HELP WEANING GURU NEEDED

[andie82]

Started weaning DD at 4 months all going well until recently (she is now 7 months).
She would eat mashed veg mixed in with dried food that you add water to, always ate everything I put in front of her.
Occasionally she would gag on it and sometimes be sick now she has been throwing it all back up practically every meal time. It is as though she's gagging on it, I've tried to scoop whatever is in her mouth out but that doesn't work either.
We thought she was possibly teething recently (grumpy, snotty nose, dodgy nappies) could this be part of the problem?
Spoke to HV yesterday just to be told that basically I was feeding her too much and that she should be on lumpier food but how can I give her lumpier food when she can't do paste?
I don't think I am giving her too much because she refuses it when she's full and then I stop.
Still getting dodgy nappies so could it be a stomach bug?
All things are going thru my mind and would really like some help/advice?

Have you tried finger foods? Toast, breasdsticks, chopped fruit, carrot and cucumber sticks etc.

Is there anything new you've introduced that she could be intolerant to? perhaps the dried food?

Without 'seeing' her gagging its difficult to suggest what it may be. But from my nursery nursing experience there are two possible causes

a) she is rebelling because she feels like she 'has' to eat it but she doesn't want to. Possible enjoying the attention which comes from the clearing up afterwards.

b) she is eating too much too quickly and then having to bring it up.

Alternatively as i said before she could have a reaction to one of the foods you are feeding her.

if it were a stomach bug i would have thought it'd be more violent sick rather than gagging at mealtimes.

If i were you i would go back to smaller less lumpy meals. And where possible offer it in finger food form rather than mashed. So say you're having chicken, mashed potato and carrots and brocolli. Chop the chicken and veg into tiny bitesize pieces and see if she will pick them up and feed them herself.

She has always has the dried food but recently we have introduced courgette, could be that?
Have tried the organix carrot stick crisp type things and she will have those and eats them herself. Also tried with toast fingers but that made her sick yesterday.
I think when she gags it's because she has forgot there is food in her mouth and it's made its way to the back and got stuck.
I have never really given her lumps and now because this is coming about I am terrified to even attempt it.

Bump
Really need help with this

I think you need medical advice and I don't think your hv is giving you anythin helpful tbh.
It could be a stomach bug but it's very hard to say.
at seven months, she doesn't really need too much solid food, so in your shoes I would probably give her more milk for the time being and start reintroducing food a little bit at a time.
I think that in your shoes I would also put the food intake in her hands, ie. abandon the pastes and dried food and go for baby led weaning, just put soft fruits and veg in her high chair tray and let her help herself. (you could do a search on here under BLW)
you could start with sme soft rope pear or ripe peach, or cooked courgette stick/carrot.

I was considering cooking up some chicken and veg for her today and attempting the BLW. Any ideas on the best way to do it?
I have upped her milk feeds so at least I know she's getting something and that's staying down.

the first thing if you are going to do BLW is remember that the weaning is Baby Led. so, you're not really in charge any more. if that's going to stress you out and you are then going to try to feed her stuff from a spoon then you're not really doing BLW, just finger food and spoon feeding. which is fine, of course, but it's not BLW.

i'm really interested in what hattie says about her possibly rebelling against being fed too much and therefore throwing it up. it's one of the issues of control that is addressed with BLW, after all, babies don't have to rebel or wrest back control if they've always had it.

it's easy enough to cook chicken and veg for BLW. i normally get those chicken pieces (legs and thigh) and just whack 'em in the oven at 180 with a bit of foil loosely over then for about 35 mins or until they are cooked through. it's pretty much instant roast chicken, which is what dd likes best in the world. veg, you just cut into finger or chip-sized pieces and then steam. i've gone into all this in embarrassingly geeky detail on my blog \link{http://www.babyledweaning.com\here}
carrots are a good starting place, or whatever flavours she's liked up til now but in a more solid form. (actually, there's an interesting exercise you can do where you and your partner spoon feed each other your meals tonight. spoon, not fork. that gives you a good idea of what it's like to be a baby. it's deeply irritating, in my experience.)

i totally agree with harpsi, however, that if she's being sick then you should just dial back the food for the moment and concentrate on milk for a couple of days in case she's got a tummy bug, you've got plenty of time for solids yet.

