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Weaning

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

Original poster

Am I the only one who finds this weaning thing a total faff?

28 replies

Trinpy · 04/10/2014 17:43

Or am I doing it wrong?

It seems so much hassle! Firstly finding the right time to give him something to eat - he doesnt breastfeed at regular times of day, or at regular intervals, or for the same amount of time each feed, so how are you supposed to know when to give food?? I've been giving food as soon as he starts showing signs of hunger, but by the time I've got him in the highchair, got the food ready and he's managed to get the food in his mouth, he's really hungry and then he gets frustrated at how long it takes for the food to reach his tummy and starts crying. Try to help him with food (spoon-feed) and he gets cross and cries until you let him get on with it by himself. What am I doing wrong??

I went to a weaning talk at my local children's centre (before I actually started weaning), which made it all sound so easy but it's not!

Today I had such a busy day I completely forgot to even feed him Blush. I'm rubbish at this.

OP posts:
Original poster
Trinpy · 04/10/2014 17:46

oh and he's been on solids for a week now.

Also, they said at the weaning talk that once you start you have to keep going, building up to 3 meals a day, always at the same time, never missing one. Is that right? If so, why?

OP posts:
YouAreMyRain · 04/10/2014 17:48

How old is he?

I have two older DC (with SN) and a SDC things can get so hectic that sometimes my ten month old has a day of just milk. Don't be too hard on yourself.

Try having a stash of easy things that don't need prep like mini packets of breadsticks, leftover cooked veg in the fridge etc that you can quickly give him.

YouAreMyRain · 04/10/2014 17:52

My DS still has a combination of milk and the odd "meal"/"meals", it's irregular, it's never at the same time and he is doing fine. We are nowhere near three meals a day. It takes him ages to "eat" as he is still not very efficient so I focus on giving him lots of opportunities but don't have time to feed him breakfast at the mo as a bottle is much quicker.

Try not to worry about the right way of doing stuff. In a year your baby will be weaned one way or another.

As long as your baby is happy and experiencing different tastes and textures, you are doing fine.

Rockinghorse123 · 04/10/2014 17:56

I was exactly the same with my ds! In fact I found weaning incredibly stressful! Weeks and weeks of an upset baby and me at meal times as I tried to do what the health visited said by replacing BF with solids!

In the end I tried him with a couple of spoonfuls of puree around times i thought he would be starting to get hungry (with ds it was usually about 2.5 hours after a feed)and if he wasn't interested I just breastfed him, if he wanted more puree I gave him it.

He's nearly 2 now and an excellent eater!

ItsAllGoingToBeFine · 04/10/2014 17:59

Relax! As long as he still gets plenty of milk he won't starve. Just pop him in a high chair at the table when you eat, and give him some chunks off your plate to try himself (obviously watch temperature, salt etc)

ThinkIveBeenHacked · 04/10/2014 17:59

If he is over six months, just sit him in his highchair every time you eat and put bits on the tray for him to try/taste/suck on/mush up.

ThinkIveBeenHacked · 04/10/2014 17:59

By bits I mean bits of whatever is on your plate.

ohhhhpieceofcandy · 04/10/2014 18:01

I read somewhere that you shouldn't give them food when they are hungry - treat it as playtime for now. I usually give my 7 month old a bit of what we're having but if she is hungry I'll bf her first. I was also told that it doesn't matter if you miss meals in the early days as they are still getting the majority of their nutrition from milk.

LaPetiteCoccinelle · 04/10/2014 18:02

Im on week 2 of weaning DS2 who is EBF and also eats at random times (not helped by his older brother interupting feeds so he has a short feed then a short gap before the rest if the feed)

Week 1 I just gave cold purees at random times but for week 2 Im going to try and do a lunchtime solids (vegetables or baby rice) and then another around 4pm (fruit puree)

Thats cos I live in France and the4pm snack is sacrilege! Grin

But Ive never had a strict routine for DS1 or 2. Just a rough one

WhispersOfWickedness · 04/10/2014 18:04

The easiest way to do it is to disassociate it from hunger (bizarre, I know!), feed him milk as normal, and offer food when you sit down for meals. This does assume that you want him eating at the same time as you eventually! What will happen is that he is able to explore things/try tastes etc with no pressure, as he is eating more, he will then decide to drop milk feeds himself. I did BLW, so no purée/mush and minimal spoon feeding, but I can't see why this approach wouldn't work with traditional weaning as well, if that's the way you wanted to go.
The three meals a day thing is rubbish, they get all they need from milk until 12 months ish, from six months to twelve is all about learning how to eat and learning to enjoy food rather than nutrition Smile

