Help With 6 Month Old Who Is Now Refusing Lunch

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Help With 6 Month Old Who Is Now Refusing Lunch

by Tracey
(Essex)

I started my baby on baby rice at 4 months. Then went onto pureed vegetables such as carrots, sweet potato, parsnip and courgettes. But now he is 6 months he has started to refuse the meal but will eat yogurts etc no problem..He will even eat small pieces of bread with cream cheese but really need for him to eat a dinner with vegetables in any advice?

I have even tried cooking fresh in case he did not like the fact it was frozen but having no luck. He will eat macaroni cheese so wonder if he is just being awkward.

Have put down his current schedule in case that throws any light on the situation.

Awake 6.30am 6oz bottle,
8.00am cereal(4 tsps or half a weetabix)
Naps 9.00am wakes 10.30-11am.
12.00pm (lunch Or what he refuses and 3oz bottle milk)
Naps 1pm to 2.30pm
Tea at 3pm(4tsps pureed fruit mixed with 2 tsps of baby rice and 3oz bottle milk)
Nap 4.30pm to 6pm.
bottle 6oz at 7pm
bed at 8pm.
6oz bottle at 11pm (which we wake him for) then sleeps through till 6.30am

I hope this helps anyone and if anyone has any ideas i would be grateful.

Baby Help Line Response:

Hi Tracy!

I think you son seems to be on a great schedule; no problem at all. 6 months old is a common age for babies to become more picky with they're eating, which is a reason it is often easier to start introducing solid foods slightly before that age (although only breastfeeding for six months is the general recommendation from a health perspective).

First of all don't panic! Your baby is still so young that he gets the major part of his nutrition from formula, which is great. Second, a trick that I used with our youngest, who was just like your son – veeery picky – was to mix his veggies with lots of fruit puree. Then gradually as he got used to the taste I reduced the share of fruits. That made him eat at least some of the veggies I served.

Some kids are picky in periods and it passes, others are picky for years. Try to be patient and continue to offer different tastes. For some more tips on how to deal with a picky baby, click here.

Comments for
Help With 6 Month Old Who Is Now Refusing Lunch

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Jul 10, 2008

Our Schedule (works for us)
by: Sally

Gosh your little one is advanced in what he eats. My lo is six months last week I started her on solids at 5 months introducing baby oatmeal now she has a mix of Papaya, banana, pear, peach for breakfast then afternoon she has veggies such as Cauli, broccoli with cheese, sweet potato, carrots, peas and I will be introducing fish and chicken next week. Heres her schedule.

6.15am awake
6.30am 1 oz Formula
7.45am 6 oz Formula
8am Nap in crib
9-9.30am awake
10am Fruit & Water
12-12.30pm 7 oz Formula
12.30pm Nap in crib
1.30pm-2pm awake
2.30pm Veggies & Water
3.45pm 1-2 oz Formula
3.45pm-4.15pm Nap carseat or crib
4.30pm 4.45pm awake (I dont let her sleep past this or she wont go to bed with ease)
6.30pm 6-7 oz Formula
7pm Bedtime (I weaned her off the 10.30pm feed)
Mummy time till 6.15am tomorrow

Aug 08, 2008

My 6months old LO diet
by: Anonymous

HI,
This is the routine of my 8 months old daughter:
Morning 7.30 -8 wakes up and has 60ml milk
9.30 - 10.00 - mashed banana with honey or rice cakes. water.
12.00 - sweet lime juice
1.00 - rice, carrot, beet, and dhal
5.00 - mashed apple
9.30 - cerelac
Can yo give me tips on what else I can add to her diet.

Aug 28, 2008

Take this for what its worth - my opinion
by: Anonymous

this is just my opinion, however I don't think any of the diets presented are healthy or are offering enough nutrients, especially the ones they need for brain development or growth.

I mean in one of those schedules your child is only being given milk once a day. That is no where near the daily intake necessary to sustain healthy promotion of brain development. Children should be getting at least 40oz of formula or breast milk per every 24 hr period. DHA and ARA are essential vitamins and very necessary.

As far as juice it is a proven fact it offers no nutritional value to infants or childrens diets and on the contrary can lead to poor dental and health issues for example childhood diabetes or obesity.

