one step forward two steps back

[forevermore]

26 week old dd was happily (up to 4 days ago) having 2 meals (baby rice and puree in late morning and a savory tin/homemade veg mix in the late afternoon), plus 20ozs of milk.

this was a real breakthrough for me since have battled with poor apetite and feeding since newborn and thought introduction of food (at about 20 weeks) was when we would now turn that corner and she would be 'like all other babies'....now this week was constipated and stopped wanting solids, fair enough thought she was 'bunged up' now no longer wanting solids, and starts to turn head away and cry when spoon even come near her. a few weeks ago she was propelling her mouth towards the spoon to get the food quicker...what a turn around. she is no longer constipated (as of this morning)

could she still be returning to normal???

she is teething, but has been for weeks, so not sure what has changed?

feeling really emotional now, since back at work in a couple of weeks and thought i could finally leave her in the care of someone else now she was feeding, now worried about how i'll cope with her being back to her usual self (and in my wierd head...vulnerable).

feel like i am forever taking 1 step forwards and two steps back.
she is otherwise happy and gaining weigh, albeit slowly (she was 15lb8oz 3 weeks ago)

any ideas?
before anyone says it...baby led weaning seems to be more suited to 'at home mums' and not practical for when i return to work, so not sure this is an option??

Forevermore - I started weaning my dd at 24 weeks and initially was happily scoffing but then after a couple of weeks started turning her head away and wouldn't eat anything. I got really stressed and so did she. It became a battle of wills - both of us ending up crying.

What I did was for a couple of days was just not give her any food, just gave her milk - my thinking was if she is hungry she will eventually eat solids - bear in mind that introducing solids is all about introducing tastes etc - in the first year the primary source of nutrition is milk - so don't worry if it seems no solids are being eaten as long as milk is being taken then they will be fine.

After a couple of days, I started offering solids again and she was happy to start wolfing them down again.

This won't be the first time this happens, my dd often goes through refusing phases - esp if new foods are given - I often find I have to offer about 5 different times before a particular food gets eaten - frustrating!

I think the key is not to make feeding a stressful event - even though I know you feel like pulling out your hair. My dd is now 16 months and happily is a good eater - but does have some weird days. HTH

Hi forevermore,

My DS is very similar to yours...he was also terrible at taking his milk so like you, I thought weaning would be the answer. Again, it started off great...he would eat anything but then he stopped and didn't want his solids. His daily milk intake is only 18 oz so of course I started to worry....After a few days of milk only he suddenly showed some interest again, although it's a bit hit and miss...I am just going along with it at the moment. I think he is also teething and I do think this affects them..I agree with hotmama that they will eat when they are good and ready. I think it's easy to say and not easy to do but try not to worry.
Good luck.

My ds made a good start to solids and then started to refuse to open his mouth. I found that he wanted to be involved and by giving him his own spoon he thought he was. Then when he opened his mouth to put his spoon in I could quickly pop my spoon in instead. Also used finger foods to similar effect.

this is encouraging but what do you do when your babe is only taking 18ozs a day and refusing solids and HV is on your case to give more food since weight gain is only 4 ozs a week. they pulled me into the room like i was a criminal and grilled me on why my daughter wasn't gaining weight sufficiently. doesn't help that she is on 98th centil for height and therefore looks slender

bump...advice pls

IF your baby is alert with energy then personally I would stop taking her to the hvs - you dont have to go.

I would leave the solids until she shows signs of wanting them again and carry on with the milk.

dd produced a tooth and started eating better...also noticed that its a sweet one at that. if i sneak bits of fruit puree or baby danone yogurt in with veg purees she will open her mouth but snapp it shut once she realises i am tricking her. hope she doesn't end up with a rotten tooth...

p.s anyone know if baby danone yogurt is bad for babies? it says made with follow on milk and 68 calories /pot which is same as 100 mls of formula so was wondering if this mean't that if she eats a pot of yogurt it somehow equates to 100 mls of formula????

forgive me if this sounds like utter crap...just trying to be inventive with getting those mls of milk down her