6 month old refusing all food-aaaarrrgh!!!

[Fluffylox]

My 6mo (+10 days) dd just will not eat, have been trying her for several weeks now on baby porridge, various veg purees, fruit pots etc and she just stubbornly purses her lips and turns her head feel like have to force feed her about half a teaspoon then give up! She is bf but doesn't seem to feed that much, mainly at night. Is good weight so seems to be thriving somehow! She is slightly better with finger foods esp toast and rice cakes but can't just feed her those all the time, after sleeping thru really young she now has been waking thru night for several weeks which makes me think she's hungry??

I doubt that the night waking is related to food - it's probably developmental tbh.

6 months is still very early on in the weaning process so I wouldn't be at all worried about how much she eats or not at this age. As long as you are still bfeeding on demand (an hour ish before offering food) then you shouldn't worry about quantities of food consumed.

If she is better with finger food, have you considered trying more of a baby-led weaning approach? You don't have to restrict finger food to toast and rice cakes - at 6 months you can give anything (apart from whole nuts as they are a choking risk, and honey due to botulism risk).

Maybe get the Gill Rapley book on BLW from the library and see what you think.

The one thing you don't want to do is make food a stressful experience. It might help to do a food diary for a week, and then consider how much she's eaten. Don't worry about the individual meal quantities, try and look over at least a week.

I'd second baby led weaning. Ours was a late starter without much interest in did who hated purees and it was much easierand less stressful when we went the blw route. Finger foods for a bit and remember "food as fun before one"!

My DD2 was like this and I thought she hated all food - eventually worked out she just wanted to feed herself. Used toast soldiers, cheese sticks etc and cooked veg initially and worked from there. She still doesn't like being fed from a spoon and is deeply suspicious of any attempts to try despite being the slowesteater in the universe

Yes my D S was a like this. He never really 'got' food until he was about 9 months. I kept offering stuff, including self feeding stuff, he would sometimes take it. Then at around 9 months he grabbed a bit of pizza and it went from there.

I'd second Bell above.

Don't force feed her! AIUI at this age the point of meals is more to learn about eating than to actually swallow a lot. Just make the whole thing a game (BLW is good for this). Her digestion will still be pretty immature so best not to swamp it with too much solid food yet anyway.

"Is good weight so seems to be thriving somehow" -- If it ain't broke, don't fix it! :)

I wouldn't worry at all. DS1 was the same and eventually got it. DS2 we discovered just didn't like the spoon so we bought Gill Rapleys book on baby led weaning and never looked back!
DS2 would try everything and began to use a spoon himself around 10 months.
I agree that I don't think solids at this age help sleep very much, DS2 still doesn't sleep through but eats very well.

Thanks all, nice to know other babies don't take to it so easy my eldest daughter was a dream to wean and I really enjoyed the process so think it's just been a suprise that it's been so different this time. I think BLW is going to be the best option as we gave her pieces of brocoli from our tea yesterday and she ate that really well, had tried carrot sticks previously but the dramatic choking is just to much for me to cope with! Also want/need to wean from bf and so far rejecting any bottles too ?? will keep trying I suppose...

My DD is the same. Spoke to HV who suggested a few days rest from it and then try again. It was much more successful.

Also, don't know if it was coincidence but I sat her at the table and ate myself at the same time and have been putting her in the high chair if she's been awake when we're eating.

You need to read up on the difference between choking (emergency) and gagging (entirely normal and healthy way to get food from the back to front of the mouth). I've done entirely blw, and while my ds sometimes gags, he has never choked, and is in fact less likely to do so than a spoonfed baby.

Also, baby porridge and fruit pots tend to be filled with added salt and sugar and don't taste nice. Maybe try roasted carrots or sweet potato and a juicy soft pear. They are my boy's favorites, along with roast chicken.