weaning- what is the fastet way to get them to eat?

[stayinbed]

i heard to start with a very very very soft boiled spiral pasta?

[StealthPolarBear]

what are you trying to do?

[ILikeToMoveItMoveIt]

Am not sure what you mean tbh.

How old is your dc?

[DeckTheHallWithBowlsOfPomBears]

to be honest, weaning is not something I would try and do fast.

[RhinestoneReindeerHerder]

Once they can sit up, put some food in front of them and see if they eat it.

[auntyfash]

A funnel should make them eat faster. HTH x

[RhinestoneReindeerHerder]

and 'fastest', surely they will do it when ready?

[stayinbed]

6 months!

The first time around I was so stressed about weaning that I hardly gave my Dd1 foods until 7 months, and then I was always so worried she would choke it took me ages to get her to eat solids.

I am wondering if I have to go through all the boiling and mashing for ages again, or if it can be made quicker. Someone told me to boil some spiral pasta until its really soft and let her suck on it ...sounds scary??

[HarkTheTragicalyHipHeraldAngel]

I don't think that's the right way of thinking tbh.

They eat when they are ready. Ds didn't eat "well" till 8.5 months

[HarkTheTragicalyHipHeraldAngel]

If that sounds scary to you try the purée route

[ruddynorah]

The pasta doesn't need to be soft, just normal, al dente if you like. But your baby might be slow to get going, or fast.

[chaosisawayoflife]

Look up baby led weaning. Basically you chuck some food on the high chair and leave them to it. Worked great for my lo and many others.

[WestYorkshirePudding]

I gave baby rice & pureed veg at 5(ish) months, a month later we were on 3 meals a day and by 9 months they were eating blended versions of what we ate - pasta, shepherd's pie, chicken dinner, etc.

I personally couldn't have gone down the BLW route, far too much mess and I know of too many people who did BLW and have kids who are fussy eaters.

Stick it on a spoon, feed it to them and mealtimes are done and dusted within 10 mins :)

[thisisyesterday]

i agree with HarkTheTragicalyHipHeraldAngel .

you're looking at this the wrong way. your primary aim shouldn't be to get them to eat as much as possible as quickly as possible

until they are at least a year old milk should be the main source of nutrition, with solids complementing it. to begin with weaning is purely introducing them to new textures and flavours.

[Tgger]

Hey, chill. Milk is the main food and between 6 months and a year they are just playing with food. Think of it like that and you won't worry!

And no, you don't have to do purees and mash stuff you can just give them what you give your older one. Maybe mash or cut it on their plate sometimes until they have more teeth, but gums are pretty good.

My DD (second child) wasn't that keen on food. Between 6 and 9 months she mainly ate toast, yoghurt, odd bit of pasta, and very very small amounts. Then around 9 months her appetite kicked in and she started eating much more. I never pureed anything. To my dismay she wouldn't touch jars of baby-food but she'd have a go at the solid stuff no probs, just not actually eat much of it.

Don't worry about choking- well, just be sensible- they have the gag reflex and this kicks in when it needs to!

Oh yes, the chuck it on the high chair and see if they eat it was me- more because DD wouldn't take anything off a spoon, she preferred her fingers

[thecaptaincrocfamily]

thisisyesterday milk is not the main nutrition until 1 year. The recommendations are that by 1 year children should be able to eat meals cut up as the family would do and include all food groups. By one year children should have only 20oz milk from a beaker per day including yoghurt/ custard/rice pudding/sauces/cheese.

Fast ??? At 6 months start with mashed food such as potato, carrot, cauli, brocoli, and also introduce soft pasta/bread/fruit as finger food to try. Once fruit and veg are being eaten introduce meat - an easy way is cutting thick sliced sandwich meat into strips for finger food. If they self feed they are less likely to choke and the exploration of food with hands means they naturally want to put it to their mouth. Spoon feeding babies means they are more likely to continue to eat once full as many parents see the mash/puree as it looks in the dish. Puree a whole fruit and see how much puree it looks like - not much, so parents give to much. A portion is the baby hand size when solid so bare that in mind.

[ChunkyPickle]

errr.. nope, the catch phrase is 'food for fun, until they're one'

www.nhs.uk/Conditions/Babies-weaning/Pages/Whattodo.aspx

It says you can drop a milk feed, not that you have to drop a milk feed.

Milk is still the main nutrition, and in most cases is sufficient (see kellymom for research)

[stickersarecurrency]

I agree with TIY and Chunky. Solids are effectively taking up room which could be filled by more nourishing milk so it's important not to rush it. And as for 20oz milk - where does that leave us if you consider the natural norm of demand BF?

