DD gets bored after 5 mins

[Diamondgirls]

My DD is 6.5 months old. We are doing blw which is going okay I guess... Except now she will only play/eat the food for about 5 mins before demanding to be taken out of the highchair. So she never really gets a chance to eat alot. If I put her on my lap she just wants my plate/knife/fork/anything that isn't food. I really really want to do blw, but I'm starting to doubt myself. Ive had to resort to White lies about how well shes doing to my boyfriends mum as I cant deal with her smug 'I told you, you should have put baby rice in bottles when she turned 3 months' looks. Even though she is bf and I had no intention of weaning that early. But that's another story :)

[JiltedJohnsJulie]

Diamond this sounds perfectly normal and nothing to worry about. Gradually DD will see meals as a way to satisfy her hunger and a social time too, but at the moment the most important thing to her is the breastfeeds, which is perfectly natural and normal.

When you do offer solids are you sitting down and eating at the same time? If she is a little bored you could give her some cutlery to play with and that might make her stay a little longer.

At that age though my DD just wanted to be on my lap. She never did like her highchair much but that hasn't stopped her from growing into a little girl who loves family mealtimes.

She will get interested and you are taking it at her pace, which is exactly how it should be.

As for your MIL, anyone who advocates putting rice in baby milk is very ill informed. Anything put into bottles other than milk is a choking hazard. If she mentions baby rice again give her this to read . Personally though I'd just smile, nod and then carry on doing what I wanted to do .

Lastly, do you go to any Bfing Support groups or your local NCT? You might meet other bfing mums who you can talk to about weaning and get some tips. Your local LLL might also do talks on weaning.

it will come with time .

[Jules125]

My DD was like this for a long time, and was hardly eating solids at all at 6.5 months. Now at 15 months she eats quite well (albeit the range is less than i would like) and at least sometimes will sit in high chair for quite a while. It took her till around 12 months (so lots of frustration and wondering if I'd done something wrong) to reach this stage though. Try not to worry about it for a long time yet.

[cheekyginger]

I might ask a stupid question?? What kind of high chair have you got?

My LO will sit for quite a while in his ikea high chair playing with eating his food. But put him in one of those fancy padded numbers and he is generally screaming blue murder after 10mins!!! Just a thought!

[Diamondgirls]

We've got the ikea one too. I knew she would get distracted if it had all the fancy patterns on it. And most of the other ones, have the tray too high up. I'm trying not to worry it's just hard when I see other babies eating bucketfuls of puree. She will eat loads if put, eg a breadstick, in her hand while I'm carrying her around but it's not possible to do this with all foods. I will try not to worry about it though.

[WizzyBizzy]

Just one thought based on your last comment... I found that DS would eat just about anything if you spread it on toast. So I would make thickish purees (not BLW I know, but bear with me....) and then spread it on toast. He got to feed himself, and I knew he was getting a few veggies etc inside him. Wish it still worked now he's 2 and a half!!!

[Diamondgirls]

Thanks wizzy, I'll give that a try as she loves toast.

[littleniceone]

Hi my 9 month old is doing the same. I weaned her at 6 months and then all she liked was food and literally would not take any milk from about 7 months I now try to sleep feed her during naps her milk but with her meal times, she eats about half and then gets bored and just refuses I have torn my hair out for like a month because when we went away she ate bucket loads. And at this point am still trying to find things that amuse her while eating lol. It's a nightmare but I look at is as she is not screaming or anything cause she is such a contented baby and obviously is full her weight is continually to go up. So long as baby is happy just go with her and don't worry literally about what anyone else says! Ps my MIL is exactly the same and i just ignore her nod and smile as they say lol xx

[CornishYarg]

It's still really early days so try not to worry - when she's ready she'll eat more. DS was eating very little at this age but we got there in time and now he's a right dustbin! Keep your expectations very low about how much she'll eat (and don't worry about how much other babies eat) and one day she'll surprise you!