Aversion to highchairs or blw...not sure, but stressful

[stmarymead]

Hello MNers...hoping you may be able to help with a weaning stress I am having...
Ds2 is 6.5 months and weaning just isn't taking off. I think I was lulled into a false sense of security as weaning was pretty straightforward with ds1, as in he wanted to eat!
I should say at this point I am attempting to blw, as I did with ds1 too.
So, here's the deal: after a few mins in the highchair ds2 starts making this awful seal like noise which progresses to full blown crying pretty quickly. It's awful to see, and the only thing that stops it is to get him out.
He seems frustrated with holding the food if it drops away (all the time obviously) and only seems happy if he can really hold something and chew on it. I am afraid I caved and do spoon him yoghurt which he seems to like, and consequently I am finding it hard to hold my nerve with the blw thing and wonder whether his frustration is caused by the fact he's just not able to grab/hold things in the way he wants to.
However I also have a second theory which is he just doesn't like highchairs! We have a babydan one (have one for ds1 and it worked v well, he likes it, it's small for a small kitchen etc), anyway I panic bought a bigger more supportive one last week and think he needs a head rest etc, but I don't think it's the answer. He's immediately happy if he's on my lap and will pick about at food which he wouldn't touch if in high chair.

I am not sure what to do... Abandon blw? Abandon the highchair (?!), another highchair? Do nothing.... Any ideas folks? Thanks loads in advance.

There are a couple of things they have to be able to do confidently before baby led weaning will work - sit up and be stable, grab food and move it confidently to their mouths. If they can't do that then it's not really going to work...

But it does sound like he's not enjoying the experience at all, to get upset so quickly...

We did BLW with my dd (we have a trip trap), but she'd spend ages just mashing food around and squeezing it in her hands at first - that's supposed to be part of the fun - but it doesn't sound like he's enjoying it... so maybe it is the high chair?

Can you have him on your knee for a while? Ditch the high chair for a week or so until he's happy with the food element and then put him in for a minute or two so he can get used to it?

And I don't think there is anything wrong at all with giving him a yoghurt as well as finger food! I'm pretty sure we introduced yoghurt and other spoonable foods along with finger foods (weetabix, porridge etc). We just both had a spoon! God it was a messy couple of months!

Try not to worry too much, he'll still be getting the vast amount of his required nutrients from milk. The first couple of weeks/months I'd let him just go at his own pace.

Thanks so much... I really appreciate the wise words.
He can sit up very well and can move things to his mouth but I guess just not well enough.
I think you're right about ditching the high chair for a bit, I will do this...starting this dinner time! He is perfectly happy sitting on a lap, not massively interested in the food mind but still at least not crying.
I think I had an easy ride last time so this time round I was pretty blasé going into weaning and just didn't expect it not to work.
I also think he's not massively hungry, he's not a big baby (ds1 was chunky:)) and he's very different.
This motherhood lark, it's such a learning curve isn't it. You think you might know how something works and then, nope not at all, it's all totally different!
Did you use the baby insert in your trip trap? Think baby dan chair is similar, we don't have a baby insert. Hence the panic bought new bigger chair (which obviously isn't the answer!)