Very confused about weaning

[Queenofwean]

I know the general thought is that you don’t have to make anything special, babies can just eat what you eat (with reduced salt and no honey etc) but it’s really not working. My baby is 6.5 months and all she’s had is a tiny taste of porridge. She won’t bring the food to her mouth, she just gets annoyed. If I spoon feed her she refuses.

She is showing an interest in food and tries to grab it but then won’t eat it. So frustrating - help!

Totally normal. Touching it, playing with it etc are all steps in weaning. Babies rarely take the food, put it in their mouth, chew and swallow on first go.

Take the pressure off, offer her what you’re having and let her play with it. She’ll get there.

Thank you. I probably sound stupid but she just gets frustrated and I can’t help but think it might be easier to wait until she has some teeth? I have her a pasta piece the other day and she just got angry as she kept dropping it.

I hate weaning.

I’ve ditched the BLW and started with porridge and purées, was just a few spoonfuls to begin with and have now moved onto making my own lumpy purées as a next step, they are also enjoying yoghurt, which you could try, even if they don’t like the spoon could put some in a bowl in front of them. My baby is also 6.5 months old. It’s a total minefield.

Thanks, she’s accepted a tiny amount of porridge and a bit of an Ella’s kitchen puree but I’ve read they are sugary. (They’re also expensive of course.) And I’m not sure how to get from purées to ‘proper’ food. I do find it really challenging - finding time as well.

Just pop some finger food (from your plate) on the tray and let her play.

It can take several weeks of playing and squishing before anything actually gets eaten.

Totally fine snd totally normal.

I whizzed up whatever the rest of the family were eating, in the food processor.
As DC coped better with more lumps, I blitzed it less and less.

No need to wait for teeth.

Gums are hard enough when she does decide to put something in her mouth

I keep reading that but I tried her with apple the other day and there’s no way she’d have been able to munch that.

I may leave it until 9 months. She just doesn’t seem very happy or to be enjoying the process much.

I did it in stages. From 6-7m I used pouches but only vegetable ones from Morrisons. No ellas kitchen because they added fruit and always made them sweet. On 2-3 occasions I introduced banana for him to mush on - I would hold it while he tried it.

From 7-8m I then moved to steaming vegetables, then blending them into lumpier food. Also adding a bit of cumin or spice for different flavours. Also from about 7.5m we offered steamed carrot and broccoli as finger food for ds to try. He loved picking objects up and putting them in his mouth. The first few times he picked broccoli up and pulled a face. He improved and would start mushing it. With the carrot he would break a large piece off and then gag and eventually it would come out of his mouth. It took him multiple attempts before he started learning to move it around and start to chew. Enough to mush it a bit since it was already very soft. He would have porridge that’s lumpy in the mornings. We also offered banana several mornings a week, he would hold and eat it himself. I cut it in half then I cut half of the peel off so he hold the lower section of peel and eats the exposed banana.

From 8m I moved on to making fritters that he could hold and feed himself (blended carrot, cauliflower, broccoli with egg, flour, milk) fry them. These were soft and would break up in ds mouth after he moved it around his mouth. We also moved on to omlette, introducing egg. Again this also broke up in his mouth easily. Also offered finger food carrots, broccoli and cauliflower each meal. We also would make different blended but lumpy meals like what we were having - curry, spaghetti bolognese, etc. We introduced toast, then peanut butter.

At 9m he was able to eat finger foods. We do still spoon feed for some meals because he can’t use a spoon and I haven’t figured out how he feeds himself mash potato or rice with sauce etc. Plus we don’t want him to forget about using a spoon etc for some meals.

Hes now 10 months and doing well. We are now introducing all the different fruits. We avoided them from 6-9 months because he might only like sweet food, which is happening to a friends baby at the minute who will only take Ella’s kitchen fruit purées at 9 months old. Every baby is different though.

6 months is still very little and maybe it's too soon ? With DS1 he was ready then but for DS2 he has only really got into weaning at about 9 months. I've tried to focus on including him in family mealtimes by sitting with us at the table and trying to make it m enjoyable for everyone, rather than worrying about how much he eats etc.

