15 WEEKS OLD AND FOOD!

[loopyredangel]

My almost 15 week old has been showing a keen interest in food for a couple of weeks now, putting hands in his mouth when we are eating, leaning forward when we have food, fussing when he sees us eating. So today I tried him with some baby rice pudding and he couldn't get enough he was pushing the spoon to his mouth, and was excited everytime the spoon was approaching his mouth. He now weighs 15lb and has been breastfed to this point and Iwill carry on breasfeeding, but is it okay to carry on feeding him, he woofed down a full tin of the small Heinz Rice Pudding. I fear the health visitors won't be happy, but DS seemed so relieved, content and a happy little boy after he got his food!

[PurveyorOfBaloney]

I think everyone here is not listening, seeing as you have bumped a thread from 2008!

[Okonomiyaki]

Zombie thread!!

[Becky1982]

I think everyone here needs to remember that guidelines are exactley that!! a guide to help you make the best decisions.no child is the same and that is why health proffessionals are able to differ in the advice they give. its nothing to do with being out of date!!!!

[AitchTwoOh]

dd likes to help herself to jaffaoatcakes...

[welliemum]

Ooh yes, ours are grazers, and they help themselves to pate HP sauce dog biscuits fruit whenever they feel hungry. I think that's a good way for them to learn to regulate their own appetites, and just eat what they need when they need it.

I hope they'll do this right through to adulthood and beyond because I think that's a good way to have a relaxed, healthy attitude to food.

Sadly, they're excellent climbers, so they have access to most of the food in the house, [tears hair] so the "food drawer" thingy hasn't worked, but interestingly, they do eat a lot of fruit and other healthy stuff without being prompted.

They do also sit at the table and eat proper meals, so grazing doesn't "spoil" them for that.

[AitchTwoOh]

good decision, imo, esp if you think stress is a factor. (i love the idea of a chicken drumstick in a cold drawer in the kitchen, you could stick an ice pack in there and he really could help himself).

[AitchTwoOh]

actually, there are some people on here who make up a little drawer for their kids to help themselves from. carrots, fruit, ricecakes etc, i believe the children do eat a bit more because they like not havinig to ask all the time. franny does it, i think, and greeny.

[loopyredangel]

Thanks ladies, I thought the same, think I will carry on with the grazing, I can't believe the dietician said it to be honest. Hopefully with time he will take to other foods. I think refusing him healthy snacks is just going to make a bigger issue out him not eating. She also told me to set a time limit at meal times and if he doesn't eat it within 20 minutes to take the meal away and throw it inthe bin! I simply can't do it, especially if he hasn't eat all his lunch. I think I will just make his meals smaller and allow him to graze on healthy snacks.

[hercules1]

loopreangel- I heard the advice once from a very wise la leche woman once to a woman with a similar issues to your own. SHe said that she should leave healthy snacks around e.g chicken drumsticks and the like and let her son graze on it during the day. There is no law that says it has to be 3 square meals a day.

[AitchTwoOh]

oh, and that research was inspired by the 1930s stuff, it was done in 1992.

[Habbibu]

Loopy, I have no professional expertise in this area, but your hunch seems right to me. I thought that "grazing" on healthy food through the day was meant to be a good way to eat. Hopefully someone with a bit more knowledge will come along.

[AitchTwoOh]

what we think isn't as relevant as the fact that you plainly don't think that it's working out properly. i don't really understand the dietitian's thinking either, what was the point, just to make him hungrier when it actually gets to mealtimes? hmmm, it's just not an area of expertise for me but it does seem odd to refuse him if he wants to eat healthy food.

[loopyredangel]

That 1930's study was very interesting. As you know I am also struggling with my 2 and a 1/2 year old. Except with him it's the opposite problem he doesn't want to eat as he is too busy doing other things. The dietician told me to cut out all snacks and reduce himto just having 3-4 meals a day and nothing in between. The problem is he seems alot more tired. I thought it was best to give him smaller meals with healthy snacks in between. I thought it was best that way as it would keep his blood sugars level and help stop him getting so tired and cranky, as it mentioned in an article another netter posted on here. What does everybody think about this? I feel dreadful refusing him, especially when he is asking for healthy things, I think this may have a negative effect on him, and infact for the past couple of days he refuses his lunch!

[AitchTwoOh]

take care, i hope the plan works out, my dd would have screamed the place down if i'd offered her water when she wanted milk. (tbh i think that's not good advice from the midwife, esp if you've got a tricky eater there already).

