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Weaning

New to weaning - is this normal?

7 replies

GumtreeGirl · 04/07/2009 23:38

Hi,

Lurker so far, but leaping in...

I'm one week into starting to weaning my DS, who's 5 1/2 months. As far as I could tell, he seemed ready to start weaning - he sits up very well, and has been very interested in what we were eating. He's not been extra hungry or started not sleeping at night though.

The thing is, I'm not sure how much I should expect him to take of the purees, and whether it's normal for babies to initially not open their mouths much for spoons. I don't know if he's resisting the spoon itself (although he's happy to play with it and put it in his mouth when I'm not offering food on it), or the taste of the food. So far he's had carrot, potato, sweet potato, squash and apple, with varying degrees of success. He's also had odd tastes from our plates (cheese, peach, avocado), which has def. been more successful.

Is this initial resistance normal, and do I just need to be patient and give him more time to get used to the idea of a different way of eating? Or should I be trying something else?

Any suggestions gratefully received...

Thanks

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whomovedmychocolate · 04/07/2009 23:46

Imagine this: you have very little means of communication or coordination and can't tell someone to sod off and they keep trying to stick a plastic spoon in your face. Would you open up?

Seriously it takes a while. I did baby led weaning with both mine and skipped the whole puree bit. If he's interested in trying regular foods, let him. As long as it's not wholenuts, alcohol or salty there is no reason not to just let him try. They self regulate btw - they will miss about 95% in the first few months (buy a good mop or vac depending on your flooring).

During the first year food really is just for fun so don't get stressed though.

Oh and welcome to Mumsnet

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Montifer · 04/07/2009 23:55

I think it probably is normal, DS did a lot of messing about with cutlery etc before he got into eating the food.
Have a look at this. No stressing about purees and whether they are eating enough. DS didn't eat 'properly' until about 8 months but he was thriving on breastmilk and now (13 months) eats everything with great gusto

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GumtreeGirl · 05/07/2009 11:04

Thanks for this!

Whomovedmychocolate - I was thinking the same re spoons, and starting to feel a bit guilty. (Mind you, he's quite good at telling us to sod off - high-pitching yelling does the trick most of the time, but this is usually later, at the cleaning up point of meal times)

Thanks for the link Montifer - I think will try blw - after all, we have hard floors and in this weather, the garden, so what's to loose?

Also, am I right in thinking that at this age until they're about 1, food is more experimental than there to give them calories, and that's what the milk is for?? If that's the case I'll relax a bit more and see what flows.

Thanks again, and also for the welcome

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