9th November 2015
This is the question a friend asked me when her 6-month-old daughter spat out the courgette puree as though she was being poisoned and point blank refused to take anymore! I have been helping this friend through the daunting task of weaning your first child, and her daughter had been doing so well until she got to green veg. There is a reason for this, the green pigment can actually be quite bitter and our innate response is to reject bitter tastes.
So my response to my friend was not to worry and ‘try, try and try again’, its quite normal for a baby to rejects certain foods and it can take more than 10 exposures to that food before it becomes accepted. So, don’t get put off by your child’s rejection, don’t cause a fuss (attention can inadvertently reinforce behavior), use lots of encouragement when they do well and just try again at another time. If a baby is feeling unwell, teething or is tired this can reduce their appetite and increase fussiness.
Take a look at the Infant & Toddler Forum, there is a wealth of great advice on lots of topics relating to infant and toddler eating, all of which is written by highly qualified specialist working in this field.
http://www.infantandtoddlerforum.org/pregnancy-and-infancy/babies-to-toddlers-the-first-year/weaningfant