[thecaptaincrocfamily]

The baby is not breastfed and 20oz is recommended when babies are formula fed. See the birth to five book which has all recommended advice for babies and is completely evidence based on the latest research findings. The phrase is 'no rush to mush'

[thecaptaincrocfamily]

This is from the NHS website
Solid foods and milk

You?ll find that as your baby eats more solid foods, the amount of milk they want will start to decrease.

Once your baby is eating plenty of solids several times a day, you may find that they take less milk at each feed or even drop a milk feed altogether. You can continue to breastfeed or you can give your baby between 500ml and 600ml (about a pint) of infant formula a day until they?re at least a year old. Breastfeeding will continue to benefit you and your baby for as long as you choose to carry on.

Beakers and cups

If you?re bottle feeding, it?s a good idea to introduce a cup rather than a bottle from about six months onwards. By the time your baby is one, they should have stopped using bottles with teats. Otherwise, they may find it hard to break the habit of comfort sucking on a bottle.

Using an open cup or a free-flow cup without a valve will help your baby learn to sip rather than suck, which is better for their teeth. Comfort sucking on sweetened drinks is the biggest cause of painful tooth decay in young children. If you use a bottle or trainer cup, don't put anything in it other than formula, breast milk or water.

Choosing a beaker or cup

It?s important to choose the right kind of beaker or cup. A beaker with a free-flow lid (without a non-spill valve) is better than a bottle or beaker with a teat. Drinks flow very slowly through a teat, which means that children spend lot of time with the teat in their mouth. This can delay speech development and damage teeth, especially if they're drinking a sweetened drink. As soon as your child is ready, encourage them to move from a lidded beaker to drinking from a cup.

[stickersarecurrency]

I don't understand the relevance of that post, as it seems to be referring mainly to the vessel used!

[foxytocin]

I never 'weaned' dd2 (or dd1 who had other thoughts about weaning and weaned herself at 13 months.) I put both of them on my knee when I was eating and let them mooch off my plate. Spectacularly lazy efficient imo.

So they had 3 meals with me and the bits of biscuit chocolate buttons apple, banana or toast in between meals.

Thing is, with this method, dd2 now 2 still occasionally invites herself up to my knee after she has finished her food to help herself to mine.

[foxytocin]

Captaincroc, what you have said sounds like what the HVs tell mums at the weaning group which I have observed.

Thing is,not every baby fit that model, despite the evidence. Read below how my dd1 weaned. In contrast, dd2 started to mooch food off my plate before 6 months.

As a first time mum with dd1, the weaning 'rules' you outline would have left me frantic with worry as I am inclined to over think some things.

Look at the baby, follow their lead.

Oh and no need be so prescriptive about introducing veg first, then meat. Why not both and let them choose? When does the complex carbs and healthy fats come in? Funnily enough they eat what they can when they are developmentally ready.



In that scenario, my kids would fail spectacularly. Both of them started meat 'late' ie well over 1yr for both. DD1 at 5 yo still won't eat beef and pork, started eating fish over 3yo at chicken at over 5yo.

[TragicallyHip]

Agree with everyone that milk is the main nutrition until they are one!

When they start eating a well balanced meal then you can reduce the milk but if not milk is plenty for them!

[ChocolateMoose]

Babies can put 'proper' food into their own mouths from about 6 months and practise chewing and they won't choke on it because they have a very good gag reflex (at a stage when it would be dangerous to spoonfeed non-pureed food because that is delivered to the back of the mouth and the gag reflex will not protect them. BLW is when you let babies feed themselves entirely (alternatively you can mix self-feeding and spoon-feeding). Babies may gag, and this can look alarming although they are not in danger. That might be a problem for you if you tend to be a bit paranoid about choking.

With BLW you avoid all time spent mushing food. Some babies take to solid foods really quickly, others take ages and you have to try and relax and trust that they are getting all the nutrients they need from milk. I think (though don't know for sure) that with purees babies usually go onto solid food quicker.

Some babies prefer finger foods to being spoonfed purees and vice versa, but in general pick what suits you (or mix and match). I don't think either method of weaning makes much of a difference as to whether they turn out a fussy eater.

[thecaptaincrocfamily]

The NHS post was put there because it says you may give 20ox of formula until at least 1 year not 'give at least 20ox of formula until 1 year' which is what was expressed earlier in the thread. The reason that meat should be introduced after other things is because of its difficult digestibility, the theory being that as babies become more mature they accumulate more gut bacteria which aid in the breaking down of food and produce more digestive enzymes. Without these, meat can lay for long periods in the gut decomposing and fermenting which can lead to stomach cramping and constipation. Both of these are unpleasant for babies and parents. Logic suggests that if a baby tolerates more easily digested food i.e. starchy/ veg that they will probably tolerate meat. Also food should be introduced one thing at a time to establish which food a child is allergic to if a reaction occurs. i.e. you give a bowl of mixed fruit and a rash appears then you have no idea what caused the rash, whereas if you give just strawberries then you know what not to give if a rash appears.