Just had nine month old weighed - feeling like the worst parent

[Rarfy]

Nine month old dd has just been weighed. She's 19lbs. Almost on the 75th centile. Not bad I know but she was born on the 9th.

Anyway I felt like they were interrogating me about what she eats. I'll be the first to admit I don't do baby led weaning. I don't like it I'm frightened she'll choke. That isn't going to change.

I don't just give her pouches and mashed food though I give her bananas, toast, crumpets, bagels etc I just break them up for her. A typical day is cereal. Usually weetabix, porridge or shreddies. Lunch is usually a sandwich - chicken, tuna or cheese then tea is a meal pouch Ella's kitchen or aldis own. After each meal she will have a dessert which will be a fruit pot, a from age frais or a small custard pot. I very very rarely give her snacks as I don't feel like she needs them.

She is still having three 6 ounce bottles a day. First thing, mid aft and then last thing.

Is this quite bad? I feel like I'm doing something wrong it's really upset me.

here it is
It's pretty wordy but I have taken a screen shot of an interesting bit

OP do not panic. You’re doing really well and it’s great that you’re going to address the issue of introducing some new foods and being a bit braver about giving your baby the chance to try them.
Two Instagram accounts I’d recommend are whatmummymakes and bodhiledweaning I have two DC and even with my most recent second I found thinking up things to give her when we were in the new weaning phase quite tricky. I found these accounts super helpful and it’s also helped us introduce some lovely new things for our older child who was veering towards anything beige. Good luck.

What's her length to height ratio?

My ds is on the 91st centile for weight but he's on the 91st centile for height too, so perfectly in proportion.

I mean length to weight.

Threads like this worry me. My DC were babies over 20 years ago, and we never had any of this angst caused among mums.

I didn't use a single bought thing for my DCs. I used Anabel Karmel from about 7 months onwards, cooking every 3 weekends, freezing in portions, and sending portions to the childminder (because of where I live I had to go back to work full-time when my eldest was only 10 weeks old - and we're talking 12 hour days).

With my youngest, I was able to stay at home for a bit longer, but still home-cooked everything in batches and froze it in portions.

They are over 20 years old now, eat anything, and are slim and perfectly in proportion for their height and weight.

I don't think I could do it all again now. The micro-managing that seems to go on for new mums with their babies, and what they eat, let alone when they are a few months old.toddlers is worrying. The 'old' rules still apply (in my day, though, there were now 'pouches' - although I often thought I was missing a trick... guess I missed the boat too!) but they are being twisted into a sense of stress for mums I don't realise.

And I can't believe the way new mums these days are made to feel

Were no pouches! (Guess these days it's menopausal brain, rather than baby brain!)

75th centile seems fine to me! But if you're looking to cut down on pouches then another vote for Annabelle karmel, she does a great sweet potatoe, cream cheese and spinach dish which can be mashed to liking and is very quick for an easy supper!

It sounds fine op, my son is 18 months and I still break up his food :S never did blw, he does eat finger food but we started it quite late, he eats anything, only difference was we did mushed up home made food instead of pouches with fruit pot and custard for desert , it sounds fine xx

I don't get the problem at all! Surely it's a good thing she's gaining weight. Mine was born on the 15th and dropped down to 9th. Neither were very interested in food, except as projectiles. Now that is a cause to worry. Some babies are just chunky.
I think what you're feeding her sounds fine.

Nothing wrong with the puddings OP.

If you want more fruit then here's an idea,
Boil up some pears and apples, add afew spoonfuls of milk mix and freeze!
I also done mixed berries with weetabix for puddings/breakfasts.

Same with veg, boil, add milk, mash down and freeze.

Then you can defrost or heat one or two a day!
Sweet potatoes with carrots
Swede and mashed spuds
Broccoli with peas
Mix and match ! Xx

Stocked up on eggs veg and lots of fresh fruit. Going to attempt a pasta sauce and a curry I think. Will swap one of the desserts for fresh fruit for now and see how we get on. I aren't particularly worried about her weight and they didn't flag anything up it was just when she was quizzing me about what I feed her. Again she didnt say anything, its the way I took it.

I was really anxious about BLW and my LO took ages to get it but he is a fab eater now. I use an app called baby led weaning cookbook and it’s changed the way we cook as we all eat the same and it’s less processed food.

I tend to cook a meal and freeze leftovers in pots (I bought the Heinz fruit custard pots for when we are out and about and they have kids, they freeze, dishwasher and microwave fine!) or ice cube trays and then pop out into a zip lock bag. She also has a slow cooker app which is great as I can pop on a meal at nap time and then it’s done. He often has for dinner what we had the night before.

