My daughter is 9 1/2 months old. Developmentally she is doing perfectly well and she is as healthy as a horse but we are running into a slight problem with food. She loves formula. She loves every fruit you put in front of her. She loves baby oatmeal, rice cereal, etc. She loves Mum-Mums (baby rice cakes) and the Gerber “veggie sticks”, which are essentially a low sodium cheeto. She likes meats when mixed with sweet potato.
What she does not like is vegetables. She even hates vegetables that are normally kid friendly like squash. She especially hates anything tomato-based. And when I say “hates” I don’t mean that she wrinkles her nose and makes an angry face, I mean gagging so hard she vomits on herself. I’ve taken to mixing a couple of spoonfuls of veggies into her fruit for nutritional purposes and tricking her into eating things by giving her a couple spoons of fruit or cereal and then a spoonful of a vegetable which still makes her gag but manages to significantly reduce the vomiting.
Normally I would just keep doing what I’m doing and know that eventually she will expand her palate on her own time but I’m concerned about her extreme reaction. Is it normal for babies to hate foods so much that they act like they are auditioning for The Exorcist?
I don’t think it’s normal, but as I’m sure you’re aware by now, there’s nothing really normal about what babies do. Here, from my safe perspective of not having babies for a number of years, I say don’t sweat it, don’t give her the stuff she gags on, and re-introduce it in a few weeks. It is a Phase.
Babies will gag and cough if they see it’s getting a reaction out of you. I don’t know if that’s what she’s doing, but they will do it. When eating is connected to the whole drama, it’s more emotional because of course you want your child to be healthy and eat all the right foods and grow up big and strong, etc. But honestly, it’s harder on you than it is on them.
TLDR version: I don’t know if it indicates a problem or not. Answering just as a Weathered Veteran Parent.
Mention it to the pediatrician, of course, but I’ve known many babies whose “hate” reactions to foods were along the lines of what you describe - the Kidlette could spit carrot pieces found in her veggie pure to several yards away. Some of them later turned out to have physical problems with those problem foods (one of the things that made Middlebro turn six different colors was peppers, which it turns out give him hives); others got to like those foods as they got bigger or happen to like them in a different preparation (the Kidlette likes her carrots by the double-handful but raw); there are likely to be a few foods that your kid hates forever and ever and longer than that (my family universally despises Swiss chard, other people love it).
We were told that ‘food before one is just for fun’ - in other words, until they’re one, they’re getting their actual nutrition from breastmilk and/or formula. Solids are just in there to get them used to the idea, the tastes, the textures, etc. So I wouldn’t worry about the nutritional side.
Personally, same as Ellen Cherry, I’d forget the whole vegetable thing and try again in a few weeks. The one thing that kept taking me aback about Widget was how fast kids develop. Something that was Absolutely Unthinkable one week (naps in a bassinet) would be totally fine, not a shadow of a problem, a couple of weeks later.
If she’s still gagging on any vegetable around the time she turns one, I might ask your doctor about it, but up until then I’d put it down to a phase.
It doesn’t sound all that normal to me to vomit so readily but I could be wrong. it doesn’t sound like she’s spitting the food out but more like horking it? or is it hard to tell. I’ve heard of kids having reflux problems which tomatoes can make worse (Home | Children's Wisconsin) . The doctor could answer your questions there.
Secondly, sweet potatoes are a totally legit vegtable. I don’t know why you’re on about “doesn’t eat vegetables.” She eats vegetables. Just not so many different ones. So? Does she get a good variety of vitamins, carbs, protein and fiber? If yes, yay! You’re doing a good job! Have you tried pureeing some innocuous vegetable without much taste (maybe zucchini or spinach) and mixing it with sweet potato or a little applesauce?
I spoke to her doctor about her diet and they recommended that we keep encouraging her to eat vegetables because she can’t learn to like something she isn’t eating. The gagging/vomiting hasn’t abated since then even though it has been several weeks so when we go in again later this month I’ll bring it up again.
When I mix them in with sweet things or at a small enough ratio with bland things she has no problem with it. The baby disagrees with you about potatoes being bland though. White potatoes, especially in mashed potato form, cause her to gag.
