DS loved solids, now gone off them - what should I do??

[naturopath]

Paediatrician strongly advised we wean at 17 weeks. Actually started at 19 weeks after much deliberation (see previous threads etc.) - don't have a go at me for not waiting until 6 months - I know that's the advice and the reasons for it (!)

Anyway, he absolutely loved baby rice and pear (his first meals) and tried to feed himself for about a week. Butternut squash was ok as well.

Now has gone off any food at all - baby rice, pear, apple, carrot, squash - doesn't want them at all and gags, spits out etc. There are absolutely no lumps in what I'm giving him.

He also has a cold, a cough and wheezing.

Do you think he has gone off food or is it just being under the weather that's making him like this?

Should I leave off feeding for a couple of weeks or just keep on offering (I neveer force it - I just offer and let him not eat if he doesn't want to).

Thanks!

It's probably because he isn't well they find it hard to eat and breathe at the same time when they're like that. Don't stress my ds didn't eat solids on a regular basis until he was around 9 months old as long as he's getting fluids he'll be fine.

Follow you LO's lead. Quite likely his cold is affecting hius appettite.

My ds2 ran hot-and-cold about solids until nearly 9m, clearly liking flavours, but just not interested in eating. He's a big boy, but has a very variable appetite - some days will put away masses, others he truns his nose up after a few mouthfulls.

ok, thanks - good to know. Basically, I don't want him becomg too fussy or only wanting milk forever. But if they are all patchy eaters I guess there's not too much to worry about.

Naturopath, I've got a freezer full of lovingly prepared, assorted organic mush which my 7 month old turns her nose up at. She was the same as your ds, very enthusiastic to begin with then went off the idea. Breakfast is the only meal she shows any enthusiasm for.

She has a horrid cold at the mo and I've noticed that she would much rather get her calories from drinking than eating when she's so snuffly.

She gags at anything which is different, doesn't have to be lumpy. However in the last week she has started to show an interest in finger foods, which would suit me rather than having to puree everything.

She is my 4th and is growing (slowly!) so I'm fairly relaxed. I'm just offering her fruit purees at the mo for the vit C more than the calories.

exactly ladymac - freezer is already full of little organic fruit and veggie cubes - might have to eat them myself!

It's not so much that they're all patchy eaters as that they're all different. My middle child, dd, was grabbing food off our plates at 5m, and loved her solids so much that you risked your hand disappearing up to the elbow when feeding her! I have never seen a baby eat such volumes! She's tall and big, but she's never been fat at all.

how come you were advised to wean early?

Not sure - never really got to the bottom of it - think it was because of his night wakings and frequent feeding. Has been up every hour during the night for about 6 weeks now.

is he breastfed?? it may be a growth spurt.

He could also be milk intolerant. my friends baby fed every hour for some time and when she eliminated dairy from her diet she was much better.

I have been dairy and soya free for at least 3 months now. Also, isnt it a bit long for a growth spurt? I also thought that, but aren't they supposed to last a couple of days?

how old is he?? could 2 growth spurts have run into one another?? it is common for them to have growth spurts at 17-20 weeks and again at 24-26 weeks.

have just found out from another thread he has reflux. zantac isn't the best medicine to control it though. ask your gp if you can try domperidone or omeprazole.

Thanks - he was on domperidone as well, and was prescribed omaprizole in case the ranitidine stopped working. HOwever, thankfully the reflux has improved so much that we weaned him off both medicines a few weeks ago.

He does wake up suddenly screaming sometimes, and I used to think it was the reflux but now I think it's probably a bad dream.

DS had silent reflux and although he didn't cry out in pain it was still uncomfortable for him to feed and would feed tiny amounts every hour. if he's started feeding more often since you've weaned him off the meds he might be finding it ucomfortable to feed?

How do you settle him to sleep? Do you feed him to sleep?

hmm, this is our current problem (each day brings a new one to focus on!).. most of the time, yes. Trying to change this. DH rocks with him on the rocking chair sometimes; the mobile used to work but he's bored of it now; most of the time it's just me at night and although I try to leave him for a bit / cuddle / rock etc. he won't go down unless I feed him. Usually goes down pretty quickly. I try to feed him for as short a time as possible unless it's around 10:30/11pm or 2amish (ie normal feeding times for young babies)..

Tonight I succeeded in putting him down awake in his cot and not letting him fall asleep on me. Not sure how long it will last (was an hour ago though so not doing badly so far!)

Nappyaddict - he's almost 22 weeks.

oh also, not sure if anyone has an answer to original question - keep trying every day with solids, or hold off for a week or two and then try again?

Thanks!

The waking in the night is in that case probably nothing to do with the solids, but eveything to do with the feeding to sleep. (Been there, done it, got the T-shirt. Wearing the bl**dy T-shirt.)

My ds2 got into a feeding-to-sleep association at about 2m, and we have been wtruggling with it for the last 11m.

If he feeds to sleep then, when he comes into light sleep during the night, he expects a boob to be there to settle him back to sleep. He doesn't know to suck his thumb/twiddle his blankie/lie quietly and wait/etc. So you are either up and down every 45min or so feeding him back down again, or you co-sleep.

Side-effect: he is filling up on milk during the night, and therefore not hungry enoug to really be interested in solids udring the day. Which is not necessarily a problem, seeing as he is still quite young.

My DS went through a refusal stage a couple of weeks into weaning (I started at 6 months), I despaired (there's a thread on here somewhere about it) but it did gradually pick up. IME there is no link between taking solids and sleep (I wish!), and they don't take much in the first weeks anyway, so prob won't make huge amount of difference in the long run whether you wait a couple of weeks or not.

Once he's 6 months you can give finger foods, though, which might rekindle his interest -- for a couple of weeks DS would only eat toast, so I just spread whatever purees I'd prepared onto it for him.

Also he has been ill with bronchiolitis for 2-3 weeks and totally refused solids (he is 9mo) so think that's totally normal if they're ill.

And another thing - maybe he is waking up screaming because he has wind. Certainly my ds2 used to do this if I didn't get the wind up. But I often struggled to: if I was co-sleeping and feeding him without really waking up, well nothing happeened winding-wise; if I was going to him to feed him back down , he would figth the winding (still often does) - he wanted either to be on the boob or horizontally asleep, hated beign upright for the burp.

hmm, not easily solveable then.. am already co-sleeping half the time already.. and he still wakes up even in bed with me, although it;s obviously less disruptive.

Might try the muslin/snuggly in bra thing - leave in cot to smell of mummy? Not holding my hopes up though..

Also I'm not disagreeing with your logic, PrettyCandles, but I wish someone would tell my DS who has not been fed to sleep for a long time now that 'lying quietly and waiting' is the done thing when he wakes up at night!

[prettycandles, we weren't talking about this today in RL were we??]

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