to just feed my 7.5mo broccoli and cucumber

[LittleSausageFingers]

I'm on maternity leave with a BF almost 8mo who I love to bits, but this weaning business is driving me crazy. Started on purees at 6mo, wouldn't take a spoon, turned head away, clamped mouth shut, became quite a battle. So we turned to BLW, offering mainly veggie sticks, toast, etc. She messed around with it, but either gagged and vommed or spat it out. Persevered, managed to get her to have a bit of puree from a spoon, but three weeks ago she got a cold (now fine) and hasn't had anything from the spoon since, so back to BLW.

I know the advice is to give them what you're having, and I try to, but DH gets back so late that she can't have dinner with us (I tend to cook after she's in bed as she's quite demanding, especially at the moment, won't be put down). DH is also veggie due to IBD so I don't cook meat really, although I do want her to eat meat. Most of our meals have meat substitute in, which I'm not sure I should be giving her. Also, she has no teeth, she just can't seem to break anything down enough to swallow it. I've been doing this three times a day for a month and a half, and basically nothing goes down, bar a little bit of cucumber and broccoli. I'm so fed up of the mess, the stress, hearing about her little baby friends who are eating three course dinners at 7 months.

I feel like something that sounds so easy ('oh, just give her a corner of what you're having') is insanely difficult. I have a PhD, ffs, and I can't feed a human. AIBU to just give her broccoli and cucumber every meal since it's all she'll "eat"?

[gobbynorthernbird]

YANBU. What's the phrase? Food is fun until they're one? At 8 months it's just about getting used to solids and developing the motor skills to eat.

[talulahbelle]

Avocado strips, banana strips, egg wedges, all popular with DD when she was tiny. Bread sticks, rice cakes, loads of different types of fruit.

[BastardGoDarkly]

Pasta? Banana cutted up pear.

My friends DD loved mash, can you give her a bowl and spoon and see how she goes? She might just lick it off her fingers and hands, but it would be a start.

[Flanderspigeonmurderer]

Just offer a little bit at each meal time. My son was the same at this age, very little actually got swallowed. I think at around ten months he really started to eat more.

[blueturtle6]

She could be teething, my dd went through a phase of not wanting to eat. Just keep offering what she likes and some new things along side.
Try spaghetti and pesto. Also I freeze milk and yoghurt for her to have as I've lollies, help their teeth and cool.when have a temp.

[ChickyDuck]

Go for it! If she likes cucumber and broccoli that's a fantastic start. It's not like you'll only be feeding Haribo and Whatsits

[chocolatepudandchocolatesauce]

My nearly 10m old milk monster has only in the past week or so started to eat anything of substance. We had the turning his head, clamping his mouth closed when a spoon of anything came near him. He also dropped most finger foods over the side of the highchair. Give your baby time, she'll eat when she is ready. Continue to give finger food and in a few weeks maybe start the purees again.

[Pistachiois50pmore]

We're BLW too. Mine's 8 and a bit months and barely actually eats anything. I think it's fine though, so I'm trying to relax about it. The only exception to our BLW is when we have a breakfast fruit/nut butter smoothie (we're nutribullet dickheads sorry) and give him a bit of that - dip a spoon in and hand it to him to lick. That's good if you want to make sure they're getting something I guess? But keep going - in the last week my baby has started taking more of an interest. I gave him some cheese out of my sandwich and it blew his tiny mind, like "WHY DID YOU NOT TELL ME ABOUT CHEESE BEFORE". Most meals even in restaurants have something they can eat, even if you end up licking the salad dressing off a bit of cucumber and giving it to them to play with.

[stiffstink]

I try to do BLW with DD (7months) but find it easier to cut out the hassle by just throwing the food straight on the walls and the floor 😁

I've reached a sort of compromise by giving DD something to hold like a soft carrot baton or a spoon which allows me to feed her lumpy but soft food from a spoon (beans and egg tonight) without her whacking the spoon out of my hands. This still allows her to feed herself but I know she's eating something too.

[GoofyTheHero]

I've got a 2.10 year old and a 15 month old. At 7.5 months DD1 ate Greek yoghurt and cheese, and DD2 ate absolutely nothing. Zilch. Same at 10 months. Weren't eating much more at 12 months.
They've both just eaten a healthy portion of pork, chorizo and butter bean stew. They all get there eventually!
Weaning was/is my least favourite part of parenting, it can be soul destroying. Keep giving the broccoli and cucumber, keep trying with other foods. Neither of mine have ever allowed me to put a spoon near their mouths so it was all BLW, and DD2 at 15 months now feeds herself entirely with a fork and spoon.

[Lules]

You can give them quorn from 9 months. Guidance here: www.nhs.uk/chq/Pages/when-can-I-give-Quorn-to-my-baby.aspx?CategoryID=62&SubCategoryID=63

It is frustrating, but I think you just to have not care. And 7.5 months is really young still.

