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Weaning

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

Original poster

Reduce breastfeeding to get baby interested in food?

40 replies

Groveregg · 29/05/2006 17:39

I've been trying to wean my ds for about 3 months now - he's now 8 months - and he's still hardly interested in eating anything. On a normal day he will eat around 2 teaspoonfuls twice a day. I'm still breastfeeding - was hoping to start him on follow-on milk, but he won't accept the hypoallergenic formula I got on presciption as it stinks! He has eczema and he had a dairy allergy incident at 6 months so I don't want to try any other sort of milk as it could be risky. I've heard that allergic babies can take to food a lot slower than normal babies but the lack of food he eats does worry me. Anyway, to my question, my health visitor suggested maybe restricting the milk feeds to around 3 a day and reckons that this might force him to start eating solids big time. She thinks it would mean one really miserable day and then he'd get the idea about food. Has anyone tried anything as drastic as this and did it work? I am reluctant to give it a go just because it seems a bit cruel and I'm not convinced it would work. What do you guys reckon?

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nothercules · 29/05/2006 17:41

I wouldnt get het up at it at this early age. In the 1920s and 30s babies the recommendation was around 10 months for weaning.

Original poster
Groveregg · 29/05/2006 17:45

Thanks for that, it's stupid but most of the time I am cool with it and have heard things like that before - just once in a while I get bothered. I think it's because yesterday he ate a whole cube and I thought we were turning the corner and today he's hardly eaten anything!

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nothercules · 29/05/2006 17:46

Has he got plenty of energy and looks healthy? I never got dd weighed. I knew she would be way under what she should be as she was a large birth weight but she has stacks of energy and is the picture of health.

FrannyandZooey · 29/05/2006 17:52

Breastmilk should form the main part of their nutrition up until at least a year. I am sorry to say most hvs have bugger all idea about weaning and breastfeeding full stop. Just follow what your baby wants to do and keep up the good work with the breastfeeding.

You are spot on about allergic children. There is a lot of evidence for allergic children resisting early solids as a way of protecting themselves. To force food onto an unwilling baby, could be harmful to their health, as well as damaging to your relationship - follow his cues and try to relax and trust him. He will eat when his body is ready and when he needs to - which could be quite a while off as your milk is still a perfect food for him :)

Original poster
Groveregg · 29/05/2006 17:53

Yes good point - he's fine and is putting on weight steadily - if anything it's me who's lacking in energy with all this breastfeeding!

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Original poster
Groveregg · 29/05/2006 17:59

Thanks too Frannyandzooey, that is pretty much what I thought but I started doubting myself!

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FrannyandZooey · 29/05/2006 18:12

Yes, my next piece of advice would be to stop seeing your hv. If your son is ill, see a doctor. If your son is not ill, he does not need anything except you :)

Eulalia · 29/05/2006 18:20

Have also been getting grief from my HV - my ds has been v slow with starting solids. He's getting a little better now - just turned 10 months but doesn't nowhere near what he 'should' be eating. He has dropped in the centiles and is small but developmentally doing fine and I am still b/feeding lots.

You are definately doing the right thing with his milk intake and just letting nature take its course.

spidermama · 29/05/2006 18:23

Two of my sons were not interested in anything but milk until they were ten and eleven months. Some babies go on for a year with nothing but milk. I wouldn't worry yet. I would ignore well meaning health visitors on this one.

BTW well done for 8 months of bf-ing. Smile

Original poster
Groveregg · 29/05/2006 18:26

It's good to hear there are other people with the same situation. I think that when I get tired I keep thinking it must be me doing something wrong even though on good days I know it's not true. And yes, I have gone right off the idea of seeing my hv, I forgot to mention that she also suggested that I could explain to him that if he ate a good meal then he could have some milk as an incentive - at 8 months???!!! I know every mother thinks their child is bright but that's pushing it a bit!!!

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FrannyandZooey · 29/05/2006 18:31

Grover I have a friend whose daughter is 18 months, tall, chubby, healthy, bright, running around constantly etc. She is almost completely just on breastmilk, still! With a lot of persuasion she might eat a few pieces of pasta and a few raisins, and say a bite of toast in one day. She is absolutely fine (and her mum is lean as a greyhound :))

Original poster
Groveregg · 29/05/2006 18:37

Wow, that's nice to know but I must admit I find that a bit scary!!! I was kind of hoping to stop breastfeeding when he's a year old, and I'm a bit nervous about teething - at the moment he hasn't got any so it's not an issue but I have a fear that that might force the issue a bit...

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FrannyandZooey · 29/05/2006 18:48

Grover, if you are really worries about teeth, \link{http://www.kellymom.com/bf/older-baby/biting.html\this page} might or might not reassure you. My son has 20 teeth and has never once bitten me.

