playing with food instead of eating it

[angelwings7]

Hi Ladies
Jake is nearly 8 months now and I was feeding him purees from 5 months but have now started BLW. I'm on day 2 and all he does is squash the food in his hands or throws it onto the floor. How long does it take them to start eating the food should I be worried? I've tried giving him scrambled eggs, omelet, steamed carrots, broccoli, banana, cucumber and toast all cut into strips. He will put everything else in his mouth but not the food I give him why? Anyone else have the same problem and then one day they magical started eating?

 

[Feebster1]

Hi,

I had this issue with lo for weeks on end!! I got quite stressed about it as i thought she would never do it for herself at nearly 10 months.

One night we gave her pasta tubes with sauce, basically what we had for dinner, and all of a sudden she just picked a bit up and put it in her mouth!

Honestly me and oh had to keep ourselves pinned to the chairs as we wanted to jump up and down for joy!!

Since then she will try to put anything into her mouth thats put on her tray, doesnt always eat it tho the fussy lady!!

Stick with it and all will come good.

 

[maggie111]

It can take them ages! It sounds like you're giving him a lot of choice - I'd let him explore one or two things a day so he's not overwhelmed.

This is a really good book https://www.amazon.co.uk/Baby-led-W...d=1377614701&sr=1-1&keywords=baby+led+weaning

 

[BrandyBestPal]

We did BLW weaning from the beginning - technically speaking you are doing TW (transitioning from purees to fingers foods).
Some days LO will eat a lot and other days she doesn't.
For us, at the very beginning, it was all about exploring different foods, textures, and tastes. I didn't worry too much about how much she was actually eating. As we progressed, foods become more familiar, and she isn't as apprehensive about stuffing her face! I still don't worry if she throws everything on the floor instead of eating. I always make sure my floor is clean and I keep picking up her food and giving it back to her. She eventually will eat when I do this. Sometimes I think I am feeding her at the wrong times. For instance, I BF her first, wait an hour, then feed her solids. If she gets too tired, I've pretty much blown my opportunity.
At the beginning, too, my LO would squish all her food, not she knows how much force she can use to pick things up. I use to keep the skin on a banana because she would squish it all up (make sure it is washed really well). Now I can serve banana completely peeled and she knows exactly what to do with it.

Also, my LO does NOT like veggies. She will throw broccoli on the floor immediately. She isn't fussy on eggs. But she will eat a cheese omelet and sometimes french toast.

Foods I find work the best for us: strawberries, peaches, cantaloupe, watermelon, tomato wedges, greek yogurt, applesauce, toast fingers, oatmeal, roasted butternut squash, chicken breast, pork chops, pasta with tomato sauce, french fries, mashed potatoes, pancakes, grilled cheese, etc, etc.

I would say that it took 1.5mo before my LO started eating a lot. Now I'm worried she is eating too much and not taking enough milk.

You'll get there. Just keep trying and finding foods that your LO enjoys!!

 

[MummyMana]

I'm doing traditional weaning but the past couple of days I've given her some finger foods to play with at or just before dinner, so far she has squished some boiled carrot between her fingers, used a "carrot puff" big carrot flavoured wotsit type thing as some sort of weapon/aeroplane, and used a cheese triangle as tribal body paint I'm starting to question whether I can keep her on a soft cashable diet for the rest of her life, I don't think my nerves can take this xD

 

[aug95est]

Self feeding is still a new concept for your lo, so he is exploring it to his best. He needs time to get familiar with it. Once he knows that he can eat it too, he will do so. And when he puts that first bite in his mouth, you will be ecstatic!

 

[angelwings7]

Thank you for all your wonderful advice ladies! He has finally started to put the food in his mouth and eat some of it, we were so excited when we saw this. He really seems to like watermelon, oranges, avocado or banana on toast. So we are finally starting to get somewhere.But there are days where it will just be thrown to the floor so I'm not worried anymore I'm just going to stick with it and stay relaxed about the whole thing.

 

[Feebster1]

Thank you for all your wonderful advice ladies! He has finally started to put the food in his mouth and eat some of it, we were so excited when we saw this. He really seems to like watermelon, oranges, avocado or banana on toast. So we are finally starting to get somewhere.But there are days where it will just be thrown to the floor so I'm not worried anymore I'm just going to stick with it and stay relaxed about the whole thing.

Excellent!! It really feels like you have achieved one of the best things when finally the food goes into the mouth! LOL.

No stopping him now!

 

[biglebowski]

I don't know if you are already doing this but are you eating with lo. They love to copy so if you are eating the same thing it might help. I will put food on one plate and start eating and when lo shows an interest let him pick the food up himself from the plate. Often if we have different food he will leave his own and eat mine!! Typical guy ha ha!