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Food for fun until one? Not according to my HV!

7 replies

flossy101 · 04/02/2013 15:20

I thought the above was true. DS is 7 months and is having mainly finger foods and mainly sucks on whatever i give him as opposed to actually eating very much, he won't open his mouth to a spoon unless he's holding it and then it ends up in his hair rather than is his mouth. I've not worried about this as I thought it was all about first tastes at this age and that his main nourishment came from milk?

Anyway, took DS to be weighed today and he's put on weight from last time but has dropped from 91st to 75th percentile. HV said that his main nourishment should be from food now and not milk and that I should be giving him more to eat.

I'm worried now that I've been doing it all wrong?

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FireOverBabylon · 04/02/2013 15:24

No, - nutrition from milk until 1 year of age.

Ignore the health visitor. It sounds like you're doing great Grin

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nancerama · 04/02/2013 15:26

My DS had zero interest in food until he was about 13 or 14 months. In hindsight I think he still had the tongue thrust reflex for a lot longer than most.

I had the fear of God drummed into me by my HV when he was 7 months. As far as she was concerned, if I didn't force him, he wouldn't eat solids. Ever.

I ignored her and bought the book "my child won't eat". It's a revelation. Read it and relax.

Milk has far more calories than solids. If he was eating more he would probably drop off the curve faster. The slower weight gain is usually the result of more activity - rolling and crawling and later, walking.

As long as your baby is happy, alert, healthy and doing wet and dirty nappies, he is being well nourished. Trust your instincts and ignore the HV.

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GlaikitFizzog · 04/02/2013 15:29

What's his height percentile? You Hv shouldn't just be looking at the scales! Very blinkered! I would ignore, unless there is other reasons you are worried. But from your post he sounds like he is doing just fine!

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flossy101 · 04/02/2013 15:36

I don't know his height percentile, he's not been measured for that since 6 week check with GP, to me he seems the same size if not slightly bigger / longer than some the other babies the same age I see at groups.

I would have attributed the dip to him never being still for a second, he's rolling everywhere and trying very hard to crawl. I think I'll carry on with what I'm doing, he's only just 7months so only being weaned for month.

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JiltedJohnsJulie · 05/02/2013 11:02

Agree with the others, your HV information is out of date and she should not be commenting on his weight without also looking at his height percentile.

If you are ff is he having 20floz a day? Has he had a change in milk since the last weigh in? Are you offering milk an hour before solids? Have you dropped any milk feeds? Do you trust the person weighing DS and was he weighed on the same scales?

When our dd was around the same age we went to get her weighed once and she had a massive spike in weight gain. I questioned it at the time but they insisted they were right. Everytime I took her to get weighed after they nagged me about dd dropping centiles, I kept pointing out that they were judging her on the top of the spike, which was obviously an error and in fact dd was back on the centile she had been on for quite a while, they wouldn't listen so I stopped getting her weighed.

Your HV should be watching the baby, not the scales. If you are bfing and want a little more reassurance, I'd give one of the Bfing Helplines a call.

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SwivelHips · 05/02/2013 11:15

My HV said similar to me, but as a regular lurker on here I put my hands over my ears and went 'nah nah nah nah' ie ignored her with a nod of my head and left.

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whyno · 17/02/2013 13:26

Be careful, I've had some downright shocking advice from HV's in the past. Now I try to go straight to the doc with any questions.

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