DS getting frustrated with BLW

[suwoo]

Am a veteran BLW'r as did it with DS1 who is three. He took to it like a duck to water. DS2 has been going for about a week. Have tried veg sticks, rice cakes, pasta, chicken, lentil burgers, tomato pastry swirls, mashed potato and grated cheese and probably a few more bits and bobs.

He is getting really frustrated that he isn't 'eating' much. He puts it in his mouth and shakes his head like a dog with a bone, then drops it and cries.

I have given him stewed fruit and yougurt and he has eaten a large pot amount of each after his dinner.

Should I try meals rather than finger foods so he can shove some in? Like spag bol or whatever?

He has 5 bottles of 8 oz, so not really much room to increse that.

Any thoughts appreciated. Thanks.

Try him on meals - he may enjoy the exploring more and eat more as a result. Also try him with soft fruit - like plums - DS2 loved strips of those when starting BLWing - and berries he can pick up in his hand and stuff in his mouth (raspberries are good as squashy). And there is nothing to stop you helping him guide his hand to his mouth/combining with spoon feeding (either you feeding him or loading the spoon and letting him put it in).

sure, give him some spag bol, at least he'll enjoy tossing it about. the crying sounds a bit miz but i wouldn't be bothered about the actual amounts he's eating just yet, that's not the point of the enterprise i thought.
obv if you're wanting to give him something then carry on with the fruit pots, although i never bothered with that myself. it's mad how different one child is from the next, isn't it? dd2 definitely took longer to get her head round eating than dd1, but i just left her to it and gave her more milk. i think with both of them i introduced a dream feed at weaning.

My dd did not really take to finger foods after the first few weeks of novelty. soft food that she could cram in with her fingers (like fish pie, baked beans etc) was a winner though. very messy but now at 12 months we don't all need a bath after every meal!

I wasn't bothered about the amounts, I remember the mantra but DS really does seem to be hungry. I don't want to do fruit pots ideally, at that doesn't fit in with the whole ethos, I'll just try more soft meals I think.

He already has a night feed and four in the day and I only give him food after his milk. I'll report back after tea tonight.

Cheers me dears.

what a wee daftie, oh well, give it a week and he'll be a different kid, they change so fast at that age.

Try giving him solids before the bottle. Two of mine weren't particularly bothered in which order their 'food' came, but one was totally put off solids if he was full of milk.

Perhaps he doesn't like the textrues. Babies are supposed to love pasta, but none of mine would eat it until they had some back teeth to chew it with. They also didn't like grainy foods, like rice or coucous, until they were a good deal older.

everything you've just said is true of dd2, pc.

Really PC, Solids before milk? I thought it was the other way around?

i think it's whatever way works. generally the advice is not to feed the babies when they're hungry as they'll get frustrated, but it won't do any harm to try the other way around given that he's frustrated anyway. sometimes i'd put a bottle of milk on the table for dd2, so she could please herself.

I think when I feed him at tea time he is hungry for his milk and thats why he's getting frustrated.

Gah, its like being a first time mum again.

pita isn't it? (btw you have tried pitas? )

What about before milk at 'lunchtime' when he's less likely to be ravenous or tired, and after milk at 'suppertime'? Or decant his feed into two smaller bottles, so that he can finish one, have some solids, then have the rest of his feed? TAking away an unfinished bottle might upset him, whereas finishing a bottle will make sense to him.

Good one Aitch .

Lunchtime is a nightmare as I pick DS1 up from playgroup at 11.30 and DS2 is normally asleep when I get back. Sleeps til 2 or whatever, bottle then off to get DD1 from school. Thats why I've been going for it at tea time - half four ish normally.

I've boggled my brain too much now, I'm overthinking as per usual. Will just go with the flow, but offer dollops of food on his tray I think.

suwoo - why not try a little midmorning snack then, say at 10.30 - something for a bit of fun, but he might be relaxed then, before he gets tired.

I gave DS food when it fit in with his naps, not necessarily at meal times (except dinner, which we changed to fit in with his sleep )

Yeah, I could do that chairmum, will just see how it goes.