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Weaning

Find weaning advice from other Mumsnetters on our Weaning forum. Use our child development calendar for more information.

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Original poster

I'm failing miserable - shall I give up??

22 replies

Gina1981 · 04/05/2012 12:42

DD is 24 wks and started purees and also allowed her to chew on broccoli! Although she had entertained carrot and parsnip, she didn't really show that she loved it!! I gave her a floret of broccoli one eve and she loved it! I tried her with sweet potato purée this afternoon and she just keep gagging on it! She is EBF and has started to be quite difficult at the breast too! She hardly sleeps and keeps waking up every 2-3 hours and is very hard to settle!!

Shall I just give up and wait till she is 26wks or am I missing something? I have no idea what to do with blw but everytime I have given her something to feed herself she loves it!! Is this were I'm goon wrong!??

OP posts:

JiltedJohnsJulie · 04/05/2012 12:53

Gina my DD loved feeding herself too and thats why we ended up doing BLW with her. If your DD loves feeding herself I'd give that a try. If she has all the signs of being ready

?They stay in a sitting position and hold their head steady.
?They co-ordinate their eyes, hand and mouth so that they can look at the food, pick it up and put it in their mouth all by themselves.
?They can swallow food. Babies who are not ready will push their food back out.

then I'd carry on just offering the vegetables and fruit to feed herself with. Once she's 26 weeks she can more or less eat what you eat, just watch the salt content. You can get low salt stock cubes from most places now though.

There is some good information on weaning on the nhs website, Mumsnet and on BLW here.

Don't forget too that at this age weaning is more about exploring textures and tastes rather than filling them up and replacing feeds. If you think she is hungry you could increase the number of bfs she has in the day .

OneLittleBabyTerror · 04/05/2012 13:28

Take a step back and try to relax. JJJ already mentioned the signs of readiness. If your LO has all three, it means she's ready to be weaned. As you have found out, purees doesn't mean they won't gag! It probably also means that she's lost her tongue thrust reflex and that's why the food is getting worked towards the throat side. It maybe that your LO has a very sensitive gag reflex? That might mean once she's chewing on larger pieces of food, she might gag too. If you want to re-assure yourself, go and find a baby first aid course. Some sure start centre does them. I did mine with the red cross, and it was advertised here on MN as a local activity. This will help you to know what to do when your LO did choke. But you might find that she can take care of herself by gagging food she can't handle out.

As for whether to go BLW, or continue with purees + finger foods, we can't see her, and you are in the best position to tell which your LO enjoys more. I did BLW because my DD would not let me feed her at all. The BLW website has all the information you need

Original poster

Gina1981 · 04/05/2012 13:48

DD is demonstrating the 3 signs of being ready and when I have placed something on her tray shes has grabbed it and chews enthusiastically. She had gagged and brought it up so I know she is capable of that too!!

I think my problem is timing!! DD is not in a routine with anything and everyday is different!! I too am all over tr place as I feel a complete zombie all the time!! I think my main worry is making sure she has enough bf in a day too!!

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OneLittleBabyTerror · 04/05/2012 14:15

I didn't have any routines at all when DD was 6mo. One thing about BLW is to have meals together as a family. I found this incredibly helpful. I keep breastfeeding DD on demand. It doesn't matter she just had a bf straight before a meal. Weaning (especially with BLW) is about texture and tastes, not the amount eaten. Whenever I sat down to have my 3 meals, DD would be given something off my plate as well. I did adopt things we ate to suit a 6mo better. Breakfast is a lot of toasts and pancakes. Lunch/dinner would be little burger patties, fish cakes, roast veg. Fusilli instead of spaghetti. We also brought tea time forward to 5:30. I made sure that everything was ready for tea the moment DH get home from work. It gets easier with time as she improves in self feeding. By 9mo, she was capable at eating whatever we give her.

OneLittleBabyTerror · 04/05/2012 14:16

Oh and I adjusted my lunch time too to be anytime between 11 and 2! My DD slept was all over the place.

JiltedJohnsJulie · 04/05/2012 14:24

Think that one of the benefits of bfing and blw is that you don't have to have a routine. It doesn't matter if you go out shopping and decide to stay for lunch or get invited to a BBQ where the food is an hour later than you normally eat. You don't have to worry about how many bottles you take out, how long they will last and keeping them warm and as for food, well, she'll e able to eat what you eat .

Original poster

Gina1981 · 04/05/2012 16:10

So am I right in saying that DD can have anything and everything apart from the obvious things that she may choke on and things that contain sugar and salt?? Or shall I gradually offer certain things then offer other foods??

OP posts:

JiltedJohnsJulie · 04/05/2012 17:05

Think there are the usual things they can't have until they are one like honey and peanuts but everything else is up for grabs. Salt and sugar are fine in small quantities. How I look on it is that you are getting them to eat healthy family meals, if you exclude thing from their diet they may find it harder to incorporate these things into their diet later. She can have everything you eat as long as you eat healthily that is . My DD had a roast dinner the first week .

Have a look at .

Original poster

Gina1981 · 04/05/2012 18:13

Ok so we finished dinner half an hour again and she had broccoli, cauliflower, homemade oven chips and cod! I don't know if it was a success or a disaster! She ended up gagging and throwing up! It was heartbreaking to see a fountain of breastmilk flying out of her mouth! I have to admit it didn't bother her that much as she continued to pick up bits after clearing away the sick!! The bits that wearnt swimming in the sick!! She even drank water from a sippy cup! Am scared it will happen again!! I just feel like it's been so unsuccessful today! Arghhh

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PessimisticMissPiggy · 04/05/2012 18:25

It sounds like you're both doing great! Until she gets used to the sensation of moving food around her mouth it will happen.

