BLW going wrong, in total despair please help

[scienceteachermum]

DS2 is 8 mths and been BLW since 6mth ish. It was going really well but its going really wrong now. He is refusing to eat most foods regardless of what they are unless its yoghurt or weetabix which i give on a pre loaded spoon. I have been persevering over the last few weeks and don't get me wrong, sometimes he eats loads, but most days in refuses at least one meal, preferring to smack the food on the table and then swipe it onto the floor and start screaming.
I am in despaire because I know he is hungry. I know that babies are in charge in BLW and if he refuses it then I should just give him more milk, and therein lies the problem, he won't really drink much milk either. He is ff on Aptimil pepti due to cows milk intolerance and has severe reflux and is on omeprzole, ranitidine and gaviscon. Most days he drinks only 3 bottles of about 3 oz at a time. An average daily amount of milk is about 12 fluid oz.

His sleep has become really disturbed, he is often waking three times a night and I am not sure why, could be hunger (likely) or pain from reflux (also likely) or trapped wind (cries with painful farts).

I don't know whether to carry on BLW or whether to start giving him mashed stuff off a spoon. He must be hungry. I don't know about his weight gain as he hasn't been weighed for ages (they don't do it very often here) but he does seem to be growing.

I feel so sad for him and I am getting so stressed and frustrated with watching him not eat. Plus I am shattered from no sleep and can't see how we can continue this way.

Any ideas anyone?

My BLW derailed somewhat similarly so now I do a combination. DD is 10 months. So she will have say scrambled egg on toast where she can pick up the toast and I feed her the eggs. Or yoghurt and pear where I feed her the yoghurt and she eats the pear.
The nursery do some BLW and she eats things like yorkshire puds, veg and panackes on her own, the rest is spoon fed.
I also give her her own spoon if I am spoon feeding her so she feels in control (and throws things at the walls)
Hope things improve for you soon.

Science - sorry it's tough going at the moment. I agree with Ken and perhaps you could do a combination. I do this with my 8mo and it seems to work.

He has a puree of whatever we have (last night it was chicken with mash and yorkshire) then when he's finished, I'll give him some yorkshire and mash to munch on. So he's not too hungry to mess around but not too full to eat iyswim.

If baby led weaning is not working and ye are both miserable then just give him mashed stuff or whatever on a spoon.
I tried BLW initially with my dd it was soooo not happening, there is no shame in saying it's not working for you.
DD will only now at nearly 9 months eat finger foods properly.

oh its so hard isn't it. My DS2 is also 8 months and BLW from 6 months. He does seem to have slowed down eating wise the last few weeks and is waking up at night more as well. I had put it down to a sleep regression (apparently really common at this age) because of teeth, developmental spurt, who knows really ! I am carrying on BLW on the basis that he takes what he wants when he wants it but its blind faith really as he is fully BF so I have no idea what amount he is taking there either.

If you are miserable and at the end of your tether with it then I think mashed stuff with finger foods to play with will help. At least you will feel like you are giving him a couple of options to get something inside him.

Hope things get better for you soon

Look on the weaning thread and there's a thread on BLW and spoon feeding or words to that effect. I started on BLW but now do a mixture of both as do an awful lot of people.

I love the point that someone made: look in your cutlery drawer, you have spoons to eat stuff with, why shouldn't your LO eat stuff from a spoon as well? You don't eat everything with a spoon and neither will they.

Essentially don't beat yourself up, go with your instincts and get a good nights sleep. :)

Sounds like he's ramping up for one of the big developmental spurts at this age - there's one at around 37 weeks, one at around 46 weeks. Often babies will go off solids or become more fussy when they're working on a big spate of mental development.

These spurts are what cause the 8/9 month sleep regression too - more frequent waking and often needing more milk feeds too.

My DS is in the middle of it. He had a spell of food refusal at dinner (apart from bread / rice cakes) but he's back to normal now.

There's more info on the developmental spurts and sleep regression here, here and here.

Thanks everyone you have all been really helpful. Thats basically what I have decided to do (except now he has a d and v bug so not eating at all atm!). I also think it could be a massive developmental spurt too as he is suddenly pulling himeself up on furniture and wanting to try to walk and has started clapping etc all in the space of a couple of weeks.

When he is over the d and v i will give a combo of mushed and finger foods and see how we go.

Poor you! Hope DS gets better soon and you avoid the bug. Hope it all goes well in the future.