My 8 month old reallly giving me a hard time - please help - only eating baby rice and is stuck to me like velcro all day

[Amani]

Hi,

Really need some advice and help as I don't know what to do...

I have an 8 month old DD who is still eating only baby rice purees and does not eat anything else (no lumpier food, no fruit/veg purees). All meal times are a struggle and am lucky to get her to eat about 5 baby spoons of baby rice. Am so frustrated as when I went to see the HV to have her weighed her weight was in the 9th per centile for a baby of her age.

Incidently when I first started weaning her - she took really well to all types of fruit and veg and it's been 3 weeks since she has stopped and won't have anything other than baby rice and milk. What can I do to get her to eat properly (i.e lumpier food, fruit/veg)???..am so worried that she is going to make herself ill by not eating.

Also she is literally stuck to me all day and I can't even go to the toilet without her screaming her head off. I've reached the stage where my wrists are aching so much and somedays I find myself in agony carrying her around and trying to do household task. I've tried keeping her in the same room as me when I work, but she just wants to be on my lap all the time or helping her to stand....what can I do to help her gain a bit more independance?

I've done it here as well. I've taken DD into kitchen to make tea and had to leave her yelling in her walker/activity station etc while I make it. I stop every now and again to talk to her and stuff but food HAS to be made.

Amani i have a door bouncer on ebay if you want it.
It's from mothercare but is redundant now we have the jumperoo!
Fine if it's not what your looking for though!

ds had a similar phase at eight months - like you i was just about to go back to work and panicked about how i'd do it as he wouldn't even go to dh for five minutes at this stage: it was me or nothing, 24/7.
luckily it was a phase and apparently very common at this age. he'd grown out of it within weeks and by the time i did go back to work, he was absolutely fine. it\s something to do with realising at this age that mummy is actually a separate entity (not a mere extension of the baby there to do all bidding) and therefore could possibly go away, so they become briefly panicked that you WILL go away. but in ds's case anyway that was very short lived and im sure you will find the same. good luck!

Hi Amani,

I have a friend whose dd refused to eat solids at ALL until well into the 8th month and she now has very impressive rolls of baby fat (just over a year old).

We've just had to go back to very basic baby foods after taking some poor HV advice.

Cheese sticks are working very well for us aswell as eating food off my fingers - e.g philadelphia.

Also if you're feeding on your lap try Ella's pouches. I did this when on hols. They're excellent as you caan squeeze a bit onto a spoon an offer. alot less faff than a pot or bowl. They're in tesco and sainsbury.

We just had a really squawky horrible bit with dd. was very wearing. she cried whenever I left her. seems to have finished for no particular reason.

Good luck. - p.s. i'm susiemj as was

Hi Amani

I have exactly the same thing happening with feeding - DD is 8 months and has always tracked just above the 9th centile, she's never been a great eater. Anyway, when we started with purees she was OK but soon started refusing anything off a spoon. Went to get here weighed this week and she'd managed to put on all of 2oz in 4 weeks.

Anyway, two bits of advice from my (lovely) HV seem to be working -

firstly, the problem with purees might be that she's very independent and wants to feed herself so rather than spoon feeding I've tried some BLW-style finger food and she seems to like it. It's messy and tbh not the way I wanted to go but in the last few days she's tried most things (including purees) so long as they're presented on a small piece of toast or a rice cake.

secondly, is she hungry enough? It's been hard but I have found that limiting her milk feeds, particularly in the morning, mean she's more hungry for solids at lunchtime. This approach I'm not so sure about as given her slow weight gain to date I don't like cutting out milk. Really not sure this will help with weight gain as I thought most calories still come from milk at this stage.

Sorry if I'm repeating earlier posts as I haven't read the whole thread but your OP sounded so familiar I wanted to respond.

Good luck and I'll be interested to hear how you get on.

Thanks everybody and it's really nice to hear from you have been through the same thing.

Tried giving DD2 a slice of toast for her to nibble on while I fed her and every time she bought the toast to her mouth I quickly out a little bit of baby rice mixed with a little carrot puree in her mouth - even though I managed the usual 4-5 spoonful, she did nibble on a little toast. Feeling a little optimistic about that idea and will let you know how it goes....

