9 month weaning blues

[reetgood]

I could do with some encouragement/ reassurance. 9 almost 10 month old eats 3 meals plus snacks, still breastfeeding but when he’s not with me three days a week he has some formula for nap. Water with meals.

My problem is I seem to spend a lot of time preparing things he doesn’t eat. I can never be sure if he’ll eat something if he ate it previously. Fussy about textures rather than flavours. Combination of spoon and finger foods.

I just feel like I’m never getting enough food inside him. I find it really frustrating, but try not to pressure (if he refuses something three times I try something else, if he refuses that I assume he’s done.

He’s a bit snotty at the moment but this morning went:

Couple of fingers of buttered toast
Refused apple purée - normally a sure bet
Ate two cherry tomatoes (he bloody loves cherry tomatoes. That and apples. All the foods that can make him gag and vomit )
Tried a soft boiled egg mashed up, that’s a texture nope.
Half a rice wafer biscuit

I tried him an hour later and as I suspected, what he ate most of was a pouch of purée - direct from the pouch (stays with mil one afternoon a week and she gives him those mamia pouches because they’re ‘organic’. Yes and very sweet with loads of sugar. Guess what he’s obsessed with)

It’s so frustrating to be putting stuff in front of him that gets spurned, then he fills up on purée. Whatever it takes, I suppose? It’s just so depressing.

I was an extremely unfussy child so this is all a bit foreign to me. Tell me something encouraging ...

It's still reasonably early days in the grand scheme of things. It was only around 9 months my DD started eating any noticeable amount really. Just don't put so much effort in, give him a bit of what you're having plus some extra fruit/veg and purée if you want.

Also it sounds to me like you're giving him absolutely loads of food 😐 no harm in offering lots of course but I wonder if your perception of how much he's eating is off because there's so much left over.

@spam88 thanks! Yes that’s helpful :) re the ‘what I’m having’ doesn’t seem to work for me as he often just doesn’t eat it/ I’m not eating stuff he can have. Eg I made borscht for tea and it will be lunch too... I tried beetroot with him a few times ... the stains remain. So I’m loath to go for a repeat!

It is loads of food, but he doesn’t eat a lot of it! What happens is I go: ‘hmm, better offer him something other than white bread’ so I offer the purée. He ate none of that, so I thought well, tomatoes are a sure bet. Then when I thought 2 small fingers of toast and 2 cherry tomatoes is not enough. He likes eggs, I fancy a boiled egg so I’ll do two and he can have some. And he put a small amount in his mouth, made a face and spat it out.

So the sum total of what he actually ate in round 1 was:

2 fingers of toast
2 cherry tomatoes

Which didn’t seem like enough food? But maybe it is?

I should add he is a chunk, has always been in the top centile for weight and is wearing 12month clothes. So he clearly is getting enough, probably from all the night waking and feeding he does but that’s another story!

My eldest DD didn't "get" eating at all until about 10 months old. She put every thing in her mouth, tasted it, chewed occasionally but mostly spat it out. I got really fed up with the waste so after a while just gave her wee bits off my plate, 3 or 4 small pieces only, and she would mostly just play with it. Around 11months DD started eating more. Babies need up to 20 tastes before accepting a new food/flavour/texture.

I would keep doing what you're doing but if anything try less food, maybe you're offering too much at a time and its overwhelming him?

Yes maybe I am overwhelming him. That’s two for two saying it’s a lot of food. I suppose I’m just throwing loads of options at the wall and seeing what sticks, but he’s still reliant on breast milk for a lot of calories. Less being more perhaps. Maybe I get a bit worried about him not eating if he refuses, and need not to worry so much.

It's so frustrating when you spend ages cooking something and they don't eat it.

I've had a very high success rate with Annabel Karmel recipes from the app.

Also I find mine eats more consistently at nursery and is more picky at home - his keyworker said he is 'playing us' as he knows we will give him another option  and I tend to agree!

He is more picky with his dad than with me. I'm more relaxed and will let him make a mess and eat yogurt with his hands if he wants to, where as his dad is more anxious about mess and insists on spoon feeding him. Relaxed seems to work better for us.

Hope it gets better soon - he is still v v young and I'm sure his eating habits will change and mature xx

My dd wasn't hugely into food until I stopped breastfeeding. Even then she was quite slow to really grasp chewing.

I'd just keep offering food, perhaps reduce the portion so not so much is wasted. My dd had a lot of lumpy mashed food for quite some time, long past friends dcs doing so. She's 3.5 now and compared to those dcs she eats a much wider range of food so all is not lost.

I'm in the same boat with 7month old DS. He was weaned at 5months (was refusing formula so had to mix it into food, as advised by GP&HV) and loves his food. The past week or so he's refused most of his bottles and food so GP recommended just small amounts of food you know he will eat - fruit, custard, yogurt. He said not to worry as long as something is going in because if they are hungry they are going to eat.

That doesn't sound like much at all to me!

My LO is 9 months and has 4 bottles a day and

1 piece of toast for breakfast
Chicken, potato and veg for lunch at nursery/similar if at home.
Fruit pouch around 3ish
Decent portion of whatever we are having for dinner

My DS is 9m. Sometimes he feels like eating and sometimes he completely refuses. I give him plain yogurt and toast for breakfast, and a bit of whatever I’m having for his other meals. If I’m having something unsuitable like pizza then I give him a pouch, maybe 1-2 times a week. I mostly try to choose meals I know he can share. I don’t stress if he doesn’t eat because he still gets milk.