NO TO SPOON - YES to Finger foods

[dippy100]

I am in need of some help!!

I am worried about the lack of solids my DD of 7and half months is consuming. We were currently on four 8oz bottles of formula a day 7am, 11am, 3pm and 7pm. i spoke to my health visitor about these concerns and she told me that baby was having too much milk to want to eat any solids..so...she suggested the followwing:-

8oz @ 7am + breakfast cereals,toast fingers etc..

4oz @ 11am + lunch around 12:30 (mashed solids + yoghurt) followed with water and a snack of fruit to carry over to next feed.

4oz @ 3pm + solids around 5:30 followed with water and a snack to carry over to next feed.

80z @ 7pm.

I am a new mum and i am struggling to deal with the whole weaning process. My DD loves here formula and has recently started to enjoy some finger foods( very small quantities) but refuses and screams when i try and give her any mashed food(with lumps) from a spoon. She'll take a yoghurt or some pureed fruit from a spoon just....but mealtimes area battle at the moment and i'm absolutley dredding them at each part of the day.

I am worried that she is not getting enough as her formulas are now down by 8oz a day and she is not eating the solids to make up for this. ithought that she would love the food after the milk intake was dropped as she's been a hungrier baby since birth.
i am also worried about her nutrient intake too....

I would really really appreciate some advice from other mums and dads who have been or who are going through this!!!!!

Please help.....

Thanks everybody...

[tylersmommy]

I'm not sure why your HV would recommend cutting back on formula at 7 mo. Formula/breastmilk needs to be a baby's main source of nutrition until closer to their 1st birthday. Solids aren't as nutrionally complete and babies grow so fast that they need all the nutrition they can get. You might consider getting DD's formula intake back to where it was before. Solids at this point are just for practice and learning, so it really isn't a big deal if she isn't eating much solids, as long as her formula intake is where it should be.

You can help DD have more of an appetite for solids by offering them about 1 hr after her bottle. That way, she might have a little bit of an appetite.

There's nothing wrong with moving entirely to finger foods, if that's what DD wants. Give her soft foods that she can mash with her gums. You can test them out yourself by trying to mash them against the roof of your mouth with your tongue. Neither of my kids were all that keen on the spoon, so we did almost all finger foods from about 7-8 mo onward. It made mealtime sooooo much less stressful. I'd also give them the spoon to do it themselves, or at least try.

[daybyday]

Hi,

Milk is still her main source of nutrition. My dd completely spoon refused as well, which prompted me to BLW (babyled wean). I will post some links that take you to that information. By 9 months she was completely self-feeding with table food. (I actually was able to give her what we were having for dinner on most occassions. AND she only had 2 teeth).

Good luck!

http://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=92560.0

http://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=70142.0

http://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=126300.0

[Samuel's mum]

Josie has only ever eaten from a spoon when she has yoghurt. She has finger foods the rest of the time and meals are a really positive experience for both of us. Do check out those links.

[~Faye~]

{{hugs}} hun. I hated weaning my son and was so scared about doing it again.

We started on puree's and spoons as I was so freaked out this time about choking (no idea why this time and not the first time) but we got to the point that Ellie didn't want to eat from a spoon and wanted to feel the food. So I had a chat to a few people on here(thanks Emma ), read through the baby led weaning threads and took the plunge. We now have brilliant meal times. I just give Ellie exactly what we are having, just cut into chunks or flaked and she loves it. She eats almost everything, it's only things I give her on a spoon she doesn't want to eat.

The thing I have found is that when they are feeding themselves they eat what they need. When she starts playing with her food I would try popping some in her mouth, after two more mouthfulls she'd pull a face cos she was full. They do take in how much they need. And don't forget, they only have small tummys. So to us what seems hardly any food will normally fill them up.

If you are worried about how much your DD is getting then you could give some finger food and still give puree's on a spoon. That way you will know what is going in.

We started this just before Ellie was 7 months and she had no teeth. Still only got two now and she does fine on everything

Let us know how you get on

[lisi's mum]

My 8 mo dd will only eat from a spoon if she can put it in her mouth herself usually leaving her looking like a contestant in a body painting competition. All finger foods here too. Incidentally, the only time she's ever choked is when I persuaded her to eat some puree from a spoon.

Here's another good link:
http://babyledweaning.blogware.com/blog/GettingStartedFingerFoodBasics

[dippy100]

Thanks peeps.....

Thanks to all you lovely people who replied to my topic.....i am now starting the BLW and i will let you know how we progress. was so worried cause DD is not the heaviest and was worried about her losing weight if i reduced her milk intake. tried what the Hv said but she went on a full on solids strike(from spoon) and was obviously getting less formula as suggested by Hv. So i've put her back to her normal 4 x 8 oz a day (hope this is right?) and introducing BLW from now on... One question is this right and .... should she be having some of the feeds in a sippy cup? at the mo its from bottles!!

Thanks everybody and i look forward to any more advice!!!

Lisa

[lisi's mum]

Lisa,

keep up the full amount of milk until nearer to 1, up until 1 milk is the important stuff and solids are just complimentary. Just think of eating solids as an activity as opposed to nourishment.

As regards the sippy, I can't really comment - dd1 rarely drank from a bottle, and not at all from a sippy at that age. Now at nearly 3 she still won't drink from the sippy and still only will drink milk from the dreaded bottle!