Weaning problems at 8 months

[furryfriends57]

Hi,
Am at my wits end with DD and hope someone might have had the same problem and have a magic solution. DD is nearly 8 months and I started weaning at 6 months with home made purees of fruit and veg, all went well at the start but then I moved on to stage 2 and thats where the trouble started. She seems to have a really strong gag reflex and has gotten sick a few times and now isn't interested in anything but purees or yoghurts. Latest incident was this morning when she brought up all her porridge and yoghurt when I gave her a tiny bit of pear :( .... stupid mammy won't do that again. She also won't put any food in her mouth so baby led weaning isn't an option, think this is cause she was sick after a little bit of liga. My DHs nephew is a very difficult child food wise and I dread that we'll end up the same. So anyhow any advice welcome
Thanks, Furry

I was doing things less mashed - eg banana started out completely smooth before I gave it to DS, but gradually I stopped making it quite as smooth and small not quite lumps, but certainly not really mashed bits were included - a similar thing happened with all food I was making. If you could do this with something that you know she likes, but not expect major changes immediately?

A mum gave me a very good piece of advice, if you start stressing about meal times, you'll spoil it for your baby... as she will pick up on the stress and not enjoy eating. Relax. Slow down. Let your baby give the pace...When mine was teething or going through a developmental leap eating would be more difficult...Yours might simply going through a tough patch... Breathe, and let it go!

Your dd is still young and getting most of what she needs from milk at this stage, so don't stress. Give her what she's happy eating for the moment, just thinking about a good balance of nutrients, and let her play with her food - make a mess with some puree, and pick up bits of food, no matter if she doesn't try to eat them yet. It might help for her to eat at the same time as you/the rest of the family if she doesn't already, as she'll learn a lot from watching you eat and enjoy it, and give her bits of your dinner on her tray to look at/squidge about.

I wouldn't keep feeding her lumpy textures off a spoon. You could just end up conditioning her to gag at the spoon and then she won't eat the smooth food either.

My advice would be to give her lots of food to play with and let her get on with it. Keep feeding her purées from a spoon so she doesn't need to eat what she's playing with.

Hopefully playing with the food will help her to become accustomed to the textures and aromas and eventually she will start putting them in her mouth herself. While she is going through this process you need to keep well out of it. Don't do anything to encourage her to touch, smell, taste anything. Let her lead it herself.

You could also start loading the spoon for her with the puréed but hand it to her to put in her mouth herself. That will encourage her to start feeding herself with something safe and predictable which will be a positive experience.

Thank you all so much for your replies. Phn was pushing me to stop with the pureeing before she got too old as a ftm I have probably been a bit intense about this. I gave her some stewed apple today that wasn't mashed and she was happy to eat it and didn't gag, I just hope she doesn't become too addicted to sweet things .... there I go again! If anyone else has had the same experience while weaning and has a happy ending I'd love to hear how you got through it.

Best advice i was ever given was: Food under 1 is just for fun!! It really doesnt matter if her food is smoothe at this stage, as long as she's getting enough milk. relax and enjoy it, let her take part.. mash it with her fingers.. give her a spoon so she can try herself. Laugh, clap and smile your way through mealtimes, she will see how happy you are and replicate (as they always do!!)