When did your BLW babies start eating discernible amounts?!

[sparkle12mar08]

DS2 is 9 months and is being (mostly - I know, I know) blw'd and seems to eat v v little indeed. I think I may yet need to perfect my timing in offering the solids, but he seems to eat the first mouthful and then that's it. It's like he loses interest or the one mouthful is for the novelty factor. We offer food three to four times a day (whenever we eat) but the times vary, and often ends up being just after a bfeed which obviously compounds the problem. So he manages only 3-4 single mouthfuls of food a day unless I offer a puree which very occasionaly gets me another 2-3 mouthfuls. He seems perfectly happy with this arrangement (I've just answered my own doubts, haven't I?!) However he still wakes twice a night on average for a feed, though they do seems to be getting shorter.

The reason I ask is that I had a horrid time emotionally in weaning (standard AK method) ds1, it was stressful beyond belief for me and I hated it. So far I've been incredibly relaxed about ds2 but I can feel those old demons coming back again. It's not helped by the fact that friends who are also weaning seem to have very big eaters and we've got our 9 month HV check next week. We're also having big food refusal problems with ds1 (2.9) who would happily eat nothing but breakfast cereal 3 time a day if allowed.

So come, throw a dog a bone, I can't be the only one

Bumping for the morning crowd x

I BLW my daughter and she only really started eating properly around the twelve month stage. She was rubbish at eating until then, and I despaired. I occasionally cracked and tried to spoon stuff in but she'd take one mouthful and refuse that too. We had very occasional things that she'd lay into (occasionally she'd eat a whole breadstick) but it was incredibly slow going and incredibly demoralising at the time.

The fact is, they don't need that much food until they're a year old, or so, and milk does remain their primary source of nutrition until that point. When I got to around the nine or ten month stage, I just decided to stop worrying, and eventually she came around to it. She is now (at 16months) generally a very good eater and will try almost anything. I really regret stressing about this now, because I honestly don't think you can force them to eat, and you just have to wait until they are ready. If I were doing it again I would just not worry.

Hope this helps. The thing to remember, I think (and I'm sure you do) is that all babies are different. These nine month checks and HVs in general make too few allowances for that fact, though. That said, as long as your baby isn't losing weight, and is healthy, there's nothing they can say or do, anyway.

And I wouldn't worry too much about the night feeds. I started to discourage them around nine or ten months, baby stopped having them, but her daytime appetite didn't decrease especially - I think they just get into the habit of them.

Hope you feel better about it soon. It's a difficult thing, and I got so stressed about it, so I can totally understand.

I meant increase, not decrease, sorry.

And it really didn't increase at all, even with the night feeds gone.

Having the same problem, only DS is only 6 months old. He's now started to cry before and after his milk feeds and scream if the bottle is taken from him half way through his feed. This has just started in the last week or two. Given this noticeable increased hunger (he grabs the bottle the minute he sees it and doesn't stop til finished, whereas before he would fuss), I thought I'd try solids. He wouldn't open his mouth by himself, so I'd make him laugh and then shove the food in. He's fine with that and eats what I shove in, but should I be doing this? I'm not sure if I should just wait til he opens his mouth of his own accord specificaly to eat the food. Maybe he wants food but doesn't know that what's on the spoon IS food.

Everything that passes his mouth (apart from the spoon with food) he grabs and tries to eat. If my hand goes near his mouth he opens his mouth and tries to eat my hand. He chews on stuff all the time, so I'm so surprised he doesn't do this with the spoon with food on the end.

Don't their iron stores deplete by 6 months? How will they get the right nutrients without solids? I'm trying not to worry, but he's not putting on weight (well maybe 1 or 2 oz a week max).

I'm confused. Should I stop for a few days and then try again. Should I increase the amount of milk to meet his needs in the meantime? or will he then never ask for solids.

DS started to eat more when he got his pincer grip, whenever that was (I can't remember when but it was an average age for getting it!) He could then pick up pasta which is Food From Heaven as far as he's concerned and once they can deal with fusilli you can get all sorts of stuff into them. If it helps you relax about food then it might help to realise/remember that if your baby has never slept through then food will probably make no difference to sleeping - not sure if that helps you or not

Tracey, no their iron stores don't deplete, they start to deplete. But if you're bfing then they still get a lot of iron from that (there's not a lot of iron in breastmilk but what there is is very well-absorbed) and i think there is enough iron in formula, so I don't think it's much of a problem either way, really.

DD was 13 months before she started eating more than a few mouthfuls

sparkle - sounds like your DS is doing fine. My DD is also 9 months. Some days she eats a few bits, the next day she doesn't eat much at all. He'll let you know if he's hungry. I think waking twice a night at 9 months is normal too especially for bf babies. DD has only stopped this in the last couple of weeks and now wakes once, or sometimes not at all! Try not to compare with friends, it doesn't matter, as long as your DS seems happy, and as you say, you are obviously less stressed out than doing things the AK way!

Tracy - maybe you could try giving him some soft finger foods then he can stick them in his mouth himself. Maybe he is unsure of the approaching spoon!!!

Their iron stores only START to deplete at 6 months and it takes months so don't worry, they continue to get the nutrients they need from breastmilk or formula as it will take a while for them to get established on solids.

You could try keep trying solids when you are also having your meals then he can join in if he wants, but if he seems hungry just offer him more milk, as if he's hungry, first foods ar unlikely to satisfy him.

Good luck!