i hate weaning....am i doing it all wrong?

[wizadora]

my dd is 9m3weeks and still drinks alot of milk.she seems v fussy with what she eats and when she eats it isnt alot.i find myslef giving her baby cereal every day because she doesnt seem to want anything else and i give it because i want her to eat something.for lunch she has some homemade veg or something sometimes a jar.naughty me but again i give jars alot because she doesnt seem to want anything else.i try to compensate with giving her alot of fresh fruit which she tends to eat alot of mainly strawberries and pineapple.she eats the danone baby fromage frais.cant get petit filous here as live in Spain.have tried greek yog and again not too keen.she will eat toast etc but most of the finger foods i give her like veg etc she doesnt even put near her mouth she will just chuck straight on the floor for the dog to wolf down.grr.
thing is she will play on the floor and try and pick up bits of fluff and eat them or she will quite happily devour a prawn cracker at the chinese.bad again i know but i really am despairing.can anyone help? so i try and give her 3 meals a day, brekkie,lunch and dinner.oh this all makes me so why cant she scoff her food like eveyone elses babs seem to...

Don't have any advice but just wanted to say that my DD2 is exactly the same!

She is 12 months old and hardly eats any solids at all. She also likes strawberries and will eat cherries and apricots, the odd bit of meat and green beans. Pretty much everything else goes on the floor. I'm guessing that she is just not quite ready for 3 meals a day and is still just at the playing/discovering stage. Her sister was putting away huge platefulls by this age.

I'm just going with the flow and assuming that when she is ready she'll eat normaly. I'm breastfeeding which is nice, but quite looking forward to her eating more solids as it is knackering being practicaly the sole source of nutrition for a one year old.

Is this your first baby? If my DD2 had been my first, I think I might have stressed a bit about this not eating business but, being my second, I don't have time to get worked up about it!

Good luck, you are not alone in having a wee one who doesn't eat.

thanks very much for that its nice to know im not alone.yep shes my 1st so im always getting myself into a state about the whole thing! off to the shop now to try and find some new things to try.wish me luck!
thanks again

Just wondering, what about if you gave dips and finger food to dip in them? This might be a bit more interesting for her and she might experiment a bit more rather than just throw stuff on the floor, she might be keen to dip stuff in and mix it all up?

We had a lot of problems with ds. Try veg puree in cheese sauce- he loved that. Another thing I did was to just put the puree directly on to his highchair tray and let him at it. He was willing to try more that way! A lot to clear up, though...Another (bad) thing I did on the days when he really wouldn't eat was to put on a nursery rhyme video and spoon it in.

Chin up, it's frustrating but they do get there in the end- just keep trying.

Oh i do the spooning in thing most of the time once ive stuck a hoobs dvd on.it might be bad but it works!

I've started off my 6 month old on the following; a squash and peach puree, a sweet potato and peach puree, baby rice, and avocado. She started off eating the baby rice with gusto, practically biting off the spoon, and she will eat the whole amount whatever I give her, but she starts screaming half way through now (unless In the Night Garden is nearby and on). I do feel like a useless and wrong mother when this happens, but in the end, I don't suppose the screaming and unimaginative purees are going to be a problem when she's six years old, or even much longer, so I try to laugh at it all. But I do need to consult Karmel for some new ideas (am SO SCARED of allergies that I'm delaying the introduction of dairy etc) and I do need to go outside my comfort zone. But I find it VERY hard too.

If it's any consolation, my 8 month old, who self feeds, also likes to have a scream and bash about for no apparent reason halfway through a meal. I now just use it as an excuse to sit back and drink my tea, and just as suddenly she'll start eating again. Seems to be just letting off steam, but I'd be interested to hear how common this is.

how much milk should babies be having at this age? 9-10 months?

The whole thing is so exhausting and ridiculous. I am the woman Katie Hopkins from the Apprentice laughs at, pureeing everything in sight and gently heating frozen baby cubes. I wish we could just give them bottles of milk FOR EVER and I speak as someone who was heartbroken for months when I couldn't breastfeed; now I really look forward to the bottles because it's so peaceful and efficient and clean.

My Ds is now 11 months and he was similar to your DD in that he threw most of his food on the floor when in his highchair ( he hates being in his highchair tbh).

So a couple of months ago, I decided if he prefers to be on the floor (and like your DD would pick up bits of fluff and try and eat them), he can eat his tea (which is always finger foods) there too. So for tea, he usually has sandwiches and I put them on a plastic plate and let him pick at them, crawl around with them - whatever - but he certainly eats most of them (this only really works if you have wooden floors and we have to vacuum every night).

