Not showing interest. When to start?

[Peanut91]

My LO is 5.5 months and is showing all the signs of weaning except an interest in food. I know you are meant to start weaning around 6 months but if he is still not showing an interest then do I just start anyway?

I try to eat around him as much as possible but in reality it is not that much as he usually naps at lunchtime and is in bed before dinner.

So most days he never sees you eat?
Maybe start having a small breakfast for the next few weeks and having them sat with you. I know some people have a small snack while child eats evening meal if they arent having their meal so they are "eating together."

It really is part of them learning about food and meal times. So much is mimicry. If you think about all the other things they've learnt by watching you!

That's interesting OP. I'm in Canada, DS was born at 31+6 and all of my follow ups with the neonatal pediatrician and dietitians insisted on waiting until a minimum of six months adjusted age. DS ignored food until about six and a half months adjusted/corrected age and then began eating.

When is his 6 months adjusted?

You often hear stories of parents thinking their kids are ready to eat as they are grabbing food from their plate and trying to eat it! It's because they can see thats something the big people are doing and they've watched them doing this for months and want to do it to.

He would be 6 months (adjusted) middle of April so if I go by that then it is still very early. I was told previoisly that their bodies stores of iron etc. Start to fall from 6 months post birth which is why weaning should be started at 6 months and not 6 months adjusted.

@swimmingjustkeepswimming

I am currently trying doing thr 16:8 diet so eating breakfast isnt an option. As said above I do make an effort to eat with him when he is awake so its not like he has never seen anyone eat

You could try something on a spoon. Other way around but I tried to spoon feed my second and she refused and only wanted blw. Maybe he just doesn't want to blw.

Equally he may not know what to do. Eating with him once or twice a week isn't enough for him to learn how to eat. He has no one to watch or to learn from. You can give all the reasons you like (however genuine), but the bottom line is that if he doesn't know what to do, then he's not going to eat. I would do a couple of weeks off of baby groups and see what happens. If it helps then you can work out a plan.

I think you need to rethink the no-breakfast thing--as your son gets older, he may resist eating breakfast if you don't eat it and you won't be in a position to lay down the law without feeling like a hypocrite, but kids are absolutely supposed to eat breakfast!

2pm isn't too late to have lunch if you have eaten breakfast. Why not have a light breakfast with your son, then have a late lunch with your son at 2pm, and then consider the time in between to be your fasting time if that is what you are into?

Thanks. I will give spoon feeding a go if he still doesnt show interest im food after he reaches 6 months.

As said above I am happy with the routine we have as he is happy and I am not going to disturb that quite yet.

Re fasting amd eating breakfast. I cant change my fasting hrs as then I wouldnt be able to eat dinner in the evenings. I am just not hungry before lunch time.

Thank you for the responses but I feel like my original post has now been answered.

I'd start at six months with spoon feeding too , my son resisted blw so we had to do this also.

He still hates feeding himself aged one , but we've discovered that he hates touching the food rather than having an issue with eating it! We're teaching him to use a spoon now which is going really well.

Good luck with the weaning