BLW losing faith!

[babybouncer]

I started trying to wean DS just before 6 months and having been very excited to begin with, he began refusing purees within a couple of weeks. I've been trying to do BLW since and he's now 7 1/2 months, but still doesn't seem to be eating anything. He's got the hang of biting, so he can make a huge mess, but doesn't seem to chew anything or swallow it.
I've tried giving him yoghurt, porridge and soup on a spoon and he bats it away every time. He rejects most vegetables (although I keep trying them) and has started being picky about fruit, too. Also, he won't touch anything sticky, like pasta in a sauce. So his diet mainly consists of organix crisps, bread products, apple and cucumber.
He's not a small baby (22lbs), but I worry that he's really only having milk (should I have moved on to follow-on milk?) and isn't learning to eat and is becoming very picky.
What was your experience of BLW?

Hi there bb
My DD is now 11 months, we have BLW since the beginning and she still has days when all she eats is banana, cucumber, bread and crackers! Try not to worry too much. She didn't start eating properly for the sake of the food until she was at least 9.5months, and the amount that she eats still varies enormously.
It helps if you try to look at it over a week rather than a day- then you will probably see that your DS does have more of a varied diet than you think. I found that DD was a huge fan of rice cakes- I bought the big ones for adults rather than the expensive baby ones- and that I could pop all sorts on top of them and she would gobble it up. She loves philadelphia (the light one contains more protein so I get that), tuna pate (made just with a tin of tuna, some philadelphia and lemon juice), and humous. I also found scoopers made from toasted pitta cut into fingers were invaluable. Oh, and savoury muffins are a good way of getting veg into them- really simple just a cup of flour, 1/2 cup grated veg, 1/2 cup grated cheese, 1 egg and 1 cup milk. She scoffs them up.
I just offer DD a little portion of whatever we are having- last night we had mussels with potatoes, cabbage and bacon, so today she had bits of potato, cabbage and bacon for her tea. She was not keen, so ate hardly anything, but I am not worried.I know she won't starve herself.

I can't help with the milk, cos DD is BF and still has 4 big feeds a day (well, 2 a day and 2 a night!). I remember feeling exactly as you do, and worrying that she was not getting enough and I should do it differently. But I love it when I can take DD out for lunch and she will just sit and get on with her food by herself, and people are often commenting upon how good she is with her food. Keep the faith! Your DS will get there. Milk is still their main source of nutrition till they are 1 anyway.
HTH

I think the key BLW phrase here is "up til 1 it's just for fun". Don't confuse him with spoons at some meals and not at others. Make sure the food you give him is big enough so it has a handle. He will only eat half of each piece as he can't let go to get it in his mouth. keep proividing a variety of foods at each mealtime with foods he likes as well as those he isn't as keen on and he will get there. DD2 went through a phase when she mainly ate carbs. DD1 went througha phase of mainly eating fruit but they both came through it. Give him a variety of textures as well as tastes. Lumps of cheese are good as well as chunks of meat. He will chew them suck them and then spit them out when he has got out all the juices. Bitesize shredded wheat are great for breakfast. pour on a little milk and sticjk in microwave for 20 seconds - soft enough to eat but hard ehough to pick up and get to his mouth. Or a weetabix softened with a little milk and broken in half. Try pasta without sauce for a while.

Keep going, you will get there!

My dd is now nearly 11mo and she was the same- some days she seemed to eat very little and I don't quite know how it happened but now she has only 2 bfs a day and eats everything we have. Don't panic if he doesn't eat much, he'll get the hang of it. I wouldn't bother with a spoon, if i spooned say weetabix into my dd's mouth at that age she would take it out and then put it in again herself, stubborn little girlie!
Early days yet, he'll get there, just keep offering him different things.

My ds refused to eat purees so I did BLW. He refused to eat anything at all until 8 months, at which point I gave him a ripe, juicy peach and he absolutely loved it. He then started to eat just about anything I put in front of him. Or rather he tried to eat it, but often poor co-ordination meant he didn't get much in his mouth.

He's now 3 and eats well.

Oh I went through such a stage when I wished I was shovelling purees into the DTs and then suddenly they 'got it' and started eating better (about 8.5mo). Getting the pincer grip really helped because they would suddenly eat loads more things e.g. peas, shepherds pie, dry cereal, chopped up food - that they couldn't manage before. Now 9.5mo and still have days where don't eat anything, especially DT1 who is more suspicious of things she doesn't recognise. I kept the faith by getting ideas from books and websites, plus it all became a bit easier when I stopped trying to find stuff they wanted to eat and just gave them what I was eating (although I've had to force myself to eat better!)

Thanks. I this is just the sort of thing I needed to hear! I knew it would take time, but I wasn't really expecting him to go 'backwards'. DH took him down for breakfast this morning and sorted out lunch and DS has sucked and chewed the life out of everything in front of him (except the roasted vegetables)! So I guess it really is a case of every day is different.

just to reiterate all the good advice here, and also 7.5 months is really very young in the scheme of things, as proved this morning by him, he's as likely to scoff the entire kitchen one day and ignore EVERYTHING the next! I can't say that bit gets better either, my 2yo DD still has days where it's only the odd yoghurt that interests her, and other days where she really goes for it. jeffily's advice about watching the weekly intake rather than the day by day thing is good.
and keep going with the milk. much more nutrition in there!
good luck!