6 mth twins weaning started great - now one refuses - HELP....

[benjalamummy]

OK never posted anything on anything before - so new and very green but really hope someone can help ..... i have boy girl twins, they are 6 months old and 3 weeks ago neither could get enough milk, showing all the 'ready for weaning' signs etc so we started with some root veg purees, baby rice, pureed pear - first once and now twice a day without cutting down on milk. They LOVED it - DD is still enjoying her food, but DS has just stopped eating in the last few days - he was taking food brilliantly off the spoon before but now just cries - even with foods he seemed to love before. This has happened for the last 5 days or so. It might be his teeth but I give him a little teething gel before mealtimes and also he still takes his bottle fine. In fact he drinks so much - 300ml at bedtime for example, it worries me that if he drinks this much he really does need the solid food to fill him up...?
I started off feeling really positive and proud that I was feeding my 2 babies home cooked food and they enjoyed it - now feeding times are so stressful as I am so worried about DS not eating and don't want this stress to rub off on either of them.
If anyone can offer any advice, would be really grateful, ta x

Please don't worry. He'll get all of the calories and nutrients that he needs from milk still - and will for a good while yet.

Keep trying him with a little bit of whatever you're feeding DD at lunch, babies are funny little things, what they love one day, they hate the next.

Remember - Food is for fun, until one :)

Maybe he's not keen on the spoon - have you tried giving him things he can eat with his hands?

Thanks Flisspaps, feel a little better just being told to relax ... and your username gave me a much-needed smile too :)

One spoon-fed and one BLW

@ RitaMorgan No I haven't tried that ... because I thought they needed really smooth purees to begin with. What would you give? Steamed veg pieces to suck on for example? Am worried about choking on pieces....

They don't really need smooth purees if you start at 6 months, that's more of a hangover from when people weaned at 4 months.

I started with things like steamed brocolli florets, slices of soft pear, roast veg sticks - parsnip, carrot, sweet potato. Anything soft that can be served in chip/finger shape. They can't open their fists to get at food at first so it needs to be long enough that they can grab it and have some sticking out of their fist.

At 6 months you can also give things like strips of toast or rice cakes - you can spread purees on toast if you want.

Just avoid hard things like raw apple or carrot at first, and whole grapes, whole nuts, big blueberries etc. If you google Baby Led Weaning there are loads of ideas - the Baby Led Weaning book by Gill Rapley is really useful too.

As for choking, they have a really strong gag reflex at this age that is further forward in their mouths than an adults is, so if they bite off more than they can swallow they'll gag and cough it back out. Gagging can be a bit alarming at first but isn't the same as choking. I did a baby first aid course which helped me feel more confident.

Thanks RitaMorgan, this sounds like it might be ideal - worth a go for sure, as DS keeps making a grab for the spoon and puts everything he holds straight into his mouth! Am feeling nervously positive ... :)

Hiya one of my twins wouldn't take anything smooth of a spoon but would happly eat any amount of finger food from 6 months, still at 22 months he likes to eat everything with his hands! His brother uses a spoon and fork and doesn't like getting his hands messy :-)

My ds has gone through various stages of only wanting to feed himself finger food or only wanting to be spoonfed Currently he doesn't want to get his hands dirty but he doesn't want me to spoon feed him, he has to do it himself!

I've had exactly the same. My DD took to weaning really enthusiastically eating everything then apart from fruit refused all. Today she fed herself preloaded spoons of porridge so tonight I gave her roasted sweet potato, courgette and carrot then a massive strawberry, 3 chunks of water melon, a dried apricot, some bread and 3 blackberries and she had the lot. She very deftly sucked all the veg and left the skin and pretty much did tghe same with the strawberry, leaving the middle bit. Its dead messy and she was on the floor in her bumbo on a towel but she thoroughly enjoyed herself. She's 7 mths old today. At 6mths I tried BLW and she wasn't ready, she preferred me to hold the food and she'd suck it so I gave her purees because she did want food. Now she's much more able. I think they get frustrated and want to do things themselves.

Thanks everyone for your help. Am going to try one more day with puree, just relax if it doesn't work, and try some bits and pieces of food as you suggested RitaMorgan and Mockingbirds. Really like this forum idea, so nice to get some input from other mums who've had similar issues THANK YOU!