7 month old slow with weaning

[GeorgesMummy5224]

My boy is 7 month old next week and weaning is going a little slower than I would have liked.

He absolutely loves yogurt and anything smooth (Ella's kitchen pouches and jars) but I'd ideally like to do baby led weaning but he doesn't really show any interest in picking up food and putting it in his mouth.

If we pass it to him and put it to his mouth he will try it but just putting it in front of him he's not really interested.

He's also struggling with textures. I tried him with rusk mixed with his milk this morning and he did have some but wasn't overly fussed. He has eaten it before a few weeks ago but then started teething and now isn't really bothered. Pretty sure he is still teething and still being fussy with bottles.

Any tips to get past this? Do I just persevere? I feel like we've stalled and I don't know how to move forward.

If he's teething it sounds pretty normal, in fact if his gums are bothering him I'm surprised he's eating anything at all

Could you try him with some chunks of cool cucumber to gnaw on?

What pain relief are you giving? If it's Calpol you might want to swap to Ibruprofen as it's much better for dental pain.

Why do you need to push baby lead weaning onto him? Just puree food, it takes 30 seconds. My second child was the same, ate mostly puréed food until about 10months. Personally I dislike baby led weaning for a number of reasons incl safety.
7m is still super young, you haven’t stalled, it’s new for baby, just be patient and offer different flavours.

Rusks and jars are also unhealthy and not needed at this age. Steam some veg and fruit and pureé it. Get a steamer/blender, they cost very little second hand and it’s very little work.

They're not great but I did use them for a while with my first.

I didn't realise at the time that even the low sugar rusks are a third pure sugar and the jars of baby food are so high in water content and low on nutritional value.

What I did know though was that I was a Mum absolutely on her knees with sleep deprivation and it was the only way I could feed my first without having a full breakdown.

Persevere. Keep offering both jars and finger food and he’ll get there.

I completely agree with this! I struggle with anxiety quite bad and on bad days the pouches have been my saviour when I've felt so disheartened and down it makes me so happy when he does eat something

Try not to worry. My DS was exactly like this. I remember being so worried because the info leaflet I was given by the HV said that from age six months you should introduce finger foods. He was just not interested in them and did not want to try a single finger food I offered until he hit 10 months. He loved purees though and enjoyed practising using his spoon to eat them. I learnt to take his lead and focused on the purees and worked to add more texture until he eventually worked up to mashed food and then eventually he was eating regular family meals just cut up into small pieces. Don't give yourself a hard time about using pouches either. Some on here have very strong opinions on them but in reality most parents I know used them.

Pouches are fine. Especially if it means he eats something.

I have been making my own purees, it hasn't been completely pouches and jars. He has had finger food but hasn't really shown much interest.

I don't want to push him into baby led weaning. A few months ago he had a slight bottle aversion, inadvertently caused by us pressuring him to drink without realising after his jabs because we just wanted what was best for him. I struggle with anxiety and I have been so scared of it happening again and pushing him too much that he starts to reject food altogether.

Neither DS1 nor DS2 was eating at that age. There was a great deal of food being dropped on the floor. Or mushed in their hair. Or ignored. Both eat well now (11 and 8) and have done since about 11 months.

The advice I always give anyone about weaning is Do Not Stress About It.

It seems so slow at the beginning but they all get there in their own time. They are still getting everything they need from milk at this age, they are just slowly building up the skills they need to eat.

With my first DS I stressed about it and there was no point as it didn’t make him eat more! My second DS is 7 months now and I’m taking a much more laid back approach. Once or twice a day I’ll offer him something that I’m having - like a cucumber stick or bit of toast. And then once a day I’ll spoon feed him something that will actually fill him up a bit like baby rice/ puréed veg etc. Sometimes he doesn’t have any of it.. it doesn’t matter though.

@GeorgesMummy5224 BLW is exactly what it says. It's taking your baby's lead and if your baby is enjoying being fed by you and isn't that interested in finger foods then that is BLW

You can keep offering the finger foods, a bit of grated cheese, some leftover steamed veg from your dinner, a bit of omelette if you're having one but don't stress if he's not interested

Just keep offering different things, food is for learning and play below 1 so it doesn’t really matter what they eat. I’d really avoid the rusks, and pre made jars and pouches though, they’re mostly ultra processed and full of sugar and water. Trying boiling some veg then mashing up with some butter.

Thank you 😊 Your kind words have made me feel a little better. I'm trying my best not to stress about it but I am that sort of person 😔

Just to clear things up - I don't just give him pouches, jars etc. I do make my own purees as well.

The rusk this morning was mainly because we didn't have anything else really to offer for breakfast until I went shopping.

Thank you 😊 Your kind words have made me feel a little better. I'm trying my best not to stress about it but I am that sort of person.
That's ok but I really would recommend getting some help for your anxiety. It should make parenting so much more enjoyable for you

My youngest ds was absolutely uninterested in solids until 8.5m. Just like the OP's, he would enjoy some thicker-textured milky foods spooned into his mouth, but was not particularly interested in them, and was utterly uninterested in anything else (other than boob). I just kept offering, putting a bit of whatever we were eating on the tray in front of him. One day he picked something up and ate it, and never looked back. He's now 6'3", so I don't think late-ish weaning held him back.

His older sister was grabbing food off my plate at 5m - while the advice then was to wait until 6m before weaning onto purees. 🤷🏻‍♀️

I have started some anti-anxiety meds 3 weeks ago but they haven't quite taken full effect yet, but I am better than I was 😊

I'm trying my best not to stress about it but I am that sort of person

Oh, I get you. I was so glad that ds was not my first - I would have been consumed with anxiety over his refusal to eat solids. Having weaned other children, and seen the range of their behaviours, as well as the constant changes in advice from professionals, gave me the perspective not to worry. And to trust my judgement that ds was healthy.

Baby drinking, peeing, pooing, sleeping, babbling, curious, engaged? Meeting other developmental milestones? Then he's OK and you're OK.

Thank you 😊 Yes he seems to be doing okay in every other way, other than a monkey with bottles with his teeth 😂

Baby drinking, peeing, pooing, sleeping, babbling, curious, engaged? Meeting other developmental milestones? Then he's OK and you're OK.

If you remember one thing from this thread OP make it this ^

We're at 7 months and it's only been a month but already been so up and down!
First ten days or so went well and little one was gobbling purées. Then suddenly decreased and had 2/3 days of absolute refusal. Back to eating 6/7 spoonfuls twice a day.
Refusing finger foods except for big juicy fruit pieces (watermelon, orange segments etc).

I was sooo excited for this stage and especially as she loved it for the first two weeks or so. Then I was disappointed at how slowly we're progressing but realised it's all okay!! I think social media skewed my expectations because I see many videos of 7-8 Month olds self feeding huge meals! Have to remember this isn't the norm and nobody is posting videos of their babies who don't eat 🫣

Let's try and enjoy the journey as best we can 🥰

You have just described our situation pretty much to a tee!

Today we had a pretty good day food wise, but he has been an absolute devil with his bedtime bottle! Although I think his teeth are causing him some bother too.

Things can only get better!

Just to add. I know you mentioned your little one likes the Ella's kitchen purees. My DS loved the sweet potato one. When I wanted him to get used to more texture I found it worked a treat to add it to spaghetti or rice. Also, at this age I found DS became very hit and miss with his bottles and started to reduce how much he wanted at bedtime. But as I think another poster mentioned, as long as you are getting lots of full nappies they are getting what they need!