Day 5 of weaning, and day 3 of tears...

[Hopefully]

DS seemed to love the picking up food and stuffing it in (no swallowing really, a bit of gagging, but fairly relaxed) when we first tried on Monday, but by Wednesday he was getting stressed within a few minutes, and today he barely managed to sit in the chair for 2 minutes before getting hysterical.

I'm wondering whether he's getting frustrated or what, but it's awful watching him get so upset.

I'm a recent convert to the concept of BLW, always planned to do purees, and now I'm wondering whether they'd be better after all (which would be v galling, as I had a mahoosive row with my mother the other day about deciding not to do purees).

Any ideas how I can help him? Or should I just go on to purees? Anyone else have anything similar?

Don't make a big deal out of food. Seriously, just sit him at the table with you whenever you eat and give him a toy to play with to get him over whatever has upset him. Then start giving him food too - but don't make it a special thing, just something extra to play with. When he's had enough, then stop. He doens't have to have to have food every day, or regularly, yet, if he's still bfed on demand. Remember - food is just for fun until he's one!

Really important that he's not hungry for meals at this stage.

maybe he's tired. can you try a bit earlier? I believe it is helpful to have regular mealtimes, but if he's getting stressed, then maybe you can leave it for a few days.

I always thought that regular mealtimes are more important later when they have started to make the connection between food and hunger.

If he doesn't like sitting in his highchair, could you let him sit on your lap? Or as others have said, change the time, perhaps for a few days make meals like spaghetti bolognaise or something cooked v. slowly so you have a window of time where you can wait until he is in an inquisitive/fairly happy mood and then just serve up and eat?

Or just leave it for a few days and try again - he won't starve

Occasinally when I started BLW my DS he would start crying and getting upset (usually if he was tired), I would just take him out and put him on my lap and let him eat from there. yes it was very messy and we both needed baths afterwards but he now 5 weeks later is quite happy to sit in his highchair and munch away.

I actually found the lap worse than the highchair. Perhaps because I can't sit in front of him and pull stupid faces to cheer him up!

Tired is possible, but I did give him lunch super early today to try to counteract that. I might try abandoning lunch for now and trying breakfast though - he's usually at his most chirpy at about 8am

Will also make sure that I'm not pressuring the food thing - possibly after the first 2 days of success I got a bit overexcited and expected too much from him.

At least I'm not seeing my mother for a few weeks so I can just lie about how much he's eating!

Am nearly 3 months into BLW and had a similar experience to you, my DS isnt one of those babies that was munching three course meals by 7 months !. I feel my DS is taking longer than others to 'get' eating, I think this is because at first his coordination wasnt good enough and also that finds it hard work and quite a lot to concentrate on, some people say their babies take ages to eat with my DS this varies but mostly 'meal times' are over quite quickly before he gets upset.

My experince of BLW is that it is a slow boat to a weaned baby, you should try to avoid becoming stressed and affecting the experience.

Changing the times may help, tiredness and hunger certainly affect my son.

My mothers idea of BLW is feeding him chocolate hob nobs ( which of course the little b*ugger woofed down!!)

Shrimpy gets a bit of a gob on when he's tired, and for sure not everything goes in but something def is as his poo's have turned to proper ones so i just let him get on with it really..who knew i could be SOOOOOO relaxed about mess....and also who knew my dog was sooooo fussy...luckily my neighbours dog drops by every breakfast time so the floor gets a good going over at least once a day!!! LOL. I have only been on BLW for a bout 2-3 weeks so far and i wasn't giving him something 3 times a day to start only really in last week, the milk is still most important thing at this stage isn't it? I just gave him some steamed veggies and fruit to start really, not even a 'Proper' meal as such,(LOVES Brocolli and plums the strange little monkey...) so maybe just go back to a few basics rather than full on meals, maybe its just a bit daunting for him.....or maybe your mother paid him LOL!!!!