Baby led weaning any tips

[Mum2b25]

My baby is almost 7 months old.
He is not yet grasping the hand to mouth with food. He just won't do it.
Also with home made food that is lumps. He just doesn't want it. Spits it out
But will happily have puree food.
Any advice
Feel like im failing him.

The thing with baby led weaning is just you keep offering food for them to self feed. It doesn't really matter if they manage to eat much of it, as the point is to develop their motor skills and curiosity. Spoon feeding puree is great if that's what you want to do, but it's not baby led weaning.

If you are happy to continue spoon feeding, then just keep offering finger foods at each meal time, and don't worry about what he does with them. Just let him work it out for himself. Ditto with the lumpier food. He will get there in the end whatever method you use.

I think all babies take to eating at a different rate. My eldest was growing so fast she was starving hungry all the time, and ate anything we gave her. My youngest was much more cool about it and always hated new things for the first few goes..

The coordination to feed themselves takes a looong time to come; think of baby led weaning maybe more as something you offer, but keep spooning in the puree so they get enough nutrition, if that’s what your baby prefers

My one tip is to try new tastes and textures first when they are hungriest; let them try a few times and don’t be put off when their face registers disgust, it’s normal!

7 months is still very young x

My child wouldn't properly eat anything until he started nursery at 12 months. Looking back, my advice would be not to stress so much over it. He now chomps everything you give him. But in the past it caused me so much stress and tears that I wish I could go back in time and tell myself to stop worrying.

Everyone in my NCT group shared stories how their babies ate everything you gave them. Like a full pot of yogurt, for example, when I couldnt even give a teaspoon to my child. He literally refused to eat anything for ages. He would close his mouth shut and very rarely you could trick him to try things. I think first 6 months of weaning is just for fun. It's for them to hold on to things, maybe taste somethign once in a while, but milk is pretty much main diet until they are 1. Just carry on with what you are doing. Give your baby various textures and don't worry at all if the baby eats nothing at all. They are learning, it's stressful the them and every baby is different. Around the age of 10 months or so, we realised that he absolutely hated being fed and would only eat himself. Now he uses utencils like a pro whereas other babies are only starting to transition and their parents still feed them. I was so worried when he was starting nursery thinking omg he will be so hungry there. Nurseries top of with milk, actually, and guess what, watching other babies, he basically started eating everything in about a week or two.

Good luck! Have fun with it. There's no tricks. Just enjoy the process and take photos. Nothing is wrong with your baby <3 And don't compare your baby to others.

Just give him some food to play with at meal time. If you are doing purées too, you’re kinda confusing the process, which is probably part of the problem. But just whatever you happen to be eating, assuming it isn’t McDonald’s or a vindaloo, slap it on his tray while you eat. It doesn’t really matter how much of it he eats. See it as something to keep him occupied while you eat. I wouldn’t do more than 2 meals a day until 8 months or so.

My eldest’s first meal was a roast - chicken, Yorkshire pudding, potatoes, roasted carrots with garlic and thyme. They really can eat it. You just kinda need to not hover and a bit stay out of their way. I wouldn’t expect them to eat more than just a few bites until about 10 months though, so change your expectations and take all the pressure off.

You're not failing him. You don't teach him to eat. He teaches himself.
All you do is serve healthy, appropriate options then leave him to decide what and how much to eat. Repeat ad infinitum until they move out.
Some kids will eat loads from day 1, some take months to get going.
Eat with him, eat the same as him, let him watch and see you enjoying yourself, stop when full, tidy up, and done.

You just offer a bit of what you are having as finger food.

it doesn’t matter if it gets eaten. Mostly at first it just gets played with. That’s ok. Baby will get there.