Original poster
Trinpy · 04/10/2014 18:17

Thanks everyone! He is 6 months, so ridiculously early for me to be stressing out about this, I know

He sits with us whenever we eat but mealtimes are a bit random in our house. I have breakfast late and often don't bother with lunch at all, just have a snack. Then we have dinner after ds has gone to bed, so it's really only breakfast that he sits with us for. Also the stuff I eat often doesn't seem suitable for him so I end up having to make him something separately anyway.

The advice about waiting until he's a little bit hungry came from the weaning talk.

OP posts:
YouAreMyRain · 04/10/2014 18:38

One of the best bits of advice I had, which really helped me to relax a lot was that "before 12months of age, food is really all about fun"

Original poster
Trinpy · 04/10/2014 18:47

I keep repeating that mantra in my head youare! The thing is, if he's not hungry, he has no interest in food, he picks it up and throws it straight on the floor without even looking at it. Maybe because he's still so young? I don't know what to think because sometimes I'll give him a chunk of banana or some broccoli or something and he can happily bite of chunks, chew and swallow, so the basic skills are there, but then he loses patience with it and gets upset.

OP posts:
trixymalixy · 04/10/2014 18:50

I absolutely hated weaning. It was a total utter faff.mi just don't get why so many are so desperate to start weaning, it made bugger all difference to my two's sleep.

Original poster
Trinpy · 04/10/2014 18:54

Oh and the other thing is, my MiL is coming to stay soon and I think I'm putting pressure on myself because I wanted the weaning thing sorted by then so she won't start trying to forcefeed ds puree every time my backs turned and putting ideas in dh's head about how we're starving him (I make her sound like some evil mastermind, she's not, my dh is just a massive worrier!).

OP posts:
TallRedhead · 04/10/2014 19:18

Link fail!!

TallRedhead · 04/10/2014 19:20

BLW bible

try again!!

WhispersOfWickedness · 04/10/2014 19:32

One thing that was great about weaning is that it forced us to eat much more healthily and more regularly. If you're not intending for your child to always eat separately, then now is as good a time as any to start eating at more regular times and eating healthier foods Smile

WhispersOfWickedness · 04/10/2014 19:37

Oh, and start practising the smile, nod and carry on as before technique, especially developed for use with parents/ILs Grin

Original poster
Trinpy · 04/10/2014 19:56

Thanks tallred I will order that straight away!

Sorry, I wasn't very clear before - it's not that the food I'm eating is unhealthy, it's more that it's not often suitable for a baby to eat, for example, I had muesli for breakfast this morning, which isn't really appropriate for a 6mo. We eat dinner after ds has gone to bed because that's when dh gets home from work.

And luckily my dmil doesn't speak English so I can easily ignore her Wink. Unfortunately can't ignore dh who worries himself silly over stuff like this!

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magicalmrmistofelees · 04/10/2014 19:56

My DD is nearly 11 months and weaning has been my least favourite part of being a parent so far. I just find it such a faff! I have enough trouble deciding what I want to eat for meals, cooking it, eating at regular times etc without having to come up with 3 nutritious meals for someone else too! I mainly followed a BLW route as DD hated eating from the spoon, and she wasn't on 3 proper meals a day until about 9.5 months.

Original poster
Trinpy · 04/10/2014 19:58

I have a million more questions, but I will read the blw book first and hopefully that will answer some more of them!

OP posts:
Original poster
Trinpy · 04/10/2014 20:03

Thanks magical that's good to know. That's exactly how I feel - such a faff even to make meals for me!

OP posts:
TallRedhead · 04/10/2014 21:53

My 7 month old is currently eating lots of chopped up cucumber, peppers, apple, melon. Any chopped up fruit and veg that he can hold really. Long batons.
I have bought the baby rice cakes as they are lower in salt and easy to carry around. He has bread and banana. I pop a few batons in tupoerware to take out and lots of wet wioes to clean up cafes!! Also he likes pretty much anything off my plate as long as it's not too salty or sugary. Apart from honey anything goes.
He is my 2nd. With my pfb it was different Smile
The book is really reassuring that it takes time and is messy and explains realky well how to gradually go from milk to food (it has direction for both bf & ff)
Brilliant book.