BLW - it was definitely fun, now he's nearly one, so, erm, ... NOW WHAT?!

[PhDlifeNeedsaNewLife]

Ds is 11.5m and has been blw since 6m; he was exclusively bf til then and still bfing lots. And when I say lots, I mean 2-3x a day and up to 3-4x a night. (Please don't say "it's just for comfort", as he is clearly genuinely hungry.)

He's been on 3 meals a day for a while now but they are very small meals. For breakfast for instance he will have maybe 4 baby spoons of porridge and 1-2 slices of peach - obviously not all of this goes in! For dinner tonight he had some bread and peanut butter (about 1/4 a slice), some of our dinner: meat, potatoes, carrots, broccoli, some apple and 2 spoons of yoghurt. Just very small portions, eg. 1-2 florets of broccoli, 1-2 bits of meat the size of a carrot slice.

He likes food, he just seems to lose interest fairly quickly, soon as the edge is off iykwim.

He's not really gaining any weight but he's happy and looks like a buddha so I'm not terribly worried, I just wondered if this is on course or not? I can't for the life of me see the gradual dropping of feeds...

Also, should I be giving him cow's milk to drink yet? He has water but doesn't do much snacking.

Just wondered if that was about normal, I don't know any other lo's this age in rl!

Does he lose interest because he's got better things to do? when my 1yo DD first learnt to cruise at 11mo, she was obsessed. for the first time since weaning, she became less interested in food. instead of sitting up for meals I let her have bowls of chopped fruit/breadsticks/soldiers whilst marauding around the flat, and she ate loads.

(novelty of cruising has now worn off, and her usual mammoth appetite is back .)

well he certainly brightens up when I take him out and it's time for hand-washing! and drying! and changing! and playing!

I do sometimes feed him bits of my snacks while he's playing. Wouldn't say he eats loads though, just the usually 3-4nibbles. I find whole breadsticks all around the joint. Sometimes he eats bits of veg/fruit while hanging on my leg helping me cook dinner though.

bump

seeing as I WISH he'd eaten 4 spoons of porridge today...

Not done BLW, but strikes me that if I had had 3-4 good drinks at night, I wouldn't be up for eating much at breakfast time either. Same goes during the day. Plus distraction is always a big problem once the edge has gone off the hunger. Not a problem as such. I guess it's just up to you whether you would prefer him to be having less milk and more solids, or are happy to leave things are they are. I shouldn't worry to much if you are both happy, but if you leave things as they are I would probably avoid all medically trained personnel unless you want to be beaten over the head with a weaning spoon!

Would also second that snacks can be useful. Mine eats loads of breakfast, and very recently a good tea, but lunch is always a bit hit and miss although snacks are always well received.

thanks Arriety

hadn't thought of night feeds putting him off his brekky - certainly never had that effect on me

he's usually pretty good with lunch and dinner (if he's not too tired by then)

No advice, but just to say that your post described my 11 mo DD exactly. She's active, alert, happy, 'talks' away all the time - I figure I'm not going to worry. Main thing for me is that she CAN eat, i.e. has figured out how - just not terribly interested. Btw, I've tried reducing her milk for a while (she's bf and feeds frequently day and night) and it made no difference.

lol, i posted on the blog about the exact same thing. for me there was no change in her milk habits until 13 months when she suddenly dropped feeds left, right and centre and upped her food intake.

ok, thanks both - was just having one of those moments you get after reading a Certain Book about feeding your toddler. Should've known better, lord knows there were enough bloopers to suggest she didn't really know what she was talking about.

DD is 17 months and we BLW'ed. She now doesn't bother to eat hardly anything. It's fine. She's still drinking tons of milk. Remember the weight gain between one and two years is tiny - they actually don't need to eat that much because there is a lot of growth but not a lot of weight gain.

Oh and expect some generic weirdness over favourite foods on the horizon. DD loved bread but now hates it, but she will eat homemade stuffing and bolognaise till it's coming out of her ears.

thanks for the warning.

hi phd
just getting on this thread with the-boy-who-does-not-eat
(unless it's on the floor, 4 days old, and of questionable origin)

spb, yours too??

mine is particularly fond of carrot peelings

T likes regurgitated offerings
Hopefully originally eaten by him

lol, yes.

and after chucking his whole lunch over the side of the highchair, I take him and wash him, bring him back and he's like, "ooooh, floor-lunch, my favorite!"