What do you do if your BLW is getting frustrated with the speed at which it can feed itself??

[Thankyouandgoodnight]

ie baby gets frustrated / fed up to the point of stopping the meal even though he hasn't had much to eat? I tried feeding him the pasta dish tonight and he ate so much - more than he's ever managed to feed himself. What do you do?

oh. he's 6.75 months and has been on solids for 3 weeks.

When DS is really frustrated or tired we'll occasionally chop the meal up a bit, load up a spoon and hand it to him. He's still in control but he can be a bit lazier!

Are you giving him a milk feed within an hour before his meals? That really really helps.

at that age though, I wouldn't worry. He can fill himself up on milk.

at that age we used to offer something easy like yoghurt for a minute and DS would often go back to his own meal.

yes he has milk about an hour before - it's when the meal is slightly tricky to pick up that it all goes wrong e.g. rice dishes etc even though i throw cheese in to it to make it sticky. or noodles that seem to slip out of his grasp at the critical moment . I bring out strawberries / peach etc to try and spur him on but that just distracts the 2 year old .

but of course he ate more, you were feeding it to him.
rice dishes are tricky at that age, so i'dmake suethat the veg is super easy, to compensate. rermember that 'spurring on' kinda misses the point of blw, if he's hungry give him more milk and let him explore the food.

oh my goodness me - and last night he woke ONCE instead of the usual 3-6 times

I would feed him! Yes, that is not the spirit of BLW but sometimes you need to make sure they get some food in.

you what? tortilla that is such a daft thing to say. it's not just 'not in the spirit', it's completely against the spirit of BLW.

feed your baby how you want, Thankyouandgoodnight, of course. and it would be great if there was a connection to his having eaten loads and sleeping (for us it was the absolute opposite, i'd have to say). so long as you're both happy doing what you're doing, there can't be a problem.

Last night he woke twice which is still so much better than before and I had to wake him at 7:45am!! Interestingly, I found myself at dinner time yesterday, for the first time ever with my two kids I must say, anxious that he had had enough to eat. It completely changed my mindset and I don't think it was enjoyable for either of us. No mroe i say - I will revert back to my 'they eat if they're hungry and not if they're not'. He's actually perfectly able to feed himself and I will just make sure that the meals I offer are very easy to pick up - which will solve the dilemma entirely

oh that IS interesting, isn't it? i imagine it must be very easy to start worrying about all that stuff, but you're right it probably does indicate that you're taking some control away there. (which is fine if you want to, needless to say, that's what we do as parents all the time).
little swine, though, sleeping away... fingers crossed it's a developmental thing and here to stay, 3-6 times must be wearing.

Aitch - I absolutely agree with you that it's against BLW but sometimes you do need to make sure your baby eats. if either they are too eager but can't handle it or are perfectly able but prefer with the food. I don't mean force feeding, but a few mouthfuls shouldn't be a problem if your LO accepts it. Of course, the ideal is to offer foods easy to handle and at nearly 7 months they don't need much. However, if their weight gain is affected, then you shouldn't feel bad about giving them some food straight to their mouths.

Well, thankyouandgoodnight I hope it gets better if you offer easy to hold foods.

sorry I meant prefer to play with the food.

"...but sometimes you do need to make sure your baby eats"

but really that's completely the point... not making sure your baby eats, but allowing your baby to get the calories he or she needs in order to grow. iykwim? and milk will most likely be the most efficient source of calories at this point.

I see what you mean Aitch, I'm just being a bit pessimistic because my DD hasn't put on much weight in the last few months. She's over a year old, so technically she does need to get more solids in.

I have been very keen on BLW and have got into a lot of arguments with DH and PILs because of that. But her lack of weight gain has made me wonder if I should have done something about it a bit earlier. The WHO has recommendations about the quantities that babies should be eating here and mine is nowhere near. She's got a very good pincer grip and hand to mouth coordination thou and can handle fork and spoon better than any other dc I know .

Well, he managed to stuff a side plate heaped full of shepherd's pie in to his mouth, followed by half a peach and some pineapple. I didn't go near him. He then proceeded to drain both boobs .

I completely agree with them controlling their calorific intake but I realise that it's up to me to provide food in a form that he can manage. No point leaving the poor blighter to struggle with a bowl of clear soup for example

that's great, thankyouag.

i don't know if this will be helpful, tortilla, but when dd1 turned one i expected some great upsurge in her eating and it just didn't happen. cue an 'erk'. anyway, i'm too lazy really to start worryinig about these things and so we just kept doing what we were doing. i don't think she dropped a bottle until she was aa good fourteen months, and then things picked up again, food-wise.

i'll try to find you the thread where someone posted those WHO recommendations, btw. the general MN consensus was that it was quite a lot of food...

actually, lol, have just looked at this again...

"12?23 months Family foods, chopped or mashed if necessary 3?4 meals per day, plus breastfeeds

Depending on the child's appetite, 1?2 snacks may be offered

meal size; ¾ to full 250 ml cup/bowl

Note: If baby is not breastfed, give in addition: 1?2 cups of milk per day, and 1?2 extra meals per day. "

OH MY GOD. dd was formula fed, so that means that she should have been on as much as 6 MEALS of 250ml bowl volume (a litre and a half of FOOD), PLUS 2 snacks and 2 cups of milk.

in actual fact, she was on 6 bottles until 14 mos and ate what she liked. truly, she's 3 now, quite normal in her likes and dislikes, eats well and has a very normal relationship with food. i'm glad i wasn't trying to cram that much into her.

(although i do note that the page actually says 'offer'. how you can put 'offer' and then print such clear, measured guidelines... impossible not to throw mothers into a panic. i'm just glad i never saw it. )

He's very very little. I am all for helping them if they seem to be stuck, but he really will be getting most of what he needs from milk. If you want to do it a different way, cool. They do eat more when you feed them, even my 5 year old eats more when I feed him but that doesn't mean he needs/particularly wants it. If someone's putting food towards your mouth it's easier to open than keep it closed. I sort of blwed ds2, but if he was taking ages, or4 we were out, or if I was simply fed up of doing it, I fed him. I think the mixed approach is fine.

The only time I hate to see babies being fed is when they are either being force fed or are getting their face wiped after every mouthfull and they aren't allowed to touch their food! Otherwise, do what you like, it's your life, you are the one who has to clean up and you are the one who has to get up in the night if baby is still hungry!