Weaning in a v v reluctant baby with CMPA

[TheLostMum]

My nearly 7 month old DS has spent the last 4 weeks refusing to let any food substance enter his mouth, seems to hate it! Totally different to my DD who weaned pretty easily, although yoghurt was probably her gateway to food and can’t give that to DS as he has CMPA (and has rejected dairy free yoghurt already!). So far I’ve tried giving him anything safe from our meals (esp the ones we eat with DD) in BLW form, porridge/ mashed up rusk/ weetabix/ ready brek with oat milk/ breast milk, home made purees, purées from pouches and he hates them all! Clamps his mouth shut and cries as soon as he realises food is in front of him, and will not be spoon fed nor will he put any food into his mouth (as opposed to anything plastic which is constantly in his mouth, so he has the ability to put objects in his mouth if he wants to).

We’ve had the most success (ie half a spoonful actually swallowed) with purées from pouches as he seems to gag over the merest texture in home made purées or ready brek.

Any dairy free recommendations for foods he might get on with? Or should I just stop the whole thing for now and come back to it? At the moment I’m dealing with an almighty mess as all he wants to do is throw food and cutlery around, with absolutely no gain in terms of him actually eating, so tempted to stop for a few weeks but worried I’m doing him a disservice as DD was on 2 meals a day by 7 months!

I personally wouldn’t stop. Exploring foods with his hands is an important first step before he eats them. He’s at the play/touch stage of the Hierarchy of Feeding, and this might be an important part of his journey. He’s been given food (milk) before that made him unwell, and rightfully he is now distrusting of new things. He will likely need to be exposed to the same foods many, many times before he trusts them.

When my daughter saw a dietitian for CMPA, I got talking to her about my own “fussiness” with foods, most of which is textural. She asked how I got on with dairy as a child and I said I really didn’t enjoy it. She reckoned I had had CMPA as textural issues are not uncommon with that. Don’t push it, the last thing you want is to make food a battle (like my mother did with me!) Sit him at the table, put finger foods, preferably with soft textures, things he can gum. He’ll probably play with it, but he’ll get there eventually. There is no rush.

Aah thanks both, that’s really interesting, sounds bad of me in retrospect but I hadn’t really thought his CMPA could be affecting things. I’ll keep plodding on with the finger foods and let him take his own time!

Keep persevering. Once you get your head around the CMPA, cooking becomes easier. We essentially became a low dairy household for a while as cooking for my DS separately was such a chore. There's lots of dairy and soy free spreads, peanut butter is your friend. I add olive oil to food to give it that fat. Lots or vegetables, eggs and meat basically.

Also my DS absolutely devoured things like chicken curry and beef chilli. Babies actually like a lot of flavour.

It’s really not unusual for a baby with CMPA to be wary, especially if he’s having reactions to some of the food that you give him. He has milk and he feels fine, he has food and sometimes it really hurts his tummy, I’d be wary myself

Tongue Tie can also make weaning slower, has he ever been assessed for TT?

I too would keep offering foods for him to mess around with, but just look on it as that, he’s going to mess around and not eat and that’s fine for now. BLW is about taking their lead

So some things you can try:

Banana Pancakes. Just leave the salt out

Berry Pancakes using an alternative milk. I make these ones with Almond Milk.

Avocado on toast.

French Toast

Fish Fingers or these Salmon Nuggets which are really eady to make.

Hunmus and some baby breadsticks

Spag Bol

Chicken Korma

Tuna Fishcakes. Lidl’s own mayo is DF and you could use a butter alternative.

Have a look at solid starts, also, many babies don't like things being put in their mouths - finger foods and less pressure are probably the way to go!

My DS had severe CMPA as a baby and I was tearing my hair out with weaning.

I think my stress was passing onto DS. Best think I did was just to relax and try and not force it.

keep offering and they will get there eventually.

DS was over a year old before he ate anything of any great substance. Now he is a teenager he doesn’t stop. 😂

Actually one thing I did was put a bit of food on spoons and just leave them in front of him and he would get at least a taste

There is also an allergy section on MN and a Weaning section where you might get some more tips