BLW - reassure me this is normal!

[Paris2019]

DS is 8 months and we've been BLW since 6 months. He's doing really well in terms of exploring foods, tasting them, learning to chew, hand-eye coordination etc BUT he still only actually eats/swallows very little. Eg usually just a couple of mouthfuls at each mealtime (currently doing breakfast and dinner). He's better with juicy foods that he can suck - tomato, strawberry, courgette etc. It's hard not to get worried when friends who are doing more traditional weaning are raving about how much their babies are eating, but the main thing I'm worried about is whether he's getting enough nutrients esp. iron (I'm EBF).

Is this normal? When will he start eating more? How do I make sure he gets enough iron?!

Remember the mantra: milk for food; food for play. Just let them play around with it and eat a little here and there. He gets what he needs from you and will start eating more as he gets used to tastes and textures.

Weaning is a process. Over the 6 months they will gradually go from all milk to all food. This is at their own pace.

I'm no fan of BLW but a baby won't starve themselves. They will eat what that need / want.

All I would say is make sure that you're offering food before milk or at least an hour between milk and food (e.g wake up and milk at 7, breakfast at 8, lunch at 12, milk as a drink after, tea at 5 milk as a drink after)

You might find they eat more and drop a milk feed soon too.

Get some vitamin drops that contain iron to cover that concern.

2 months in is still pretty early for BLW and all babies are different, some will take to it like a duck to water and others will be much slower. Keep doing what you're doing and if you're not seeing more significant eating by about 11 months maybe contact your HV for advice.

“Remember the mantra: milk for food; food for play.”

No, do not remember this mantra as it is nonsense. Like you say OP, the baby needs nutrients, including iron, from food.

This is why I think BLW is a bit ridiculous.

How much milk is he taking? 8 months was about the time that I realised all the weaning literature online was bollocks and just started going with what I thought was best. I cut down his milk to 3 bottles per day at that age, gave him finger foods along with spoon feeding stuff like porridge and started letting him play with cutlery. His eating improved a lot.

Completely normal for us. Barely anything went in till 9 months. I was very open to BLW and traditional - but she would not have being spoon fed purées and hated pouches, so I moved entirely to BLW and had exactly the same success as you, juicy/watery veg and fruit. I was v stressed to be honest as knew she’d need other nutrients. Anyway, she clearly decided she’d only eat when she could do the whole thing properly and it clicked about 10 months, she went from very little to being able to chew well and feeding herself with a spoon too. Eats loads now at almost 1 year and dropped down her breastfeeds naturally.

If he’s trying then i think you’ll be ok!

Sounds like he's doing really well :)

If you're concerned about iron then you can use a multivitamin that contains iron, but don't forget he doesn't need to swallow foods to get nutrients from them - if he chews a bit of steak or sucks some brocolli he'll be getting some iron.

Thanks all for your responses. Soon after my OP DS started eating a fair bit more... Still not loads, and still hit-and-miss, but enough for me to not be so worried about iron etc. as I'm making sure I give him a lot of iron-rich foods so even if he only eats a little he still gets some nutrients. He's 9 m/o now and I'm hoping his appetite continues to increase!