Weaning & parents with food issues (copied from weaning board)

[Curlywig]

Hello

As I have been meaning to do for days, I am posting a link to the orignal thread on here as it may be more appropriate.

Original thread

Grateful for advice from anyone else who has had to deal with this

:)

I have battled with anorexia for many years and pregnancy triggered a relapse. I was dreading weaning. DD is nearly 8 months old and we started BLW at 6 months. She is getting on well with this and it is making me cook family meals with her in mind and to eat a wider variety of foods because I don't want to restrict her diet. I am also aware that she will learn from me which makes me do my best to eat 'normally' with her.

The Gill Rapley book is great and although it doesn't tell you what to give, the principles behind it all really helped me to stress less about what DD does or doesn't eat. I really want her to have a healthy attitude to food and didn't want to force her to eat. When it came down to it, she won't take a spoon anyway although she will happily eat food from pre-loaded spoons (usually via her nose/forehead/cheeks ).

The problem I'm now having is that I find it hard to eat anything that I'm not happy giving her, which would be ok if I was a healthy weight and not meant to be gaining weight... I don't want to be ill any more, I want to be a good role model for my DD, but I am still terrified of putting on weight. It's all very frustrating. I am aware that there is a danger of becoming obsessed with only giving her 'good' food and I hope this is stopping me from actually doing this!

Anyway, I've been rambling, but you are not alone.

I would describe myself as an ex anorexic. My DDs are now 5 and 3 and, although I had 'recovered' around 5 years before DD1 was born I did have some food issues when the girls were weaning.

I tried to be very relaxed myself around food, and always eat normally around them; I did not do any kind of menu plan because I thought I would obssess about that. I actually had to go back to work 4 days a week when my youngest was 6 months old - this was tough at the time but with hindsight I think it helped as she was eating with her childminder 4 days out of 7 (Not that I am suggesting this was any way to handle the situation - it is just how things worked out for me. I guess it is sad though that I feel I may not have given her such a good start myself).

I remember trying not to stress about other people's comments (mostly my MIL!) about how much/little DD would eat. She would sometimes only take a few spoons of puree and I woud have to remind myself that it does not matter too much as they are still getting their nutritional needs met by their milk when weaning.

I have posted recently about some of the issues that I am having now they are older. I have certainly found it harder now that my oldest is asking me questions about low fat/people with fat tummies etc. Generally I am really surprised that there is not more awareness support for mothers in our situation - but it is obviously great that we are aware and trying to do the best.

Good luck with the weaning stage.

Hi frog & Isthree sorry Ive not logged on here for a while and meant to reply sooner. Thanks for your posts- a couple more people have posted back on the weaning board this morning too if you wanted to have a look.

Frog I have jsut posted on the other thread actaully that I was pallning to do the same in terms of family meals and "good food" although I know then it can be a risk that you make another rule for yourself that you wont eat anything other than the food you give your children. Bless her with her pre-loaded spoons, it must be fun to watch and a real achivement for her when she actually gets it in her mouth! :)

Have you sought any support or counselling for this?

Isthree I have just posted on the other board about a lady whose DS will eat a bit more one day and then maybe a bit less the next - it must be hard to get your head around but I guess it is their way of regulating thier own appetite and they are taking exactly what they need which is perfect. I'm concenred about comments too - firstly from my own parents but the thought of what the inlaws say makes me shudder! Hadn't thought of that yet.

I was suprised that there wasn't more awareness and support for this which i why I posted on here hoping that someone might have been here/ done that before.