Teething 9 month old doesn't want to eat anything

[@llli*laurenxo]

My nine month old no longer wants to eat solids and is only interested in breastfeeding. For baby cereals or fruit/veg/meat purees she will only eat one spoonful. For finger foods like chicken, veg, cheerios, banana, etc. she will eat maybe one or two pieces IF I put it into her mouth FOR her, but she will not feed herself by hand either. She is only interested in the breast. Should I worry? Hoping that this phase passes. Her first tooth is almost in and I think two others are about to sprout up too.

[@llli*bfwmomof3]

No, I wouldn't worry. Solids before a year is for learning about tastes and textures, and developing the motor skills she needs to feed herself. All the nutrition she needs is coming from your milk. Keep offering, let her feed herself, if she's interested she'll eat, if not, no big deal!

[@llli*mommal]

No need to worry. Until a year, a baby who is breastfed on demand is capable of getting all her nutritional needs met by breastmilk alone. So until the first birthday, think of solids as something you offer only because they are fun (new tastes, new textures) and because baby can practice new motor skills when playing with them and getting them into her mouth. So if she eats some- great! And if she just tastes them and spits them back out- great! At least she tried. And if she won't even taste the solids and prefers to squish them with her hands or feed them to the dog or stuff them down a crack in her highchair- still great, because she had a fun learning experience.

After the first birthday, your baby may still prefer the breast and get most of her nutrition from your milk, but solids will slowly start to make up an important component of her diet. A lot of breastfed babies remain mostly breastfed until some point in the second year- for example, my girls didn't eat more than a teaspoon or two of solid food until around 14-15 months.