[Dreamer100]

Sympathies OP. I bloody hated weaning. The mess, the lovingly prepared yet rejected food, the stress levels - and that's without the smug "oh we just give her a bit of steak and she sucks away on it" brigade. Grrrr

[maddiemookins16mum]

I remember once putting a dollop (well a couple of teaspoons) of mashed (really, really mashed, I was scared of lumps) tatoes on DD's highchair at that age. She ignored it, played with it and then finally (with me ignoring her), sucked it off her fingers. I just left her to it. Try not to get het up over what she does or doesn't eat. It is messy though.

[MoonStar07]

Give her the spoon. It will be messy. Get a mat for the floor and cheapy hand held vacuum. Toast scrambled egg, soft pair, soft bits of potato. Soft carrot batons. Shredded roast chicken. Bread sticks! I make things long and thin so can't choke. We did a mix of puréed and finger foods good luck. Finally don't stress she will eat eventually x

[EstelleRoberts]

Oh, I feel your pain. My 14 month old has multiple food allergies and intolerances, so she can't eat what we eat, and I can't use any ready-prepared food. I spend the majority of my day chopping and cooking food, supervising the eating of said food, and then tackling the Herculean task of clearing the almighty mess off DD, the high hair, floor, walls etc. Plus shopping for food. And washing bobs and overalls. Then I get it in the neck from the dietician that she is still on 3 bottles of (dairy-free) formula a day, even though said dietician knows full well DD can only eat about 16 foods, which limits snack options given I need to rotate foods for 3 meals. Aarrgh!!!

On a lighter note, have you thought about doing minced beef or lamb, and just putting it on your DD's tray? I fry a batch in oil, add water once it's brown and then simmer (can't add onion etc due to allergies/intolerances, but maybe you could). DD scoops the meat off the tray with her hands and eats it with gusto. I then freeze portions in pots and then defrost/heat in the microwave when necessary.

Another time saver is jacket potato. You can scoop out the innards and plonk it on the tray. When your DD is a bit older you can let her have the skin too.

Fwiw my DD loves food and eating now, but was pretty similar to yours at 7.5 months. Not much was eaten, but once she got a bit older and we ditched the spoon and did BLW it all came good.

[EstelleRoberts]

Oh, meant to say with the meat, that you can freeze it plain and also freeze veg purées, then defrost and mix at a later date. Saves doing big batches of just one combo, which they may turn out not to like.

[KP86]

To start with, don't stress about three meals. It's just getting tastes for different foods and textures.

Soft strips of cooked carrot, raw cucumber, avocado, banana, thin slivers of apple (or cooked larger pieces), ripe pear, strips of chicken or lamb, green peas, small pasta shapes and toast squares are all good starter foods. Porridge, yoghurt and weetabix are all good if she decides to go with spoon feeding again.

Don't give much, just a few tablespoons for the whole meal and give more if it's finished and she's still looking for more.

Your mum friends who talk about three course meals are probably fibbing, both to themselves and you ;)

Exactly what someone above said, before their first birthday babies are meant to still get their calories from milk, not adult food. So don't worry if she's not eating heaps. And helpful people who tell you to feed the same as the grown ups in the house can get stuffed. It doesn't always work that way (and didn't for us).

[mscongeniality]

My 16 month old still refuses to feed himself anything, I have to feed him each meal myself either by spoon or making little portions and feeding him by hand! I am so envious of all my friends whose babies feed themselves and will eat anything. He only has 1.5 teeth so that is also very hindering to his diet. I keep telling myself this won't last forever :( But 7.5 months is very young still so don't worry yet.

[missm0use]

My DD IS 8 months as well and we're doing BLW as well. What I usually do is buy a bag of fresh veg - usually a mix of carrot / broccoli / Cauliflower and micro it for a few extra minutes and give her it once it's cooled. Or she has cucumber and tomato fingers.

Purées are a nightmare for us!! DD HATES THEM!!!! Switched to stage 2 textured and she wolfing them up as well. Just like everything else - they need to learn to take a spoon. Xx

[SleepyRoo]

Baby same age here. She doesn't really like veg etc purées. I am also trying to feed a 4 yr old. Some meals, she eats none of it! Sometimes a bit of bread and an Ella fruit pouch. A bit of grated cheese and chews on a cherry tin. Bit of mash and cod went down well tonight, but the whole meal took an hour. Don't beat yourself up. Just TRY to keep it casual. Weaning is awful!!

[NerrSnerr]

My daughter didn't really bother eating anything until she was about 12 months old. She'd have the odd spoonful of stuff but wasn't bothered at all. She got there in the end and aged 2 she is currently eating a mini roll

[littlepeas]

My bf ds barely ate a thing till he was nearly 12 months - he is a strapping 5 year old now! Try not to worry, they all get into food at different stages and breast milk is enough from a nutritional point of view until they're 1.

[OpposableThumbs2]

DD2 is 7 months, she really likes to feed herself with a spoon so the trick is finding something that will stick to the spoon. Tonight's hit was rice with peas and grated cheese mixed in. She loved it.

I should probably go and clean the floor/ high hair before it sets like concrete though.