[Lulumama]

take care

[Bekkie32]

Yep, thanks and ciao for now!

Gonna be giving the board a break for a bit to devote time to my little one.

If anything else crops up, I will be back calling for help.

[Lulumama]

hope it goes ok ! remember to be flexible!

and if your baby seems to want more milk, then fine !

don;t worry too much about a routine that is set in stone at this point, you might find she wants milk mid morning as 6 am - 12 is a long time without milk for a little one!

[Bekkie32]

Well today I was so depressed and upset with everything that I have just given milk.

Tomorrow I am gonna start a new week, taking into account things you have all said and what my midwife said and see what happens.

Gonna try something like:

6.00am milk
08.00 Fruit - later with iron-fortified baby cereal.
10 or 11.00 water from sippy cup
12.00 lunch
16.30 milk
20.30 milk.

I was feeding at 4.00am before, but gonna chuck that. also pretty much what my sis does. will let you know how it goes.

[Lulumama]

i seeeeeee

sounds , erm, interesting

babies don;t need tea ! it is as aitch says, adult projection onto children ! mind you , don;t know if it is better than the baby juices sold here, full of sugar and syrup...

your baby does not know tea in any of its forms exsits. so water or milk will do just fine!

she has the rest of her life to drink tea

[Bekkie32]

...its a German thing.. when i tried breastfeeding in hospital they brewed you up breastfeeding tee, to help with the milk production. It had aniseed in it and tasted vile.

They have teas for almost everything - including bladder and kidney tea.

[AitchTwoOh]

ah, but you must stop thinking like an adult with adult tastebuds... water isn't bland, it's refreshing and delicious. (and very convenient, wy give yourself the hassle?)

[Bekkie32]

Over here in Germany, they do baby tea. Not sure about the UK?

..Like tea bags. I have a packet for babies over 4 months - a fruit tea with carrott, un- sweetened. You brew it up like tea, then allow it to cool - maybe a bit better than giving juice and makes water taste less bland.

[AitchTwoOh]

don't assume, really, a spell of hot weather might be just the thing for her to see the point of water. babies aren't stupid, they know what they need to do. i think that's why i like the whole BLW thing, it just presumes that babies will take what they need from a healthy selection of foods.

this just deals with calorie intake, but is interesting all the same.

Author(s): BIRCH LL, JOHNSON SL, ANDRESEN G, PETERS JC, SCHULTE MC
Source: NEW ENGLAND JOURNAL OF MEDICINE Volume: 324 Issue: 4 Pages: 232-235 Published: 1991
Times Cited: 125 References: 12

Abstract: Background. Research conducted in the 1930s showed that, given nutritious choices, children can select an adequate diet without adult supervision. Paradoxically, children grew well and were healthy despite patterns of intake at individual meals that were unpredictable and highly variable.

Methods. To investigate in more detail the energy intake of young children, we measured 24-hour food intake for 15 children, from two to five years of age, on six days. For each of the six days of the study, coefficients of variation were calculated for each child for each of the six meals and snacks (breakfast, lunch, dinner, and morning, afternoon, and evening snacks) and for total daily energy intake.

Results. The children's intake at individual meals was highly variable, but total daily energy intake was relatively constant for each child. The mean coefficient of variation for each child's energy intake at individual meals was 33.6 percent; in contrast, the mean coefficient of variation for each child's total daily energy intake was 10.4 percent. In most cases, high energy intake at one meal was followed by low energy intake at the next meal, or vice versa.

Conclusions. Although children's food consumption is highly variable from meal to meal, daily energy intake is relatively constant, because children adjust their energy intake at successive meals.
Document Type: Article

[Lulumama]

what is baby teaa?

[Lulumama]

yes, IMO and IME that is fine

milk is the primary source of nutrition and calories for the first year, as her appetite increases and she becomes more mobile, then she will increase her intake of food and her milk intake will decrease although of course , she can still have milk past the age of one!

at a few months of age, you do not need to worry about too much water, especially with a breastfed baby as her thirst quenching drink will come from the breast too

offer milk before food to start with, offer beaker with the food and don;t panic too much about specific amounts of food and drink..

every baby has different appetites , and these can vary from day to day

as a grown up, you are hungrier on certain days.. some days you can go all day without a proper meal, other days you cannot stop eating !!

try and look at food and milk intake as a weekly average, not as a daily thing...

re going somewhere hot... i have found with both of mine, the hotter the weather, the more milk and water they will take, and the less food they will eat....