8 months old - no solid s- no puree, no BLW, nada

[IpodMermaid]

Have been trying to wean DS since he was six months. Started out with BLW - no joy. Totally uninterested in finger food. Also uniterested in our food. Tried homemade purees and shop bought stage 1 food, DS clamps jaws together, turns head away and gags and vomits any food I manage to get into his mouth.

It's upsetting both of us now and I don't know what to do.

Any advice gratefully received.

Any progress? Been following this thread as my almost 8m old is totally uninterested in food. I wouldn't be so bothered but he goes to nursery 3 days pw and wont' even have bottles there! Has a little bit of food there but BFs loads when he gets home.

TBH I haven't the energy to keep on BFing this much,especially at night! I am not expected 2 square meals a day, just a bit of food while we all eat. he just hates it and spits it out, whether it's puree, mashed or finger food. Just wants milk!

Fifitot - will he have bottles elsewhere or no bottles at all anywhere? Will he drink water? I never thought I;d say this but have you spoken to the Health Visitor about it? They might not be able to help but give you a referral to someone who might.

So we saw the dietician today which was interesting. When we told her which milk we were using, Hipp Organic, she told us it is too sugary and too fatty and will be suppressing his hunger big time. So starting immediately, we have put him on 50/50 of Hipp/Cow & Gate Stage 1 milk. The aim is to get him back to C&G Stage 1 and keep him on that til he is 1.

I am also to cut back his milk considerably - almost two whole feeds in fact. This will be a bit of a trial, especially as he already wakes in the night twice as he is hungry. However, if this gets him to eat, I can go through it. Watch for my forthcoming posts in the sleep deprivation threads!

We are also getting a referral to speech and language re: the Big Tongue and gagging. Hopefully, this will be before we next see the dietician in two weeks.

Will keep you posted on any progress.

Ipodmermaid, I have been reading your thread with interest, because ds (8 months) has been really struggling with weaning. He seems to have a very strong tongue thrust reflex, and just pushes out everything that goes in.

My HV has watched him eat, and he has been referred to a dietician.

I am just surprised (and worried!) by your last post, because ds also has Hipp Organic. I checked the side of the carton and compared it to the side of the Cow & Gate carton, and there doesn't seem to be much difference in the calorie/fat/sugars content of either milk.

Am I being way too casual about dc3 only just starting to eat at 8m or is 8m a bit early to be referred to a dietician for not eating?

hazeyjane you are right but I don't know if you have noticed but there is a marked difference in the consistency and weight of the two (dried) products. I will ask dietician for more info on why she said that if you would be interested in more on this? She also mentioned a ."...ceride" in the milk. I ocnfess that I was too busy wrangling a hungry baby at that point to remember to come back to it but will phone and ask. I used to lap all this stuff up but sleep deprivation sees me missing important bits too often these days!

MooMOO I think if DC3 is starting to eat then I would be relaxed (in your shoes). It was the combination of not eating and the gagging that made me seek help.

Cutting down his feeds and changing the milk has seen him much more interested in food and a bit more focused and persistent about putting food in his mouth. He has even bitten little bits of toast and chewed and swallowed them without gagging too much. Still refuses to be spoonfed though.

Ipod - yes he will have water and has about 2 oz of formula at nursery sometimes. He seems to start out at nursery refusing everything but then ends up eating a reasonable sized tea there - probably because he's starving by then!

This weekend he has eaten absolutely nothing! I have sat him down with us for 3 meals and everything has been refused. I am tearing my hair out now! Have tried him with the spoon again and also finger foods - has no interest. He is not ill and tbh hasn't been having loads of BFs in the day - still has 3 in the night though....

I am at my wits end. He has a dev check this week and just know he will have dropped a centile or gained little weight. I will no doubt get a lecture from HV about what I should be doing but can't see how else I can make him eat! She had suggested cutting out night feeds but it's catch 22 - he is starving in the night as doesn't have enough in the day and cutting out the night feeds won't work anyway as he will scream the house down for hours on end and I can't cope with that tbh.

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaagh!

fifi you're doing everything right, what will happen evetually is that gradually the balance will change as he takes a little more in the day and then a little less at night. Have you tried doing the GF thing of only offering one boob if he wakes after 5am or so? I did that with dc2 and it meant she did feed a bit more in the day but I haven't tried it with dc3 yet. But if you're heading out to work it might not help.

I try and keep night feeds to only one side now Moo.

Today has been slightly better - about 6tsps of pasta and sauce at lunch and about 3 of mash potato and parsnip at tea. Not much but at least he made the bloody effort!!!!

fifitot 6 tsps of pasta and sauce is a heroic effort. I reckon DS would take a week to eat that much! Still starving him into submission seems to be working a bit. He consumated a relationship with a tomato slice at teatime rather than just flirting with it - some progress.

Night feeding is a conundrum isn't it? Since we cut down his feeds and made them 50/50, he's started taking two full bottles in the night. He's no-one's fool. He's going to get that milk by whatever means necessary!

Yes Ipod - they know what they want and how to get it!

I am sick of nightfeeding - I wander around in a daze most of the time because of it!

