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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

Calling all mums of problem weaners...help

42 replies

talcam · 20/10/2006 23:01

Please someone help my 6mo DD2 has stopped eating. HV says she could be teething so leave it a while then try again. Easy for her to say as she is sleeping !
Started a few weeks ago, got on all right, not great. Then she decided she only liked banana, apple and pear, fair enough i thought lets get used to this eating thing keep trying veggies she'll eat them eventually. Now she is refusing spoons altogether. Tried the BLW thing but will only occasionally (twice) eat non mushed banana.
What can i do other than allow her to turn into banana and me into a sleep deprived wreck?

P.S. DD1 in hindsight was absolutely no bother with weaning. How I wish I had appreciated it more .

OP posts:
colditz · 20/10/2006 23:03

Mush bits up in your fingers and put them in her mouth, ds2 (6mo) will eat loads like this. He's a banana fan too.

Original poster
talcam · 20/10/2006 23:15

Mush up anything on fingers?
To be honest i'm considering steaming a whole carrot and seeing if she'll eat this I thought she was enjoying the shape!

OP posts:
colditz · 21/10/2006 08:58

yes, anything.

SoupDragon · 21/10/2006 09:39

You can do nothing. You simply can't make the little bug.... er, darlings eat.

DD (8 months) is a nightmare and a contrary little madame. She'll participate reluctantly in BLW one day, refuse the same things another day, want to be spoon ded, fed pieces off my fingers, pick it up off the floor... can't predict what it'll be next.

She wakes about 3 times in the night. I have given up Just carrying on regardless and if she eats, she eats if not, I can't make her.

Er... I haven't helped have I? What I'm trying to say is try everything. Your DD is still little and new to this weaning. My plan with DD is to put a pile of our vegetables and small pieces of fish/meat in front of her at dinner time and let her get on with it. I add to the pile as it gets eaten or knocked on the floor and any left overs get put inthe fridge for lunch tomorrow. Breakfast she tends to get spoon fed banana porridge which she usually (but not always!) likes along with some sort of finger food to play with and throw about. Lunch is a similar mix of spoon fed puree and finger foods.

Good luck

SoupDragon · 21/10/2006 09:40

She seems to prefer things like sweetcorn and peas which she can scoop up in handfuls rather than larger chip shaped pieces.

harpsichordcarrion · 21/10/2006 09:57

talcam STOP WORRYING, really. at six months, she is only just at the stage of trying things out.
my dd2 didn't anything, really, until about 9 months old. just little scraps.
I would go back to BLW and just leave a variety of things on her high tray and let her get on with it. if she doesn't eat them, them just lift her out again after an hour or so (or if she gets grumpy)
then try again later.
please try not to be anxious or if you are try very very hard not to let it show. she is getting plenty of nutrition from milk, really.have you looked at aitch's BLW blog?

FrannyandZooey · 21/10/2006 10:01

Have a look at this link from Kellymom which explains that milk should form by far the most part of your baby's nutrition up until at least age 12 months. At 6 months you only need to be giving tastes, nothing more.

I know you would like a good night's sleep but it is a bit of a myth that weaning = sleep through. I weaned my son as I was told it would settle his sleeping down - it didn't.

harpsichordcarrion · 21/10/2006 10:04

I agree with franny

eating solid food is really a poor indicator of sleeping patterns. if she is teething or if her digestion is unsettled, that won't help.

Original poster
talcam · 21/10/2006 10:12

Not really worrying about the fact that she'll never eat. I know that there are very few adults who only drink milk .

Its more that I feel she is hungry just not sure how to go about eating it. Plus I have a 2.9 DD and when your not sleeping its more difficult. This also makes me think that I'm missing the boat with DD2 as sometimes when I get around to feeding her she wants to go back to sleep again .

I know its not guareented to make her sleep but she was before she started looking for food and now she is as bad as when she was newborn. Although last night she was only up a blissful twice.

Anyway thats why any tips are welcome .

OP posts:
FrannyandZooey · 21/10/2006 12:40

Talcam, I don't think there is anything that she can have at the moment that is going to be more calorific for her than milk. It's really common for babies to have a growth spurt at this age and to wake up a lot. It co-incides with lots of developmental milestones as well, which is often a disturbed time for them, and finally, teeth are often moving around as HC says.

