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Weaning

9-month-old refusing solids...

17 replies

mootie · 07/03/2007 13:46

Never a big eater or breastfeeder - she's a hair below the 2 percentile - my dd had been refusing all but a few bites of solids for about a week or so, either crying at the sight of food, or just turning away from the spoon, and often then staring at my boobs. We almost always offer finger food and mashed food on a spoon.
Today at lunch she had a few bites of mashed cauliflower cheese, and a bit of a cheese and avocado sandwich, and ignored some cauliflower spears. She then breastfed quite a lot, considering she bf at 7am and 10am. She used to eat a couple of ice cubes worth of food, and would happily chomp through whatever finger food we offered, before smooshing it to oblivion.
Hard to tell if she's teething as there are no other signs, and I don't think she's ill as she doesn't have a fever or runny nose, is sleeping really well, etc.
Anybody else had this? I know I shouldn't worry, and I've read "My Child Won't Eat", but I'm just a worrier. Also, I am going back to work in three months, and feel a bit of pressure that she should be eating a "reasonable" amount of solids by then.

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soph28 · 07/03/2007 13:49

can't really help but my 8mo dd refuses solids but she has never eaten more than 2-3 spoonfuls at a time. She always shuts her mouth and turns away. If I force any in she spits it out!
HV just confirmed my suspicion that she is toungue tied but we don't know if that's why she won't eat.
I will be watching this thread.

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Beachcomber · 08/03/2007 10:09

Will also be watching this thread. My DD2 is 9 months and not the least bit interested in solids (she is breastfed).
Although I know this is actually quite common and nothing to worry about, I still quite like hearing about other babies who did this and then went on to eat well. Just makes me feel better.
On the up side, it makes life pretty simple as don't have to make/carry food about for her!

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AitchTwoOh · 08/03/2007 10:45

my dd goes almost completely off solids while she's teething or ill. i think it's a comfort thing.

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mootie · 08/03/2007 11:10

Aitch - does your dd show any other signs when she's teething? My dd is pretty happy at the moment, just refuses solids and when bf, seems to want to hang around there much longer than she has ever wanted to before...

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AitchTwoOh · 08/03/2007 11:38

not really actually. her premolars have been coming through so she's been gurny, but her incisors were cut without many symptoms. her nappies tend to go a bit wild, either constipated or the opposite. but she's not hugely miserable or anything. she also had a tummy bug just before christmas and that stopped her eating entirely for a week. i was surprised when she started eating again that she didn't build herself back up to previous portions... she just ate double her usual until she felt she'd made up the energy, i presume.

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mootie · 08/03/2007 11:53

She did have a couple of super-runny poos yesterday, but they seemed like bf poos (hello old friend!), and I figured that might be because she's not eating a lot of solid food. She has no teeth yet, one of the top ones looked like it was coming through but then it disappeared.
Ah well, I suppose I should be grateful, right, because bmilk has so many more calories that solid food, and I don't have to bother making anything for her, and I can eat a bit more cake. Its just that we've had some HV/hospital run-ins about her weight, and any deviations from her norm can send me for a loop.

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hermykne · 08/03/2007 11:54

mootie offer her the solids just before you are due to feed her and during if possible.
and maybe the tastes are too strong for her - cauli. why not carrot and parsnip and then banana and avocado mixed. then pear and carrot or pear and avocado.

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BabiesEverywhere · 08/03/2007 12:02

Why not try baby led weaning ?

i.e. Letting your child self feed, it is messy but very fun for baby and mum.

To be honest my DD properly isn't actually eating large amounts but she has fun trying.

After doing BLW successfully for a couple of weeks, I tried to spoon feed my daughter as an experiment...she clamped her mouth shut and refused a previously liked food, I removed the spoon and she continued to stuff same food in her mouth !!!

Might be worth a try ?

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mootie · 08/03/2007 12:16

herm - she gets different things everyday, depending on what we are eating, and nothing has really appealed to her. Avocado used to be a winner, and we have tried it a couple of times this week. She's had cauliflower cheese already, too, and liked it enough before.

Babies (and Aitch?!) - we do a bastardised version of BLW, giving her something to feed herself with at almost every meal, and her food is mashed, not pureed. She mostly eats what we eat, although sometimes I make a batch of something to freeze. Except for her weight issue, we would have been purely BLW - can't add enough butter to broccoli florets, so she will (would) have some florets to munch through and then a bit of broccoli, butter and pasta mashed.

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AitchTwoOh · 08/03/2007 12:31

i completely disagree with hermyknee. (sorry)
you really don't want to screw about with milk feeds imho, and ideally should be keeping solids and milk separate.

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hermykne · 08/03/2007 13:31

aitch at 9 months is milk more important than solids?
i breastfeed til 13mths and at 9-12mths mths solids were definitely more of a priority for my two.

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AitchTwoOh · 08/03/2007 13:44

well, yes. the advice nowadays is that the bulk of a babies' nutrition should be coming from milk in the first year. obviously if the baby chucks milk entirely then you might have to become a bit clever about calcium, protein and calories etc but it's only quite old-fashioned HVs who talk about cutting back milk in order to get babies to eat.

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AitchTwoOh · 08/03/2007 14:00

also, if you were bfing on demand then it would presumably be reasonable to assume that they were getting those calories, proteins etc from their diet so were cutting themselves back naturally. also your milk quality may have changed to suit the baby perfectly at that stage if they wer getting quirst-quenching liquid elsewhere.

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AitchTwoOh · 08/03/2007 14:01

quirst-quenching?

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mootie · 08/03/2007 16:45

On the bf before/after issue, I'm quite happy with how things are going at the moment. I used to bfeed her after meals but found she got hungry mid-morning/mid-afternoon, so I stopped feeding her after meals and stick to the mid- feeds. But she has recently refused solids both before and after demanding bfeeds, so I don't see the point in changing things. Maybe I just have to accept that this is another parenting curveball, and have faith that things will sort themselves out eventually.
herm - maybe it depends on the child whether bmilk is more or less important at this age. I'm more of a mind to trust her instincts, and offer her solids and milk and let her choose. She's never been the type of baby to shove a whole banana/french loaf/meat pie into her mouth.
aitch - she did have another explosive poo today during "lunch", I think I am traumatised by the mess. And the washing machine died last night... Any tips on handwashing poo?

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hermykne · 08/03/2007 16:58

yes mootie each child will have a diff demand for milk / solid at 9mths.

"napisan" for handwashing the poo.

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TheDudAvocado · 08/03/2007 18:11

sure, i think all i was saying was that i wouldn't seek to interfere with that by cutting back feeds or interfering with milk feeds. there's nothing worse than trying to feed solids to a hungry baby, iykwim?

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