Help! - 9mo refusing the spoon, not eating....

[mum2fred]

For the past 3 or 4 days my strong-willed DS has started refusing to be fed.

Hes never been a particularly good eater, and has always languished around the 5-10 percentile. Hes just started crawling nad is incredibly active. He lost weight on his last weigh-in but not too concerned about this.

NOW - He purses his lips shut whenever anything is offered to him on a spoon - even all of his favourite foods.

We are giving him lots of finger food like pears and soft fruit, boiled veggies, toast and spagetti which he plays with and munches on, but very little actually goes in.

Im just really worried about it all, nad finding it frustraing to hte point where i get quite upset... which I know is hte worst thing I can do. Im trying so hard to make mealtimes light and fun, but struggling to keep it together sometimes.

I dont know what to do. I dont know if the small little bits he gets when self-feeding is suffice, whether I should embrace this, or continue trying to slip in a spoonful here nad there....

[gillhowe]

Oh no, its stressful isn't it! Is he drinking his milk? More of the finger food than you think will be going in maybe offer more? Just try and hold on to the fact that he wont starve himself and if he was hungry he would let you know! I think slipping spoonfuls in is more for you than him tbh (I know its tempting though and I have done it myself )

DS has phases where he doesn't want to be spoonfed, so far he has gone back to it in a few days. Plenty seem to give up forever and prefer feeding themselves though (which is great)

[Ulysees]

Does he have a spoon himself? I wouldn't worry too much as most babies go through this. You do well to make light of it as babies have a stress radar as you well know
If he's getting milk and looks healthy then I wouldn't worry.
Do you have a good HV?
I agree with more finger foods too.
Do you use jars, dried food or fresh?
DS2 loved nothing more than the dried packets made up and was a strapping baby. He ate bits of other food but that was his favourite. Maybe try a box of that if you haven't yet? It has vitamins in.

[ruddynorah]

ditch the spoon. have you read about baby led weaning? not for everyone, granted, however it has saved the sanity of several mners. basically serve up finger foods and let him feed himself. this doesn't mean just things like toast and carrot sticks, i mean serve anything like shepherds pie, lasagne, sunday dinner etc. not mashed, not pureed, just as it comes. you may need to look at how you cook your food, ie don't add salt, avoid processed food, but that's a good thing for your baby as well as your whole family.

[Ulysees]

I know mine were eating pasta spirals and the like at that age. I'd be careful with meat and suchlike though and small carrots etc..

[ruddynorah]

meat and small cooked carrots are fine. he'd probably love spag bol.

[mum2fred]

thank you everyone. these things can be so stressful. Its amazing how our little babies keep throwing us curveballs - when will it end!?!? (DP suggests 30!)

Have had DP with me all weekend, helping share mealtimes and am somewhat nervous about the coming week, on my own. But its reassuring to know that this is not altogether uncommon.

Hes still taking his milk pretty well, but has also taken to getting upset when putting on a bib or being put on his highchair. TOnights dinner took place on a plastic bin liner in the living room!! Argh!

We are offering ever food (and loads of it) in the hope he will take an interest. ONe constant is vegemite on toast (little aussie!) and I cook up lots of YUMMY stuff from annabel karmel. I enjoy cooking nad have always cooked from scratch, so DS benefits from this. We often joke that the little man eats better than we do!! Sometimes use jars (Though hes never really liked these) and the dried food is quite successful in hte past (especially the cereals and porridge)

Not hugely confident in my HV, but will take him later this week for weigh-in and chat.

Interested in baby led weaning - might inevitbly have to do this if things dont change int he near future! Anywhere I can read about this?

[ruddynorah]

yes. lots on here and also babyledweaning.com and babyledweaning.co.uk both set up by aitch, a mumsnetter.

[snoozer]

mum2fred -- if it helps, my 9 mos ds has refused the spoon for the last 2 months and he gets maybe the equivalent of 10 spoonfuls a day through finger foods. He's just not interested in eating. But he seems completely happy and healthy, nonetheless.