before dinner.
Hang in there!

Hi Michelle,
Madison is eating her vegies again, I started from scratch and she is now enjoying her food. Genereally I breastfeed her first and then wait 30mins to 1 hour to give her solids, sometimes it turns out to be a little bit longer. I made the vegies a smoother consitency and if it was a little thick i also added water to thin it out a little and this seems to be working. She doesn't seem ready for fork mashed yet, i tried it and she stuck her tongue out as if she wanted the food off her tongue.

i haven't started a third meal yet (lunch). i was told not to worry about it until she was around 8 months by the health nurse, but i'm not sure i should wait that long, are you giving your baby 3 meals or 2 meals a day?

Hi Yonny,
I'm so glad that you've found a way to get Madison to eat those vegies. My little one is 10 months now, so he is definantely eating 3 meals. I'm actually wondering when the perfect time is to introduce morning tea? My sister used to give her 10 month old morning tea.
When Jack was 6 months my health nurse told me to start to give him solids first, before his milk thats when he started to eat more. (when he was actually hungry) And then eventually he didnt have his milk at all after meals, because he was to full. I just give him water or juice with meals. Now he will have 3 bottles a day.
My opinion about 3 meals is, that babies learn from others, even eating so I think Its a good habit to start early to eat breaky, lunch and dinner with your baby. Mind you, it doesnt always work that way! Merry Christmas for tommorow!

Just a suggestion but see if you can borrow from the library or buy a book called the contented little baby book. It talks you through eating problems and how to go in fixing it.