To ignore the Dr and to keep feeding DS like I am?

[startrek90]

I have just got back from DS weighing in. He is 6 months old and according to the Dr is underwieght and needs more food.

I feed on demand atm. I thought my baby was getting enough. Some days he eats more and some days he eats less. On average his feeds go like this;

6am: 230ml milk
8am: 230ml milk and baby porridge
12 noon: Jar of baby food and 150ml milk
2:30pm: half jar baby food and 150ml milk
5pm: fruit pot and 150 ml milk
8pm: 230ml milk

he eats during the night if he wants and i give him more or less if he wants.

The dr said to force him to eat more and give him more solids but DS won't have it. Aside from the first and last feed I offer food everytime before I offer milk.

AIBU in ignoring the dr and continuing. I feel a bit crap now tbh.... I thought I was managing for once and now I feel rubbish....

Baby porridge is full of sugar. Try normal porridge or weetabix Just cook a bit of extra pasta or normal rice. Or mash up some potato or other veg. Bananas very quick too, also stew an apple or pear.

It is really not that difficult and A LOT healthier and cheaper than jars.

I had a little one that couldn't handle the bits either. What I did was make the mashed potato or banana/ sweet potato or whatever and added the formula milk bit by bit until he was happy with the consistency.

A lot of the suggestions people are making on this thread for you OP have been learnt over time so don't feel bad about not knowing everything on your first go at it all!

I would just add more finger foods like small blocks of cheese, banana and things.

DD has never had a jar or puree - she started eating off our plates at about 5.5 months. She is now 4.5 and has a very sophisticated palette, but can't bear anything mushy. She's never ever eaten mashed potato! She's not fond of one pot meals where everything is mixed up either. Give her a rare steak and broccoli though and she'll hoover it up!

Never did baby rice or porridge either - hideously sugary, bad for baby and totally unnecessary!

"Never did baby rice or porridge either - hideously sugary, bad for baby and totally unnecessary!"

Baby rice is a bit glue like- but porridge is peefctly OK. On,y sugary if you add sugar!

I don't think the day's intake that the OP posted to begin with is bad at all! She is talking about a premmie, so more like a not quite 5 month old!

My baby was six weeks early. We were told to wean at 6 months actual age, so only four and a half corrected. She really wasn't interested at that age. She still had the tongue thrust reflex and just didn't really want food. My plans for blw went completely out of the window. She wouldn't bring food to her mouth at all! She was getting most of her calories from milk though, so I wasn't worried. She is now 8 months and is better but still isn't keen on lumps or pieces of food, so we are pureeing and gradually making them a bit more lumpy. A hand blender could be a good idea. We/our nanny is making most of her food in a cheap blender, and supplementing with the occasional Elka's pouch. Based on my experience, talk of pasta swirls or whatever is crazy. The baby is still really young, gestationally.

OP Have a look on the Bliss site, they are really helpful. Did you see the post from someone who had plotted your ds on a uk chart and found he isn't underweight? I hope that reassures you.

There is nothing like a mention of jarred food to bring out the bloody minded puritans. My dd1 was baby led weaned, ate anything going, shared all our meals. My dd2 was premature and it is a completely different experience. Huge pressure to wean a floppy, disinterested, small baby. It isn't as easy as sticking a few steamed veg on the high chair tray. Sometimes purees are the only way.

Sweet potato becomes puree like when roasted, perhaps thinned with a bit of milk.

No blender and no freezer is going to make things tougher. If you use jars, try mixing the savoury ones with a little olive and the fruit ones with natural yoghurt or mascapone. And yes, if you put things in an airtight container at the Bach if the fridge, they should last for 3 days. Things like the banana-cado can just be mashed with a fork

Just wanted to add, from my sample of one, jarred foods do not necessarily raise bad eaters. I mainly fed dd jars and pouches as a baby, and she now at 3 eats a wider range of food than most children her age I know of. Have there been studies that prove it leads to worse eating habits later on? Genuinely interested - can't do much about it now anyway, but would like to know.

I chose to feed pureed food rather than do blw because she was under weight (born tiny), and I believed it would be a better way of getting calories into her, because she would eat more. That may have been bollocks, but right or wrong it had the desired effect, in the sense that she is now on 25th centile for weight and height.

If jars are lower in calories than homemade food, then that will effect weight gain and so it is relevant to point this out to the OP. I never knew this. I would, in fact, assume it depends on the nature of the homemade food, rather than being a given in all cases.

thank you everyone.... I never realised mentioning jarred foods would get such a reaction :/

"
It is really not that difficult and A LOT healthier and cheaper than jars."

Any evidence for the "healthier"?

Two of mine were preemies (4 and 8 weeks early) and by 6 months they were barely tasting solids. Both also remained tiny for most of the first year then gained rapidly.

Those charts are useful guidance - but as someone said above, if your baby is alert, meeting milestones, generally happy and active, not lethargic, you probably don't need to worry.

By all means try some different foods. You can fork-mash a bit of banana - it was DD1's only solid for a looong time. Wait a month then try the mashed potatoes again. If your DS doesn't like bits, perhaps push the mush through a sieve.

Babies have different body types, just like us. Some babies shoot up in length, then catch up the weight. You're quite right that you can't force-feed him.

Actually, you sound very sensible. I'm a gran now, and have seen so many weaning theories come and go. Use the jars if your baby likes them, or branch out with hand-held solids or mashed mush. See what he likes, but I really wouldn't worry. He sounds lovely.

Don't worry! A lot of people feed their children the way you are and they are all thriving! There is nothing really wrong with jars of food but fresh would obviously be better. Babies have a very good gag reflex so if he does sound like he's choking he is just trying to regurgitate the lump! If someone is choking, their airway is completely blocked and they will NOT make a sound, no breathing or wheezing.

