Am I the only one who hates weaning?

[beckworth]

All my mum friends seem really excited about weaning, but I am increasingly hating it. My 7 month old doesn't seem to mind food and eats pretty well, if I can get his attention for long enough. But I am so tired of trying to put a spoon in his mouth, and not his ear, while he bobs up and down, stares at the ceiling, at the floor, at daddy, at the cat, tries to chew the side of the high chair, pulls the bib over his head (tipping the contents over him in the process)...Is it just me? Am I just an impatient grouch?

Finger food not much better either, lunch tends to be over in about 30 seconds with finger food, as it all just gets lobbed on the floor.

You're not alone.

DS is 8 months and I am not loving weaning. Mainly due to the waste and the mess. And the constant throwing his cup on the floor and refusing to drink anything.

I'm looking forward to when he can eat properly!

Pissing myself laughing at your highly accurate description.
I stopped finger foods sharpish and am purées only now as I'm damned if I'm having the entire lunch on the floor every day. I tend to distract and then stick the spoon in which is probably awful but whatever.

Loved it with my first, it was all new and exciting. With my second I hate it, because I know better!

I feel your pain. I have a spoon refuser unless its something she really likes. (1 thing at the moment!)

I have resorted to finger foods only but I only give her one maybe two things on her tray at a time so it can't all get thrown on the floor. We do seem to have more success this way - am also putting an empty spoon on the table every time as well to try and encourage it.

I will admit to hating the fact I seem to spend all day feeding her!

I find it stressful regarding what my 7 month old eats. ie I can put iron rich food, or veg etc on the tray or spoon ... but whether it enters her mouth is another story.
Mind you "food is fun till one" and with milk/haliborange she is getting nutrients.

Oh yeah and does anyone else find The more costly and home made the food, the more likely to be wasted?

Home made organic sweet potato and cream cheese bake = target practice.
3 oat cakes from the bottom of the barrel, a splodge of philadelphia and a bit of my banana = gourmet.
A bloody heinz pouch = MORE!!

Maybe I should take the hint I'm no Annabelle Karmel!

Glad I'm not the only one. And yes, Squizita. Home made purée / mush is decidedly meh. Bloody Ella's Kitchen on the other hand, actually gets his attention for 10 seconds, even more so than yoghurt.

I'm another not enjoying weaning much. i feel somewhat guilty because I'm still only giving DD one meal a day at 8 months but when 99% ends up on the floor it hardly seems worth it. i don't fancy having to clean the kitchen more than that until she's actually swallowing some of it.

spoons are a nightmare too. she grabs them off me and waves them everywhere or eats the handle so the contents end up all over her hair, her elbows, me, basically everywhere except her mouth. even when she has one in each hand she'll drop them both to grab the loaded one I'm trying to feed her.

and then i see other mums spooning food into their babies mouths and they chew and swallow and open their mouths for more. how??

I found 6 months to about 12 months an endless cycle of milk, food, poo, nap and repeat. It was a bit tedious and I found it hard to nip out. I either needed to be out for the day, in or somewhere close by. There was no spontaneity, especially with the second who was/is incredibly 'fussy' for want of a better word.

I empathise op, but soon you'll gain a toddler and life changes in a different way.

Felkov, we have food on the ceiling : ds has a charming habit of grabbing the loaded spoon too. He then directs it into his mouth - great. Not so great when he eats only half of what is on the spoon and then won't let go. Cue me gently tugging it, at which point he suddenly lets go and food pings everywhere. Did I mention I hate weaning?

That sounded like a threat op! Not intentional, sorry.

I prefer the toddler stage although the tantrums are interesting! I think I'll love the 'child' part even more. It's amazing seeing the little person they're becoming.

Dreading it

I am another who really enjoyed it for the first month with DS but it is so time consuming and on the whole pointless - we did a mix of purée and baby led and again spent the entire time picking it up off the floor. To the extent my mum bought me one of those dustpan and brush things you don't have to bend down to use!

And then the poos.....URGH, proper poo

No just whipping a boob out whenever, wherever.

