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Weaning

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

Why has baby stopped eating solids?

2 replies

Jammee · 31/07/2013 08:55

I posted a few weeks ago about BLW and purees; my DD had her first solids at 6mo and we tried to do BLW with a few purees mixed in. She would eat the finger foods but wouldn't hold anything except broccoli, so was told what wasn't BLW.

We went away last week and the highchair provided was massive and DD couldn't sit in it safely so we had no choice but to feed her on our laps or whilst in her bouncer (I know people don't agree with this but I couldn't use the highchair provided). We only gave her purees (pouches and baby porridge) because she was often slightly reclined when feeding.

She has been on solids for 3 weeks and has loved porridge and pouches. She has visibly grown in the last 3 weeks and can almost sit up unaided. She seems to have really benefitted from solids (I think my breast milk is watery) she has become less interested in breast feeding; feeding for 20mins or so on average instead of 50mins.

Then, in the last 4 days, she has just become funny with solids. She won't eat purees or porridge. She won't open her mouth for the spoon (before she was actively leaning towards the spoon) and she turns away from it. If any food does go in her mouth, she pulls a face, gags and spits it out. I've tried lots of different purees etc, and it doesn't seem to be limited to flavour/texture.

Hubby thought perhaps she was just having a growth spurt before and so needed the solids because she was extra hungry. He thinks I should let her go longer between her milk and solid feeds so that she is hungrier when we offer solids, but I was told on here that I shouldn't cut out any milk feeds and I can't make her go longer without missing out a feed as she already feeds 7 times a day (every 2-2.5 hours). If I make her go longer between feeds I will have to drop down to 6 feeds and people said that was wrong when I told them that it what I had done when we first started her with solids three weeks ago so I promptly squished the 7th feed back in but now she doesn't seem hungry.

Basically, what should I do? Is it normal for babies to start refusing solids after a couple of weeks? Is she just not hungry, and if so, how can I get her to eat solids without cutting our her 7th milk feed? Does it matter if she is not eating any solids? She had been on 3 solids a day and now she is refusing solids so she has the equivalent of one small feed in total.

(We are going to try BLW again in a week or two but we are currently moving house and with packing we just don't have time to sit with her for an hour each evening encouraging her to touch foods. We also don't have much cookware that isn't packed and she is quite small for her age and leans forward a lot in her highchair so we decided to try BLW again once she is 7m/o, so for now it is purees that I need help with.)

Thanks!

OP posts:
noblegiraffe · 31/07/2013 09:04

IME it's quite normal for babies to eat loads and then eat not very much for a while, as you said with growth spurts. Could she also be teething, so the spoon hurts her mouth? You could try baby bonjela or similar before food to see if that helps.

Instead of dropping feeds, can you just time solids so that it has been a bit longer since her last milk feed when you offer them?

Milk should be her main source of nutrition at the moment so it doesn't matter too much if she isn't eating a great deal. However it is recommended that babies from 6 months are given a vitamin supplement so it would be worth doing this if you aren't already.

Snowfedup · 31/07/2013 09:09

Hi my lo is 7 months and teething and has started to refuse spoon feeds too but loves anything he can hold and chew like toast and fruit with a bit of bite like strawberries and pear slices !

I hadn't planned on solely BLW and have a load of puréed stuff in freezer but I guess lo has decided for himself :)

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