Been weaning my son since he was 5.5 months as he was showing all the signs of readiness. It’s always been a bit of a struggle but has had the odd week where he’s been great and eaten plenty. We started with a mix of spoon feeding and finger foods. This last week has been such a struggle. With finger foods he will maybe have a bite or so before throwing it and loses interest quickly. He has always struggled with toast and even the soft bread I tried once. He doesn’t have teeth. Hell be fine eating purées and yoghurts /soft desserts but struggles with texture. I don’t force feed him but I do put a lot of effort into it for example singing, eating the food myself, making train noises etc which lead to him opening his mouth for food. He has also been gagging a lot and bringing up food even purées and I don’t feel like I feed him large spoonfuls. He does keep food in his mouth for a while and doesn’t do much with it.
I just feel sad for him as he looks so uncomfortable eating, kicking his legs about despite having a foot rest, making uncomfortable noises etc.
Hes breast fed 6-8x a day and even 2-3 of those feeds he’s not really interested in. He’s also only fed single sided his whole life.
I haven’t weighed him in a while but he was around the 25th centile last time I checked.
Any advice on what I should do/anything that can help?
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Weaning
8 month old struggles with food
Chocolat · 07/12/2023 16:30
Younghearts · 08/12/2023 13:54
I have an almost 8 month old who sounds similar to your son. He loves his yogurts, fruit purées and puddings but refuses savoury purées, lumpy purées etc.
Finger foods are hit and miss and he usually doesn’t even pick it up from his plate / tray.
It’s hard not to compare him to other babies his age or younger. A friends baby eats a lot more than my son and he’s 6 months.
I would remove all pressures and external distractions like train noises, signing etc as baby is only opening his mouth due to being distracted and doesn’t actually want the food.
I myself have realised I subtly pressure baby and I’ve decided to step right back.
I would say just keep offering purées he likes and once a day put some finger food on a tray and see what he does with it. One day he will get it. Babies don’t need food until they’re 1 really, some babies don’t even have any interest until older.
I always remind myself that when he’s a bit older he will be eating me out of house and home. He is still so little x
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