Nursery is having difficulty feeding DS - any advice please?

[chatname]

DS is 7 and a half months. We are still bfing and baby-led-weaning. He started at nursery last week. They are having difficulty getting food into him. I posted on the weaning thread but thought i would also post here for advice please.
Today, DS had his first 4 hour session at nursery. I told them that we are trying baby-led weaning. They said that they would normally give pureed foods to a baby his age. I said that I didn't mind them trying a mix of spoon feeding and finger foods, especially as I imagine that if we give him cereal or porridge at home, we will be spooning it in.

They said today that they had toad in the hole for lunch. I said that I had let him have some roast beef to chew on the previous week and he had been happily gumming a chunk of Yorkshire pudding. I suggested they let him have some chunks to gum.

They pureed the toad in the hole and he wouldn't eat it. He also refused to take the formula they offered him (he has been breast fed but I'm not expressing much so I gave them some Aptamil. I have been trying to get him to drink from a doidy cup but they asked me to get a Tommy Tippee closer to nature bottle, so I got one; he doesn?t seem to like it).

They apparently gave him four biscotti in the space of four hours therefore. I can see that it is difficult for them if he isn't eating anything else. However, I said, that is rather a lot of sugar, and I asked if there was anything I could do at home to help things along, as obviously it was a problem if he was just eating biscuits. Oh, they said, it's not biscuits, it's biscotti, specially for babies.

They asked about the book I'd been using, so I got my copy of the Gill Rapley book from the car. They asked me to try spoon feeding at home, and I agreed, to see if I could find some ideas that might help them at nursery.

I took DS home. I had some Ella's Kitchen puree the cupboard and put some on a baby spoon and he happily put the spoon in his mouth and ate it himself. This was after quite a long breast feed. So this is something they could try.

I have also suggested making up some food for him to take to nursery, such as (cooked) carrot sticks, cucumber sticks, fruit sticks, bits of cheese etc. They sounded a bit uncertain about that.

Anyone got any suggestions as to what else we could do?

[tankie]

I've worked in quite a few nurseries, and the good ones always accomodate parents wishes regarding food.

Can you tell them straight up no more biscotti - maybe if he won't eat anything else they could give him toast or a breadstick? I'm sure they can find suitable bits of veg or pasta that are being served to toddlers. If you have a menu for the next couple of weeks maybe you and his keyworker could go through it and work out what he can eat himself.

It may be difficult for them to put pureed food on a spoon and let him do it himself tbh, as in a baby room you are often spoon feeding three or four babies simultaeneously, so are spooning a mouthful into each in turn!

If you are getting on fine with the doidy cup at home, get them to use that at the nursery.

[thisisyesterday]

quite frankly, if they are ok with him eating biscotti as finger food then there is no reason why he shouldn't eat toad in the hole the same way surely?????

how bizarre.
I would tell them that you are really quite keen that he carries on being fed as he is at home. it sounds like perhaps they just don't want the hassle of having to let him take his time instead of just shovelling it in.

ateotd, if he refuses puree then they really need to try a different way of feeding him.

[chatname]

Thank you for the replies!

He is interested in the doidy cup but not terribly efficient at drinking out of it. We could get some Aptamil at home and try it a bit more, though.

I do agree that it is better for him to hae something than nothing. Although, given that I had only left him for half a day yeaterday, and was going to bf at the lunchtime, I was a bit puzzled at why they needed to stuff 4 (four!) biscotti into him. That seemed like an awful lot of biscuits for a small baby for one morning.

Mind you, I just googled and apparently they are 5g per biscuit, (so just about 6g sugar in total for 4 biscuits). That doesn't sound quite so bad....

[PortAndLemon]

I too can't see why they are happy to give him biscotti as finger food but not to give him yorkshire pudding as finger food (even if they are scared of the beef...).

I'd probably be being firm with them at this point. They told you what they were serving, you told them how to present it in a way that he would eat, they ignored you and then complained that he wouldn't eat it. Perhaps they could try listening to you?

[chatname]

I went in today with
-a long sleeved bib
-some Ella's Kitchen puree
-the long-handled soft-bowled spoons that I know he can feed himself with
-a banana
-an avocado
-a choice of 2 alternative bottles to try him with for the milk.

I do feel a bit like a fussy mother, but I know it is also reasonable to hope that he gets something nutritious during the day.

I will see how things go.

I have also offered to come in and feed him at lunchtime if there is a problem, as I haven't started working yet.