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Weaning

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

7 month old not really interested...

14 replies

20wkbaby · 17/05/2012 09:38

I started to wean my 7mo DD about a month ago, other than that she is ebf and will not take a bottle or a cup (she has gradually come round to taking about 3oz from a cup but will want a breastfeed too). She is fine taking water from a cup as obviously she doesn't need such a large volume of liquid.

I have been trying her on a variety of finger foods and purees (some bought, some homemade) and she is OK with trying the finger foods although not much gets swallowed, but she is quite anti the purees - I believe because they come on a spoon which she is not in control of. Having said this I give her vitamins on a spoon and because she knows what they are and likes the taste she opens her mouth for them. If I give her a spoon to hold herself with a bit of puree on she will put it in her mouth quite happily although not to eat the food, more to chew on the spoon.

At the same time she has never slept through the night and is still waking every two hours - most of the time for a feed although she often just wants a cuddle. This is confusing the issue for me as I feel on the one hand as if I should be making sure she gets adequate milk during the day and I can rule out the fact that she could be hungry at night, and on the other hand maybe she is ready for something more substantial in her tummy and is getting hungry quicker. Sleep deprivation is not helping me to unravel the puzzle.

DD1 was very quick to get the hang of a bottle and solids and so I am confused as to whether it is a personality thing and will just take a bit longer with DD2, a normal step in weaning and we got lucky first time round or something I am doing wrong.

For various reasons I don't want to go down the BLW route and I do realise that milk should still be her main source of calories but I wondered if anyone else had had the same problems and what can I try to 1) get her to take more solids and 2) sleep better at night (possibly another thread entirely?

OP posts:
20wkbaby · 17/05/2012 13:31

Sorry I realise that was a long post!

Bumping just in case anyone has the stamina to read it through...

OP posts:
FredFredGeorge · 17/05/2012 16:40

Sleep and solids are unlikely to be very related I'm afraid, the baby needs to get old enough to have the reserves to survive the night without eating, solid food makes little difference to this - it can make a bit if it slows down digestion - but that's not going to make a huge difference.

How to get her to eat more? Offer her more, there's really not any other option, unless you force her (terrible idea!) she's in control of what solids she eats. The sleep is probably unrelated though.

metalelephant · 17/05/2012 18:54

My second baby seems against the spoon as well, unless it's yoghurt, she loves that. She also breastfeeds approx every 3 hours, including at night. So we're continuing down the blw way, as she really doesn't seem to like being spoofed, though I'll continue offering gently.

Self feeding is great, I was so impressed today watching her eat roast chicken and potatoes but it's so wasteful at this stage -at least 70% on the floor!

I'm getting quite fed up of cleaning the chair and the floor and looking for bits of potato and bread under the sofa. But, it's a relatively short phase till they get better control, and it's so much better than forever chasing after your spoonfed child, trying to convince them to eat. Now, all I need is s self cleaning floor and we'll be sorted...

metalelephant · 17/05/2012 19:28

She's 7 months old too.

lookout · 17/05/2012 20:24

My ds2 is exactly exactly the same. I also feel the same about BLW, just can't get my head around it and really doesn't feel right for me. And we also had an easy time with ds1 who took to solids very easily indeed. But this one is just not really interested. he seriously sounds exactly the same as your dd and it's getting quite frustrating to hear others talk about 3 meals a day when I can barely get him to eat lunch!

I'm just gonna keep offering and hoping that my stubborness will win over his sutbborness Grin. I'm sorry I don't have much advice, but wanted you to know you're not alone!

metalelephant · 17/05/2012 20:33

Hey lookout, I was wondering how you're doing, hope all is well! Smile

lookout · 17/05/2012 20:37

Hey metal, I was just thinking of you today as well, strangely enough! Ok here, apart from the nightmare solids situation and still not a lot of sleep. On the plus side though, breastfeeding has never been simpler and he is unlikely to be stopping before he is 8 years old or something horrendous Grin.

Flisspaps · 17/05/2012 20:38

May I ask what the reasons for not wanting to BLW are OP?

Only it would seem that if your DD is happy to feed herself, and doesn't want to take food from a spoon held by someone else, it seems fruitless to keep on trying to feed her yourself, and frustrating you and her in the process Smile

metalelephant · 18/05/2012 01:11

lookout, it's great to hear breastfeeding is going well for you, yay! Similar stuff here, struggling with sleep a bit as she still won't sleep without nursing but for the rest of the day breastfeeding is bliss. 8 years old? That early? Grin

ipswichwitch · 18/05/2012 17:50

OP I had to double take and check I didn't write your post! In exactly the same boat here!!

It's so frustrating hearing about other babies on 3 meals a day when I've just had DS screaming in his high chair again and refusing to eat. He has a mouthful and all hell breaks loose. Doing a combination of spoon feeding and blw in the hope that some food will get in somehow! Please someone tell me this phase doesn't last forever!

ipswichwitch · 18/05/2012 17:51

Hi lookout just said hello to you on October babies thread :)

NekoChan · 19/05/2012 00:23

I also had to do a double take when I read your post as my DD is exactly the same, although she has just reached 8 months.
I'm afraid I don't have any advice but wanted to let you know there are others going through the same thing. I am doing a combination of BLW and SFing but am now getting paranoid that by not sticking to one method exclusively I am impeding her progress....

Repeat after me: "food for fun until they're one"!!

Flisspaps · 19/05/2012 11:37

Neko you are actually doing traditional weaning - spoon feeding with a bit of self feeding so don't worry about impeding progress!

BLW is exclusive self feeding, so you can't mix it with spoon feeding Smile

20wkbaby · 19/05/2012 11:39

Thanks for all the replies so good to know I am not alone. I thought with the second one I would avoid all the NCT peer pressure (self imposed mainly) but there is a second group of babies all the same age so it is the same story all over again.

I am not totally opposed to blw and do give finger foods etc it is just that I feel that I would not be giving her enough of a variety going down this route alone. A lot of DD1's food would be too sweet or salty for her as would ours, added to the fact I am a fussy eater and so I try and freeze portions of foods which are not things I would habitually buy or cook and introduce them this way otherwise they simply would not get offered as no-one else would be eating them.

I do find finger foods a good way to keep her interest and get her to occasionally open her mouth, as is letting her play with a spoon and I can sometimes get a sneaky taste on her top lip this way which she is then inclined to lick!

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