I know you think that she needs more food - but don't you think if she was hungry and needed more food she would be eating more food? The only thing you can do is offer different sorts of foods that are suitable for her, and trust her to take as much as she needs. Offer milk first at this age as it has the nutrients and calories for growth that are essential for her.

I think dubbing a baby of 6 months who is trying tastes of new foods "a problem weaner" is being very harsh. Please try to relax. She will do it when she is ready.

FrannyandZooey · 21/10/2006 12:42

Oh and I am sorry you are not getting enough sleep That is truly miserable especially, as you say, with an older one. Do you get any help or chance to have a rest during the day? Can you get to bed earlier at night at all, or even one day a week go to bed terribly early, just to catch up a bit?

foundintranslation · 21/10/2006 12:44

Don't worry, honestly. We didn't even start to wean ds until he was 6.5 months. Keep offering (in a pressure-free atmosphere, for her and for you). And the sleeping thing really is a bit of a red herring. The kellymom site is truly excellent.

Original poster
talcam · 21/10/2006 21:23

LOL, I was actually referring to other peoples babies as problem weaners not my own . Seriously I put that so it sounded more interesting and I hopefully got more responses .

It is obviously quite difficult to get tone across on these chat rooms as I'm new to this whole business. I am truly not sitting at every meal time fretting away or anything like it. Mainly just wanted to know any wonder tips or that other people experienced a few difficulties (as I say DD1 was no probs).

I did find the kellymom site very reassuring though as I did actually think solids were a bit more important before a year. After all still got six months before I need to go back to work .

The problem with the sleep thing is that she is now refusing to take a bottle so I can never get more than a few hours kip in one go or is that a different thread?

OP posts:
harpsichordcarrion · 21/10/2006 21:25

glad you are abit reassured talcam
can't help you with the bottle thing or indeed with getting more than a few hours sleep at a time, but hopefully someone more knowledgeable will come along soon

AlfredAitchcock · 21/10/2006 21:31

that's totally how i feel about it, we've got six months to get weaning cracked...
as for the sleeping, my sympathies. weanign really mucked up my dd's sleeping patterns for a while, but it did settle down quite quickly. i think teethign didn't help. the only thing i can think that we did differently was we introduced a dream feed, do you think that being asleep might fool the baby into taking a bottle?

harpsichordcarrion · 21/10/2006 21:32

(link her to your blog aitch, go on.... I am a BLW militant me )

AlfredAitchcock · 21/10/2006 21:38

pppffft, harpsi. saw that other thread and stepped right around it... i'm getting so mature.

link is here . if you look at the FAQ (cribbed from the Yahoo ladies) they say that a lot of babies really take to eating as they approach 12 months, just as the milk calories need supplementing.

harpsichordcarrion · 21/10/2006 21:39

oh I don't mean to nag but pleeeeeeeeease stick at the BLW it has revolutionised my life, seriously.
aitch is my heroine.

AlfredAitchcock · 21/10/2006 21:58

what? really? i thought you just hung around in bars criticising my (former) use of numerals in my posting name? i wasn't aware you were doing BLW. WHY have you not left a comment on my blog, harpsi?

harpsichordcarrion · 21/10/2006 22:09

oh that's just my hobby
BLW is my life
I don't know why aitch, prob because I am v slack

FrannyandZooey · 21/10/2006 22:11

She really does idolise you, aitch. She has your name written on her jotter and everything

harpsichordcarrion · 21/10/2006 22:11

are you serious btw? I am always banging on about it on here.

harpsichordcarrion · 21/10/2006 22:12

and on my satchel
in tippex

AlfredAitchcock · 21/10/2006 22:13

i am so enjoying doing BLW, though, i must say, it's just such a relief to let her do it herself, (although i appreciate that i am lucky in that she likes eating.) we all had lentil soup for lunch today, yum, me and dh had more liquid and dd ate bread adn soup and big chunks of carrot and celery. how old is your baby, harpsi? (apols for hijack)

AlfredAitchcock · 21/10/2006 22:14

i thought you were just being nice...