Baby led weaning not going well

[ParsleyCake]

The only thing my 8 month old baby will eat with purpose is toast/bread! It goes straight in his mouth, and while most of it endsup on the floor, you can definitely tell he is trying to eat it, and he does eat about half of what is given. Other than that though, baby led weaning doesn't seem to be moving forward.

I've tried cutting up all sorts of fruit and veg up into strips and chunks, and the majority ends up being waved around, or more likely swiped onto the floor. He might put something in his mouth once but after that he just plays with it until it is forgotten about and dropped on the floor. Is this normal? We've been doing this since the day he turned 6 months old.

Cucumber is actually the only thing other than bread he consistently eats, and even then only a tiny amoubt (the squishy part) as he has trouble eating the hard part with only two teeth.

Is it okay that he is getting hardly any solid food?

I have not read about anyone who turns back from BLW to pureeing, but I have already begun feeding him porridge in the morning and for the first time today I gave him mashed up sweet potato. I felt much better being able to spoon it in tor him as he readily ate it rather than treating it like a toy only. On pure BLW alone he was getting maybe two heaped tablespoons of solid food maximum on a very good day, though its hard to judge. More often a teaspoon though.

Help!

[MyBigFatGreekYoghurt]

Sounds pretty textbook. Most babies (including both of mine and lots of my friend's babies) don't really eat much until 12m

"food is fun until 1" is the common mantra

Just keep going and his main diet should be milk until 12m at least.

[dementedpixie]

Could you a mix of mashed and finger foods?

[Laquila]

I think that's pretty normal for BLW - my son would try pretty much anything at that age, and inf act was fairly enthusiastic, he just wasn't very proficient! By about 9-10 months he was considerably better at it, though, and I was glad I'd stuck with BLW. By all means though go with purées, or a combination of those and finger food, if you feel that it works better for both of you :)

[Emus]

Big, this is exactly what I was told by my Health Visitor back in 2013 but now they are telling me (for my 7 month old) that it's all about the food after 6 months and less about milk. Talking to one of my friends today and she said her HV said the same. I'm more inclined to stick with "food is fun until 1" as that makes more sense to me.

[Wotshudwehave4T]

I used to worry about the same thing and if all the prep and mess was worth it, but then read somewhere that they don't need the nutrients from food until about 10 months. By then they were starting to eat more. I almost gave up several times, but found they did start to eat, then didn't and seemed to regress, then ate more.

[leliondemer]

Do a combination if that feels better for you. I was super strict about blw and now regret it. Dd didn't eat anything and I would have felt much more comfortable knowing she was getting some actual food but i soldiered on with blw. I'd convinced myself that purées were unnecessary and would make her fussy. With hindsight I wish I'd done things differently. If I have another child, I will definitely do a mix of mashed up up food and finger food.
I don't think you need to go back to purées, just try mashed up meals and then keep of offering cruditiés, toast, veggie fritters etc.

[lilone1234]

I think people can get too caught up with 'pure BLW' and one of the big downfalls of BLW is that it does take a long time for babies to eat properly. Although I agree with PP this isn't a massive issue til 1 I found that a combination of purées and finger foods worked well for me personally. I found it a lot easier to give a balanced meal in purée form too!

[Xmasbaby11]

Dd was the same. She much preferred purees. We still offered her both but she wouldn't eat solids like toast until well paSt 1yo.

[comeagainforbigfudge]

You wont be going back to a puree stage op. Just mash the food lightly, so its still lumpy and spoon feed.
My wee one is 8 month old and i spoon feed two meals (breakfast and dinner), lunch is finger foods time.

She gets hangry at dinner time and there is no way she would get enough in quickly enough feeding herself!

Be led by your baby. If he happily tucks in with you feeding him, go with it. And if you feel better doing it this way, great! Try not to stress over it. easier said than done, i know

As an aside, my DD loves sweet potato and i mix it with peas & shredded chicken to get the different textures going.

[ParsleyCake]

Thanks. I have been reading other posts and tbh I think I have been a little too strict with the pure BLW and might do a combination approach

[ParsleyCake]

comeagainforbigfudge This is actually exactly what I intend to do - lunch as finger foods time

[LBOCS2]

We mixed it up. DD had purées at lunchtime, when it was just me and her, and then we did finger foods at dinner, as we were just chucking things onto her tray - bits of our own meal.

She's 3 now and relatively unfussy - general threenagerness aside!

[comeagainforbigfudge]

Aw good luck with it all Parsley. I quite like doing finger foods at lunch as its a bit more leisurely, not a morming person but we also mix it up a bit at dinner time and give her stuff from our plates.

And we always sit at table for food.

[BertieBotts]

If you feel better giving him some puree then definitely do so, there's nothing wrong with a combination.

I agree it's fairly normal for BLW though and not to worry too much :)

[imwithspud]

I've been lucky with both of mine in that they picked BLW up relatively quickly and by 7months more was going in rather than on the floor. Lots of babies take longer though and as the old saying goes 'food is for fun before 1'. They will eat 'properly' when they're ready for it, for some that is sooner than others. When I started my dc's at 6 months I thought they were never going to get it but they do and you soon forget about how they struggled at first. My advice is to stick with it, offer lots of variety, regularly. There's always the possibility of spoon feeding a little bit if you feel you need to.

[RiverTam]

I turned back. Couldn't bear it. Did BLW for a month then did trad weaning. So much better!

[CornishYarg]

Definitely feed whichever way you feel comfortable with!

But just a thought: are you mainly sticking to fruit and vegetables (plus toast) as your OP suggests? I did the same initially with spoon-refuser as I was really unsure what I was doing. But he became a lot more interested when I gave him a wider variety. And it made sense: I'd struggle to get enthused about a meal of plain veg!

[Mrscog]

Mine is like this, although I'm not doing BLW through choice - he completely refuses to be spoon fed, and spits out purees (except yoghurt). He's nearly 10 months now, and I'd say he turned a corner around 9 months, and we're starting to get some 'real nappies'.

Can't wait for the waste and mess to be over, give me a baby who'll be spoon fed (like DS1) any day!

[fluffikins]

Glad to hear that mrscog mine is a
Spoon refuser too and exactly like the OP -
Only seems to nibble bread and cucumber and the rest gets thrown about. Also 8 months

[CornishDoll82]

I'm doing a mixture - she doesn't let me feed her though, she grabs the spoon to do it herself! We tend to do something mashed/pureed and something grabbable at each meal time.

Since we've started doing more adventurous things like Shepherd's Pie and not just fruit and veg she's got much more into it.

[villainousbroodmare]

Try mixing it up... DS and I each have a spoon and I pop the odd spoon into his mouth (and mine, which makes him laugh! ) - I think it's less frustrating when he gets a little more than he might manage to convey to his mouth alone.
Good hand-held foods for us are pancake, and big chunks of cheese and pear.

[JizzyStradlin]

Food for fun until 1 is a common mantra, but it's wrong. They're supposed to get most of their calories and nutrients from milk from 6-12 months, not all. And there are some things you can't get enough of from milk, for example iron. There's not enough in breastmilk at that age unless they're on gallons of the stuff, and iron rich formulas are bad because they can lead to constipation.

With that said, they don't need a lot of solids either. Just some. But I think your idea of mixing things up a bit is a good one OP.