DD insists on BLW but I need her to eat more!

[LucyBucy]

Hi,

I had no intention of doing BLW but my 6 month old is just not interested in purees (and who can blame her?!)

She has been on BLW for 3 weeks now and she has a bit of what I'm having at lunch and dinner but so far will only suck the spread/sauce off whatever I've made and then lob the rest on the floor.

I wouldn't mind but she's still waking roughly every 2 hours at night for a feed and I'm reluctant to cut these down.

I really really need her to start eating more so that she lasts longer at night. Does anyone have any good strategies or any recipe ideas that she will find easier to gum and swallow? So far I've tried soldiers with hummous/philadelphia etc and pasta with sauce. She doesn't seem to be interested in veggies on their own yet.

Thanks x

Are you sure that she's waking to feed at night? I know this isn't a recipe suggestion like you've asked, but is she maybe waking (which is normal for everyone) and then not being given the time to settle herself back down?

In terms of recipes, we've just found that ds loves cous cous, particualarly a very flavourful moroccan dish that dh cooked last week. Maybe she'd be interested in something like that, with a bit more texture, but that doesn't need to be chewed.

are you bf or ff? It is entirely normal for bf babies to wake up regularly for feeds at this age. I know taht every 2 hrs is shattering as dd was teh same. The last alternative was to cosleep for me. I couldn't even give her formula as she found it distasteful. In retrospect, cosleeping was the best decision i made and i regret not doing it from earlier.

in addition to hating the taste of formula, she did not eat anything, including purees, yoghurts, etc, till she was 10 months old. I now know through literature i read since that it is entirely normal and that milk should be their main form of source of nutrition and calories till they are a year.

with cosleeping, dd still woke up very frequently to feed but after a period of adjustment for all 3 of us in the same bed, i found that because neither she or i was waking up fully to feed, we both slept more and were better rested in the daytime. I was also working f/t by then and something had to give.

hugs. i know that this may not be your answer, but the feeding and sleeping thing is complex and sometimes it's good to look for a solution which is wider than, 'i need to get more food into her' which i can remember thinking too.

Hi Lucy, i agree with the others, it is very unlikely to do with the amount of solids she is eating. My dd1 was weaned onto purees at 3months old and frequently fed throughout the night until she was 2!!we co-slept with her. Whereas dd2 has slept through the night since about 3mths and she has been blw since 6mths.

As for more food to offer your dd - fruit and veg generally go down very well with my dd. Peel a whole pear and see if she enjoys sucking it to death! you may need to help her hold it as it ends up a slippery mush. Bananas are also popular with my dd.

Also from Aitches site i have cooked versions of potato cakes with chopped veg in, or cheesy lentil cakes. Basically make up a mix of cooked potatoes, veg or lentils and cheese and roll in breadcrumbs and fry lightly. I find these great because you can add all sorts of finely chopped ingredients and its all in one easy to hold piece for dd to eat.

When we have corn on the cob, a break one up for dd to about 2inches long and she loves holding on to that and biting off the corn. Peas, sweetcorn and baked beans are all great now that she's mastered the pincer grip, it may be a few more weeks before your dd is capable but its all good fun trying!

But really, daunting as it is, i think its best to relax about the quantities she is getting and continue giving her the fun and experimenting with foods you are eating.

Are you sure she isn't just waking from habit and not hunger? My dd was still waking 2 hourly at 5 or 6 months (she was exclusively breastfed) but after a while I stopped feeding her that frequently, just used to resettle her unless it was time for a feed (she was feeding 4 hourly day and night by six months, which was when i started weaning). She started feeding longer at those feeds but waking less frequently. I know how exhausting it is to be waking every 2 hours to breastfeed for six months solid, but it took me a while to work out that she didn't necessarily need to eat every time she woke up! Plus she was going for 4 hours during the day between feeds, so I knew she could go that long. It does of course mean you may be awake for a bit longer each tme for a while until she gets used to not being fed to get back to sleep at night each time she wakes, i just used to cuddle her until she was asleep. Didn't take long either which just confirmed to me it wasn't hunger - I would have fed her if she'd really got upset or refused to go back to sleep. Good luck!

Can't really comment on the sleep vs food bit, but one 'recipe' suggestion to try is avocado. A nice ripe one mushes up to a paste that you can spread on toast or mix into pasta for her to suck off. It is high in calories and full of healthy fats and vitamins.

Might be worth a try to see if it makes any difference and certainly won't do her any harm.

Is she still having plenty of milk? That will fill her up more than tastes of food should - she doesn't need to be eating much solid food yet; the bulk of her calories will come from milk for a good while yet.

Hi, thanks for all your responses. In answer to your questions - she definitely wakes to feed at least twice in the night, the rest of the time I think she just stirs and can't get herself back to sleep again.

I do co-sleep with her - I have to for my sanity! She is fully breastfed, she won't take bottles or sip cups so it takes too long to get formula down her. I haven't cut her feeds and don't want to - she's always been a big eater though so I think she's going to need a lot of food once she's weaned

I liked your foody ideas - I will give them a go

Since posting my first message I found a book called 'the no-cry sleep solution' by Elizabeth Pantley - it has some good reviews on Amazon so I'm going to give that a go too.

Thanks x

Hi Lucy - my DD (7 months) was doing the same thing up until a week ago. there's a major growth spurt around 6 months and they need to eat the hind leg of a donkey but really it's only going to be milk that's going to satisfy them in terms of calories + all required nutrients. She suddenly went down from feeds every 2-3 hours in the night, to missing a feed and also not being quite so full of gusto at each one. This week at 7 months exactly, she feeds at 7pm, 11ish and then once more before the morning feed which could be any time between 8-10am! The trend now is that everything is calming down and more sleep is on its way. She's also BLW but doesn't swallow significant amounts really. I think it could just be linked to a developmental phase.

Lucy - the Pantley book is great - I'd defn recommend too
Good luck!