8 month old tomorrow not feeding please help any tips.

[leebee123]

Hi,

My 8 month old daughter constantly cries or screams whenever comes to feeding time. When i first started weaning she would take the food no problem. However over the last month when ever i come to feed her she just rubs her eyes as though she is tired and screams and cries which gets very upsetting for me as i think i am doing something wrong.
She hasn't any teeth yet and i can't feel anything to say that they are on there way although she cries a fair bit.
She is happy to take her milk and even takes down yoghurts and fruit no problem but when it comes to anything she doesn't want to know or she'll have a couple of mouthfuls fine and then just all of a sudden burst into tears. So not sure if in pain or what.
I spoke to the HV last month and he said as long as she is gaining weight don't worry about it but obviously i do, everyone else i know who has little ones the same age as her are having no problems what so ever which makes me feel a bad mother.
If anyone can suggest anything at all please please i need all the help i can get.
Thanks

[milkymill]

Hi there, my 7.5 mth old ds does this sometimes. Have you tries distracting her with a toy? I know this sounds a bit daft, but sometimes we give ds his pudding first and then carry straight on with his savoury. Bizarrely he usually goes for it.

[leebee123]

Thanks i might try that tomorrow will let u know

[boysontoast]

have you tried giving food she can fumble about with herself, standing back and letting her get on with it? it will make an unholy mess for the first -ooh, 4 months?? - but worth it when she is happily feeding herself proper foiod, not mush, at a year old.

have you seen the BLW threads? worth a search i think...

[AitchTwoOh]

i doubt very much that you are a bad mother... agree with boysontoast that more finger food might be the way. some babies just aren't that fussed for being spoon fed. have a look at www.babyledweaning.com, it's my blog. hopefully seeing the pics of 6 month old babies self-feeding will give you a bit of confidence in letting her feed herself.

[gegs73]

My ds did this too when he was about 8 months old. It turned out he had a sickness bug which the whole family caught about 2 weeks later and also coincided with teeth and the fact he started picking up little bugs around that age as we went to Mother and Toddler groups etc. It is normal though it worried me to death around this time.

What helped with me was trickery - giving one spoon of say yoghurt or fruit puree, then a spoon of savoury alternating until he had eaten it. Also you could try giving something for her to chew on breadstick or toast and popping in spoonfuls in-between. Good luck!!

[leebee123]

Can you start BLW even if they have no teeth, i assume they just suck the food if this is the case

[Pixiefish]

The food is soft but handleable so yes they can suck it and sort of chew it. Try sticks of food- boiled.

My dd didn't really start eating until she was about 10 months- just not interested

[BizzyDint]

they chew with their gums. better to try finger foods than trickery imo.

[sjcmum]

My dd was like this last week too - and like someone else said - turned out to be a bit of a stomach bug which the rest of us got as well. She is back to normal now though - and ate more in a day yesterday than she did in a whole week last week.

Definitely agree on the toy/something to play with thing - a spoon, spare food pot, lid or something often keep my dd entertained and much happier to stay in the highchair - or equally a piece of rice cake or something like that, that they can chew on at the same time.

Another suggestion - is she tired when she eats? The other day, I just wasn't getting anywhere with dinner and had the whole rubbing eyes, crying when the spoon when near her etc. I put her down for a quick nap, woke her up 10 mins later (as quite late in the day didn't want her to get too much sleep) and then she ate her dinner absolutely fine afterwards. I definitely find food soon after a nap works much better than if they have been awake for a long time.

Good luck!

[kiskidee]

your hv is right! hurrah!

if your child will only accept yoghurt and fruit then give her yoghurt and fruit. (mine would only have yoghurt till she was 10 months old!) then she started to accept sloppy readybrek and sloppy weetabix. and if i put finger foods infront of her she just shoved them off her tray or broke them into tiny bits and scattered them.

so yoghurt, and readybrek was her fingerfood. great pics tho!

she gagged on all lumps etc till she was 13 months and at nearly 2 eats a wide range of (strong) flavours but seems more turned off by textures.

at 13 months she literally grabbed food off my plate. if she gets so upset, she is telling you she isn't ready yet. trust your baby.

[leebee123]

thanks to u all i feel a bit better now, i did feed her today after she woke up from her nap and she ate so may try that the next few days