(for the record, my dd has had a tummy bug for the last four days, no vomming, just di-horea-hi-hey like i've never seen before and it's been nice not to be stressed about feeding her. she clearly wants milk and milk alone, and who can blame her? don't get me wrong, i did phone the doc about it, but he said that there are loads of tummy bugs at this time of year and milk is the way to go. )

anyway, have rambled a bit but good luck with everything and hope that her eating settles down again soon.

blog

Thank you.
Think I will have a good old peruse of the blog after munchkin has drifted off to dreamland tonight.
Incidentally does teething result in a loss of appetite?
She seems to be only really enjoying her fromage frais which are cold and possibly soothing her gums (no teeth yet but signs they are on their way)

yep, my dd definitely goes right off her food when she's teething. try giving the baby some sticks of celery from the fridge, they are too wiry to bit bits off but dd loves pulling at them.

Think we're just going to have a day of milk tomorrow and face HV.
The more I think about it the more I think this is teething related.
I was thinking about the spoon feeding partner thing and how shit I would find it my gums felt like they were on fire.
As she has snotty nose it may be giving her gag reflex a helping hand (imagine being spoon fed with burning gums and someone holding your nose!)
Guess this is all part of the learning curve that is being a mammy.

Some good advice here already, but thought I'd just add that I found the book written by the person we're not allowed to mention really useful when weaning (its called the 'happy' 'small' bk of weaning). She suggests what foods to try, how to prepare them, possible allergic reactions and so on. She also gives you some ideas of quantity, & there are some good recipes. It might be that your DS needs some different tastes & textures, & that bk would really help.

when my son was teething he went off most food and even though he ate lumpy food and finger food the rest of the time the only thing he would eat was organix banana porridge which is ultra-smooth.

Thanks to everyone who has given advice. How did people manage without MN?
Have loads of new things to try and if nothing else just reading that other people have been through the same restores my dwindling faith in myself
xxx

Hooray! Mumsnet: Faith Restoration a Speciality.

Saw doctor today - bambino has gastroenteritis (if that's how it's spelt?!?!)
Gave me rehydration stuff but she won't have it. I'm guessing that she's OK just having loads of water?
She says to wait 24 hours before giving her milk or food or anything, when will I know to restart?
....Can you tell this is my first baby?

snap, my dd has gastroenteritis as well. i've spent all day washing EVERYTHING in the house... she's my first too.

i'm just leaving food on her highchair tray and i figure when she eats it then she's ready again. she's eaten her big faves today, some roast chicken, plain white rice and some pear, but not as much as she usually would. it's terrible seeing them sick, isn't it?

It's really not nice. I am getting no smiles today and she is doing her starving cry. She must be famished.
I am going to have to give her something later on today.
Poor little munchkins

Sympathy for both of you and your poor sickly ones

I would also agree in theory a sick child will eat when they need to? But wouldn't go against your doctor's instructions in this case andie, unless you get a second opinion from someone medical (NHS direct are very good indeed on the phone)

she is guzzling gallons of water so just going to keep up with that for now and will ring the docs later.

true, franny. although funnily enough my GP explicitly said that "at least it is no longer the bad old days where we used to offer only water and effectively starve the child while they were sick" and specifically recommended milk, while bramblinas doc (on another thread) said no milk but food if the baby would eat it. it is so confusing, isnt it? (apols for lack of apostrophes, by the way, something is wrong with my keyboard.)

I have given dd milk twice today and it has stayed down (how terrible but I keep pacing the kitchen with her, the floor's tiled and I can't bear to have another carpeted room stinking of vom!!!)
Just sleeping loads bless her, doc says she should be feeling better by the end of the weekend!

Well I would never hesitate to offer an ill child breastmilk, but with the cow's milk / formula thing I can see why it might be best to avoid it with vomiting. I guess that's where the food no milk advice came from?

Sorry that post was to Aitch. I am glad she seems on the mend, andie

wish I was still BFing cos I know that would help her but she seems to be getting better and at least keeping things in her tummy!

yeah, franny, i must say that my instinct was to cut down on the actual milk powder and up the water. poor wee thing puked everywhere again last night, she's asleep now.