baby wont eat veg

[nicnic01]

Hi,
my DD has been weaning for few weeks and it is going very slowly. This is our typical day (timings vary day to day depending on when she waks up):

3am- 6 oz bottle
7.30- breakfast cereal (flavoured so is sweet and likes it)
8am- 3-4 oz of bottle
10.30/11- refuses bottle or has 1 oz
12.30- lunch, she usually blows raspberries and has the tiniest amount of veg then she gets fruit, which she wolfs down.
3pm- 5 oz botttle
4.30- same pattern as lunch
7pm- usually has most of 6 oz bottle

My questions are:
-how do I get her to eat the savoury stuff, should I stop the sweet stuff, mix it, not worry???? I usually try 2 varieties of savoury(usually have more luck with jars than home made purees, have tried allsorts)before giving in and giving her the sweet.
-I know she should be getting most of her calories from milk but should I stop offering the mid morning bottle, she really doesnt seem to want it. -maybe then bring lunch forward and spread out afternoon routine so she is more hungry for her tea????
-Should I try stopping the night feed again (have tried before and she just keeps waking every half hour till I feed her or was up and wide awake at 5, hence I only tried for 2 nights- she does wake at other times through the nigh but settles herself or I occassionally need to settle her but at 3 it iis different which makes me think she is hungry)

She is a gorgeous little thing and I think I may have been a bit soft, but I am ready to do what is needed before she gets older and less malleable.

any advice welcome many thanks

What veg? Carrots are naturally sweeter than most; parsnip, peas, mange tout, sugar snap peas. IIRC dd started on those and really enjoyed them. Mind you I didn't give her two courses, so she either had fruit, or veg, for the first few months.

How old is she? if she is 6 mths old have you thought of doing baby led weaning? At this age food is just about fun and exploring. She should be getting most of her nutrition from her milk until she is one.

Don't try to trick her by mixing her food it's not nice and it can make her mistrustful of you.

I would stop worrying and give BLW a look. It would help you both a lot.
here's a link to it

How old is she?

Riven is right, until they are about one year old food is just for fun, tastes, textures, exploration and learning to have something different to milk in their mouths. Milk should provide all the nutrients they need so you don't need to worry about what she's eating exactly.

As long as you offer a varied, healthy variety of foods then she'll get there in the end. Babies naturally have a sweet tooth so you may want to try mixing veg with naturally sweet foods eg cauliflower and plum, broccoli and apricot, or try giving her soft pieces of veg such as carrot and sweet potato that she can gum/chew/suck.

If baby is old enough to hold things ok you could try this:
I used to give my lot random bits of savory veg to gum on whilst we were eating our tea, that way they were with us and could see us eating it too, stuff like cooked carrot in stick form, (so they could hold it easily) parsnips, baked potato chips, broccoli (as per Riven) it seems to have worked well, I used to serve it with a puree of something as well, so they had a choice on what to eat or throw!(puree sweet potato and butternut squash.

thanks for your quick replies, she is 6 1/2 month. I have tried her with finger food, and she loves gumming it but then spits it out. Its a start though. And she does tend to be slightly less fussy when she is eating at the same time as us and she does have bits off our plate and seems to really enjoy that. I dont really know the ins and outs of BLW but will have a look. I think I will still keep trying with the sweeter savoury purees and maybe not give her "pudding" at every meal. Maybe she refuses the savoury as she knows the sweet will follow????
Thanks

sorry about the essay but here's some info about BLW. HTH.

BLW is just basically letting your baby join in with whatever you're eating. Finger foods etc. Although you can let them have almost anything such as pasta, cereals, yogurt (messy), mashed potato so long as it's not too high in salt or sugar, not a chokable item such as a grape or nuts and depending on your babies taste- not too spicy or hot.

It means your baby is in charge of what she puts into her mouth, what she likes and dilikes and how much she wants to eat. Which is how it should be in BLW'ers opinions.

It means you are less stressed about how much she eats and what she eats, you don't have to puree everything or check for lumps, you don't have to take jars to restaurants/cafes with you, it encourages you to trust your baby's instincts and can help to prevent fussiness, stand offs and stress at mealtimes.

You allow your baby to set the pace. The only downside is the extra mess but what's a bit of mess when you've got all the benefits mentioned including added self-esteem for your baby, extra practice with developing her gross and fine motor skills and a palate used to a wide range of textures and flavours.

The other thing people can get worried about apart from the mess is choking. Ang gagging. Now gagging is not the same as choking. gagging is normal and developmental, it passes as baby learns to stop pushing things to back into her throat. Choking can be divided into 2 types. There's partial choking which we've all had when a piece of food goes down the wrong way. Don't panic if you hear coughing and spluttering as it means you're baby is fine and she is dealing with it. The other choking is a full obstruction and it is silent. You can limit this happening by taking the following steps (I'll add that waiting until your baby is 6 mths old and allowing them to be in control of what they put into their mouths reduces the risk of choking more so than if you were puree feeding them from 4 mths)

1. Wait until your baby is at least six months old

1. and able to sit up unaided

1. allow your baby to be in control of what she puts into her mouth

1. don't distract her when she is eating

1. make food into chip shapes if possible and don't give small round items like grapes, olives and nuts until they are older and then cut them in half.

1. sit baby upright.

Whichever way you decided to wean, I wouldn't worry too much about how much your LO is eating at that age. I wouldn't try to drop milk to get in more solids. They all get the hang of it eventually!

If you do want to stick to purees, I would always offer finger foods (particularly veggies if she's not keen on them pureed) alongside your puree. They'll then learn as they're going along and if nothing else, the distraction of having something else to play with at meal times can keep them happier.

Good luck, and just try to relax and enjoy it!