Meats are very important as they offer a great source of protein so important for kids this age. I don't know maybe this is different in the states and I don't mean to sound preachy, just offering my opinion. My 7 month old sons schedule is:

6am- 8oz bottle formula
7am- 1 jar of fruits or oatmeal organic
10am- 8oz bottle formula
12pm- jar of veggies organic and jar of fruits or applesauce all organic and sugar free
3pm-8 oz bottle formula
and teether biscuit
6pm- 8oz botttle
1 jar of veggies and jar of fruits organic
9-last bottle of night 8 oz formula and applesauce or oatmeal

I would say try to make sure you are keeping an exact schedule with feeding. It will help your child to know what should come next in their day and they will look for that to happen.

Try making feeding fun turn it into a game, play airplane with the fork or sing silly songs when feeding. Also try letting him feed himself with the spoon but only put tiny amounts on spoon. if he feels he is accomplishing something it may make him more apt to eat.

Just suggestions oh and I don't know if it is the same there but I was told by my ped never to give honey before 1 year of age can lead to botulism.

Jan 12, 2009

6 months old baby girl
by: connie

My baby schedule is:
-8 or 9:00AM breast milk, this is the time when she wakes up ( I'm very lucky)
-11:00AM 8 tablespoons of rice/oatmeal cereal mixed w formula.
-2:00 PM Breast Milk
-5:00 PM Breast Milk
-7:30 or 8:00 PM 3.5 oz veggies (squash or peas or carrots or sweet potatoes, etc) plus 2 or 3 oz of formula if she still hungry
-10 or 11:00 PM 6 to 8 oz of formula

During the day I offer her water but she does not like it, but I keep trying.
I have not introduce fruits. I want her to like veggies.
Any suggestion? I'm not sure if this enough for a 6 month old baby.
Thanks!

Mar 27, 2009

7 month old girl
by: Anonymous

I didn't start feeding my baby cereal until she was 6months old. She fights the feedings 80% of the time. I have offered her rice, oats & mixed grain but she isn't real interested in any of these. I have now started her on some veggies but am still having the same problem. I am breast feeding her every 3-4 hours during the day. She doesn't like to take the bottle or sippy cup but hopefully with my patience we will get there. She is now waking about every 2-4hrs at night & wants to be fed. I feed her between 9-10 at night & I wish she would eat better during the day because then I think she would sleep better at night, & me too!

Apr 26, 2009

my 8 month-old
by: Anonymous

hello everyone,
here is my baby girl diet,,,please tell me or give me some idea if her diet is not good,,

8:30 or 9 am breast feed,,i don't know how much she drinks,sometimes one breast sometimes both
9:30 or 10:30 4 full tbspoon mixed cereal with water and one of half fruit, like apple ,pear,plum,peach,,
12:00 ish breast feed
nap
2:00 ish breast feed and half an hour later lunch:protein chicken or red meet,with rice and veggies like sweet potato,carrot,peas,celery,squash
any one or mix that i have available(home made)
3:00 offer water mix with the water left over from cooking the fruits
nap
6:00 ish breast feed
8;30 dinner,,cooked mix of rice barley and quick oat with cooked fruit like banana and avocado

9:30 bed time some times breast feed before bed

she sleeps through the night since one month old

thanx for reading my scdl,,,need some opinion in case of adding different foods

Jan 11, 2010

Baby food
by: Ramesh

My baby is 51/2 months old, i have not started solid food yet, should there be any issue?? what should be the ideal diet to start solid food??

Please advice.

Also she waked up every 1 hr at night after she goes to bed, she is given breast milk then she sleeps...is this an indication to increase the diet??

Jan 11, 2010

No problem!
by: Baby Help Line - Paula

Hi Ramesh,

There is absolutely no problem with fully breastfeeding a 5.5 month old baby. Rather the opposite and actually what is recommended by WHO. But if your baby does wake up frequently and especially if she seems interested in what you are eating if she is sitting next to you, then it is an excellent time to start.

You can find quite a lot of information here at Easy Baby Life and I'll give you links to some of the resources below.

A good starting point is:

Starting with solid baby food.

You'll find recipes for homemade purees for 6 months old babies here:

Baby food recipes to begin with

And for a feeding schedule, see the article below:

Feeding schedule for babies up to 8 months old.

Finally, you'll find a lot of questions and answers from other parents regarding feeding a baby here:

Baby feeding questions and answers.

I hope this will get you started!

Best wishes,

Paula

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