My eight month old won't eat solids. She seems to keep using that tongue motion as if she is drinking from the bottle so the food keeps coming back out. She is interested in the first bite, but nothing more than that. She has pretty bad acid reflux so perhaps that is impacting her eating. Any suggestions or comments??
At eight months you could try finger food. We started with graham crackers. They get really mushy, so they are very safe. At this point, she can still get all of her nutrition from breast milk or formula, so I wouldn't worry too much about nutrition from food. Just give her some things she can feed herself with that aren't potential choking hazzards.
A baby's tongue thrusting is a built-in reflex to keep the baby from eating things that would be harmful. I have heard that if the baby is still doing this, they aren't ready for solids. Although trying to feed him isn't harming him in any way, I don't think it actually helps him outgrow this reflex...he will outgrow it soon enough.
My son, who's 4 now, was like this when he was your daughter's age.
I let him lead the way - we kept trying baby food and solids until he took them. But we never forced him into solids.
She will let you know when she's ready to transition. There's nothing wrong with a bottle either so if she's happy on that, let her be I say.
Best wishes.
Are you treating the reflux? If not, start with that. I doubt that the reflux is stopping her from eating but it is uncomfortable for her. .
As to her pushing the food out with her tongue, this is usual when a baby first starts to eat solid foods. They have to learn how to use their tongue differently. They do that by your continuing to offer her food. With practice she'll be able to swallow it too.
I don't have a lot of recommendations but I did want to mention that both my daughters have acid reflux - but they had completely different symptoms. My youngest had an EXTREME gag reflex - we had to cut her food up into the tiniest of pieces. Anything that went into her mouth that was even the slightest bit "normal" in size would get gagged right out. Poor thing. At the time I didn't even know she had acid reflux - again, her symptoms were not at all the same as my older daughter who had already been diagnosed - but when I later described some of her odd symptoms - including this gag reflex thing - to her pedi gastro doctor he told me this was indeed a sign of acid reflux. Her medicine did help some. And getting older helped a lot. Or maybe a combination of both. So - if this is what is happening with your baby - and I don't know if it is - but if it is - you might treat it as more of a gag reflex - keep the pieces small or the spoonfuls small- don't put anything too far back on her tongue - maybe put things like Cheerios that will stick to and melt on her tongue so she can get the sensation of something on her tongue without it falling out. Wish I had more to suggest - it's been tough for my daughter - but at least I felt certain she would never choke (unlike my older daughter, on whom I had to do the heimlich 3 times - scary !) Good luck !!!!!
I had a child that needed occupational therapy for something else but the therapist had shared with me about her job and one thing she also did was helping children learned to eat that were having issues with texture and/or tongue motion problems. It's great that you are so very observant to your childs eating. I don't know if they have the group "Babies Can't Wait" they did in Florida and Georgia and some other states. Run their name for your state and see, if so contact them and see about getting a consult. They can't get someone in the proper field to observe your child and let you know what steps to take about helping her. They also helped me get assistance for my sons therapy it's a program for children under 3 yrs of age for many kids of therapy for each state. I hope you have them if not then I would consider talking to my ped about it be proactive and your childs advocate if you feel there's a problem don't stop until you get a consult for your child, don't stop at just one person's opinion either trust your gut on your child, your inner voice knows she needs some assistance in this matter. I would say at 8 months old and have 3 kids myself she needs some help 4-6 months should be eating solid (baby food) cereal, pureed fruit, veggies, etc..
My best wishes to you.
