Please help me with weaning advice-HE WONT EAT!!!

[Tsia]

Help me pleeeeeeze...

Am I doing the wrong thing?

Mylo is 5 months and at 4 months he started to take notice in our food, I tried him on baby rice and he gaged and choked and wasnt at all impressed with the new consistency I was placing into his mouth.. so left it thinking he wasnt ready. Then at 4 and a half months I tried again and got the same or similar reaction so left it. HV wait until 6 months.. but he seems so intrested however when I try he completely shuns what I am offering him.
He has only just started picking things up and holding things, bringing them to his mouth etc at 5 months.. so I thought I would try again. (yet to do the banana test) but soft bread dipped in my stew gravy he seemed to like.. yet when I try to feed him baby foods, he completely pulls a face.. even when I try to distract him so he'll swallow.. I get him to gulp down a mouthful or 2 at most then starts spitting the rest out!!! grrrr

WHAT AM I DOING WRONG??? or is he just not ready?
hes already on number 3 milk.. but HV said hes dropped a percentile and I am desperate for him to enjoy eating and he just doesnt.

how can I make him eat? or start to like eating?

 

[wishingonastar]

i personally would suggest he's not quite ready...isabel would watch what i was eating with great interest since about 3 months, but its only as of 5 months she's started trying to grab what i have in my hands to put in her mouth and to be honest she does it to food, paper, clothes... out of curiosity not hunger

if you really want to try him with food, perhaps try finger foods...give him slices about the size of his fist of soft food such as pear, cucumber, steamed brocoli or carrot and supervise while he experiments with these...it will get him used to tastes of food then after a few weeks/month you could try pureed stuff with perhaps more success...

 

[Lu28]

It sounds like he might not be ready hon or just might not be a fan of being spoon fed if he enjoyed the bread and gravy. Would you consider BLW if he's enjoying feeding himself? That way mealtimes won't be a battle

 

[Tsia]

yeah ok.. finger foods.. and just see what happens?
someone else told me (social worker) to put the rice or fruity porridge into a bit of milk to get him used to the taste.. but I have read on here that its not advisable to do that..


So is baby led weaning.. literally giving them stuff they can eat on their own without being fed by a spoon on top of their usual milk? and never the puree to start? I am so confused its unreal. lol

and he has no teeth yet.. does that matter when considering BLW?

 

[Lu28]

I think what they were suggesting was to mix baby rice and porridge with their normal milk and spoon feed it so it tastes similar to what they're used to, not to add the rice to the bottle

 

[wishingonastar]

some people still put rice in bottle, but its not advisable from what i've heard

there's a sticky on BLW at the top of this weaning section, click on it and there's a link to some articles explaining

the key is the baby experimenting and feeding themselves with minimal involvement from parents (food is not forced on baby or a big deal made of it, as baby chooses to pick it up and try stuff themselves). isabel has no teeth but has so far managed pear, broccoli, cucumber. she seems to love BLW!

 

[purple_socks]

i would suggest BLW too...that way he'll only when he's ready and u wont b 'forcing'. If he enjoyed feeding himself it should work well 4 u both.

theres the sticky that someone mentioned and theres also a good book abt BLW by gill rapley...i got mine from amazon and it helpe me understand the whole thing loads ;-)

 

[Tsia]

so doing BLW.. what would you offer for brekky? or is it just offering anything any time of day?

 

[purple_socks]

What ever ur having for brekki...as long as its not really salty or sugery etc. things like toast, porridge, crumpets, yogart, fruit etc.

A quick sum up of BLW is- u offer food whenever ur eating. The same food that ur eating unless its something really processed, sugery or generally not very good 4 u (so obviously avoid Mcdonals and kebabs lol)! any homecooked healthy foods r fine tho. u offer whole foods so u don't have to mash or puree.
At first u might wanna chop things into sticks that r easy to hold but evenutally LO will learn to do pincer grip/scoop things etc and can deal with most shaped/textured food. U continue to feed milk on demand and allow solid food to b a toy at first. Make sure LO has a milk feed b4 offering solids coz they wont understand solid food can fill them up so playing with it if they r hungry will make them grumpy!
it can b messy!
Dont worry if they dont eat anything 4 ages. When LO is ready they will start eating more and will naturally want less milk. Its a slower progression than the 'normal' weaning route.
Gagging is also common so don't painic if that happens. watch closely and allow LO to bring the food up themselves either with gagging or sometimes they r sick. Don't mistake it for choking...its a natural part of learning how to handle food.

A good starting point is often steamed veg once a day. Choose a time when u can sit with them and take ur time eating ur dinner (BLW is alot abt learning by watching u eat so LO should join in with family meals etc) u can work up to 3meals if u want or u can go straigh in to having them join in every meal.

most people don't worry in the begining if LO is sleeping at a meal time becoz their main source of nutrients etc is milk so skipping a meal wont hurt. As they start properly eating tho u might wanna make sure they have each meal.

The BLW book explains it all much better and also explains the theories behind the whole concept.

the BLW sticky is a great place to ask Qs

 

[Tsia]

thanks so much.. that makes more sense to me cos i was offering gravy off my dinner and stuff... marie rose sauce from my prawns on a soggy crust of bread he really loved! lol..

tried him with a soldier of cooled cheese on toast tosat.. he got it as far as his mouth.. rubbed it on his chin, caught the whiff.. pulled a face, licked it.. then dropped it.. haha... suffice to say he didn try again so i chucked it to the dog!
But t was funny and intresting to see him now hes holding things up to his mouth with purpose and not by accident. lol

 

[wishingonastar]

glad you're both having fun experimenting now

it's great seeing their likes and dislikes...isabel loves pear but does not love raspberries!!!

 

[Tsia]

Isabel sounds like me.. I love pear and hate rasberries too! All those pips get stuck in my teeth.. and desicated coconut..

do you find that she likes the things that you like? and do you offer foods that you hate?

i'm not a fish lover and only the last year been having more than fish fingers or prawn cocktail. Last night I bought lemon sole! I dead proud of myself.. but I couldnt bring myself to eat mussels scallops, winkles and oysters.. YUK!! will I have to introduce these things to Mylo?
His dad likes that sort of stuff.. I'll get him to do it! lol

 

[wishingonastar]

well, they're not meant to have fish til at least 6 months, but maybe his dad could help him out then!