Six months and not interested in solids

[monica lechuga]

Hi everyone,

I have a 6 month old daughter. She turned six exactly one week ago, so that same day I started to introduce solids.
I started with carrot and she was no big fan.
I think she just took one really tiny bite and that was it!
Second day, again carrots, she ate a little bit more. Maybe two bites.
Third day the same.
Fourth day it was getting better, I gave her peas and she took around 6 bites.
Sunday she didnt want to open her mouth! finally with my DH she ate a little bit. But that same day she started with fever for three days.
During these days of course she didn't want to eat. Today she had 1 spoon!

I know I dont have to panic, but Im afraid that she will not want to eat in the future! She is breastfed and my doctor told me to offer before breastfeeding. So I have done it this way, but I dont see that she is really eager to eat.

As well I had another question, I want to start with formula. I was thinking the feed of 3.30pm and the next one should be the one at 11.30am but it is the same time as solids, do you think it will be lots of changes for her?

Thanks a lot for your help

Monica

[~inbalance~]

Hi there

Here is a link with some reassurance:  http://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=182686.0

It's ok that she is slow to take to solids, not all babies like to jump right in.  Teething and illness can affect appetite as well so if you have either of those going on it might be playing a part. 

Personally I would keep offering her milk feeds before solids since milk is more important until a year.  She will get more nutrition from her milk than she will from solids.

When trying to juggle milk and solid meals, think of it this way - her milk feeds should be the E part of EASY, and the solids can be part of the A.  Solids before 1 are just for fun, so fit them in when you can, but do try to stick to the proper milk feeds.

I am not too familiar with switching from BFing to bottles but I'll see if anyone who has more experience with it can have a look. 

[monica lechuga]

Hi Martina.
Thanks a lot for your advice. It was really clear how you explained the EASY part.
Though I have another question, for the moment she is having 4 times a day milk and still on around 3am.
If She has her milk first and then afterwards her solids, when will she drop one milk feed?

Thanks a lot

[~inbalance~]

Most BF babies will keep 4 milk feeds until at least a year.  Bottle fed babies I believe often drop down to 3 milk feeds around 9mos.  So either way for now you want to keep offering 4 milk feeds a day still. 

[brenda2]

hi
i introduced bottles with my dd1 at about 6.5 mo.  i tried to introduce it for 1 feed first but soon after i started her on bottles she decided she liked this more than the boob so she stopped bf and just switched to bottles.  this was totally fine with me, i wasn't loving the bf and found bottle feeding easier so i just stopped the bf and she was totally on bottles by 7 mo.  martina is right, we went down to 3 bottles before a year (maybe 10 mo, can't remember) and another bonus was she sttn a bit quicker i think - she didn't need a MOTN feed from 7 mo. 

with dd2 i introduced bottles at about the same age - 6 mo but she still liked bf so she had 1 bottle a day for about a month and then 2 bottles a day for another month.  she was totally off the boob by about 8.5 mo, which corresponded to when she started sttn without a feed.  it was much more gradual with her and this was also fine, it went very smoothly.

[Lolly]

Have you tried a bottle with her yet? If you haven't she may not like it, so here are a couple of links with some ideas if you should need them http://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=179299.0 and http://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=173309.0.

As others have said, bottle fed babies tend to drop down to 3 bottles around 9/10 months when they start taking less at their day time bottles of refusing one of them. A common pattern is to do a morning bottle, an afternoon bottle either just before or after the nap and a bedtime bottle. Around 1 the two day time bottles get dropped and most people will offer milk in a sippy during the day and keep the morning and bedtime milk for a while. My DS dropped his morning milk bottle around 18 months and his bedtime milk bottle at 2.5. DD was a bit earlier, we swapped her morning bottle to a sippy after breakfast at 13 months and her bedtime milk to a cup at 18 months which she still has.

For now, you can work on swapping the day BFs to bottles and see how she gets on (if that's what you plan to do!). Be aware though as PP said that for some babies once they get used to the bottle they will prefer it and refuse the breast (bottles are way less work than BF ) , some of course happily swap back and forth.

HTH!

Laura

[monica lechuga]

Hi all,

Thanks a lot for your comments and help. I've started with one bottle a day. The one at noon. She will only drink 90ml or so. But now at least she is taking it.
I hope to keep it like that and that she will take more. Ive enjoyed BFing but I think now I can let it go as Im a bit tired and I really hope that maybe she wont wake up to eat anymore.
For solids is really a disaster and I feel really desperate, eventhough I know I dont have to worry. But it is really frustrating trying to feed her.
Ive tried lots of vegetables even fruits and nothing. She arrived to the point of not even opening her mouth. I let her touch the feed and everything, but she
doesn't do more than touching.
I dont know what else to do!!!!!

Thanks

Monica

[~inbalance~]

(((hugs))) Some babies really don't take to spoon feeding well.  My DS2 would never let me feed him, so we did baby led weaning and it took him a lot longer to get going with solids than other babies, but he is over a year and eating well now.  So please try not to worry.

If she doesn't want to eat remember you can't force her.  You can offer, but if she is not interested then that's ok.

Have you considered baby led weaning (BLW)?  Here is a link with more info:  http://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=92560.0

[monica lechuga]

Hi Martina,
I was reading the BLW method, but at this stage Im a bit confused of what to give her?
Do I just give the vegetables like that? or do I cook them and give her that?   

Thanks again

[~inbalance~]

If BLW is something you are interested in, I would suggest reading the book to get a good idea of how to start.  Essentially the theory is that you can give your baby anything from this point on, and if she has the skills to eat it she will.  What you offer will depend on a lot of things - some fruits can be very slippery and hard to hold, and some raw vegetables are to hard to bite (but might happily be sucked on).  Obviously you want to avoid choking sizes (size of a grape), and ideally offer large chunks or spears.  LO needs to be able to hold onto it in her hand and get it to her mouth, so it needs to be long.

Gagging is normal, some babies take awhile to learn how to bite, chew, and swallow.  The main points is that she is in control of what she eats, and it is more about the experience of learning to eat and not about how much food actually gets eaten.

There is a BLW support thread as well where you can ask more questions about the method. 
http://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=184657.0

We started by giving DS2 any of the fruits or vegetables that we ate ourselves:  pears, broccoli, carrots, melon.  He had more success with some things than others.  The BLW books suggests giving food in different states, so offer both raw and cooked.  Things like raw carrots and apples however are tricky because choking sized pieces can be bitten off, but they can be cooked slightly to make them soft enough to eat.  He didn't eat that much for many months, but it was ok and the whole time he was learning about food which was the most important part. 

[monica lechuga]

Thanks Martina, I will try to get the book.
I will start offering food different way and see what happens.

I really hope she will eat