Abandoning BLW - someone talk me through purees for a 7mo

[AspirationalToiletries]

• DD, 7m, started BLW just before 6m - she enjoys it but almost nothing goes in.
• I go back to work on Tuesday.
• Have done two weeks settling in at nursery. They offer her finger food but, as at home, very little goes in.
• Despite taking a bottle of EBM fine once a week from 8wks she has refused point blank to take a bottle at nursery.
• and is rubbish at taking water from a cup too.

So this could mean she gets almost nothing to eat or drink between 9am and 5pm five days a week .

I am not keen to force the bottle on her as bf has been always been a breeze and we cosleep so she gets a lot of milk at night, but I am worried about dehydration and/or low blood sugar making her stressed and grumpy during the nursery day.

Seeing her contemporaries yumming up bowls of nutritious (and hydrating) veg slop has swayed me from the path of righteousness BLW, but I cannot face lining AK or similar's pockets.

What do I have to do, oh wise MNers?

steam or boil or mash various fruits and veg and feed them to her out of a bowl, with a spoon

butternut squash, sweet potato, apple ,pear , carrots, apricots, courgette, cauliflower, avocado, banana etc

don;t be surprised if she does not eat a huge amount of puree either

By 7 months you could also be giving her a bit of baby rice in the morning (mixed with a bit of breast milk?) to fill her tum if you are worried about her during the day?

but but

how do I make her open her mouth?
and not grab the spoon by the bowl on its way to her face?
how does she know it's food?

I am a wreck, I tell you, and DH is laughing up his sleeve at my u-turn

I wouldn't start at the beginning. She already has (after a fashion) a variety of foods, and has experienced some textures.

So, I'd do something like cooking potato, carrot, whatever odd veggies you have that she likes, cut small, in a little water. Once cooked, stir in some milk and some grated cheese. Squash it up with a potato masher. Veggie slop.

Or cook some lentils in water. Add some garlic, maybe a tiny bit of ginger. Stir in plain yogurt or cream or cottage cheese. You can also cook some rice and stir that in, gives it osme body and makes the rice less likely to be sneezed over the room.

Or if you wanted to do plain veggies, just steam and blend, or get a hand mill. They say you can press through a sieve, but "they" must have stronger wrists than me.

Pudding - yogurt, steamed squashed fruit, bananas (just scrape spoonfuls off), milk puddings.

Easy once you get started.

I'm afraid I know nothing of meat.

you can;t!
she won;t eat neatly, tidily or predictably for a good while. milk is the main source of nutrition and sounds like she gets lots at night....she will eat and drink when she wants to and is hungry

that is good thinking actually nobunny...

If she doesn't want it, she won't open her mouth.

You can try a bit off her spoon and make mm mm noises, she might work out what it is.

If they all eat together at nursery she'll get it, won't she?

You just have to try it out. Don't force her. If she gags or turns away, she doesn't want it - simple as that. Very few babies will starve themselves.

I think you should have a meeting with the nursery manager a.s.a.p to tell her your concerns, and ask that your DD is regularly offered (not forced to have!) a little bit of food and a drink (just thinking that mostly nurseries stick to a meal time schedule, but I'm sure they make allowances when settling new babies in). Perhaps they could also keep a little record of what she eats and drinks to put your mind at rest? And maybe you could set a time limit - say a fortnight - by which time if she is not taking anything during the day, you could take her to the HV or GP and get some more advice? Honestly, I doubt it will be necessary, though.

See how she gets on. I know it's very worrying when you have to make that transition from knowing every single second of your child's day to handing over responsibility to someone else each day, but you will both be fine. The nursery won't let her wither away!

we did a bit of middle ground weaning, by which I mean offering lots of naturally spoonable foods, and softer finger foods. I was too nervous to go straight onto finger foods, but also a bit repulsed by purees.

Mince was great here!

Cottage pie/shepherd's pie are soft and spoonable, esp. if you chops the veg nice and small.

Also veg curry/diced chicken curry, and spicy pork with rice.

