Weaning- how long before they actually swallow something?!

[Trillian42]

We've tried DD (6 months) with baby rice this week, but I don't think any of it got swallowed. I put it in her mouth, she makes a face & pushes it back out again. Sometimes she waits a while before spitting it all out but it does always get spit out.

She likes the attention of feeding and doesn't mind me putting the spoon in etc etc, but isn't getting that she should swallow anything. Is this typical? Will it take long before she gets it?

She's probably not quite ready ad is just getting used to the new sensation. I wouldn't worry. Milk is her main source of nutrition until she's one. It's early days yet!

DS didn't really take off with solids until about 9 months - before that he just messed about with finger foods and purees. Once I accepted that, it was a lot less stressful.

If they're not ready, they have something called a tongue thrust reflex. They just push the food back out again with their tongues. When this reflex is gone, they'll move the food to the back of their mouths and swallow. I found it a very useful way of knowing dd was ready for solids.

Milk is the important bit still.

Have you thought about finger foods? A 6 month old, within reason, can eat normal food. And they are more likely to feel in control if you let them pick up food when they're ready.

It took DD a week or so to get the hang of swallowing from a spoon.

Oh yes - finger food is much more fun for them! DD (7 months) is doing mostly finger food now with a bit of spoon feeding mixed in.

Baby rice tastes horrid. I wouldn't want to swallow it either!

Why not try some pureed pear or carrot and see if she prefers that.

Or better still, give her soft finger food to have a go at - from 6 months they don't really need purees.

I did BLW with Ds2 and he didn't really swallow much until about 8 months, but then he was away and ate like a horse!

I had planned to do a mixture of BLW & purees, but a toddler here (I'm in Ireland) died recently in a creche when he choked on a bit of carrot. I know logically it was a freak accident but I'm now terrified to do BLW.

I was hoping that she'd take well to solids quickly as I'm still losing weight beyond what is healthy & didn't want to introduce formula. My GP thought that when she was taking solids, the pressure would be off my body a bit! I might have to try a bottle of formula sooner than I wanted to.

I'll try carrot next & maybe a fruit if that doesn't work. She loves Calpol , but we used a syringe to give it to her so I suppose all else failing, we could try a little of that on the spoon to encourage her!

BFing shouldn't make you lose an abnormal amount of weight. It takes only a few extra calories a day to bfeed (couple of slices of toast for example). If you're losing an unhealthy amount of weight, your GP should address why that is.

The thing is that food is for fun. It's a lovely, pleasurable thing and hovering, encouraging, tempting and worrying are things that a baby picks up on. Children are really good at self regulating and that's not something you want to overide by 'tempting' them with something sweet on a spoon.

She may not be ready. And that's fine. They're generally ready 'around' 6 months, some earlier, some later. DD was 7 months before she was ready.

I know it's scary but that's a toddler that choked. Presumably, when your dd is a toddler, she too will be eating carrots/similar. It's a terrible and rare accident. But you can't afford to pass that worry onto your child.

But millions of babies have purees every day. If you're happy with that then that's perfectly okay.

I don't think you ever stop worrying. I wish I'd known that. It's the hardest bit I think.