Weaning onto solids going wrong after only a week!

[littlepig]

I started weaning my 5 month old ds last week and he happily took baby rice, pureed carrot, butternut squash, courgette and pear (the latter three with an initial grimace, admittedly). He loved the mashed banana he got on Monday but he has refused to eat the last few days with an impressive display of disgust on tasting the food

He's also now constipated - from 2-3 times a day to 5 days before his last one and now 2 days and counting.
Anyone got any suggestions?

Stop and start again later when he'll be more ready for it!

He seemed pretty ready before - constantly watching and drooling when we eat and drink, getting hungrier etc and he tucked in with gusto before!

Do you mean more physically ready ie when it doesn't bung him up?

I gave him some Calpol this morning after he rejected his food and he couldn't take it quick enough (wondered if teething is affecting him) and this is partly why I wonder if it's just the taste...

Littlepig: Take it easy and slowly. Babies get their nutrition from milk. There are far less calories in the most calorific food than in milk, which is why milk is a far superior food if the baby is hungrier.

They're guts are not guaranteed to be ready for solids until 6 months, and starting before this CAN increase likliness of allergies.

However, if you have made the decision to start, then do so in a relaxed way. Try food but don't force or get stressed. Think of it more as an experience. They get to taste the texture and flavours for 'fun' and out of interest, - NOT for nutrition!

He was probably ready for the taste but his digestivesystem may not be & he is probably not impressed with the constipation!
Give it another week or so and try again, as many fluids as possible will help too

That's what I was wondering about... that or pureed apricots tomorrow

Fortunately he is still very pleased with himself when drinking from his cup even though he wouldn't touch water from a bottle before... though I'm not sure that a useful amount of the water gets down his throat just yet.

He has always had a good breastfeed after taking or refusing his solids (and whenever else he wants come to that) so I'm not sure I can get much more in the way of fluid into him.

Little pig - pears actually slow down transit in the gut and bananas are notorious for making my lo bunged up.

def treat it as CW says - as an experience. My lo is nearly 7 months and has been weaned for 1.5 months and still has days were he won't really take a lot, esp when he's teething. I used to get quite frustrated about it until I realised that weaning is a 6 month process so there's no point in trying to force the issue. Just keep offering the food and he'll get there in the end.

As for water. I had the same prob in that my lo wouldn't take it for a while and has only started taking sips now. The hv told me not to worry and that babies don't really need water (esp bf babies) and they will drink when they're thirsty. Again just keep offering it, even a few sips can make a big difference.

I agree with everything that's been posted so far- the temptation is to rush it, as you feel like they should be 'on solids' but you really do have 6 months to make the transition.

Having said that, I had a similar problem with refusal by my DS (not constipation, though). I didn't like the idea of having to persuade him to eat so I changed to baby led weaning which has been an enormous success and we haven't looked back. But he still has days of hardly eating at 9 mo.

You must do what you think is right for you and your baby, though- horses for courses and all that.

I'm not worried about rushing him into it - I want him to enjoy food (I do - too much )

My concern about the food refusal was

1. that there was something wrong (like constipation) making him reluctant to eat what he previously took fairly enthusiastically after the initial shock of a new taste
2. that the introduction of something as sweet as banana, which he loved, had made him unhappy with the vegetables. If this is it I was hoping for some ideas of other things he might like
3. that he might be teething (and I still suspect this is maybe influencing things), in which case I'll just keep offering the same sort of stuff and he can take it when he's ready.

The problem with constipation (still no joy today!) is that there is a bit of conflicting advice. I realsied too late about the banana and won't make that mistake again. I've read a couple of places that pear is a good thing to give though.

Today he took some baby porridge with possibly more enthusiasm than the banana, which I hope means that he just needs a more gradual introduction to the tastes and with any luck this should help with his bowels too

Stop for a little while and start again. At such a young age they don't actually get much nutrition out of it - all they really need is milk. It's all about tastes and textures and introducing the concept of food, so if he's not enjoying it and is constipated it, better to drop the weaning for a while, I say.

But he loved the porridge today and objected vociferously when it was finished... now what!?

Little bits fine when he looks like he wants it but increase amounts really s - l - o - w - l - y.
Try peaches/nectarines/mangoes to get the bowels going! Good luck

How about this for an idea - offer him food and if he wants it, great. If he doesn't want it, great. He is 5 months old and his nutritional needs are met by milk. He knows his appetite more than you do and he is going to be like this for the whole rest of his life, in that some days he wants to eat a lot and others he wants next to nothing. You really are worrying about this far too much, which I can understand (and have been there) but you need to step back from the worry and anxiety or you will begin projecting it onto him. It matters not a jot whether he eats his 'dinner' today or tomorrow or the next day.

I know that sounds mean, I didn't intend it to, but I could have done with a stiff talking to of this nature when my Ds was 8 months (not eats like a vegetarian wolf)

If he's happy to eat the puree porridge it maybe that he can't handle the array of tastes you're giving him so slow down abit. Someone told me that babies should have one food for 3 days before trying something else. IYKWIM.
Same person also said to make sure that they're not starving when you offer the food so try giving him a couple of mouthfuls of milk before starting on the solids.

Also - With DD we just gave her one meal a day (we only started weaning early cos it was suggested it may stop her throwing up so much) Now I give her whole things and allow to just suck, chew or swallow as she wants.

Babies should get most of their nutrition from milk anyway so don't drop a milk in favor of solids.

Apologies if any of it has already been said and good luck!

I was giving him two days in a row of the same thing (except the baby rice - that was three days). Again there is conflicting advice about this as a lot of people say 2-3 days of one thing before adding the next and others suggest giving lots of flavours quite quickly. As I said, I went for every couple of days as he seemed to be taking it very much in his stride.

I have only been giving him one meal a day and I have been offering him water (which he mainly likes to play with!) and always give a breast feed straight after his purees. I've been feeding him as usual and giving him food in between his morning feeds (as suggested by the HV).

I think what I'm going to do is stop for a few days until his bowel habit has settled again and then restart with some porridge for a couple of days, then mix some fruit puree into the porridge for a few more and then take it from there.

I think I'll also have to restrict the amount that I give him as if he is going to take any he wants the lot... now! If he wants it, I've been giving it (as per 'baby knows his own appetite') but if I make less I can't be tempted to give him a big portion.

Littlepig - DD has however much she wants. I got those hipp jars and she has 1/2 to 2/3 of it. If she doesn't want it she won't have it.

I used to feed her 9oz bottles 5/6 times a day but since she's started proper food she's just having 5 8oz bottles and 2 food in between.

Good luck with everything and I hope it works better in a couple of days!

Cheers Lucky...hope it's only a few days til he's ready to try again or he might explode!

DD used to get constipated when she was on 2nd milk (I know its different with formula etc) Just an idea but do you think that you're eating something that could have gone through you and constipated him?

I don't know enough about BFing to know myself which is why I just said it as a thought.

I don't think so - I've never really come across anything that seemed to pass onto him although I know other people feel that there are things that affect their LOs. Even at that, there was nothing new in my diet last week but good thought.