DD 6.5mo lost weight - "she needs more solids"

[katechristie]

DD is 6.5mo and lost 1.5oz since being weighed 2 wks ago. She's now dropped to the ...75th centile, so is still looking fairly healthy, plus, she'd jumped up in length from the 75th centile to the 98th so has been doing lots of growing. she had a cold last week so was having shorter, more frequent feeds as was quite bunged up. I wasn't at all worried, but the HV told me she needs more solids.

She feeds every 3-4 hours round the clock. I offer her food at each meal we have, both mashed and finger food - sometimes she eats a bit, often it ends up on the floor. I'm offering her food, I can't force her to eat it and figure she'll start eating more when she's ready and refuse to feel pressured to get her to eat more and am tempted to fib next time I see the HV (wants to see us again in a few weeks) about how much she's eating. any thoughts???

(This is DC2, so I've been here before and am a lot more relaxed about the weaning stage this time but don't want to be bullied by the HVs!)

Do you offer food or milk first? If she's taking too much milk she won't have much appetite for the other foods.

By 6-7mths babies have lost all the iron that the body was born with and so definitely need iron rich cereals, broccoli etc. And also v important is meat, as protein is required from 6mths.

Stuff on the floor is normal I think, but perhaps try different varieties.

In my experience, despite hours of puree making and baby food mashing, in the end my DS much much preferred the professional versions - Ella's kitchen being a favourite but all the other main brands also good.

Not an expert but I've always gone with the idea that (providing food is readily on offer as it is with you) a child will not starve itself. Colds, teething, more activity (crawling) could all be reasons for change of appetite/weight. Surely best thing is to monitor and not panic!!!

Can't agree with FBA about babies definitely needing iron from cereals and broccoli, or indeed protein from meat... if they are still BF on demand as your DD is, your breastmilk will be supplying all the nutrients she needs in a readily absorbable form - lots of info here about iron.

BLW gives the baby the chance to experiment with food as and when they're ready. Lots of HV are unfamiliar with the idea, even though it fits far better with the "milk-only till 6 months" advice that they are supposed to give. You could try showing her some info about it... though only if you're feeling strong! Otherwise fib to keep her happy and keep watching your baby to know if she's well.

And in terms of the HV's worry about weight loss, milk would build her up quicker than any solids you'd care to feed her but certainly more so than the limited range of fruit and veggies you'd have had time to introduce under the method she probably gives lip service to, of one new food every 3 days after 6 months. You could gently point out this inconsistency if she's being pushy.

My DS took a long time to get going with solids. He'd play with it, smear it around, throw it on the floor but barely go beyond a taste until he was at least 9 months old. Now at 16 months he'll happily tuck into most things, surprising people by yumming down chilli beef or brussels sprouts. A friend's DD is 11 months and still producing breastmilk poos she eats so little. Plenty of posts on here from other BLWs will give you reassurance that this is totally normal.

At 6-7 months, babies are still fine for iron, unless the mother is anaemic. She gets iron from your milk. She gets protein from your milk.

Food is for fun until they're one. I wouldn't worry at all about the weight loss, she sounds busy and healthy, and it's a trivial amount of weight.

The only thing I would change is, don't get her weighed. As a second child, she should be getting weighed every few months, if that, so these temporary losses would never be spotted!

FBA - sorry, you have got it wrong about babies 'losing all the iron they are born with'.

Iron is in breastmilk and it's in a form the baby can use easily - it's about this age babies start to need more, true enough, but at 6.5 mths a baby needs mainly milk, not solids.

There's no concern about protein at this age, BTW. As solids increase as the baby gets older, protein is not likely to be an issue - and it's really not correct that a baby 'needs' meat at this age (or at any other, actually...it's ok for a baby to be vegetarian as long as he gets protein elsewhere. Many healthy babies all over the world never eat meat).

OP - a 1.5 oz weight loss is nothing in a healthy baby of this age - it could easily be a result of a wobble on the scales, anyway. But if she does need more calories, perhaps ask your HV why they cannot come from milk.

Hope this helps.

thanks all for the posts. The only reason she's been weighed twice in such a short space of time is that I had her weighed at 6mo (first time in 10 wks) but the HV did a house visit as is more concerned about how I'm doing (late PND last time and they keep monitoring me with the Edinburgh scale now). so when she wanted me to go back next week to have her weighed again, I said I'd rather leave it a few weeks - the weight loss really hasn't bothered me, what bothered me is that she thinks it's possible to stuff a baby of this age with food when she's not interested. - FWIW, HV knows I'm mainly doing BLW, with a bit of mash stuff offered and refused (and she approves saying it's the "current" way of doing it!)

She has BF around 7ish (depending on time of last night feed), mid morning, mid afternoon and bedtime (6.45) (maybe another late afternoon, altho that's phasing out now that she's sitting at the table with us).

I offer food same time as us, so 8.30ish, 12.30ish, 5.45. DS also has a snack 3ish, so maybe I'll start offering her a yogurt or something similar then (alas, my halo has slipped and she won't be getting the organic fruit puree with natural yogurt PFB got, but the fromage frais he now eats!)

Fair enough re other comments. I had been told that about the iron and protein from a HV but perhaps not correct.

I think also I have different view to others on weaning (also got slammed in different thread) as I started at 18 weeks with DS1 who is now 2.5yrs old and eats more or less everything, no allergies and has always been on 50th percentile curve so that progressive weaning approach is what I have experience of. Every baby is different so makes sense that what worked for me doesn't necessarily work for others.

well to be honest facebook, I weaned DS with Annabel Karmel as guidance - love her books even now and started him at 20 wks as he just seemed ready. He loved purees and progressed really well through them. This time I just thought I'd go with the flow and offer DD bits of what we're having, along with stuff mashed up as well. I think I'm doubting what I'm doing more this way as am not yet convinved she's just going to "get it" one day and start wolfing the food down, whereas with DS the proof was there, he started eating and just carried on. It's so tricky to know what's best.

facebook, it's shocking, but health visitors seem to have some mistaken ideas about iron. The protein misunderstanding is a new one on me, though.