Feeling lost with weaning..

[Bol87]

My daughter is 10 months on Saturday & I’m really finding feeding her quite tough. It’s getting me down quite a lot really..

As a tiny baby, she had reflux & milk feeds were difficult until we got it under control at 4/5 months. I used to dread feeds as I knew it would result in my quite content baby screaming for 30 minutes. By the time we got it sorted, she understandably seemed to have gone off milk!

We weaned at 5 months & have taken a mixed approached. She took to food really well at this point and was eating anything we offered both off a spoon & by herself! We gradually increased texture & lumps & by 8 months she was eating just small portions of what we were eating, no blending/mashing. We eat a lot of pasta dishes & shepherds pie, chilli etc so this was still off a spoon. But she’d happily feed herself veg, toast, crackers, omelette etc!

She quickly dropped her milk & now only has 4oz bottle with breakfast & 6oz at bedtime. She refuses anymore.. drinks lots of water though!

Queue 8.5 months & suddenly, she refused all finger foods bar crackers & any new spoon foods. As times gone on, she’s now spitting out any lumps & then often refusing the rest of the meal. She will not entertain any finger foods bar crackers (topped with avocado, cream cheese or peanut butter). She’ll play with it but then just throws it on the floor. This I don’t mind too much as I know she’s learning but tied in with a refusal of the mini meals we make her with lumps & only a small amount of milk per day worries me

Does anyone have any suggestions?! Or just words to ease my feeling down about it all Milk feeds were so hard to battle through & now solids are becoming a battle too.. some days it just makes me cry!

Hi Op,

I'm sorry to hear this and it must be quite stressful. We've just started weaning as my LG is 6.5 months. I'm doing BLW only, but reading BLW book for moral support.

I read a section that babies do go through phases of losing interest and then suddenly starting to eat again or just wanting to eat one type of food for a period of time. The thought behind this is that babies know what they need i e if they are going through a growth spurt some babies just focus on foods that are high in carbs. Clearly, I'm completely new to all this and being guided by books at this stage, so appreciate my post may be if little use to you, but wanted to try and help in some small way 🙂.

At 10 months is she still eating the crackers with peanut butter, cream cheese etc or has she completely gone off that as well?
Overall she sounds like she's been eating great but going through some blip. I bought some vitamin drops to give my little one when she drops her bottles below 500mls you may already be doing this but the NHS recommend as well so will give you some comfort that she's getting the vitamins she needs.

If she has reflux and refuses milk feeds, does she have CMPA OP? This could explain a lot about her behaviour if she has

I know it’s difficult but try not to worry. Do you think that making a food diary might help so that you can see what she eats over a week? Do you try to give her something she likes at each meal. This way you know that at least she has eaten something.

Has your HV said anything useful?

Weaning is a pain in the tits. I'm glad it's over for us this time! You never feel like you're getting it quite right - but that's just because you're in a weird limbo where the baby's needs change constantly.

The one thing I've learned about babies is that they're like the weather in Scotland - wait five minutes and they'll change. It's just a phase I'm sure.

Keep offering the good stuff. Wait til she's hungry and avoid snacking. She won't starve. You're doing fine.