She is totally horking. Sweet potatoes work well for her and we use them to mix in other vegetables and meats but they are the only vegetable she will knowingly and voluntarily put in her mouth.
She gets both baby food from a jar and food that has been mashed/diced/etc. from our plates. We’ve been in a weird position where we have been moving every couple of weeks for the last 3 months (long, boring story) but now that we are in a permanent new place we are trying to find the food processor and stuff to add more variety to her diet.
She doesn’t like stuff from our plates any more than she likes the jarred stuff, for what it’s worth.
Cool, at least you’re trying a variety of things. Keep on offering them to her. Different veggies, differently seasoned, differently prepared. It can take a shockingly high number of offers and refusals before they suddenly decide that they like something. Whatever you do, try not to let it get to you. They learn what gets a reaction surprisingly young, and if she senses you’re getting frustrated, it’s happy fun time for her. Just keep offering healthy options and let her choose from those options. She doesn’t particularly need the nutrients at this point, just new experiences.
Have you tried avocado? That was one of my daughter’s favorites, and it sounds like it might appeal to your little one - it’s not so vegetabley tasting or feeling as many vegetables, and it’s easily mashed or diced or spread on toast with a sprinkle of salt.
In another three months, you’ll be able to start messing with her head, and that can help. “Oh, no, you’re not old enough for this broccoli. Only big kids and mommies and daddies like broccoli. Maybe when you’re older. What? Really? Well, if you think so, but just one little bite…!”
Concur, and concur. (IANAParent, I just used to babysit wee ones a bit. Also, I was one, at some point. According to my mom, I used to absolutely hate bread. WTF was wrong with BabyMe? )
I did Baby Led Weaning with my first, and have just begun it with my second who’s 7 months old. This is a proceed of introducing kids to solids from around 6 months in regular form (finger food sized steamed veggies and fruit etc, moving onto smaller pieces as they develop pincer movement. So I can’t give a lot of advice around purée stuff as we never did it, but if you want to know about BLW happy to answer any questions.
But I do know that #1 never (and still doesn’t) really like pumpkin or tomato so it’s possible they are just not to her taste. Alternatively they suggest that kids have to be exposed to a new food up to 20 times before they will be happy to eat it. Maybe the hiding of a new texture is upsetting her? What happens if you offer her up a fist sized chunk just to gnaw on, does she still have the same reaction?
Perhaps another veggie may be a better introduction to non-sweet food, as tomatoes are somewhat acidic? My first foods are normally sticks of carrot and broccoli trees, both of which have nice sweet flavours. Avocado is good too, and a good bridge from the puréed you’ve been using so far.
And a good thing to remember (other than food is fun before they are 1) is that you are responsible for what they get to choose to heat. They are responsible for what they do eat, so it may be that you need to take a mental step back, to avoid getting so frustrated (save that for toilet training!!!)
My son had a horking/gagging/vomit reaction to a number of foods as a little one, including tomatoes, eggs and nuts. All of which he turned out to be very allergic to. I think if it were me, I’d hold off the stuff that produces a bad reaction for a little while then try again when she’s a bit bigger. In my son’s case he’s now 16 and his egg allergy is long gone. But the nut allergy is now at dangerous levels.
I wouldn’t be worried at that age if the baby refused some foods while eating others. Well, I say I wouldn’t be worried, but it’s easy to say that 13 years later.
Are you asking partly because you’re concerned she might be showing a food allergy of some sort, or others have suggested that to you in a well-meaning way? If that is your concern, then leave the suspect foods out of her diet for a couple of months and only then try again. Even when babies do have a reaction to something it’s not always permanent, so it’s worth trying again unless the reaction is in the really obvious form (hives, runny poo, etc), but repeatedly trying to encourage them to eat it will just make them hate it more.
FWIW, my daughter ate most things from about six months, but in teeny tiny portions, and it was only at around nine months that she started to actually eat food, and then she seemed to prefer it non-pureed. IME some babies (and adults) don’t like a pureed texture.
My son is 2 and still horks stuff out that he decides he doesn’t like. If I try to sneak something in and he figures it out, he’ll hork till he pukes.
Normal? I dunno, but it’s certainly normal for him. The thing’s he ‘hates’ changes every few weeks - he used to love sweet potato, now he hates it. He used to hate chicken, now he loves it.