Hiya, can I join in...it's such a relief to read some of these posts and know I'm not alone. My DD 7.5 mths (I've already started another thread about this, sorry if I repeat myself)....well she has dropped 2 centiles from her birth centile and she is a small little thing but developing in all other ways. BUT she does not seem interested in eating, she does play with food and then stuff some in her mouth but then she sits there like a hamster with bulging cheeks and doesn't know or forgets that she has to chew or swallow. Sometimes we find food in her mouth hours later! Tried purees, tried home cooked, tried ellas, tried organix, anything she purses lips shut. Though she did like frozen yoghurt and peanut butter.
She is BF and I still nightfeed because she can't possibly be getting enough food. I too amd getting slightly fed up with it, but will she take a bottle NO!
Anyway now HV involved and horrified that I am still BFing so much blah blah. She means well but it feels like more pressure. Now I just want her to eat ...anything!
But I like the notion of just easing up on it and relxing because it makes me dread meal times and it takes soooooooo long which is hard in the mornings as I have a DS to get ready for nursery.

Yes come on in ! Join the mothers of the non-eating babies! At least we know we are not alone.

I too am dreading the visit with the HV this week as already said.

6 tsp of pasta and sauce is more than dc3 has ever eaten of proper food. She only eats plain yog and mashed banana or pear puree. She'll try anything as finger food but she doesn't actually eat it.We eased up on other stuff as it was becoming so time consuming, I give her some veg puree every day but once she's spat at the tip of the spoon 4 or 5 times i move swiftly on to a bit of mashed banana .I'm avoiding the hv for now. Hopefully she'll eventually copy the other 2 who are remarkably unfussy eaters.

This reminded me so much of DD's early eating. She just wasn't interested in food for a long time. We did BLW & did our best to back off about it... don't think it was until around 9 months that she was even beginning to show an interest in things! Now she is 2.9 yrs & eats like most other toddlers her age...

Hang in there!

I am pinning so much on him starting to eat so hope I am not disappointed! He was up 3 times last night for full on BFs - I am shattered today.

fifitot when is the HV coming?

DS volunteered for three mouthfuls of yoghurt today. Naturally, it was my nasty diet stuff he saw me eating mid-afternoon. He won't touch the expensive organic stuff I buy for him. Chip off the old block - he'll be eating Pot Noodles for his first meal....

Iskra - once DD was interested - did she ramp up her intake quite quickly?

He has his 32 wk check at the clinic on Thursday so will get weighed then......

Not too bad today. Refused breakfast but ate about 6tsp of a jar (given up on homemade for now due to having to chuck it all) and a WHOLE yoghurt. Amazing.

LOL at pot noodles though!

Wow! go fifitot DS

Good luck on Thursday

'Cut down on the BFing' is the only message they gave me actually.

Easier said then done. So ironic that the health professionals bleat on and on about the benefits of bfing but when your child reaches 6months old they practically berate you for carrying on with it! Apparently if he doesn't eat more he won't learn to speak properly..........yeah right.

Fifitot not so helpful huh? Any ideas on how you can do that? Did HV have any ideas?

HV also told me that if DS wasn't eating in the next two weeks "It would be too late". For what? I asked "speech". Oh come on - he never shuts up.

Still waiting for our letter from the dietician. She said I didn;t need to make notes as she would write to us. Also, no follow up appointment for her or referral to speech therapist....

As I said I'm avoiding the HV.

New strategy with dc3, started yesterday:
she is having exactly what dc1 and 2 have for every meal first as finger food then once she's bored with that (she will TRY anyhting as finger food but doesn't actually eat much) I'll spoon her beloved plain yog and mashed banana down her. I'm bored with throwing away savoury purees.I browsed the jars in sainsbos but they looked pretty yuk. So yesterday she toyed with pasta and lentil sauce and grated cheese and appeared to love the sauce. So i of course leapt for the spoon and tried to spoon sauce down her. ZZZZIIIIPPPPP went her mouth.Today I will show more restraint. Lunchtime she had cheese on taost and yog and mashed banana.

DD didn't really eat solids til 13 months. Prior to that she would eat a bite of breadstick, one grape, a bit of cheese etc but never anything even coming close to a meal.

She also didn't have teeth til she was one, was possibly related.

We went to the Speech and Language Therapist today who watched DS, contrary little sod that he is!, eat several spoonfuls of stage 1 puree food, one spoon then total refusal of stage 2 food and total refusal of yoghurt with which he has become obsessed. Leaning forward and opening mouth if yoghurt not supplied at a sufficiently fast pace.

He has been getting much better but still not super interested and gagging at spooned textured food, but oddly happy to eat/suck mashed stuff on toast fingers.

She suggested that we:

carry on with his reduced milk feeds
focus more on finger foods as he likes eating on his own terms
more messy play with food (it's hard to imagine how it could get messier but still)
putting textured food on his toys that he likes to mouths to take the challenge of food out of context and take away any pressure.

I tried this last one this afternoon and he went beserk. Really cross! Like I'd totally double-crossed him.

Interestingly she posited the idea of silent reflux. I asked for a couple more months without medication as he is getting better slowly.

We'll see her in two months time.

I hope some of this moght be useful for others. We see the dietician on Thursday so will post feedback from there. I am going to ask about how you cut back night feeds.

Hope all the babies are eating like they are in a pie-eating competition!

IMx