Reduce breastfeeding to get baby interested in food?

[Groveregg]

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?

groveregg, dd is nearly 8 months and does have 2 teeth at the bottom. yes, I think teeth make a difference with things like apple, pear, pasta. but things like avocado and potato dd seems to mush up with her gums.

ha at your beer and peanuts image - especially father and son!

I will look out for the fruit chewy things too - good idea.

Something else we could try in this hot weather - make ice cubes with milk or fruitsmoothies and break them up into smallish pieces?

I'm a little worried about dd today as she is hardly bfing at all and therefore not taking in much fluid - I have just frozen some milk to see if I can trick her!

DD didn't properly eat until she was 11 months old. She was exclusively breastfed and although I was getting a bit frustrated and anxious she was fine. She was my second so I felt I knew what to look out for if I felt she wasn't thriving. She was healthy, although I'm sure if I'd taken her to the HV she would have said she was on the 'wrong' centile for her height so I didn't take her

She then became my 'good eater' - would eat anything and everything

Thanks gem13, I am amazed that the longer I look at Mumsnet the more people I hear of who have encountered the same thing. If I only had my group of friends to rely on (whose babies eat amounts I can only dream of, I was astounded to see one polish off a whole yoghurt after a bowl of puree) I would be going spare. I live in hope for the Great Turning Point!

I like the ice cubes idea Bumbleweed, it almost makes me wonder whether I should offer him one of the frozen cubes of lovingly made puree that fill up my freezer! Good luck with the milk ice cubes. Today has just been a bread day but we managed to sneak in a tiny bit of juice I made from an apple and a pear.

I would go with what your DS wants, given the allergy issues. Just fyi, I cut back on the milk with my DD and this had the pretty immediate effect of getting her to take solids. Wasn´t at all traumatic. Good luck! Weaning sucks, I´m so pleased it´s over with us!

How is it going with the weaning, Bumbleweed / Eulalia / Purplemonkey...? I am on a downer about it all again as we are not getting anywhere - although looking at the date I first posted this thread, it does seem to be PMT related. DS had two allergic reactions last week (strawberries and lentils, weird) and I have been leaving messages for the HV to ring me for about 3 weeks now. It wasn't until I complained to the doctor's receptionist that she finally rang so I should be getting a pep talk on Friday if she can be bothered. The only good thing is that ds has discovered cheerios and is happy to have 15 or so on their own for a meal which spares us the spoon trauma... My problem now is that I find it hard to get up the enthusiasm to even try feeding him as I know it's usually a waste of effort!

You could ask your GP for a referral to a paed or a dietician - they might be able to help more then the HV

i would not worry at all as long as he does not end up like'bitty' whats the rush

disagree with northercules though my Granny said babies were weaned at 3 months!

I know NotanOtter, I am just going through a phase of getting really frustrated every time I throw the food in the bin and I'm finding it really difficult to be enthusiastic at mealtimes which I'm sure is rubbing off onto ds.

I will ask hv about dieticians and things TheBlonde. Luckily she is coming round when it will be close to a mealtime so maybe she will see us in action and be able to see for herself what the problems are.

But Groveregg - you don't have any problems for the HV to see

You really, really don't have a problem - your ds is normal and healthy. Keep mealtimes fun and sociable, and always eat with him. Let him have a variety of finger foods and leave him to it.
Getting the HV in to watch, and being upset, and making a big thing of it...honestly, that's what causes the real feeding problems that some toddlers end up with.

My ds took to food quite well I always thought but he was well over 7 months old before he ate more than 2-3 spoons of food twice a day. He was eating very well by 12 months but that only came at about 8 months old or so. Your son may yet be more interested but as others have said if he isn't until later lots of babies aren't.

I think I was lucky I weaned ds in the US where I didn't know enough people to compare him with so I really only started offering food for something to do really !! and wasn't in the least bit worried if he didn't eat. Some days I didn't give him any if it didn't suit me etc.

Also about the biting - F&Z is obviously lucky I've been bitten many times by ds - In fact he is doing a real run of it at the moment (he's 18 months old). It isn't a problem most of the time and it certainly isn't a reason to stop breastfeeding (though sometimes I wonder myself )

Thanks for that Tiktok (and LazyCow), I think I must be back on track today as what you say makes perfect sense. I think I have been spending too much time with my friends who have greedy foody babies again instead of concentrating on the happy and healthy boy in front of me!

Almost tempted to cancel the HV's visit but actually I want her to come just to see what rubbish she comes out with this time, I could do with a laugh.

Good to read you feel a bit better about it today, Grover!

If you don't cancel, and the HV comes round, then please stay sceptical. Don't think with your head 'that's rubbish!' and with your heart think 'eeeekkk.....!'

You have aleady experienced her limitations - the advice to restrict breastmilk (which he does like, and which he enjoys, and which is a normal food/drink at this age) to 3 a day which would make him miserable (and hungry) to 'give him the idea about food' is absolute tripe. An 8 month old cannot understand why you are making him feel hungry, and I'm afraid I don't agree with making little babies feel miserable and hungry for no good reason. He is eating food, but just not shovelling it down. So what?!

So unless she comes up with something useful, remember her poor knowledge!

My ds is the same, he is 11 months today and hardly eats anything still. He has 3 'meals' a day but I don't worry if he doesn't take much. Also its nearly all finger food as he won't take the spoon. It does tend to mean he only sucks on things like toast but at least he's learning how to eat and still putting on weight and keeping mine down producing all this breast milk!

You've had some really good advice here, but just wanted to add that my ds is nearly 15mths and I feel that he has only recently acquired a real 'appetite' for solids.
I know well the feeling you get when you see a friend's younger baby eating three course meals
But you just have to remember that your ds will be getting what he needs as long as you take his lead. I don't see the point in refusing bf or forcing solids - my ds' appetite for both things fluctuates. Some days he still eats hardly anything in the way of solids, some days he wants to bf all day.
Often I find that ds eats more when he is sitting on my knee at the table and can steal things off my plate, he has never really been one for being spoon-fed.

Groveregg, at 8 months, DS was eating really very little indeed - lots of variety, just not much of anything. And it IS hard when all your mates' babies are wolfing down their purees, so I can totally understand where your panics are coming from. DS's weight was dropping like a stone as well, which didn't help. I nearly bottled on the baby led weaning at one stage, but DH kept me on track and I did my best to relax about it, and at 10 months DS started to eat a good two meals a day. At 11 months, he had 3 good meals, and now, at 12 months, he eats more than his nana. I think the key really is to not panic. DS has the occasional 2-3 days where he won't eat much even now and we school ourselves not to appear concerned. A few days later and he's back eating loads to make up for lost time. And IME, HVs are absolutely no bloody help - I'd cancel the visit if I were you, because what they say seems to stick, no matter how much you know that it's crap.