Really worried about my baby feeding - first time mum...

[DawnAS]

So, hoping for lots of advice as I'm literally tearing my hair out (actually, it's still falling out since having the baby... ).

My DD (and first, possibly only... baby) is 34 weeks and started really well with her food at 6 months. I should probably point out at this stage that the HVs had been worried about her weight before then, because she had dropped a couple of centiles since having oral thrush for 12 weeks that went undiagnosed even considering my endless trips to the GP insisting that something wasn't right... When she finally got rid of the thrush, milk tasted different and she went off of it for a while. She finally picked up again but due to the pressure from the HVs, I began panicking with every bottle so made the decision not to get her weighed.

Anyway, since that time, she's been piling on the weight and is generally healthy and very happy. Plenty of wet and dirty nappies and sleeps for 12 hours a night.

So, back to the weaning. Started her on pureed foods, my own and jars. She has hated fruit from day one, other than bananas but loves her baby porridge in the morning. Everything else, that started off really well, she is now rejecting. Won't take home-pureed foods or the jars. She is drinking her milk, but that's pretty much it.

I'm so worried because of the concerns with her weight before. She never actually lost weight but didn't gain it as well as they wanted her to.

I've changed her to Follow-on milk but wonder whether, while she's being so fussy, I should go back to the milk that she had previously because it may have more calories.

She used to love milky puddings aswell and now won't take those either.

Her feeding has got progressivly worse over the last couple of weeks. She has been diagnosed with an ear infection today so I'm really hoping that it could be related, but I'm at the end of my tether and just don't know what to do.

I really wanted to think about BLW, but I'm just worried that if I do and she makes herself sick with the gagging, that she'll bring back the small amounts of food that she is eating and that will impact on her weight even more.

If you saw her, I'm sure you would tell me that I'm over-reacting because she's such a happy smiley girl.

I am really desperate for some advice...

I know there are so many expert Mums on here.

BTW, she also refuses Calpol so you can imagine the fun we're having at the moment, trying to get her antibiotics down her AND some Calpol for the pain. She's never really needed medicine before so this is all new for her. It's becoming a nightmare as she gets so upset and we have to force her to take it from a syringe...

xxx

So she's about 8mo? Honestly, I think this kind of thing is really normal, especially if the poor mite has an ear infection.

DS (9mo) has been coldy and teething for the past month (or so it feels!) and it has affected his eating too. We started BLW, then my mum got to me by suggesting that DS's poor sleeping was because I wasn't spoon-feeding him yoghurt and stuff, so he started getting spoon fed something at the end of every meal. Over the past weeks it's seemed as if he's been eating more and more jars and less and less of what I've cooked. But in the past week or so he's started to eat more finger food at some meals.

Not the same as your DD, but hopefully gives you some reassurance that they can be all over the place with food.

Have you tried her with finger foods at all? It may not be the case that she will gag, you know, as DS really didn't. He's much more likely to choke when he's having a BF - don't know what that's about.

And it is horrible forcing medicine into them, isn't it? But you know it's our job to do what's right for them. You're doing all the right things.