Hi,

I have 8 months old baby. She rejects fruits/veggies/cereal, both home-made/gerber. I usually express my milk and feed her in bottle ( My aunt takes care of her during day time, as I go to work). I tried many times to feed cereal with milk/water, but no luck. I ended up in adding cereal in bottle. She takes 4-5 bottles in a day (4-5oz + 2 tbsp cereal) mixed in each feeding. She eats raagi jawa(soup) in the morning and home made mixed grains(raagi + oats + barley + wheat + boiled rice) soup for lunch. I even tried making kichdi with dal and rice with mixed vegetables. She keeps her mouth tight and gets cranky everytime, we try vegetable or fruit puree or even cereal in bowl. I am really worried, as fruits and vegetables are very much needed for my baby at this age. I breastfeed in the night for about 2-3 times. Since I started mixing cereal in bottle, she is putting up one pund a month. she usually weighs very less, abt 10 percentile. I am worried on how to get her proper diet and weight. I really appreciate any suggestions. Please help me out.

Thanks,
Satya Mel replied. Try giving her rice with yoghurt in the afternoon. Many fussy children like yoghurt. So, give her a taste of yoghurt and if she likes it, offer with a little rice. Another thing you can do, is boil veggies with rice. So, even if she eats only the rice, atleast the nutrients will leach into the rice water and she will get it when she eats the rice.

10th percentile is still in the normal weight range. It means that she is in the 10th centile RELATIVE to other infants. Most of these charts are based on caucasian (white) babies who are larger than the average Indian baby. So, don' t worry too much.

1 pound a month is adequate for her age (average for 6-9 months is 450 gms a month).

Don' t force her to eat what she doesn' t like. You can also try letting her feed herself. Sometimes, fussy children will experiment with food if they can feed themselves. So, cut up a ripe (slightly soft) banana into small bits (cut a thin slice, and chop that slice into 4 quarters). Put that in a plate and leave it in front of her. Or offer her a small bowl of veggie puree seasoned with a little ghee. Let her dip her fingers and make a mess. she may try some in the process.

And in general, let her eat as much or as little as she wants. Speak to your doc and he may recommend a good mineral supplement. My doc recommended a multi-mineral, multi-vitamin syrup, which is also an appetite stimulant. So, speak to your doc and see if he will prescribe something that will build up an appetite, and compensate for missing nutrients.