Get some fresh fruit and vegetables, steam (if possible) or boil until very soft, keep the water, mash with a potato masher until fairly fine, add the water to make it a softer consistancy, I never do purees (nanny, 28 years experience, weaned all 23 of my charges!) put a small amount on a weaning spoon and have fun with feeding him! He may take a few days to get used to the lumpier food but he will get used to it.

Don't give him adult cereal until he is a year, they contain too much salt for his body. Also do not use brought stock or give him honey, nuts, soft boiled or half scrambled eggs or soft cheeses. If there is any egg allergy in the family, don't give him eggs until he's a year old. If there is no nut allergy in the family, he can have smooth peanut butter on a thin slice of toast to gum on, but start him on toast and butter first.

Do not listen to anyone else about your baby, he's your child, you love and care for him and are doing your best for him, take all advice on board, read up on everything, there is a lot of conflicting advice out there, then do what YOU want to do as no-one knows your child like you do. Good luck and enjoy your baby! They grow up far too fast!

Sorry, I missed that your baby was premature, so probably not up to what an average 6 month would eat. I would def do milk between meals though, as I think it decreases appetite with meals when weaning.

Apart from probably no 1, all my 4 were eating normal food pretty soon. Just blitzed. Apart from initial fruit and veg puréed, I just mashed or blitzed what the others were having - no time to prepare lots of different stuff.

You might find your surestart does a weaning workshop - maybe get some ideas/experience from other mums?

And yes, bunny I gave dairy and wheat from 6 months as we don't have those allergies in my family - can't see an issue with blitzed up pasta and cheese!!!!!!!

www.analyticalarmadillo.co.uk/2011/12/nine-good-reasons-not-to-use-baby-rice.html

www.foodrenegade.com/why-ditch-infant-cereals/

Hak there's a recent study which I can only find a link for here

Daily Fail I'm afraid but it quotes the study which is from reputable source.

I also recommend annabel karmel and anything that you need to add milk to, use formula. The gag thing with lumpy food is normal - DS2 hated mash, beans and such age 6 months. Now age 3 will eat anything- it's a standing joke he is a dustbin.

Get yourself (if you don't have already) some small lidded pots and an ice cube tray and just make trays and pots of stuff, freeze and mix as necessary. I found weaning the hardest thing but once they get it it's cool. Make food fun! Jars are great for out/ convenience but aren't the best

Your kid is six months old. He needs lots and lots of milk, anything else is just fun and giving him new tastes.

I agree with the previous posters - don't give jarred food. I used to cook stews/curries/fish pie etc then freeze portions for DS - for the first month or so puréed then chopped.

Make sure baby has enough poo and pee nappies as pp said.

Before age one milk is the main source of nutrition. Food before one is just for fun! Well not really, it's to help mature the gut, prevent food allergy and teach baby about textures, tastes and importantly develop the mechanism of eating/chewing etc. But in any case most of what baby eats as solids cannot be fully digested and absorbed and so cannot really be relied upon for nutritional value.

Get organic raw coconut oil, walnut oil, olive oil, add to baby's food after it's been heated, adds calories and some nourishment.

Good luck!!! And keep us posted.

All babies eat differently.

My DS was not a premie but had Pyloric Stenosis which really put him off food. He was not interested in food, and would happily just drink milk and eat yoghurt till he was about 8/9 months. I stopped going to the doctor/Health Visitor as I had enough of hospitals and doctors. He is 17 now and still fairly disinterested in food, will forget to eat and never seems to be hungry, but a healthy teenager none the less.

My DD on the other hand was desperate to eat and on her first day of weaning ate three meals and never looked back. Another healthy teenager now.

Trust your instinct, as others have said if he is alert, happy, sleeping and filling his nappies then he is going to be fine. He is hardly starving. No need to force feed, what a horrid suggestion from your doctor.

DS was 4 weeks early. I read quite a bit about advice for preemies and it was fairly mixed and seems to be based more on personal opinion than evidence, a lot of it is based around concern about iron levels which is less of a concern for a FF baby. DS was my third and I'd BLWed the first two so did the same with him from 6 months uncorrected (don't know what I would have done if he was a much earlier preemie). He wasn't interested in solid food at all for the first month but at 7 months he got it and started eating everything, he's two now and still very enthusiastic about food.

If you are concerned about your LOs weight I'd cut down the solids at his current age and just give milk, it's far more calorific. If you want to offer solids high fat foods to include are cream, cheese, butter, oil, peanut butter (DS has a dairy allergy and is addicted to the stuff), avocados, houmous, etc etc. Go traditional or do BLW as you like but either way try different textures. DD2 hates 'gloopy' food so I'm very glad we BLWed her, if we'd followed AK for her it would have been a difficult journey through the 'lumpy' stage (personally I think AKs books are pretty good, they're just not for every baby).

Can I just give you a (((hug))) OP. I remember being a new mum (DS is now 3yo), and not getting the hang of looooaaaaads of things, starting with the ff guilt

DS was weaned on a mix of jars, finger food and steamed-with-unicorn's-tears homemade puree. We got there in the end.

I am also abroad and healthcare is a whole different kettle of fish!

Oh, can I just respond to the comment about macaroni cheese for a 6 month old. A FF baby would be showing lots of symptoms if they had a CMPA/I (what with formula being made from, you know, cows milk) so from the evidence we have from the OP that's not a concern here (and if it is and she knows it is she'll know which substitutes to use). In addition the EAT study is not complete so we don't yet know if 4 months or 6 months is the best time to introduce common allergens but since no-one is looking at delaying wheat until 7/8/9/12 months it's a bit precious to suggest giving wheat at 6 months is a terrible thing.