Author Topic: Help please with moving to solids at 6 months - baby led weaning  (Read 1512 times)

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Offline Littlemissbump82

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Hi, I was hoping for some advice ... my daughter is 6 1/2 months and we started introducing solids properly 2 weeks ago. She has never been a hungry baby, she has silent reflux and is a snacker - only drinking 4-5oz most of the time, on a total of approx. 23oz a day but sometimes as little as 20oz. She weighs 14lbs10oz, doesn't wake in the night with hunger and I dropped the dream feed 2 months ago as she was only taking 1-2oz at this feed.

We are keen to do the babyled weaning approach, my daughter does not like us spoon feeding her, she freaks out when the spoon goes near her I think it is down to her having her reflux medicine 4 times a day for the last 6 months, which she HATES so I think she associates the spoon with this ... also I have heard such good things about BLW I'd like to try and stick with it.

My daughter's current EASY is:

E - 8am (5oz milk)
A
S - 10.30 (45 minutes)

E - 11.30 (5-6oz milk)
A
S - 2 (approx. 1 hour)

E - 3 (4-5oz milk)
A - including bath at 5.30
(we have recently cut the afternoon nap out as she wasn't tired enough at bedtime, it's working well and she doesn't get OT)
E - 6 (5-6oz milk)
S - bed at 6.30/6.45pm - sleeps through until morning.

I have been trying to introduce solids after her 11.30 am bottle, I have been sitting her in her bumbo chair and putting a couple of different finger foods on her tray (cooked carrots, sweet potato, broccoli, pasta, banana, avocado, pitta bread etc) - she gets very excited, picks everything up, puts it to her mouth straight away and then throws it ... I'm not sure she's actually eating anything (I think a little bit of carrot may have snuck in today?!) she just throws everything on the floor! Am I doing this right? how am I going to get her to eat anything and should I be trying different types of food. I struggle because she never seems to be hungry, my friend's baby's have all been weaned at 4 months or so as they were so hungry and wolfed everything down, but because she isn't waking up hungry and is SO fussy with her milk, I am worried feeding is going to become a bit of a battle.

Any tips are appreciated! I have no idea how I am going to get her into a routine of breakfast, lunch and dinner?! Also, she is currently on Aptamil number 1 milk, should I be moving her onto number 3 (which says for 6 months plus to support weaning) ... but because she's not actually really eating anything I wasn't sure whether number 3 is the right formula for her? Thank you for your help : )

Oh sorry, one more thing - I have bought a tippee cup to try and encourage her to drink water from a cup not a bottle ... she used to drink water but now she won't drink it at all, not from a bottle and definitely not from the cup, again this just gets thrown across the room! How do you help your baby transition to a cup?

Offline ~inbalance~

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Re: Help please with moving to solids at 6 months - baby led weaning
« Reply #1 on: July 02, 2011, 01:10:41 am »
Hi there.  :)  First of all I have to ask, have you read the Baby Led Weaning book by Gill Rapley?  I think it is a good read if you are planning on doing full BLW with your LO.  It just covers so much of the process and really helps with a lot of the questions.  Here is a link with some BLW info to get you started:  http://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=92560.0

I will also direct you to this link which has some helpful info:  http://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=182686.0

BLW is very different from traditional weaning, which is why I recommend reading the book.  It focuses a lot on the whole experience and not just getting your baby to eat.  But one of the biggest things is that it takes baby quite awhile to develop the motor skills needed to eat finger foods, so the first months are mainly about exploration.  Giving your LO a variety of things to explore is the right approach, it is not a big deal if she eats any of it at first.  Some BLW babies don't actually start eating until closer to 8/9mos.  Milk feeds will still be providing all the nutrition she needs for many months still.

I struggle because she never seems to be hungry, my friend's baby's have all been weaned at 4 months or so as they were so hungry and wolfed everything down, but because she isn't waking up hungry and is SO fussy with her milk, I am worried feeding is going to become a bit of a battle.
 Please don't worry yet, all babies are different and not all babies take to solids like ducks to water.  Try not to focus on what other babies are doing.  :)

Also, she is currently on Aptamil number 1 milk, should I be moving her onto number 3 (which says for 6 months plus to support weaning) ... but because she's not actually really eating anything I wasn't sure whether number 3 is the right formula for her?
 I have no experience with bottle feeding, so I would suggest posting any bottle/formula questions on the bottle feeding forum:  http://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?board=11.0

How do you help your baby transition to a cup?
 It can take some babies a long time to get the hang of drinking out of a cup.  Like anything else it takes practice so keep offering.  Here are some tips:  http://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=68677.0

When it comes to mealtimes like breakfast, lunch, and dinner, try not to think of them in terms of 'meals'.  Since her milk feeds are still more important, make sure those are the E part of her EASY.  It helps to stay relaxed and think of solids as part of the A time.  I just always offered DS2 his finger foods along with family meals, rather than worrying about specific times to feed him.

Hopefully I can reassure you a bit with my experience with my own DS2, who also had silent reflux and was not keen to be spoon fed.  To this day I still cannot get a spoon anywhere near his mouth.  But we just took our time with him, offering a wide variety of foods.  He didn't always eat a lot, but we let him have fun and explore at his own pace, and now he is 14mos and doing very well with eating new and different foods.  :)

ETA:  There is also a BLW support thread if you'd like to chat with other BLW moms and ask some questions there:  http://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=184657.0
Em
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Offline inoella

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Re: Help please with moving to solids at 6 months - baby led weaning
« Reply #2 on: July 02, 2011, 01:28:25 am »
Martina has covered it all and beautifully!  :) I just wanted to send ***HUGS*** and share a few things from my experience because it's so hard not to worry when it comes to food, isn't it? My DD is 21 months now and we did BLW sort of by default cuz she's so super independent she never wanted us to feed her. She also had reflux and I think that made a difference in what she wanted to swallow. She didn't start eating what I would consider "well" until after her first birthday. I worried a lot since she's only 5th% in weight but honestly, it all works out in the end.  :) One thing with DD is texture - she really doesn't like to mix them and for the longest time would only eat one thing at a time.  :D Another thing is I started to think in terms of daily and even weekly nutrition - today she didn't have much for veggies but she ate two huge helpings of plain green beens yesterday - yswim? My gut kept telling me to trust her to eat when she needed to, but I wasn't really convinced until a few months ago when I introduce some junk food - like cookies. More often than not she'll only eat half the cookie. (oh, if only I had such self control! lol!) She'll stop when she's full - even if it's a cookie!  ;) So if she isn't eating a lot for lunch it's probably cuz she's not hungry.
Anyway, just thot I'd share where we were and are now fwiw.  ;D
*Jaci*

Offline Littlemissbump82

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Re: Help please with moving to solids at 6 months - baby led weaning
« Reply #3 on: July 03, 2011, 08:47:26 am »
Thank you so much for taking the time to reply to me, you have both been so helpful! I have now ordered the baby led weaning book, I may get my mum to read it too as she is being very negative about this approach and thinks I'm crazy and is convinced that my daughter is going to choke ... Hopefully this will reassure her! You have really reassured me, I will stick with the milk feeds and use food ad fun during her A time ... And inoella I know exactly what you mean, my daughter will not eat or have her milk if she doesnt want it, I don't think it's possible to overfeed her, she point blank refuses her bottle a lot of the time, she definitely knows what she does and doesn't want! I was encouraged yesterday as although I thought she hadnt eaten anything, when I changed her nappy it was clear she HAD eaten some of the broccoli!! (sorry for too much information!) I will post on bottle feeding about the change in the follow on formula. And thank you for the tippee cup link too x