Feel like i'm failing at weaning my 7 month old DS

[suzexxx]

I started weaning just a week or two before DS was 6 months by just giving him a bit of baby rice mid morning, which he wasn't too keen on (it's pretty tasteless so don't blame him).

At 6 months i started BLW and occasionally giving him a puree if we went out. He has never been keen on being spoon fed and takes the spoon off me, so going down the puree route wouldn't work. For BLW i've only been giving him 2 meals a day if he's awake during those times and he mostly eats whatever i'm having and at first he did put things to his mouth and suck on them. However now most meal times he doesn't even try e.g today i've given him some marmite on toast, which he previously ate but today he threw the lot on the floor several times.

I'm not sure whether teething has anything to do with his lack of appetite? He hasn't got any teeth yet, but lately he's been waking during the night when he previously slept through since 12 weeks old and his rountines have gone to pot.

Just feeling a bit down with it all really. He's started drinking less milk too, even though he is offered his usual 5 bottles per day and i'm worried he'll lose weight if he's not eating solids instead. Doesn't help that when i go to baby club everyone talks about how great their DC is doing with weaning i feel rubbish and don't feel like going out today.

DD1 ate barely anything before 10 months and not properly until 13 months. I became v stressed and anxious about the whole thing, probably making it worse. I found Jill Rapley's book v reassuring, along with ignoring others whose babies seemed to eat tons. I relaxed about it, fed her snacks, particularly when she was distracted rather than waiting for her to be really hungry and she gradually got there. Going to the CMs and seeing other dcs eating helped I think. My HV team were helpful and reassuring and gave me some tips.

When my DD was six months old I was still feeding her milk safe in the knowledge that she was getting all the nutrition she needed. At six months and two days I was crying my eyes out. I'd started weening her, she was not eating anything and i reasoned she must be starving . I did calm down eventually.

She also had no teeth (until a year) and sleep patterns changed at 7 months.

For us:
Never did baby rice. I puréed lots of organic vegetables and loving froze them in ice-cube trays. She woudn't eat them - at all. I cried again.

I ditched it all and did BLW. Sometimes she ate and sometimes she didn't. Favourites at the beginning were avocado, banana, carrot, sweet potato - all in soft sticks.

She eventually ate yoghurt if I gave her two spoons and then shovelled it in with a third.

You're not alone with your stress Suze . I'm not sure my post actually helps other than to say my DD did get the hang of things eventually. We just offered her the food before she had the milk. It probably took a good three months before she was consistently eating something most mealtimes.

Don't worry about the baby group. All mothers stress about something (unfortunately). If its not weaning it will be something else - I would imagine that's how the human race survived.

Good luck

Haven't got much time to post now, but you are not failing your baby. Bayou are a concerned mother trying to do her best, and isn't that what all the best mums do?

If you suspect teething, try a teething gel, like dentinox, before his bottle and before offering solids. Cal so try him with a dose of ibruprofen, its much better with dental pain than paracetamol

Also try him with a frozen banana, some big chunks of cool cucumber and a cool, clean wet flannel to chew on.

Are you offering solids once or twice a day? Are you offering solids roughly an hour after milk? Phage you changed his milk recently?

Also what are you having for tea? Could he have some of that?

My 7mo dd just went on a solids strike, would suddenly only take milk. Tried giving her Calpol an hour before lunch and that seemed to fix it! Not sure whether the problem was teething or a recent cold but it seemed to break the refusal and subsequent meals have been much better. Worth a try maybe?

6 months is a guideline, not a rule, and it goes both sides of the age. DD was at least 8mo before she started to understand what food was. Just keep offering something, try the teething gels and powders before eating to see if that helps, and keep up with the milk. I remember 7m being the point where I thought about giving up too, but not long after she got the hang of it.

It's still really early days, so although it's hard, try not to worry. In the early days, I wondered if DS was ever going to get the hang of it too. And yes, teething can definitely put them off their food and sometimes their milk (esp if bottle fed), as food, spoons and teats can all aggravate sore gums.

When DS went through phases of eating very little and I felt crap because I thought I was failing him, I would repeat this mantra: "It's my job to provide a variety of food for him and it's his job to eat what he needs of it. I've done my job and now it's up to him to do his." If she isn't eating, it's not your fault!