10 month weaning hell

[Couldntthinkofausername24]

Baby will be 10 months on Xmas eve and since 6 months I've found weaning so hard. Baby just isn't interesting in it at all. At best he will eat what I feed on a spoon but anything he has to pick up himself he won't entertain. Most of it gets thrown on the floor and what ever makes it to his mouth gets spat back out straight away. I offer finger food at every meal and it makes so difference. If he's distracted he will eat food I give him better. As soon as I go anywhere near him with a spoon he scrunches up his face and turns away. If I manage to get any on his lip he will eat it. His portion sizes compared to what I see other babies his age eating is nothing in comparison. I just don't understand where I am going wrong. Yet if I'm sat on the settee eating he will notice this straight away and sit with his gob open. Also his porridge and weetabix he wolves down but that is it.

I also struggle to get the milk and food right. Currently I do the following based on a 730 730 routine

4am 7oz feed
8am weetabix with 4oz formula
10am 4oz formula from
Nap time up by 12
12pm lunch of some sort. Spoon food and finger food
2pm 6 or 7 oz bottle depending how his 12pm lunch went
Nap time up by 4
430pm tea of some sort. Spoon food and finger
6pm porridge with bedtime bottle milk if he's not eaten a lot at tea time. If he has then k skip porridge
7pm 8oz bottle or what ever is left from his porridge

His wake up isn't very consistent. He normally wakes around 4am for a bottle but today he woke at 6 had a feed then back to bed till 8am.

Does anyone have any advice for me. Am I over thinking or going wrong somewhere.

Thanks

I think you are offering too much food. There is no need for supper. What’s with the formula with wheatabix?

I only offer supper if he doesn't eat much at tea time. So I make a bottle up in the morning and use half with his weetabix or porridge and then offer the rest an hour or so later

I think you are over thinking this and getting too worried. So very easy to do. 10 months old is still tiny. He will get there and remember milk should be his main source of nutrition until he one.

Have you tried offering toast or fruit for breakfast?

He’s probably never that hungry really. He’s still having quite a lot of formula. If he’s had 7oz at 2pm then he might not be hungry for tea at 4.30. I’d let him play a bit longer when he wakes up and then delay tea until nearer 5.30. He might eat more.
What finger foods are you offering?
Maybe also try to cut down a bit on milk.

That does seem like quite a lot of milk. My DS is also ten months and only has two bottles a day consistently (on waking and before bed) Occasionally has a mid afternoon or middle of night milk feed. You need to make sure there are long enough gaps between milk and food to make sure he has an appetite. We do something like this:

6:30am - 5oz milk
7.30am - porridge/toast
12pm - lunch
2.30pm - occasionally a 5oz bottle if not napping
5pm - dinner
6.30pm - 7oz bottle

Naps are at around 9.30am and 2.30pm if he’s at home. Nursery do it differently.

Agree though that you don’t need to worry, babies take to weaning differently and if you keep offering then they’ll be interested at some point

I found my dd was simillar up until about 9 months and then I realised that she just wasn't hungry enough for meals with all of the milk she was having. I tried to cut down on feeds and she ate much much morr

He's having a hell of a lot of formula there. He's probably not hungry for food because of all the milk. Drop a feed.

@Thatwentbadly he enjoys his weetabix in the morning so I'd rather not change that. He does love toast but I felt like that's all he was eating, I've tried lots of finger food. Different fruits. I also make a lot of stuff myself such as pancakes with banana or strawberry inside. Or I make these fruit roll ups with a slice or bread. Literally anything. Different veg etc.

So if he feeds between 4am and 6am don't offer another bottle just offer breakfast of fruit porridge or toast. And then dinner around 12 ish. I feel so embarrassed like I don't know what I'm doing when really I should.

My first was ff but she is now 4 years and I can’t remember that far back. My toddler is bf and at age still had what felt like a million boob feeds a day. She is 16 months now and does not eat a huge amount of food but there has been a massive improvement. I would try dropping or reducing one of the day time bottles remember if things aren’t working you can always change them backZ

Don’t be hard on yourself OP. I’ve found weaning hard too. My DD started refusing bottles and would only take 6oz (or even less!) formula in the morning and no other bottles at all so she would eat breakfast, lunch and dinner. I think it’s different for every baby so if yours is still happy to have lots of formula that’s not your fault.

As others have said, might be a good idea to drop a feed. And could you make the cereal in the morning with whole milk rather than formula to move away from so much formula. Hope all goes well with it - I know it’s not easy.

