Tried weaning- now refuses spoon and finger foods...HELP please!

[shellsyd]

Hi,

I started weaning my LO two weeks before he turned 6 months. He tasted and spat out everything. I decided to take a break, then he got sick. About 2 wks past, tried again, and he started having porridge from a spoon. I was ecstatic! Then we went on a 2 wk holiday to Caribbean. He had porridge there, but refused carrotts and potatoes, so I thought I'd try when we get back home. Got back, and still eating porridge. But wouldn't touch potatoes/carrots. He's now 7 months old and is refusing anything on a spoon, porrige, carrots potatoes, apples, pears....u name it...

I have also been trying finger foods, like toast, apple, cheese. But now he picks it up and drops it and starts crying. Now he wont even sit in his high chair. The only thing he has now is a bit of banana while I'm holding him and eating some with him as well.

Any suggestions as to what I should do? My health visitor says he should be having meat and fish now, but I can't even get him to put anything in his mouth really.

I think there's an eating issue, but also I think he's getting really clingy too. He cries when I put him in his bouncy chair.

I'm not to fussed about the clingy bit, but I'm concerned about his eating. He is just okay for this weight, still on the birth line that he was born on, but I wouldn't want that to decrease. Please help if you have any advice.

[Erin (redstarfalling)]

Is he teething?  He might be a bit fussier because of that.  Have you checked out the Baby Led Weaning thread for some ideas?  Might also give you some reassurance....  For a while, my dd would only eat stuff directly off my plate.  So she'd see me having a bite, then I'd pass her a small chunk and she'd eat it.  Might be worth a try...

[shellsyd]

Thnx for ur response. I don't know if he's teething. Apart from eating, being in a high chair or bouncy chair, he's a happy baby.

I would try the eating off my plate bit, but I've been told not to give him salt and we eat food cooked with salt. Or did u mean put his food on my plate too?

[Freya'sMum]

Do you eat together, or do you sit and watch ds eating?

This can be quite intimidating and put a lot of pressure on los to eat/swallow food often against their better judgement, because they pick up that this is what you expect/want - but they're quite astute really, and this is when they often refuse to eat at all, because they don't actually need the solid food for nutrition.

I suggest that you consider ds's milk feeds as the Eat in EASY, and solid foods as an Activity that you do together, which will take the pressure off you both for him to actually swallow much, and focus much more on exploring tastes and textures and developing eating skills and enjoying the social side of eating as a family. Be reassured that some babies do not start sampling any foods until 7 months, and perhaps try the BLW approach as Erin suggested!

Ax

[shellsyd]

Thnx Ax. I think I am happy with the BLW approach which I have been trying. It just seems every time I get back from a visit with my hv, I fly into a panic... As I always leave there feeling that I need to be way past the stage I am at with weaning my LO.

When I look at it again, my LO isn't doing too badly, he likes to try things that I eat eg. Banana, bread.

We do sit down together to eat. But I perhaps have been feeling pressured and transferred the pressure to him. Will continue happily with milk feeds and take it one day at a time with blw finger foods. He was doing well with his spoon and porridge initially. I hope he hasn't lost an interest in the these all together. Thnx again.

[Erin (redstarfalling)]

Sounds great!  And just prepare yourself when you next see your HV - even if she seems to think he *should* be doing certain things, you can always just smile and nod, because you have other ideas! 

[elliesmama]

You know, my dd is 71/2 months now, and she seems like she barely eats anything.  I try to give her mostly what we're eating because that's what she shows the most interest in, but she's more interested in playing with it, dropping it, and watching the dog eat it.  I haven't been too concerned, even though I feel like she should be eating more, because she's still so young and taking so much milk.   I think they just like to play around and experiment, and I've actually noticed that lately she's been much more interested in eating solids--maybe that interest will naturally increase as the time gets closer for her to want them full time.  But the thing is, that time probably won't come for quite a few months right?

[jaedagal]

Ha, I could have written that whole post myself... Even down to the banana part.

My lo was the ultimate baby to refuse all types of food be it blw or spoon. The only thing he'd ever eat was banana, banana and more banana. The only way he wanted it was through a safety feeder (I know not blw, but he wouldn't pick it up if it wasn't in that mesh thing). He's a picky one and doesn't like too many different flavours, but I found a lot of his refusal has to do with teething and he's been teething nonstop for months. It's been a hard time for him -- lots of pain.

At 7 months he got his first two teeth and for the past month he's been teething his 4 top teeth, 3 have just started to break through the skin and the other one is right behind them. He's finally allowing some food in his mouth, be it by me placing some there, or leaving some food on his tray or by the spoon. I also found he hates bland food and tends to prefer very flavourful food.

Now that he's starting to eat some solids he's dropped the dream feed and now isn't taking in wayyy too much formula.

Good luck!

[shellsyd]

Well I wasn't sure before, but now I am. My ds is actually teething again. He has his two bottom teeth already, and the top ones seem to be ready to make an appearance.

It's causing him to be very fussy, even for bf at the moment.

Well, hopefully when we get thru this, he'll pick up again on weaning. Thnx for all the help and input everyone!