Some advice please

[mandaz]

Hi, I'm a first time mum and my daughter is 6 months old. I started weaning her at 5 months and she was doing really well on 3 meals of puree a day (I didn't know about the BLW until I started reading the posts on here.) I took her to the Health Visitor yesterday and she said that Georgia is slightly under weight and I should be giving her bigger quantities of lumpy food with snacks in between. She made me feel like I was being cruel to my daughter! When I got home I tried her with some banana which she spat out, I've sinced tried her with a jar of stage 2 puree, the result being that she gagged, screamed then refused to eat anything at all. The jar says from 7months. I am worried that meal times will become a battle or that Georgia will be scared of food. It was really upsetting and I feel like I gave no idea what I'm doing. I can't get to see the HV very often and feel very alone (I'm a single Mum)I'd be really grateful for any advice.

Not seeing the hv very often is likely to be a distinct advantage.

Is your daughter happy, alert and well? If so, the hv can take her numbers and shove 'em!

Honestly, if she has the appetite, let her have food. If she doesn't, then don't force feed her (if that's even possible!). Have a go with some finger foods, and mash up some of what you're having (unless it's entirely inappropriate - can't imagine all of it is).

The thing with jars is there's not a lot of taste and not a lot of texture, on the whole, so it could be a bit of a shock when "ordinary" food is tried. So try and get her used to it, in a "you're trying this for fun" way, rather than a "your very life depends on this " way!

But you know your daughter better than any hv or set of scales.

I would take things slowly. How much milk is your dd having each day? Up until they are 6 months any solids should be in addition to milk not instead and they should be having at least 20oz each day..

I weaned ds at 5 months too and have always let him decide when he doesn't want anymore. Some days he loves his food and others days he hardly eats anything. I have used Annabel Karmel book for recipes which is fab.

At 6 months ds was on tiny breakfast (readybrek) with pureed veg for lunch and pureed fuit for tea. Didn't introduce animal protein 'til 7 months and only started making food lumpy (ds is now 9 months) recently.

I agree with the ladies, our HV is referred to as the c* in our house, not a word I use freely !
My DS2 will be slightly underweight for ever I'd say, but is the happiest girl in the world.
Good luck !
Rx

Thanks for the posts. I feel a lot better now! DD is having 4 milk feeds a day around 7 oz each. I have been relying on jars, which I know aren't the best option but making my own food is difficult due to my living arrangements at the moment and I haven't managed to do much cooking for myself, never mind DD. I've been giving her a fruit/yogurt puree in the morning, then a savourt puree at lunch and dinner. As I say, up until now she's been quite happy with that and is certainly very active and happy. Since I tried the lumpy food, she's rejecting any sort of puree at all. I was feeling quite confident in my parenting abilities until I saw the HV. I was a total wreck afterwards! She made it sound like I should just know how to cope. It's not like they come with instruction manuals!!!

I've always been a crap cook but decided that ds's arrival would change all that (I used to live off salad rolls!).

I find that you can do a once a fortnight 'cook off' and freeze it all into ice cube trays then transfer to freezer bags makes it so much easier. OK you have the hassle of the big cook off but it helps you gain skills as a chef and is a lot cheaper!

dd is geting plenty milk so just let her be your guide with the food. If she's sleeping well too thats a good sign that she is getting enough calories.

We all learn as we go along and I read every book under the sun and still feel like I'm a total novice some days.

See if this makes sense...I've heard of a child who had real issues with lumpy food. Throwing up on contact sort of thing.

The problem seemed to be she expected the smooth stuff she was used to, then encountered a lump and freaked out. But, if she had something that was clearly solid at the outset there wasn't a problem. So, toast, for example, was fine, fruity yogurt was not.

Something to consider maybe.

Underweight in comparison to what mandaz? Off the chart or just a bit below the 50th centile? It sounds like she's taking plenty of milk so I really wouldn't worry. Totally agree that it's worth trying her with some finger food that is obviously solid. Once she's used to that she may be more willing to accept lumps in her other food? One huge advantage of doing your own food, though, is that you can gradually change the texture (or if you're me, it comes out how it comes out and your LO gets used to all manner of textures from the word go ),

I'm not really sure to be honest Cartamandua, the HV just said she was slightly under where she should have been. I have been giving her toast which she sucks but if a bit comes off she gets stressed. I have decided to try making purees again and am going to invest in a mouli. She had a home made one today and was fine until she got to a little lump of carrot at the end. It was a slightly thicker consitency than the jars and she coped ok so I will keep trying. Thanks again for the advice.

Cartmandua here back to my normal name. I think your HV's worrying you unnecessarily tbh and it sounds like she's recommending an awful lot of food for a 6 month old. My DS is (OMG can't believe it) nearly 8 months and now sits between the 25th and 50th centiles. He is very very good with his food and well established on three meals a day, but I don't give him snacks in between and he doesn't need them. If I gave him any more solid food he would definitely cut down on his milk too much and, as you must have seen on MN hundreds of times, milk is the most important food at the moment.

Good luck with the home-made purees.