Obviously it is your choice, but continuing to breastfeed a reluctant eater, possibly an allergic reluctant eater, for as long as possible, seems like a wise move to me :)

expatinscotland · 29/05/2006 18:54

My dad didn't want to eat solids till he was 13 months. He, too, was exclusively breastfed.

He was a healthy, clever boy whose now nearly 70-years-old.

purplemonkeydishwasher · 29/05/2006 19:15

I'm having a similar problem with my 8month old ds. He isn't that bothered about food (although he loved melon...and not just mine!)
It's hard though because it seems like everyone else is cutting down on breast feeds when ds is still feedins constantly!!

FloatingOnTheMed · 29/05/2006 19:39

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

suzi2 · 29/05/2006 20:00

I agree with the others that milk is the most important thing and to not worry about the solids.

However, have you tried finger foods? My DS won't really tollerate a spoon (takes a couple of spoonfuls at most) but when you let him feed himself and make it fun (mummy eating some/stealing his, hiding bits of broccoli and then making them magically reappear etc) then he's quite happy to eat most things. Just a thought.

Original poster
Groveregg · 30/05/2006 09:25

Thanks everyone for your help! That Kellymom website has been a great help to me in the past Frannyandzooey so I should have thought to look on there again... and yes suzi2 sometimes finger foods do get received better - though sometimes not. Anyway this morning I invented a concoction of strawberry puree mixed with his favourite banana porridge and he polished off all except the last spoonful so I am cheerful about the whole situation again until the next mealtime! :)

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FloatingOnTheMed · 30/05/2006 17:43

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Original poster
Groveregg · 30/05/2006 18:23

I might try that, sounds like a good idea. Also it has to be said that just reading your nickname makes me feel a lot more relaxed about things! It's lovely.

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FloatingOnTheMed · 30/05/2006 18:24

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

bumbleweed · 08/06/2006 19:02

Just read your thread with interest groveregg, as my dd is the same - happily bfing away and not wanting to eat a great deal of solid foods.

She swats the spoon away when I offer it to her, but if I just leave the food in front of her and pretend not to look she sometimes lunges forward, grabs some and stuffs into her mouth with her hands. So have abandoned spoon for now and am just offering finger foods. Its a bit more challenging, as it aint easy to eat some foods with fingers, but I dont think the nutritional variety is as important when bf.

Original poster
Groveregg · 09/06/2006 12:02

That's worth knowing, thanks for that. At the moment he is refusing anything on a spoon after I lost my cool at the weekend! So I'm giving spoons a miss for a few days. Hard to keep patient at every meal time for 4 months when I end up putting most of it in the bin! Also I find it really hard that almost every time I put him in his highchair he might try a little bit and then he scratches his face and neck manically and cries until I get him out. I can't work out if it's a genuine problem or if he's learnt he can finish meals early by doing that (at one point he was pretending to choke and then grinning when I got him out!). But the only thing that is really good this week is that whenever I'm eating something he shows a real interest for the first time in ages, so he's been eating my crusts and the odd piece of meat or vegetable - as long as it's something I'm eating. I've tried fooling him and giving him something else at the same time and it doesn't work!

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bumbleweed · 09/06/2006 18:07

thats great that he is eating bits and pieces from your plate - shows that he is observing what you are doing and wants the same not something different (highchairs, spoons etc). also no preparation involved.

I totally know what you mean about the heartache of your lovingly prepared baby-food getting chucked out of the highchair and then into the bin, and the feeling of wtf have I done wrong here???

dd is getting that way about the highchair - cries etc. decided I didnt want to create a negative association, so giving it a miss for a few days and will try again when she is in really good mood. today we had hummus on pitta bread and just had a carpet picnic in front of the football - went down quite well with dd and dh Grin

Original poster
Groveregg · 11/06/2006 07:31

Hmm yes I will try hummus Bumbleweed, saw your recipe on another thread and it sounds yummy. How old is your dd, and does she have teeth? Some finger foods seem to be a bit beyond my ds as he still hasn't got any, but he is getting better at chewing every week. I do wonder whether the spoon aversion, and food aversion in general, is something to do with teething pains sometimes.

I found something else in tesco the other day that was a hit yesterday with him (although not the previous time!): Orgran fruit bars, they are basically just little chewy bars of mushed up dried fruit, sold in packs of 6's. They were in the kind of healthy/organic/free-from section and they are quite nice in a kind of hippyish way!

It also seems to be the case with mine that if he's watching some kind of sporting event on the telly with his dad in the living room, the capacity for food suddenly increases! So the grand prix and football today might help. I wonder if it is the start of the beer and peanuts instinct...

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