Pasta is spoonable if you use smaller shaps like macaroni (I will admit to overcooking in slightly before DD had teeth .

Also scramble egg, porridge, yoghurt, stews if everything was diced fined.

TBH, If she isn't wanting finger foods, she probably just isn't hungry!
I'd be very surprised if she went from sucking on a breadstick (or whatever you give her) to scoffing down a bowl of mashed veg.

You really must try not to worry too much, at 7months she doesn't need to eat, she just needs milk, so I'd be more concerned about getting milk into her and stop worrying about BLW/Pureeing.

you can try - but don't be surprised if she doesn't want puree either.......speaking of (current) experience with DS3.....

thing is, though, you are rather assuming that she'll have nothing between 9 and 5 more than once.
babies aren't idiots, a lot of the time they eat more/take the bottle at nursery precisely because they know that nothing else will be forthcoming.
wrt the grabbing of the spoon, that's completely normal baby behaviour tbh. there is No Way the nursery won't have seen that before and be able to deal with it. (although for a lot of people that's what actually brings them to BLW in the first place, because their baby doesn't give them a lot of choice in the matter of self-feeding).

tbh i'd give the nursery a bit more of a chance before changing anything radically.

Aitch she has gone without food/drink during all the sessions so far, including yesterday's 10-4 stint.

She'll still get finger foods at morning fruit-lump snack-time, and at teatime when everyone has sandwiches / philly on toast etc, but I think a puree lunch will assuage my worry.

Will also try milk in a free-flow beaker and an open cup in hopes.

and that's been for a fortnight, so 10 days? or did she only go in 10-4 once so far? hmmm. forget about pureeing, though, that's long past. at 6 months even the govt says mash and finger food. does she already eat mashed stuff (like mashed pots) by herself if you load up the spoon, would that help with the mouth-opening in nursery etc?
at seven months dd was drinking water out of a tealight holder, it was the perfect size at the time. she preferred that to sippy cups etc, it took her longer to get the hang of them (i persevered because of the drenchings). tbh milk is the thing, really. like i say i'd be concentrating on that to feed her and keep her hydrated at the same time. why on earth do you think she'll drink it from a bottle with you but not at nursery? could it just be she's too distracted? have you tried feeding her at nursery?

umm

she's never taken a bottle from me personally (Lure of the Nork is too strong) and DH (now) reports that 'for a while now' ie 8wks she's been a bit off with her weekly bottle while I'm at yoga - chewing the teat not sucking - so I wonder if she's off bottles full stop.

And yes a fortnight ie starting with an hour and working up - yesterday was the longest so far.

she can't feed herself with a loaded sppon yet - she grabs it by the bowl and rubs the mash through her fingers/hair/clothes delightedly but won't suck it off her hands.

I have realised I am actually really hacked off because I am lazy - BLW was letting her learn about food herself, now I have to teach her.

bugger.

ach, it can't be helped, it's just unfortunate timing and you've got to work...

2 random thoughts

have you tried a faster teat on the bottle? She may just eb getting frustrated if she can't get milk out of it as quickly as she can from you.

on the spoon feeding thing, I use two spoons - one for the baby and one for me to use. My DD can't spoon feed herself reasonably well but prefers to smear/throw/flick/bang the loaded spoon.

I went back to work at 6 months and worried myself sick as my DD was exclusively bf, couldn't be arsed with the bottle and I was only just starting to wean her. I'm lucky as the nursery is at my work, so I just pop down to feed her. Could you go to see her at lunchtime for a feed for a few weeks?

If not, I reckon yoghurt is a sure-fire winner - I sit close by and enthuse like a maddun every time she gets the spoon near her mouth. Surprisingly good hit rate and she finishes it every time. Also, keep offering a beaker/cup at home as my DD has finally got it (again, whoops of joy for encouragement seemed to do the trick!). Don't worry, she won't starve and will, over the next few weeks, start eating more there. I was convinced DD wouldn't, and she has. Good luck with the going back to work.