Thanks guys you've all been really kind. I'll drop the morning bottle tomorrow and work on the afternoon bottle. I just worry because it says on the nhs website that babies his age should have around 600ml formula which is about 21oz which he won't have if he drops his morning and afternoon bottle x

I give DD a vitamin supplement (we use Wellbaby Liquid) as she has much less than the recommended amount of formula per day. You could consider that if it becomes an issue. At 10 months though the amount of formula he drinks will go down anyway. Good luck with it!

I don't have much advice as my youngest is at school now, but I found weaning really challenging with DD. Started trying her with spoonfeeds from 6 months, she refused EVERYTHING! I remember being so worried and trying so many different types of food, tastes and textures. She was over 12 months before she would take a proper spoonfeed. It was driving me nuts!

And now she eats a fantastic range of foods, really healthy appetite, no problems at all!

My advice, don't overthink it too much, keep offering her foods, most of her nutrition is still from her milk, she'll get there. And don't be too sore on yourself, it's hard being a mum, but you're doing a great job!

My oldest came of formula at 11 months under the advice of the paediatric dietitian. If he has less than 17oz of formula a day needs to take multi vitamins and in total when he gets to 1 he will need 350mg of calcium a day.

If he's interested in food when you are eating have your meals together.
Dairy foods such as cheese and yoghurt can make up for less milk in his diet.

My daughter took what felt like forever to eat so don't worry, you are doing an amazing job.

If I was in your shoes I'd start tweaking the morning. Could you give less formula at 4.00am, bring breakfast forward to say 7.15/7.30, the offer fruit around 10 instead of formula then bring lunch to 11.45? Once that works, I'd then look at adjusting the afternoon after a month or so.

I thought dropping feeds would be awful, but actually my dd didn't bat an eye lid.

@Couldntthinkofausername24

Thanks guys you've all been really kind. I'll drop the morning bottle tomorrow and work on the afternoon bottle. I just worry because it says on the nhs website that babies his age should have around 600ml formula which is about 21oz which he won't have if he drops his morning and afternoon bottle x

21oz is a general guideline, yes, but not all babies will want that. Try it for a couple of days and if he is still not eating much food, reinstate the dropped feed.

I dropped the mid-morning feed when I went back to work as it was never a good time to pump, but kept up the afternoon feed for a couple more months and still offer formula then occasionally. Nothing has to be set in stone for now, and do try not to worry - you’re doing well!

I gave him less oz at 2pm today and he's now sat eating chicken and mushroom pie I made last night all by himself. Picking it up eating it all and ramming it in. Just gone for a happy cry in the cupboard.

Great news OP! Chuffed for you.

I have a simar issue - DD turned 11 months yesterday and the only things she'll eat are oranges, grapes and sometimes yogurt. Everything else is swiped away and ends up on the floor, whether it's given by spoon or in her hand. She's been like this since I first introduced food to her at 6 months and I feel like the worst mum for not being able to get her interested in solids.
She is EBF and loooooves her milk, although I can't really measure how much she drinks. I can only assume it's enough as she's very active and has lots of energy. She can't stand bottles either, she won't drink breast milk from a bottle so all in all I feel like shit to say the least!

Aw OP I’m really pleased! That’s great.
Don’t forget that the milk he has in weetabix/porridge all contributes to that 21oz and so does yoghurt etc.
Lots of babies will keep preferring milk or milky-like foods (porridge, yoghurt, custard) for a long time. It makes sense as it’s what they’re used to and it’s also quite sweet and creamy whereas veg etc is the opposite. But if you do as you’ve said and reduce the milk and maybe drop some bottles then he will naturally be more hungry and more inquisitive of new foods. Good luck!
Ps. Don’t feel stupid, mine was the opposite and refused most milk from about 9 months other than breast milk over night even though she’d been bottle fed expressed milk and formula during the day since she was born. I had the opposite battle, at that age she would barely drink 12oz throughout the day and I was mega stressed (what sort of weird baby refuses milk?!). Try not to worry too much. I felt like I was doing it all wrong, hindsight is a wonderful thing!

Ah, fantastic! Pleased for you. Such a good feeling when they eat the food you’ve lovingly made for them (makes up for all the times when they throw it on the floor...)

Hope today goes just as well!

Thanks you guys. I gave him weetabix wirh full fat milk today so will see how we go.

@arinah really sorry to hear you are in the same boat as me. I know how you feel. Can you take any advice from what I've been given? Not sure how breastfeeding works and weaning as I stopped breastfeeding before he turned 6 months.

@Couldntthinkofausername24 I think I could try knocking one afternoon feed off but honestly the main issue I think is that she can still smell the milk on me! DH and I work different hours (I WFH) so there isn't that chance for him to do the feeding as she's already asleep by the time he gets home. I'll check the thread again for other advice and see what works :) I'm glad it's worked out for your little one ❤️