Baby led weaning

[Lilipaddle]

My DD is 7 months, and I am trying to do baby-led weaning, but she still hasn't eaten anything. She will play and chew, but not swallow, and looks disgusted when she spits bits of food back out.
My health visitor has said this is fine and that she doesn't need any food before 1, but I just wanted to get some more opinions. Has anyone else does baby led weaning and had their baby EBF this long, and did weaning then go ok, or did you end up having to give puree to get them to eat anything?

[Beatrixpotty]

With DS2(now 2) I started off BLW at 6m to complement BF.I gave him food to play with,broccoli spears,asparagus,bits of banana etc.He sucked a bit and played with it but not much went in.He wasn't the sort of baby who was interested in food and didn't grab food off our plates.I felt he wasn't getting enough food just from playing with it and he was waking more & more frequently at night so I moved to mixed weaning and always gave him finger foods but also spoon fed him to get calories in.I didn't really purée v much,more things like mashed avocado,banana,couscous ,yoghurt etc.He is now a very good eater with a diverse palate.I think he would have been v hungry if on breast milk alone until age 1!

[flipflopson5thavenue]

my DS turned 8 mo yesterday and has only just started to really chew and swallow this past week. Til then he might lick a few bits, but mostly he ignored everything I put in front of him. Now he actually flaps with excitement with I get him into his high chair and bring food out. I still ebf on demand and he seems happy. However, we're not purists and sometimes squirt some puree onto a rice cake or whatever he's eating, and have given him spoons loaded with puree on occasion. To him its just another taste and another texture so I don't see it as totally contradictory to BLW. We've never actually spoon fed him though. You could try doing this if you feel it might make you feel more reassured about her getting enough nutrition. You're right though that milk is enough for a while yet. It can be hard though when all your friends' babies are on three meals a day.....!

Someone once told me that you mustn't see BLW as a progression where they get 'better' and 'better'. Some days they'll be interested, other days they won't. Keep offering healthy food and your baby will feed herself when she is ready to. As long as she's still getting as much milk from you as she wants and needs, try not to worry. Lots of people (check the Weaning thread - lots of BLW stories) say that its often not til 9/10 mo that babies 'get it' and start to feed themselves with more purpose.

Hope this helps

[ENSMUM]

DD started BLW at 6 months and just played, chewed a bit etc for a good couple of months before anything significant was really being eaten. It is fine and milk is all they really need still at this stage.

Looking forward to starting it all over again with DS in a few weeks.