HELP - refuses to be weaned

[jonadin]

Hello - I really hope someone can help or even just reassure me. I am trying to wean my 6 month old daughter which went well for a few days - she ate pear and baby rice and apple. But now she is refuses everything I offer her. She clamps her mouth shut when she sees the spoon. She doesn't seem to object to the flavour of the food, just the process of eating it. She's a good weight (16lbs) has 30oz milk a day and sleeps through so I'm not worried that she's going hungry, I'm just concerned that she'll never eat solids. Any advice gartefully recieved.

You could try cutting back on the milk?

you could try giving her a big chunk that she could hold and probably nibble and suck endlessly on, without her knowledge she would be eating it. Everything eventually ends up in the mouth.

Teething? My dd won't have spoon anywhere near her when shes teething we now have ten teeth and she is still the same, today she hasn't eaten anything. Drinks milks but no food, she's 16 mths and eats well normally.
You could try letting her suck it off your fingers, or letting her hold the sppon giveing her finger food while you hover with the spoon trying to get the odd bit in. You do go through a lot phases with babies and solid food, it takes ages to work them out!
Good luck and don't stress
xx
J

I agree with www, cut back on the milk, also do u vary the foods? How many tsp do you give per meal? How often do u feed her solids? Maybe try again in a few days, the more she objects, the more stressed you and dd will be. Good luck.

Do you try to give solids before or after milk?

Try alternating what you do.

Agree with giving finger foods. Have you tried giving her her won spoon to hold while you feed her with another one?

If she continues to object, leave it fir a few days and try again.

Maybe she's not ready? I asked this q on mumsnet a couple of weeks ago and that was the concensus opinion. Various people I spoke to said either leave it for a week or two, or persist - without making it stressful.

I am also attempting to wean a 6 month old; some days he eats, most days he doesn't. Make sure you're trying when she is actually hungry (I know ds is hungry when he will try to eat my fingers if offered). After 3 wks of trying rice and fruit he is just learning how to swallow, but still doesn't like the spoon.

My HV said that babies with thrush in their mouths will refuse a spoon; might be worth checking since your dd has been eating and has only just started to refuse.

My DS is 6 months and is only now getting the hang of solids. As with lots of the babies in this thread he loves his milk and will happily guzzle away. I used to give him his milk first (at lunchtime) but now give him food and then milk but half of what he is having at other times. Its a slow process and can be very frustrating but you will get there, I just work at his pace. HTH

Just to say thanks guys. I am going to wait a week or so and then try to start again with just baby rice. And I think I'm going to try and give her food ahlfway through her milk feed - although this did elicit a lot of screaming before. Otherwise though she never seems hungry enough. Will let you know if I succeed!

jonadin - main thing is not to panic (easily said!). I weaned my dd at 6 months - generally she did get the hang of it, but some times she would go several days not wanting anything to do with food and finally I realised that she was probably a bit under the weather, or teething or whatever and she would come back to it. So I would try to offer her the food and if she didn't want it we'd just forget it till the next meal. There's not a big hurry here - just keep going slowly. Sometimes a whole week would pass with her barely eating a thing, but then the next week she'd get stuck in. Try to let your dd set her own pace, even if it's infuriating.

Good finger foods are things like banana, ripe pear, cooked veggies like carrots, (even sprouts - my dd loved them!), bread, rice cakes etc. I was very anxious about my dd choking on things but at the 8 month check-up my HV reassured me that I could try her on these things and it made life so much easier. Babies love feeding themselves! Oh and from really early you can give your dd a spoon to hold even if it's ages before she does anything with it - it just includes her in the process.