Have just read that you have a dog though so this may not work

I hate it too. DD (my first) is nearly 8 months old and I'm trying to get 3 meals a day down her. I've also been told that I'm not giving her nearly large enough portions, but she resists, screaming, and I find it exhausting and demoralising. She will eat creamy porridge (mostly) and pear, papaya, melon, banana and mango. Sometimes she enjoys yoghurt. She will deign to accept sweet potato, carrot and butternut squash. But all proteins have ended it total failure and hysterics. I'm actually force feeding this baby and I hate it. Has anyone else got it this badly?

I haven't tried any protein yet! But there is plenty of protein in milk and yoghurt, which she's still getting tons of, so don't be discouraged yet! (I like the way I say that as if I've already done it!) Who would have guessed this part would be hard? The first time I gave her baby rice i thought solid(ish) food was the key to happiness. Now I know better.

Hated weaning, utter torture. Finally cracked it when DD was 9.5 months old, with great nervousness I cut out some of her milk (bottles) and she started to wolf food down - bingo My doctor friend told me AFTERWARDS that 95% of weaning problems are caused by the baby being given too much milk. Don't know if that helps anyone at all ...

Agree its torture for some of us, I had really been looking forward to it. DD born fussy I've decided. Cut out another BF this week so hope that will improve solid intake, will wait and see. DD has a few firm favourites at 7.5months but takes about 5-10 tries of a new food to maybe accept it. She would live off fish, potatoes, brocolli, courgettes and tomatoes given half a chance. Still can't get any breakfast cereal in her and is rejecting toast this week as well. I want a little sparrow that opens her mouth...

"fish, potatoes, brocolli, courgettes and tomatoes"

After only, what, 6 weeks, a couple of months of weaning, that sounds pretty damn good to me! Mine is still almost entirely on orange-coloured mush.

that's what i though, macneil. i think the whole 'variety of foods' thing is a bit over-rated myself. my best friend didn't try pasta til she was 18 but she's not a fussy eater, it just wasn't in her orbit.

i personally think that trying to stay calm and unfussed will be the key to a child being relaxed around food, not whether they like peppers or not. plus they do go through stages, dd used to eat everything for its novelty then at about 8 months started to have an opinion on what she liked. and that's fine, she's human, she's allowed an opinion i think.

although she does get offered what we're having, right enough, so if she doesn't fancy spring greens (for example) she doesn't have to eat them. what she doesn't know is that her next meal she'll get double helpings of a green that she does like to make up.

So good to know I am not alone. I thought getting the hang of BFing was hard - but that seems a breeze compared to weaning.

DD is almost 8 mths and some days she just won't eat. Screams at the sight of the spoon before she's even tried the taste. Other days she wolfs it down.

I try her every day with some finger foods too. Mostly she plays and throws on the floor - rarely even via her mouth. Any non-food item goes straight in the mouth though.

Hey, ho....I am tyring hard not to get stressed, but it is SO frustrating, especially when it is my home cooking that is rejected.

Dreading 8 mth HV check up!

seriously, chaps, if you were doing BLW you wouldn't be worrying about this... some babies take longer, that's all. don't cut back on milk and just wait for them to get the hang of it. or not, but try not to stress either way, so long as the baby appears to be healthy and growing, that's the main thing.

i take it you're not all expecting your babies to start walking on the day of their first birthday, for example? so why should it be different with food?

Phases phases blardy phases.

Milk is the most important thing under 12 months of age, so as long as they are getting plenty of that, try not to worry.

As for solids....give em what they like, let them steal from your plate, and leave titbits of things they havent tried before 'lying around' for them to pick up and experiment with. They will put it in their mouth and gum it, its what babies do with everything.

btw, have just read first post and wanted to be clear that i didn't mean that you should be doiing blw, obv. do what you like. but if you did happen to be doing blw then a child not eating a great deal at 8 months wouldn't be ringing alarm bells, that's all. [wmile]

Aitch. Know when to shut up

Very good point about not expecting them to walk or talk all at a certain time. Puts it in perspective!

that's great, daffodilly. and at vvvqv... do you think [wmile] should become the new emoticon for [wan smile - please do not all jump on me i am only trying to help]

Hi, just read this thread and i feel so much better for it. I have been trying to wean my ds2 for 2 1/2 months now and it is horrid horrid horrid He is now eight months still breast feeding four times in day plus a dream feed and 4/5am feed. I love feeding him as only got to 6 months with ds1 but have been really upset with lack of intrest in food until today. Your stories have helped me see im not on my own. Thanks