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Weaning

Find weaning advice from other Mumsnetters on our Weaning forum. Use our child development calendar for more information.

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Original poster

Hate weaning, is it meant to be so hard?

28 replies

tigerbreadandtea · 22/08/2021 13:38

Baby has started refusing everything! Doesn't want to eat. I have tried offering purée on a spoon - after two spoons she keeps moving her head to the side and won't take any more, and baby led which just gets chucked on the floor. I'm finding it such hard work! She is eight months.

OP posts:

TulipVictory · 22/08/2021 13:39

How old is she? I didn't offer until 6 months and even then there's no rush. She will take it when she's ready

Original poster

tigerbreadandtea · 22/08/2021 13:42

I said in my OP she is eight months. She has been doing well I don't get why for the past couple of weeks she refuses everything.

OP posts:

Nightmanagerfan · 22/08/2021 13:45

Honestly please don’t worry. I spent so long stressing about my son who hardly ate anything-
He was completely attached to breast milk. He’s now 2.5 and eats really well. When I look back I compared him to other children so much and I regret wasting so much time worrying and stressing about him not eating!

Original poster

tigerbreadandtea · 22/08/2021 13:49

Thank you. She is small (9th percentile and we had lots of problems feeding at the start) so I think I am worried more than I should.

OP posts:

Soubriquet · 22/08/2021 13:51

Don’t stress it

Keep giving her all the milk she wants, but at the times when you are eating food, put her in her high chair and place some finger food on to the table. Let her pick it up, throw it, chew on it, play with it.

Eventually she will eat it and it will be a normal thing

Original poster

tigerbreadandtea · 22/08/2021 13:53

@Soubriquet that's what I've been doing.

OP posts:

Bellagonna · 22/08/2021 13:55

Yes it's shit. Took my DD until 11 months to even try a bit of food. She refused a spoon. She got there eventually though. Blw is the best bet because you can just lob them whatever you're eating at the time and it's no fuss if they don't eat it.

littlejalapeno · 22/08/2021 13:55

Is she showing signs of being interested in food? Can you tempt her just to play with the purée and get it on her hands first? Try mixing the purée with breast milk, make sure it has a consistent texture in the beginning and quite thin. Batons of soft, ripe avocado and bananas were big winners with my LO too. Don’t pressure her to eat, just explore and if possible eat the same thing at the same time as she has it so she can see you putting it in your mouth and really enjoying eating it. She might not know what to do and is frustrated? Also don’t let her be too hungry when you start or that could cause frustration and refusal. Good luck

Original poster

tigerbreadandtea · 22/08/2021 13:57

@littlejalapeno not sure why you've assumed I'm breastfeeding? I'm not at the start of weaning, it had been going really well but as I mentioned already the last couple of weeks she's not eating anything other than the odd bite or spoon. Just finding it very tiring.

OP posts:

mafted · 22/08/2021 13:58

Place your focus on providing opportunities for to eat a wide variety of foods rather than feeling like it's not successful if nothing gets eaten.

SisterGabriel · 22/08/2021 13:59

Weaning was what made me decide to go back to work full time. Looking back, I was way too uptight about it; a taste of food and filling up on milk is fine until they get enough teeth to chew.

SoundAndVisions · 22/08/2021 13:59

Could she be teething OP? My DS doesnt want to eat properly when he’s teething

AlexaShutUp · 22/08/2021 14:00

Oh OP, I sympathise. I used to worry so much about my dd's unwillingness to eat. She's 16 now, and I wish I had just relaxed about it a bit more as it all worked out OK in the end. She is still fairly uninterested in food and she is small for her age (short and slim), but she eats a balanced diet and she never gets sick, so I figure now that it's just how she is. I feel your frustration though.

LakeShoreD · 22/08/2021 14:03

Is she teething? It’s not uncommon for them to go off food when a new tooth is pushing through and their mouth hurts. Try not to worry about it, just feed as much milk as she wants and continue to offer a variety of foods. I’d also primarily do pouches for now because then it’s less irritating than if you’ve spent energy on making something just to see it rejected. If she takes a few spoons then that’s great great, screw the lid back on, shove it in the fridge and try again after the next bottle/breast feed.

Stigofthedump40 · 22/08/2021 14:29

Is she even hungry though.. i go by my 8th mth old cues.. for example he normally has lunch at 12 .. yesterday i tried to feed at 12 as usual but he kept pushing it away... so figured he wasnt hungry so today i waited until he seemed really hungry which wasnt until 2pm.. he ate so much.. just a thought

littlejalapeno · 22/08/2021 15:03

Ohhh ok I’m not gonna apologise for that as was trying to help and tell you what worked for me. Obviously works with formula too if that’s the taste she’s used to.

Theywereonabreak · 22/08/2021 15:12

It may well be teething. My DS didn't really start eating properly until 10 months and even then we have really crap days if she is teething. Do you eat with her? DS tends to eat better/more when we have meals as a family. I appreciate this isn't always possible. Don't stress, they all eat eventually :)

Jobsharenightmare · 22/08/2021 15:16

Sometimes we'll never figure out why something goes from seemingly working well to being refused! I'd go back to just milk until baby shows an interest again. Someone said on here it'll click one day; have you ever met an adult who is still just on milk?

girlmom21 · 22/08/2021 15:16

How much milk is she having a day? Is she still interested in milk?

Was she just eating purées or was she trying other things too?
My LO started fighting back when we were weaning but it was because she wanted to feed herself rather than the fact she didn't actually want the food.

Original poster

tigerbreadandtea · 22/08/2021 15:28

She has been teething, still drinking all her milk. Last few days I've not used a spoon at all and put things on the highchair but 90% of it ends up on the floor! I'll try and relax a bit and hope it's just a phase, probably linked to the teething? Thanks for your reassurance.

OP posts:

LakeShoreD · 22/08/2021 15:58

Last few days I've not used a spoon at all and put things on the highchair but 90% of it ends up on the floor
If 10% of it being eaten really then that really isn’t that bad at all. And even what ends up on the floor is still being interacted with so she’s learning about food. I’d just probably minimise the amount of effort you’re putting into meal prep for your own sanity, trust it’s a phase and relax. She’ll get there, the PP that says you never see an adult only on milk is totally right, you don’t even see toddlers only on milk!

Original poster

tigerbreadandtea · 22/08/2021 15:59

I don't tend to make her separate things so I think I'll just carry on offering her some of what we are eating and like you say surely eventually her interest will come back!

OP posts:

FartnissEverbeans · 27/08/2021 14:57

How much milk is she taking?

At about eight months I cute right back on DS’s milk and it helped a lot. We went down to 3 bottles per day - one when he woke up, one at bedtime and one at around lunchtime.

FrancesFlute · 27/08/2021 15:06

My DS was big and loved breastmilk. He hardly ate anything until about 9 months. Even though I'd try and offer purees before beeastmilk, it was like he was holding out.

It is frustrating and worrying though and if she is small then I can understand why you are stressed about it. As long as she's having enough milk and you're offering tastes then I really wouldn't worry. Any teeth yet?

Original poster

tigerbreadandtea · 01/09/2021 10:30

No teeth yet, even though it feels like she's been teething for months. This morning she had one mouthful of bread and peanut butter and threw the rest on the floor. Last night she ate about four peas.

OP posts:

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