My baby, who is now 7 1/2 months old, is not just not into solids.
I offer them every day, but never gets more than a mouthful of it down, and that seems to happen more by accident than by design.
She has some signs of readiness for solids - sitting up without support, interest in chewing. But she still has the tongue thrust, and she really looks like she's trying to 'nurse' the food when I do get some in there. She also doesn't seem any more interested in our food than anything else. I remember my son studying us as we ate. She doesn't seem interested at all. She seems perfectly happy to be getting all of her calories from me.
I know that she's getting everything she needs from nursing,* and she is one hefty girl, but it's hard not to wonder when she'll get around to eating solids. So when a little doubt starts to creep in I find find it helpful to say to myself, "There's no nutritional emergency." That's a quote from Child of Mine, by Ellyn Satter. We used her book when learning about solids with my son, and I did a podcast interview with her on starting solids.
I think that this is a great phrase to remember, whether your baby is later than average to start solids, or whether your baby is eating but you're feeling some urges to 'shovel it in.' As Ellyn says, our responsiblity to is to put good food in front of our babies. Our babies' responsibility is to decide when, how much, and whether to eat it.
I also like this page on kellymom, which points out it's common for babies to be ready at around 6-8 months, and addresses a lot of myths about solids.
Have any of you had babies who weren't interested in solids until later than six months? I'd love to hear about it.
*Wondering about iron? My baby was full term, I had good iron stores in pregnancy, and we delayed cord clamping. I'm assuming that her iron stores are fine. Here's why. I'm aware that this goes against the current AAP policy on supplementing with iron - a policy which was disputed by the AAP Section on Breastfeeding. Of course, this is not intended as medical advice. Talk with your own provider if you have concerns about your own baby's iron levels.
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