I would keep offering little bits of your food, porridge, maybe plain yoghurt or a bit of weetabix with warm milk. But don't worry if no interest for a bit longer. Eventually it'll click and food isn't nutritionally necessary at this stage.

We started BLW but she wasn’t fussed (now 7months old) so went to purées…… got a bunch of longer baby sooon in Aldi’s baby event and she’s so much better with them rather than the little spoon that came with weaning set!

she’s just been having purées until last week when I made some of Joe Wicks cheese and broccoli scones and she’ll happily munch on them…. I very much doubt much is going on but she seems to be enjoying holding food and playing with it now!

I don’t have the most patience in the world but trying to find the fun in it but I completely get that it’s frustrating but keep trying and hopefully it’ll just click

Take the pressure off. This early on weaning is just a sensory experience, not necessarily sustenance. They might play with it, suck it, bite it, spit it out, squish it etc etc. It's all good. And you don't need to find extra time, just share a version of whatever you are eating for breakfast lunch or dinner - buttery toast, plain rice, plain pasta, mashed potatoes, a piece of veg they can squish (broccoli etc), a slice of fruit. I gave my son until my mealtime was over before i cleaned away. Its also a case of getting them used to the ritual of a meal time which is equally important as eating. You are doing way better than you think. And you know your baby best

Don’t let this stress you. ‘Food before one is just for fun’
my lo didn’t really become interested in food until around 8 months! I always offered her food by placing it in front of her and left her to take what she wanted. No pressure.

There’s a wonderful BLW website called solidstarts.com look them up. They are also on Instagram. I’ve included a hyperlink to their page.
good luck!
Solid starts Instagram page

Honestly, avoid turning her into a picky eater; you can do that by exposing her to many, many types of flavors and textures.

Just give her her own bowl of what you’re having and let her feed herself. She’s going to pick up on your anxiety concerning food and it’s a recipe for a struggle down the line.

Check out the videos on the page I’ve shared above. Highly recommend it; It helped me a lot as it showed me how I can give my baby her food; shared advice on how to cut foods based on age, etc. It’s one of the best sites I was recommended by another parent.

No need to mash your LO food, either. You want her brain to start mapping stuff.

If you give mashed foods, move on to solid bits soon.

She sound very young?

I seem to remember weaning only ramped up around 10/11 months really

If you haven't already, try putting an empty spoon or piece of bread in her hand while you get the spoon with food on in and out of her mouth. They like to hold something. You just want her to get the taste and sensation of the food, not focus on the spoon you're using. Sometimes they want to kind of clamp down on the spoon and suck it because that's how they're used to feeding but they're often desperate to hold it too and feed themselves, which isn't always possible at this stage, so them having something in their hand to 'use' is a semi-happy medium.

If it's a homemade meal/baby pouch and you're giving them sips of water, I personally wouldn't worry about salt and sugar levels etc at this age when they're only having a few mouthfuls.

Your post reminds me of how I was with my first - reading a lot into ingredients etc which is obviously sensible but can easily lead to needless anxiety. Runny boiled eggs, toast, Greek yoghurt, squashed berries, cucumber sticks they can suck, hummus, spoon or two of Weetabix or similar, pouch if out...these have been some of my quick weaning staples for breakfast and lunches. Then few spoons of family meal at dinner time, or something baked/boiled/steamed etc if family meal not appropriate.

They're not going to get full from their 'meals' like we do. It's a slow progression to that, so no need to feel guilty if they don't have much, it's all a bonus at this stage.

Download the Solid Starts app. It will tell you how to serve foods for all the various stages of weaning.

I felt the same frustration when I was weaning but just persevere. Don’t put pressure on. I remember commenting to another mother when she was about 10 months that I didn’t feel she was really eating anything but eventually it just clicked and really improved when she started with the childminder at 1.

At the moment just give her something once a day. If she eats, great, if not she’s meant to be getting all her needs from milk still anyway so no worries. I used to find Instagram very useful for age appropriate food and serving ideas.