Fed up with BLW - am I doing it wrong?

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Ds2 is 8 months old and from 6mo refused purees. We persevered for a couple weeks but he just kept his mouth clamped shut so we decided to try BLW. He picks things up and has a taste but hardly eats anything.

I'm constantly trying to think what on earth to give him next, because of timings he can't really eat with us, I'm fed up with cooking sometimes three different things every meal, the mess is atrocious - there's way more on him, his seat, bib and the floor than goes in his mouth, and I'm not seeing any progress, in spite of being at it for nearly 4 weeks now .

He still refuses a spoon. Can't give dairy because of possible allergy. No idea when to milk feed (before or after, how long before or after). He's tried loads of stuff but has never eaten a whole piece of anything. Not even half a piece of anything.

About the only thing that is a success is the sippy cup which he loves and is getting the hang of nicely. Just feel completely disillusioned with the whole thing. we've never had any of those exciting BLW moments that everyone else describes and am worried that he's never gonna get the hang of it.

Wow, my DD didn't start properly eating until she was 12 or 13 months old. We were dealing with a dairy intolerance at the time which does cut down on a lot of convenience and child friendly foods. It sounds like you're offering plenty of tastes, however. We would have some days good, some days bad... I think she went through the 12 month growth spurt and it all clicked. Getting molars in helped too. :)

Hang in there! DD is now 19 months and can pack away crazy amounts (8 asparagus spears plus a big serving of spag bol, last night!), it will happen in time!

To be fair, I don't think you necessarily need to eat EVERY meal together - I agree about wanting to have dinner with your husband, it's basically the only adult time I get (have to go to bed v early as DS wakes up so early) which I think is fair enough, also don't really want to have dinner at 5pm. But I generally try and eat something, like a piece of fruit, every time DS eats and on weekend mornings we all have brunch together which is lovely - seems v fun for him even if he doesn't actually eat much.

Wow, thanks so much for all the positive advice and encouragement. We're having a few days off eating so I can try and change my expectations and get my head around how best to organise things.

I'm not very good at mess in general, in fact an old NCT friend from ds1 times laughed when I said I was trying BLW as she knows how crap I am at mess (she's the opposite). Ds1 wasn't messy so this is new to me!

We do eat as a family at weekends. But dinner during the week is the only time my dh and I get to spend time together alone, as I too have to go to bed early cos of night wakings. Ds2 has mostly been eating with either me at lunch or with his his brother at tea.

I guess I'm finding it so hard cos I keep comparing to ds1, who ate purees from a spoon brilliantly with little or no mess then progressed with pretty much no hassle to a really good diet and relationship with food. So I'm having to change my whole pov toward weaning which I'm struggling with, obviously

Shower curtain sounds like a great idea, at least then I could just shake it outside instead of having to pick up a million bits off the floor. We have l/s bibs already, but I wish we'd got one of those Ikea highchairs rather than the stupid one we have which is covered in cushioning and a nightmare to clean. Oh well.

Thanks again and will use the next few days to try and alter my way of thinking about this whole thing.