Lilyloo - if it's not to much trouble can you post the link of the door bouncer.....being a bit slow this evening and cant see it on eBay.

Oh and also tried sitting with DD" for 10 mins while she played then got up quietly and walked out the room...2 seconds later I could her the screams.......is it evil of me to think I can't wait to go to work - at least I won't have a baby attached to my hip and wil be able to go to the loo and eat in peace....?

Amani this is the item number it has no bids so can end listing and sned to you if you want it asap. If it's not what your looking for that's fine as there are plenty on there!
I know what you mean about work i swing from wanting to be a sahm but on a hard day being envious of dp gpoing to work!
Glad the feeding thing worked i often have to do that with dd when she won't entertain anything!

whoops 110281361891

Amani as you know my ds has been the unputdownable baby from very early on so i do know how wearing it is. A good sling has kept me sane,he was in it pretty much 24/7 when he was younger and i still do a fair bit with him on my back. I have a couple of wrap slings and a babyhawk mei tai-all very comfortable to wear and fit both me and dh. The babyhawk is easier to just quickly chuck on though,especially for back carries. Ds is much better now he is crawling (just crawls after me and climbs up my leg instead of sitting screaming!)but still not happy to be left.
With regards to food,dd was a nightmare.didnt eat anything til after 9 months.the blw way worked for us but it was slow going and incredibly frustrating at the time.
Hope things improve soon

amani, I can't help with the Velcro baby issue but feeding wise I'd echo others suggestions, leave spoon feeding for a while and leave her to munch herself on something. What I did to start was a slice of buttered bread cut up, on a plate, on her highchair and left her to it. It doesn't matter how long they last playing/ gumming/ sucking it, she'll ingest some then once she's lost interest give her some milk. Yes I'd forget the purees, and give her bite size soft food to play with. It should hopefully give you some hands free time whilst she's occupied with it. I now give DD something to feed herself with whilst we're eating, it keeps her amused and makes her feel included at the meal.

Lilyloo - thanks for the offer - my BIL has got one of those - will see if I can get him to bring it over when he comes down this weekend (if he can find it), if not will let you know by Monday if I need it.
xxx

amani - you poor thing - it sounds utterly exhausting for you and no of course it isn;t awful that you are looking forward to going back to work.

I think there is loads of good advice on here and I don't think what i am going to suggest will suit you (knowing how much you like to clean ) but both my DCs have been quite clingy and I tend to neglect housework etc and just have them on my knee as I know it is just a phase and more importantly it gets me out of doing horrible chores! I know this probably isn;t what you would do but sometimes I find it easier to surrender to them rather than battle on IYKWIM

She will rpobably be fine at nursery and it may even make her less clingy once she gets used to the new routine. Really hope things improve for you soon xx

No probs Amani fwiw dd being a bit clingy too at the mo! Although dp around see our thread so it isn't as consuming!
Hope she get's better soon i am off to buy some of that teething powder tom!

Poor you Armani my DS is younger (7 months this weekend) and eating all I put in front of him so I cannot help on that score (long may it last!) he does have some degree of "seperation anxiety" though but I counter that by always playing music for him when I am out of the room and regularly coming back to talk to him, even when he is quiet just so he knows that I come back regardless of how he behaves. Hope things get easier soon x

Poor you Armani my DS is younger (7 months this weekend) and eating all I put in front of him so I cannot help on that score (long may it last!) he does have some degree of "seperation anxiety" though but I counter that by always playing music for him when I am out of the room and regularly coming back to talk to him, even when he is quiet just so he knows that I come back regardless of how he behaves. Hope things get easier soon x

Amani, DS who is now three was very slow to "get" food. Despite all my best effort I used to get very wound up about it until I read this fab book which totally changed the way I thought about weaning and made me relax and stop worrying. I really recommend you get hold of a copy as it will stop you worryng about a stuation which frankly, you can't control.

As far as clinginess goes I think this age is where seperation anxiety first peaks. It does get better I promise you (and then worse again and then better!). I used to set up a play area in each room I was likely to go into in our house then take DS along with me and dump him down with some toys. That worked for us. Playing games like peekaboo (either your hands over your face or with teddies behind your back) at this age is good as it helps your baby understand the idea that things that they can't see haven't really disappeared and that you will come back.