Still use pouches sometimes, but usually when we’re out and at home it’s whatever's in the freezer. (There’s good lunch ideas too like broccoli mini quiches and courgette and cheese muffins which I love too!)

My 7 month old weighs more than this. She was but when she was born and keeps continuing to grow.

I'll pick a second hand version of anmabel karmel book up however I googled the curry recipe and it said to use stock so its thrown me a bit. Tried to find the kallo and baby stock cubes in asda but they didn't stock them. I know my local boots does the baby ones so will give them a go tomorrow.

When my 2nd or 3rd (I have forgotten!) was that age I got a poster from the HV which I put up on the inside of one of my kitchen cupboards.

I was so so busy with everything (&still so tired) at that stage that sometime I couldn't think of what to give the weaning baby/toddler.

I could open the cupboard and see this poster and it gave me the answer as what to give for a quick lunch. All stuff people have suggested, but just useful as a reminder. A quick 'Oh yes, I'll open a tin of sweet corn and give him some of that alongside some wrap and pieces of cheese and cucumber etc.'

I wonder if your HV has some good resources?

Even at the time I remember thinking that it wasn't anything I didn't know but when you're busy, having a reminder at your fingertips really does help

Wow, I'm in awe of those of you who find time to cook from scratch every day. I have a Velcro baby and can hardly get ten mins peace to achieve anything unless DH is home to watch DS. Feeling like a total failure now after reading all the anti-pouch comments on here 🙁

Wow, I'm in awe of those of you who find time to cook from scratch every day

Well to be honest I have two older children too so I don’t have much choice, I can’t feed them all Ella’s kitchen pouches! It makes things easier in a way as I just feed the baby (9 months) the same thing that the 5 and 4 year olds are having. Unfortunately he just has to moan while I cook!

@PirateWeasel my dd has a milk allergy, it's easier to cook from scratch than read 10,000 labels to see if these items contain milk. I also have an older child and he won't each the minimal range of pouches dd can eat 😉

Eat not each

I think this is fine, really. You can't put a baby on a diet. And if they have a bit of a chub it stand them in good stead when they're ill, and it all goes when they start walking anyway!

My DS had a milk allergy too and hated his CMP free formula, so had to find some tasty recipes that we could hide his formula in (but we refused to eat anything that had his formula in!)

The slow cooker is your friend! Bung a bunch of stuff in in the morning, ignore all day, it's ready whenever you get round to eating it. Same with batch cooking - if you can get an hour spare at a weekend (good time for daddy time!) then you can batch cook a ton of pinwheels, muffins, pancakes, etc. that you then just have to defrost for breakfasts and lunches. Add in some veg sticks like carrot, cucumber, etc and suddenly you've got a week of lunches sorted.

We started weaning DD on pouches as we started a bit before six months and I wasn't sure she was ready for 'proper' food, but I tasted one and it tasted like shit so I stopped feeding her them after tasting some more and realising they were all just a bit gross. She does sometimes have a fruit pouch if we are out and about, but the actual 'meal' ones are pretty yuck IME (exception is the Babease ones, the Keralan curry one is actually quite nice.). She's much more enthusiastic about 'proper' food too (a bit too enthusiastic sometimes).

There's a great set of apps (here's the iPhone link, don't know about other platforms: apps.apple.com/gb/app/baby-led-weaning-recipes/id1114320457) that have loads of ideas for easy meals for everyone. There's a 15-20 min quick meals app as part of the collection that has one-pot dishes and stuff, so cooking from scratch doesn't have to take long at all. Tonight we just had lemon chicken with sweet potatoes. It took about five mins to prepare, in the oven all in one dish for 40 mins, and that was that.

@PipsM I think we are talking about the same app! It's great, isn't it? I've made loads from it and all turned out fab! My DD goes mad for the rainbow muffins.

Stopped reading this thread halfway through because I'm getting annoyed at the judgey comments.

Firstly, your daughter is a lovely healthy weight! 9th is tiny and they aren't supposed to stay on the same centile forever! 75th is just grand. So well done, you've got a healthy lovely baby and that's down to your love and care.

Secondly... you don't need to "try harder" etc etc... Maybe just get a bit braver about giving her finger foods. She won't be eating smooth purées at the age of 5, it will all come together.

You are doing great X well done.

Wholemeal bread and pasta and brown rice are not great choices for young children, they are more nutritious than the white versions but contain a lot more fibre which can mean that children feel very full without having taken in enough calories. This used to be known as "muesli malnutrition" , where children were being fed what would be a healthy diet for an adult by well meaning parents, but losing weight and failing to thrive.
White pasta, rice and bread are fine as part of a well balanced diet.