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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

DD 7mo, not v. interested in solids, HV says she SHOULD be eating!!

17 replies

MrsHarry · 14/01/2008 20:19

I really just need a boost of confidence in my own opinion please!

Saw HV today for first time since I really started trying DD with solids, when she was 6mo. She's now 7mo. Told HV that DD wasn't bothered about solids but she loves her milk and feeds loads; still feeding at night quite a lot. I am BFing.

I have gone back to work full time so have to express 2 bottles a day, which I'm finding hard to find the time for (v.busy working day). So I told HV that I might give the childminder one bottle of formula and one EBM so I don't panic if I haven't expressed enough. Her reply was I should give DD solids and not formula.

Well, yes, it'd be really helpful for me if DD had solids breakfast & lunch so I didn't have to provide EBM but at the mo she doesn't want solids!! i do keep trying....BLW (didn't tell HV that!) and mushy stuff too just to see if I can interest her either way.

I am not too worried at this stage...her weight is fine & she's strong & healthy but HV insisted that if I don't give her solids now she isn't getting enough nutrients & also I'd find it harder to give her solids as she gets older.

She's wrong isn't she??? !!!!

OP posts:

constancereader · 14/01/2008 20:21

She is SO WRONG.

Milk is more nutritious than a few bit of veg etc.

Stick to your guns!!!!

ScaryHairy · 14/01/2008 20:25

Huh? How strange.

At 7mo my daughter had 4 or 5 milk feeds a day as well as 2 or 3 solid meals. She was not that interested in the solids and it was hit or miss as to whether she ate. In fact, it was only when she was about 1 that she started to eat anything like proper meals.

Just keep offering the solids. In a couple of months if she is still eating very little then maybe revisit this question, but some kids just aren't into solids right away.

hunkermunker · 14/01/2008 20:27

Can you ask your HV to detail which nutrients your DD is missing out on and which foods they're to be found in?

She won't know. She may bluff though. If she mentions Immunofortis, shoot her.

GColdtimer · 14/01/2008 20:27

She is totally wrong. Stupid bloody people. I overheard a health visitor the other day in my local clinic telling the mother of a 7 months old to swap his afternoon milk for a snack to try and wean him off the milk. You stick to your guns.

Ledodgy · 14/01/2008 20:29

She's talking bollocks. My ds wasn't interested in solids until he was around 9 months old and he's now a healthy two year old and will eat most things.

Ledodgy · 14/01/2008 20:29

She's talking bollocks. My ds wasn't interested in solids until he was around 9 months old and he's now a healthy two year old and will eat most things.

TheIceQueen · 14/01/2008 20:31

ooo I'm glad I've seen this thread - I'm not really concerned by it - but DS3 (7 1/2 months) has his 7 month check on Thursday - and he's not really eating much yet either - and still on 5/6 (8oz) bottles a day (yes I know it's not as nutritious as breastmilk - but that's not the point).

My other DS's were eating LOADS by this age so it's a little strange for me to have a (huge) DS who's not really eating a lot yet.

I'm pretty sure my HV will be ok about it - but I do have concerns that she's going to tell me he's not eating enough......

MaeWest · 14/01/2008 20:33

My DS was like Ledodgy's, not really interested until 9 months or so. He would taste stuff, but not eat huge quantities. Luckily I was still on leave so just bf him on demand until he decided he was ready to eat. You have my admiration for pumping at work

TheIceQueen · 14/01/2008 20:34

Mae - that's so like my DS3 - he's not really picky - he'll try anything (had a good go at some chicken tonight - BLW style, and a few spoonfuls of rice) but not very much of it. It's really odd to see him not eating much when my older 2 were so much more into their food at this age. Nice to hear of others that "suddenly" found the urge to eat the stuff instead of just tasting it.

MaeWest · 14/01/2008 20:38

He's now 17 months and has a v healthy appetite. Some days he's a real bottomless pit . A little more suspicous of new things now, but that's toddlers for you I spose.

TheIceQueen · 14/01/2008 20:43

mind you having said that - I put a (largish) piece of crispy skin on this tray along with the meat.......well I'm 99.99% certain I did - and the older DS's say it was there too (although their word is not always to be believed).....I was in the kitchen while he was picking at his finger food (where I could see him incase he choked I hasten to add).....got back in there and it had gone...completely and utterly disappeared.....now he either ate the whole lot - or he magicked it into thin air (or one of his brothers nicked it ).....which I do find rather odd as he didn't really manage to eat much of the (very soft) chicken

GColdtimer · 14/01/2008 20:51

lol ice queen. My dd found her appetite about 9 months, lost it again at about 1 and after much hair tearing,frustration and worry has just rediscovered it again at 20 months! She has always been on the 75th percentile, so I think it is really true. Babies are really good at regulating their own food intake.

ceebee74 · 14/01/2008 20:51

My Ds was exactly the same as Ledogy and MaeWest's - not really interested in food until he was at least 9 months old. In fact thinking back, I don't think he was eating a great deal when he turned one (memories fade so quickly don't they?) but had dropped his mid-morning and mid-afternoon bottle (completely of his own accord) by that time so actually wasn't eating much at all. Before then, there was a period of about 2 months where it felt like I was permanently feeding him - he was having 4 bottles and 3 'meals' a day!

He is now 18 months and some days he eats like it is going out of fashion, and others, not so much - but he is healthy so I don't worry about it.

Your DD will get there in her own time - all babies do.

MaeWest · 14/01/2008 20:53

Yep, and if there really was a 'weaning window' that it was possible to miss, then there would be a lot more adults walking around swigging pints of milk as their main source of nutrition

Original poster

MrsHarry · 14/01/2008 20:54

You guys!! Thanks so much for the vote of confidence (for me) and the vote of "bollocks" for the HV!! I did think so really but I wavered when she was talking to me.

She said DD would be missing out on iron??
However, when I said I though BM was nutritious enough, she said she didn't know what nutrients were in it!!! That kind of lost her any cred with me!

OP posts:

MaeWest · 14/01/2008 21:04

It's true that babies iron levels start to deplete at 6 months, it's also true that bm has less iron than formula milk...

BUT - levels only start to deplete, they don't suddenly switch off overnight

AND - iron in bm is more bio-available than formula (think that is the right term) and so easier for baby to absorb

Can you tell I read a lot about this a year ago

Cocobear · 15/01/2008 22:15

My DD is 7 months and eating nothing but the occasional mouthful of mushed banana or pureed pumpkin. She's just not interested. DS was on 3 meals a day by 7 months. But what would the HV like you to do about it? I mean, if they don't want it, you can't force them (and shouldn't try). They'll eat solids - either purees or finger foods - when they're good and ready.

It really is one of those situations where all you can do is keep offering and try not to worry, I think.

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