first day weaning not gone well... quick question for tomorrow please

[cravingyorkiebar]

Hi, today I started to wean my six month old on mashed carrot and it didn't go well. He squished it with his fingers, put an empty spoon in his mouth and made mess but didn't want the food in his mouth, spitting it out! He wouldn't take a spoonful from me either.

This was lunchtime so at tea time I was eating a banana and he looked interested so I mashed a bit. One mouthful took him a bit by surprise he seemed to swallow it with a strange face but had no more and again wasn't really interested.

I'm not worried by this as I guess he's just not ready but tomorrow- do I try him again with the same foods or try something else. I don't want to make it a big deal and plan just to keep offering and let him play but not sure of the best thing to offer, thanks

Sounds like it went fine to me. I don't think many will tuck in with gusto on the first day. Remember, he's never eaten food before so it will take a while for him to get used to the tastes and sensations in his mouth, and to get the hang of moving it backwards and swallowing - which will naturally happen by accident at first.

I would just carry on as you're planning to do, with the same or different foods, whatever you have to hand really. Just let him play and watch you eating and he'll get the hang of it gradually.

HTH

Trust me, what RJandA said is right. That's a good start. All kids are different, there really is no rule book that applies to all. The struggle is worth it for the occasional "eeww" looks you get. They're hilarious.

Very few babies just go for food straight away! It sounds like you've had a good day, you've at least got something swallowed

A HV told me that it can take babies 3 or 4 goes to realise that something is food, so she advised me to keep going with roughly the same food over a days. I've certainly noticed that DD takes gradually better to new food after a few attempts at eating it. Obviously that doesn't mean you have to do exactly the same thing four days running, but a bit of banana again tomorrow would be easy to do.

But they can take a long time. DD took weeks of barely swallowing anything before she suddenly realised what was going on.

Thanks, that's reassuring! Maybe I expected too much from him - it's just that I had thought he was ready for the past 2 weeks or so yet hung on until the magic 6 months due to family allergy history. I don't think I expected him to tuck in with gusto but I did expect him to splat the plate with his fingers then lick them I guess!

I posted a little while back about sippy cup confusion and did get a tommy tippee in the end - should I wait a bit before we try that or just let him try generally get wet as well as messy?

Yep, sounds pretty standard! Don't forget, it's a strange new taste and texture in his mouth. Eating below the age of 1 year is all about exploring and discovering so it doesn't matter at such a young age if very little ends up in their mouth. Let him play with it....I'm happy if my DS just squishes a new food in his hands! I also found with my DS that he took his very first foods such as carrot and apple if they were very smoothly pureed with a bit of cooking water- mashing still left it too lumpy for him....but then again if you BLW the child can shove a while stick of carrot in his mouth! Just keep doing what you're doing!