Staring at my gorgeous, 4 month old DD who has fallen asleep on my boob hoping the next 2 months go very slowly!

Felkov - don't believe everything you see.

My little girl will only eat Avocado off a spoon like its going out of fashion - leans in for the next spoonful before she has finished the first mouthful. She will also eat brocolli stalks very efficiently. Guess what I choose to feed her when I am out and about if I have to feed her!

Everything else is a nightmare - I have been in tears twice today with the stress of it all.

I am going for offering less and only twice a day in the near future.

Oh God yes. Stupidly thought we could have tea at a local pub this evening with 3yo and 25.5 weeks baby (bad mummy has started a bit early). Wtf were we thinking? F*ing blw. Peas and fish bloody everywhere. And to add insult to injury he's started biting when he gets distracted during bf, so that means I can pretty much only bf him indoors at home. Gah. Still, on the bright side he is having fun and makes some brilliant faces at the new tastes (who knew Weetabix could be exciting? ).

Nope not just you. Ds 2 is now 26 weeks and we have started blw as Ds 1 (4) decided his first food should be his ice cream cone. Ds 2 is actually pretty good but the mess, ergh! Especially after bf pretty much exclusively.

The other issue is that ds2 hates baths so once he has happily smeared banana in his hair, we then get 20 mins of sobbing trying to get it out. Trust me ds, I want to cry too.

I've found it extremely stressful too. My dd would not entertain a spoonfeed and initially seemed enthusiastic about finger foods but it took 4 months before she swallowed any really. She started at nursery at that point so her choices were eat or be hungry (bottles refused also). Since then she eats really well during the week at nursery, less well with me (as she definitely prefers breastmilk). However she's been poorly a lot lately (crèchitis) and she's back to eating minimal amounts. I also have friends whose children open their mouths and swallow what seem to me like huge portions. My daughter had about a quarter of a mashed potato with a tiny piece of carrot last night and I was delighted- she's over a year now! However she's thriving, happy and a good sleeper so she must be eating enough scraps off the floor to see her through. I know she would probably eat more if I stopped breastfeeding but she won't take any milk from a cup and hates all dairy products so I'd find it hard to deny her just yet, although I'm doing my best to cut her back.

Haha Vanillapod, my mum has also hinted at a long-handled dustpan and brush, or a wee DustBuster vacuum thing.

It's the waste and mess that drives me potty! I spend an age making chicken sausages and mini beef burgers etc, roasting and steaming all types of random veg and it pretty much ends up on the floor, or rubbed into her crotch with the help of the high chair restraints!!

She seems to give it a right good chew then spit it out!! Still she's enjoying herself which is the main thing!

I actually find myself shouting "I WIN THE DAY" when I've managed to get something of fruit and vegetable origin into her mouth and swallowed.

Toast with marmite and/or cream cheese = win.
A fruit pouch thing that she feeds herself by sucking it straight out = win.
Baby rice with pureed pear = win.

So, the homemade things that actually get eaten are toast and a whipped up pear. That's about it. Everything else is a bit of a battle.

She's chewing something right now, have a horrible suspicion it's mud from the bottom of the wellies that are by the back door. There's nutrition in mud right? Works for plants.

DS is 6months and we have just started. Am so much more relaxed this time round and not above having entire days just milk feeds if I can't be arsed. Otherwise I shove a bit of what his sister is having in front of him, occasionally shovelling some weetabix into him. But Lordy, the MESS. And it turns all the clothes orange.

I love this thread so much.

My 7 month old DD is doing all of the above! We're doing a mix of BLW and purees (but the purees are also baby-led because she refuses to eat from a spoon unless she's holding the spoon). Most of it ends up on the floor, smeared across her high chair table with her sleeve, soaked into her clothes/hair, or stuck in the crevices of the high chair.

She needs a change of clothes plus/minus a bath after every meal.

The high chair is disgusting because if I'm too lazy to clean it within a few hours the food congeals and is impossible to get off. I'm going to throw it away and get a new one.

The only reason I haven't moved her onto 3 meals a day is that I can't face the thought of cleaning up 3 times.