6 month old only wants to breastfeed

[Alltheflowers]

I've tried baby rice a few times but she gets upset and spits it all out. Then when offered the boob she's happy again.

I feel a bit clueless now. Should I wait another few weeks? Should I try blw? Though I wouldn't know where to start with that. She also won't take a bottle and I don't know if I should forget the bottle now she's 6 months and try a beaker.

Help!

I had the same problems with dd. I did a mixture of purées and offering her bits of banana, strawberry etc. Very slowly she has got going, to begin with just a spoonful or two and has only just started wolfing food down. Go really gently, keep offering, and your baby will get the hang of it. Dd is nearly 8 months and I was getting really worried but patience has won out.

Also, dd was a bottle refuser, I kept offering a sippy cup with food and she slowly got the hang of that too. During the day she now only drinks from the sippy cup (my choice not hers!!).

YEs forget the bottle. If you want her to have expressed milk or water then offer a beaker. It might take a while for her to get used to it but she can have fun trying :)

Don't stress, there is no magic switch that makes her NEED solids right this instant, 6 months is just the point at which she can start to play with tastes and textures. She will eat in her own time.

I'd forget about the baby rice and BLW but that is just me. If you want to puree then forget about the rice and make up some simple purees, freeze in ice cube trays then then you can just defrost a block at a time to avoid waste. Do nice easy things like carrot or butternut squash and build up.

To BLW it is dead simple, just have her at the table with you and allow her to steal your food! There is nothing so tempting as mummy's food. Make sure you cook without added salt and don't give her honey or whole nuts. Other than that she can go for it. At first they often enjoy a finger of toast, a nice slice or ripe pear or other soft, ripe fruits, veg like a nice finger of steamed carrot of a floret of cauliflower or broccoli.Jsut let her mucha round. As she is 6 months she can leap in with anything.

Meant to say with purees if that is what you want to do then try dipping hte spoon into the puree then handing the spoon to her. Maybe have a spoon yourself and eat a little, she will enjoy copying you and working out how to put the spoon into her mouth. That gives her the lead rather than her getting frustrated at you putting this stuff near her mouth when she has no idea what it is.

Thanks. I was thinking she had to get used to baby rice first so I will just try other things instead and will go for the spoon idea. I like the sound of blw but I don't think I eat well enough myself to offer her what I have. Although that's a bit if a cop out I guess as I could just improve my own diet.....

I will persevere and try the zippy cup!

Sippy I mean...

BLW can be great for the family diet in general!

But even if it doesn't work then you can still lob her a quarter of a tomato, a finger of toast and some hummous or something easily enough.

It sounds tempted and less preparation than purees. Do you know of any good books on blw?

Tempting I mean. Can't spell today..

I've not read any tbh but most people rate the Gill Rapley one.

There is a good blog too here with lots of ideas.

Some people really hate giving anything on spoons and let the children eat anything with their hands including yoghurt. I jsut muddled along in my own way so they'd feed themselves the big limps from a stew and I'd help to spoon the sauce and little bits of lentils and pearl barley form the bottom. I help spoon yoghurt. I make porridge a bit thicker so they can eat it with their hands. Soup they get some bits of bread dunked in it to eat and I help spoon some too. A family favorite soup is pretty much teh same as an annabel karmel (queen of puree) puree recipe!

Just get stuck in really and let the baby eat food in "normal" form. Your baby will surprise you by what she can manage. Relax :)

Oh and you might find she gags a fair bit. Don't worry. She is learning to move food around her mouth and spit it out, it is not the same as choking.

Baby rice is minging, your DD is right to spit it out

You could try tastier purées or just hand her a ripe banana and see what she does with it.

Do not worry. DC3 was like this, a bit of a surprise s DC1 and 2 happily breastfed then took to solids as per parenting mainstream textbooks.

DC3 did not approve of the parenting textbooks. I had to follow a baby-led approach with him. There are good books and sites out on this subject. Apparently, babies are not supposed to have that much puréed food anyway.

Basically:
Relax and wait. Offer later.
See what he reaches out for. Offer it in little bits if appropriate.

Mine never took to purée. Still refuses anything mashed, say cottage pie, at 20 months. Just not his scene. He wants to hold bits and munch them (and then spit it again and try again).

DS2is also 6 months and currently sitting on my lap with a wedge of mango which he's sucking and slurping on happily. I'm helping him hold it because its slippery but he's doing all the work otherwise. He mushed up a breadstick earlier and had some mashed potato and carrot yesterday which I preloaded on a spoon and he also used his hands.

We've got fajitas for dinner later so he can have some cheese, a strip of pepper, a bit of wrap etc. He will only play with most of it so far, not actually eat it, but thats ok, because the milk is where all the nutrition is coming from for now.

Baby rice is only good for wallpaper paste.

I'm glad I bought a large pack of baby rice! Maybe DH will eat it.....

Re blw, do you wash or wipe babies hands first? I'm a bit OCD when it comes to germs...but maybe blw will help me get over that!!

Washing hands before a meal is just good, normal practice. My big ones are sent to do a wee and wash hands before they eat, giving the baby a bit of a scrub seems sensible to me. Especially since mine has generally been crawling around the park or putting all my clothes pegs in the ash bucket...

A stack of flannels to wet and wipe faces and hands is a must unless you want to go through gallons of baby wipes.

yy wet flannels on tap a must. A quick wipe before and after is only the same as adults washing before and after handling food. Having said that, within the month your dd will be eating any old fluff off the floor behind your back

My DS refused baby rice and bottled purees.

After innumerable hits and misses, he took a liking to freshly mashed bananas, lentil & vegetable broths (low salt but otherwised properly seasoned) and cucumber sticks (his favourite snack).

Keep trying and don't give up.