Too late for BLW??

[dotingnewmum]

I'd never heard of blw until i just read it on here! My dd is 8 months old and is getting fed up with the pureed stuff, she tends to refuse anything with lumps in it and mashed stuff is proving too much for her too. I have spoon fed her from day 1 of weaning a la gina ford but now she is startig to grab the spoon from me and put it in her mouth or just throwing it on the floor. I have already tried giving her soft pieces of fruit and cheese etc. but she just prominently picks it up from the tray and throws it on the floor.

Where do i start?!
Any advice would be good, thanks.

Have you tried things like sticking her puree on her tray and having a spoon each? That way she can get used to feeding herself.

Or putting pasta and sauce on the tray to play with while you spoon feed?

Does she eat things like toast or biscuits?

no haven't had the guts to put her puree on the tray yet! she will hold a crisp like a quaver and eat that and i have tried her with toast and bits of bread, she starts to put it in her mouth but it then goes on the floor. she can pick up the spoon and put it in her mouth but wont let me put any more food on it.

now i dont feel like she is getting enough food during the day as she has started to cut right back on her milk which inevitably means she is waking in the night again. I'm at my wits end! its so frustrating!

Yup it is very frustrating! Ds went from BLW to mush as he got really frustrated with his food and bored with it before he has filled up but is pretty much back to self feeding (at 15 months).

Relaxing is the key, and I know that it is hard and you worry that they are not getting enough etc and I have had many frustrated mealtimes and lost my cool over it far too many times.

If you have 2 or more spoons then you can keep handing her a full one, and if you brave puree on the tray she may well learn to spoon it herself very quickly, or just use hands

Oranges are great as fruit as they can just suck the juice and spit out the skin, and banana of course as it is pretty much mush anyway.

We found that ds much prefered things that were nice and moist, so spag bol or macaroni cheese...or anything pasta and saucy! Also fish pie, he didn't much like meat and veg type meals. I'd say that if she has some faves don't worry about her only eating those for a while, tis all about enjoying food after all. But just give her control over her food and spoons if that is what she wants.

Ds has recently decided he wants his food in a bowl Took a few days of utter tantrums as soon as I tried to put him in the highchair to work it out

thanks indith, i gave her spag bol tonight for tea and just put it on the tray. she ate some of it, i offered it pureed too and again she hardly touched it. i decided not to offer anything else, i thought if she's hungary she'll pick it up and eat it! what a mess though!

thanks anyway, i will just have to persevere!

Just bin the pureed foods - she'll do better on finger foods.

When my DSs were young (long long time ago) we just did mush at 4 months (eeek!!)

They weren't good eaters - possibly too young eh? But I did find that smearing their mush onto toast (at about 7 month plus I hasten to add) helped it go down and less messy than spoon method. Or let them use toast and mush as a "dip".

Hi there saw your message and i think the key is as Indith says in relaxing which is very hard when we often focus on weaning as being about nutrition and we worry about quantity when in fact its all about learning for your little one. It sounds from all the things you describe these are normal and expected reactions as part of that exploratory behaviour. To answer your initial question i dont think its ever too late to consider at least the principles of baby led weaning.

One of the key features in BLW is that babies use the same skills as they use in play so no surprise that food flies as do cutlery. I think thats good. The problem many of us have is the mess ...i'm afraid its inevitable and important that your baby learns that mess is healthy and even fun. If mess is an issue you can always cover the floor with plastic to reduce the anxiety about it.

Also a key feature for baby led weaning is learning from you and your family so important to eat meals together while baby tries out hand held foods at same time. She will watch and explore and to begin with drop throw spit out but with perseverence she will learn from your example. Also eating together means you are distracted with eating your own meal so less able to worry about stepping in and trying to assist the baby so meal times are hopefully more enjoyable and less of a source of anxiety. Well thats the idea.

Regarding her refusing being spoonfed i think she might want to be feeding herself. Small pots of yoghurt are good for trying giving her a spoon and having one yourself then if she can hold pot letting her try ....yes you guessed it more mess she might even after a few spoons accept some from you.

hope these points help and good luck. john

thanks for all the advice. dd is doing a bit better now, starting to take lumpy food though for some reason still refusing mash . I have been giving her lots of finger food, she is still throwing it on the floor but at least she is starting to learn that it goes in her mouth first, she keeps trying to put it in my mouth too! well at least we are getting somewhere. So i think i will try a bit of both, have been giving her the spoon when we are getting towards the end of the meal so more gets in her mouth but she is still getting practice at feeding herself. Its just the mess I have to put up with now!

thanks again everyone

Now you see, throwing things on the floor is a very important eye test. They are learning about depth perception. It also teaches them about gravity. Unfortunately that doesn't help them to eat!

Just thought, have you tried having a picnic? Doesn't matter where, living room floor will do. Sometimes they will eat better somewhere else.