Try waiting a little bit longer after a bf before feeding her?

Original poster

Gina1981 · 04/05/2012 18:47

God my spelling is awful!! Apologies, I'm on the phone typing!!

I didn't expect her to want a feed just before dinner!! She is bf on demand and she wanted feeding 10 mins before dinner was ready!! Other 2dc were waiting patiently for me to dish up!! I wasn't going to feed her that quickly after a bf but DD was watching us all eat so I thought I'd let her join in!!

Tbh my confidence has been knocked a little with blw now and I don't know whether to wait till she is 26wks or preserve with the purees!!

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Flisspaps · 04/05/2012 18:52

She'd have been just as likely to be sick if you'd given purée then

Have a look at this site for some reassurance. There's no magic switch that goes off at 26 weeks so as she's near enough 6 months I'd keep going, whether you do BLW or traditional weaning

llamallama · 04/05/2012 18:58

I think you are doing great!

I try and give my DD about an hour between BF and food, that might help you?

Original poster

Gina1981 · 04/05/2012 19:23

I really like the idea of BLW and I think that DD much prefers it than purees!

When it comes to yogurts and breakfasts that involve a spoon, i assume that i would have to feed it to her?? or do i miss these sorts of foods out? And one more quick question : With BLW do i offer dd food everytime i eat from now on? E.g breakfast, lunch and dinner? Or do i gradually introduce the three meals over a few weeks?

OP posts:

Flisspaps · 04/05/2012 19:45

WRT 'wet' foods you can feed her (if you want but that's not 'true' BLW which is exclusive self feeding), you can load the spoon and pass it to DD to put into her own mouth, or you an just give her the bowl and let her either try the spoon or use her hands.

DD was BLW, she's now 2.1 and has just managed to use a spoon reasonably well, they all get there in the end - one way or another.

Flisspaps · 04/05/2012 19:47

Oh, and it's up to you if you want to go 3 meals a day straight off or not. I offered at every meal, if DD ate, she ate and if she didn't then she didn't. It's just a case of giving what you've got anyway so it's not as if it's extra work to go straight to 3 meals

sleepybump · 04/05/2012 19:54

I read a few blogs of babies who go through a gag/throw up cycle. It seems to be a normal way to shift food thats not properly swallowed. My dd only did that a couple of times and yup, plowed straiggt on witg eating (a sign it hadnt bothered her!). Your lo is just starting out, swallowing/cheewing/ learning best size to swallow/how to eat this and that, all very normal and could last a good few weeks. Then one day youll be attending to their nappy and lo and behold there's definately been food eaten! Just remember that a babies gag reflex is furtger forward to us adults (for good reason!).

Foods to avoid are honey, 'whole' nuts... Nuts are fine if you crush them, added/too much salt/sugar and avoid offering cows/goats milk as a drink (but fine added to food). I wouls also add whole grapes (very easy to choke on,like nuts) and be vigilant when offering foods you/your family have sensitibitoes to incase (some baby sensitivities...a rash brought on by tomatos is one, babies grow out of, sometimes pretty quick)

Enjoy it, we'rre at 7.5m and consuming Everything with growth-spurty attitude at the mo, took around 4-6 weeks to see a good amount of processed food (by her that is) being consumed. Its still up and down somedays though :)

sleepybump · 04/05/2012 19:59

Ps after a freind who was weaning at the same time told me they started out giving her ds a loaded spoon to eat off, we troed it, a few days later (porridge for brekkie each day to practice) she finally cracked it (well mostly!) which opened up oppprtunities to feed her yogurt/thick soup etc... Fantastic fun :)

sleepybump · 04/05/2012 20:03

I mean i load the spoon, she takes -grabs- it off me, cleans it off. I still have to ask for the spoon back for a refill... My friends kid now automatically hands it back for more, my dd only does this with chunks of bread she wants dipping in the soup!

Original poster

Gina1981 · 04/05/2012 20:40

Dd2 had reflux and use to throw up all the time! It use to upset me all the time! When dd3 brought up the milk it brought up all those bad memories!! I think thi is why I'm a little warey of doing blw!!

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OneLittleBabyTerror · 04/05/2012 22:20

I can't face the mess with mushy food so it was off the menu for us until nearly 12mo. For breakfast, I started with toasts and rice cakes with spread. Once DD can pick up smaller lumps, I added her oatabix, shredded wheats and malted squares. She didn't mind eating them dry, but I wetted them a little with milk (to get her used to cows milk). She can also do cornflakes and rice krispies by 9 or 10mo but that's a slow breakfast.

I didn't give yoghurt till near 12mo.

Like others have pointed out, if they refused to be spoonfed, you can give her a loaded spoon. My DD was pretty bad with the loaded spoon though. She kept flicking them. I just cant face projectile yoghurt all over the dining room. And it's only soups and yoghurt she missed out on. There are many choices of cereal suitable as finger food.

OhdearNigel · 04/05/2012 22:27

Just give up for a bit. We religiously waited for the 26 weeks and did BLW. DD wasn't interested to start with, I left it a couple of weeks and there was no turning back.
Half peoples' child-orientated problems come when they try to make them do things they aren't ready for IMHO

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