This kid doesn't like anything. Carrots are the only vegetable she'll tolerate, which of course are one of the few things that I can't make myself. We've tried all the other veggies, and she turns her head away. Tried turkey and she gagged (almost as much as I do when I'm spooning out those gross little pureed meat jars-gack!) and she especially hates fruits. I've tried watering stuff down and adding a little rice cereal....no luck.

She does well with rice cereal mixed with a tiny bit of pear juice...but she can't eat carrots and rice for the rest of her life. Any advice?

 Have you tried making your own baby food? That way you can mix in the jarred carrot stuff with it but also put in pureed meats and other veggies?  Does she like sweet potatoes?  My kids always like the teeny tiny pasta stars that they sell.  I would boil it and then add tomato sauce, smashed veggies or whatever and the texture was perfect.

 Does she like to eat herself- finger foods?

 When mine started eating solid foods, I would put the food that they really liked on the tip of the spoon, and the food I knew they hated behind it, so they usually ended up eating it.

She still is so young.  Most of my babies don't get interested in solids until they almost reach 1.  None of my babies did at least.  I think they are good for practice before age 1 but I really, really don't think they are necessary.  For the most part after 6 months I just give table food to the kids.  I just mash it up really good.  Like if I make pot roast, I mash up the potatoe really good and the peas, carrot and even meat.  I also do not attempt to "feed" the babies...LOL...it is all theirs.  So I put the plate in front of them and let them have total control.  It is always really messy in my house.  My babies all really liked maple and brown sugar oatmeal.  They ate a lot of that.  Also cherrios were a favorite for breakfast.  Waffles were another biggie.  They would make them soggie with their spit and eat them...LOL  As far as fruits.  Have you tried cutting up fruit cocktail really tiny and letting her pick at it?  A lot of fruits and veggies are just not appetizing....especially in the puree form...LOL...so I guess my main advice is to make it chunky.  She should be able to mash at this point and babies love texture.  Some fruits are just not appealing to some.  I know my dd really likes grapes.  Green ones though and I cut them up really tiny and let her feed herself.  I take skin off too.  I also like to give more exotic fruits then the "typical ones" like kiwi and papaya.  I have also given her asian pears (have you ever had those???....yum...taste like candy).

Also...lets face it...puree turkey and chicken is just nasty....

But my babies loved spagetti and meatsauce and lasagna and meatsauce.  I always just gave my kids the spagetti I made and cut it up really really, really tiny!

I do make my own, but .I hadn't thought about mixing stuff together. Do they really get fooled by that? My boys will eat just about anything you set in front of them so this is all new to me. Not used to a picky eater. Lol.

I'm going to try the spoon trick from noboys....that just might work. And maybe cutting some fruit or mashed potatoes up really tiny. I'm scared of her choking, but she gnaws on those biter bars and icky little toast things like there's no tomorrow, so maybe she just wants some "foodier" food, not just pureed crud?

LOL...with ds#2 I really, REALLY wanted to do cherrios but insisted to the doctor that I didn't understand how they won't choke.  I mean, it just doesn't seem possible...but then it explained to me, that they can gag if they try to swallow a food that hasn't been chewed or mashed before downing it, but they absolutely won't "choke" because the properties to chock are just not there (unless they put like 5 in their mouth) So ever since then, I have been much more free with giving chunky foods to the kids.  As long as the pieces aren't so big that it can get lodged in the windpipe, it's ok.  Things like hot does need to be cut up so much...like little dices so so small.  Smaller then an eraser head.  So I cut all day...but mainly, as long as it's small enough, it will be ok.  Still, I understand your concern.  You have to be comfortable with it.  I am to the point where I am very comfortable giving all sorts of foods to my babies in a very textured way, but I wasn't always that free.  My dd's favorite food is mac n' cheese and she can eat it all day.  I make stoffers brand because it's ds#1 favorite and she shares with him.  She can't get enough.  It is yummy though...and fattening

noboys:

 When mine started eating solid foods, I would put the food that they really liked on the tip of the spoon, and the food I knew they hated behind it, so they usually ended up eating it.

  i do that to.

Also we use to mix just about everything with applesauce. Yup...puree chicken and applesauce...turkey and applesauce...carrots and applesauce...greenbeans and applesauce....you name it we added applesauce to it if they would not eat it.

Alli...have you tried squash or sweet potato. My dd sounds alot like your dd. We had such a hard time feeding her solids. She was almost 8 months before she would actually eat anything. She likes the sweeter vegetables and does not really care for the fruit.

 Also ...we finally found a baby cereal that she likes....'rice cereal with banana and vanilla' it is made by heinz. She loves it!!! I know it is not the banana so it must be the vanilla.

mom of 3 princes:

Alli...have you tried squash or sweet potato

Yep...and to both she does that one eye closed, scrunchy faced gagging. Lol. Then she closes up like a clam and refuses to open her mouth again.

I haven't seen that cereal....but wasn't looking for it either. I'll give it a try. She's not crazy about the rice and bananas cereal but she'll eat it. Maybe some vanilla in there would seal the deal.

I'm so sorry to hear of your troubles with your ladies.  I can't relate.  Kate eats anything.  All food makes her little legs go nuts in that high chair.  If you don't spoon it in fast enough, she'll grab the spoon. 

Did you try to cut up peaches or pears from a can of them in light syrup?  Kix cereal? 

HOLT:

Kate eats anything.  All food makes her little legs go nuts in that high chair.  If you don't spoon it in fast enough, she'll grab the spoon. 

Yeah, Ahyla does the same exact thing... I have to give her her own spoon, and even then when I try bringing my food up to her mouth she takes the chance to pop hers in before mine reaches, haha.  

HOLT:

Did you try to cut up peaches or pears from a can of them in light syrup?  Kix cereal? 

Nope, but I'm gonna. I gave her some Cheerios today and she LOVED them. I was so excited. She also (grudgingly) ate some mixed veggies. I forgot all about Kix, too. Can you tell I'm a generic cereal buyer? Lol.

 Hey Alli...........I can SO relate to the picky eater thing. Both my boys were picky and still are. My eldest is the worst. I second the cheerios. My kids LOVED them. Also I made my own veggies for them. Those jar ones are GROSS!!! I wouldn't even eat those. I have to say too.......that maybe she has an aversion to textures. My oldest son still does and a lot of foods make him gag. Heres what I would put in my vegie mix: zuchini, carrot, sweet potato, potato, peas..............and anything else you want to add really. I would just boil everything till soft. Then I would add it all to the food processor. Here's where my food differs from the crappy store ones..........that taste bland. I would then add a little salt to taste (not a lot, but just enough) and then a couple of vegetable or chicken stock cubes crumbled up in about 1/2 a cup of water. Add more water if it's too thick. I wold use the water I had cooked the vegies in. That's it. My kids LOVED it. It great because they eat a bunch of different vegies. Then when she gets a bit older you can start to cook the vegies seperately and cut them up, so she gets used to them. Hope that helps!!! 

That's a great recipe, Claire.  Any others?  Anyone else have good ones?  (Simple stuff is great too!) 

We gave Kate a Farley's Rusk yesterday for the first time.  Those of you from the UK will know what I mean!  Do they have those in Ausie land too?  (DH is British and he brought them back from a recent trip.)

Kate loved her watermelon tonight.  She even takes a BITE of a banana right from the peeling!  (We share one for breakfast.)  She loves those stupid stinky meat sticks too.  To counteract the bananas, I soak raisins in water for awhile to make them softer then cut them up.