"it's fun until one" but what about after that??!!

[raffers82]

Hi
my ds is 14 mths and, having not heard of BLW, i tried every trick under the sun to get him to eat things with a spoon but he has never wanted to and hence mealtimes became a source of constant battles. I have always offered finger foods which he loves, but as he would sometimes eat from spoon I would keep trying, and then give finger foods if he really refused the spoon. But I have now read Gill Rapley's book cover to cover many times and have decided to grab BLW by the horns and stick with it!

I think it's going well, though am confused about the milk issue. He still seems to be wanting milk feeds (breast) a lot, and hardly eating any solids. I know this is the norm under 1 but given his age am I doing the right thing in still feeding on demand? I can't help thinking he only eats a little of the solids so that he has room for the milk that he knows he will get afterwards! If i don't feed him he gets fruastrated and tries to rip my top open!

My DD was the same, she didn't eat much solids until she turned two. Did BLW as she refused purees early on. BLW doesn't guarantee they will eat. My DD self weaned with a push (as miscarrying/pregnant) at 23 months. I started cutting out feeds from 19 months until she cut the last feed herself and it never led to an increase in food intake. Now at 2.5 years she is beginning to eat a wider variety of food. My DD BF so much too.

DS I plan to go the puree route and stop BFing at 1

I seriously got depressed with DD hardly eating, I don't want to go there again. Good luck, he will eat eventually and its nothing you have done, keep BFing if you want to and offer food. Feed on demand if you want to but you can try distraction ot giving meals earlier than planned.

Thanks, glad it's not just me!

The thing is does eat, and will try a wide range of stuff, it just seems he hasn't yet made the connection between eating food to stop hunger and wants breastfeeding when he is hungry, if that makes sense.
He does snack a lot too so over the course of the day it probably evens out and he likes all the right things, fruit especially.
I'm glad i've gone with blw and would defo do it again, i never really pureed anyway just gave regular food (i.e. spag bol) on a spoon, but he would refuse it.

It just seems that as he is able to feed himself well that he should now fill up more on food and not milk but i think he is very emotionally attached to breastfeeding. When I am at college and he is with his dad he eats more and doesn't want any milk from a cup so think when he's with me he just sees me as a walking milk factory!

I'm just gonna keep doing what i'm doing, he is happy and healthy and maybe i need to get the idea of how much he 'should' be eating out of my head and think that he is eating a wide range of healthy foods and can feed himself well, so in the long run he will be better off than my friends' kids who seem to wolf down spoonful after spoonful of mashed up crap and petit filous!

I don't particularly mind the breastfeeding, I am with him 6 days a week and happy to feed if he needs it, that's the problem tho, he can't need it as much as he demands it!
If he can go without it when I'm not around surely he can go without it full stop (by which I mean, throughout the day, would still expect him to feed morning and night)

I just feel that at his age he should be eating more, I know that BLW means forgetting the idea of how much they 'should' eat, but it also says that you need to trust their appetite control and they will stop eating when they are full. This doesn't seem to be happening tho as he eats a bit, then gets bored/has enough and then wants breastfeeding! I always offer food first but I'm sure he saves room for a milk feed afterwards (in which case, he's not stopping eating when he's full just when he loses interest for whatever reason)

As I said, I don't mind breastfeeding but surely there msut come a point when food overtakes breastmilk consumption? at the moment i woiuld still say that the food is not the main source of nutrition and is merely suplementing the milk feeds which give him most of his calories and goodness.

When he was exclusively bf for the first 6 months he would always feed little and often, usually every hour and a half for no longer than 10/15 mins. Should i just assume that he gets full up more quickly? I would much prefer him to self wean from the breast than me having to stop him before he is ready, but would also like to reach a stage where he can satisfy his hunger through food, as at the moment he wants milk as soon as he has finished his meal/snack so must still be hungry!

could he be thirsty rather than hungry

My 15mo DS now eats a reasonable amount of food but still BF at least 4 times a day. I've found that he eats more if I keep healthy snacks (fruit, raisins, oatcakes, bread etc) around and offer them and/or a drink before allowing a BF. If he still wants the milk, its generally because

It might not work with yours if he hasn't 'clicked' that food is sustenance too, but my DS didn't get the hang of that until around 10 months.

I'll finish my sentence - if he still wants milk its generally because he wants comfort or is tired rather than hungry or thirsty. But that's ok

i want it now - yes think you could be right, he has a tommee tippee freeflow cup with water and can drink from it but seems to be tiny siplets here and there. try to give him fruit as well, particularly watermelon and cucumber (is it a fruit?!) for the water content. maybe will try an open cup and prepare to have a soaking kitchen while he adjusts!

chairmummiaow - have started doing that too so maybe once he gets used to it the bf will become less. we always have healthy snacks around as he seems to be a bit of a snacker anyway, but bf is definitely a comfort most of the time. when he gets teeth coming through he wants milk and nothing else and then have to kind of re-wean him. he just seems to play with his meals really rather than eat much but think that is largely because he has just started walking so doesn't want to be sitting down for very long?

i think i should stop worrying, keep offering the meals and if he doesn't eat them he can have a snack/milk - he possibly gets frustrated at mealtimes as it takes longer to fill up than a quick bf (sometimes seems so much easier just to spoon feed a bit tho decision has been taken out of my hands as he refuses to be spoon fed either!)

really wish i had done blw from the start but hindsight is a wonderful thing!