Help! Weaning woe

[kittenheels]

I'm hoping someone has good advice here - or has at least been through something similar and can sympathise!

My seven-month daughter is perfect in every way (of course!) apart from the fact she will not eat anything other than fruity Ella's Kitchen pouches. I diligently created a fridge-full of breast milk-enriched vegetable purees before we started solids but she wasn't keen at all.

The Ella's fruity pouches have been a hit but I'd love her to try some vegetable flavoured ones, or better still, an actual piece of fruit or a real vegetable. Anything that isn't yogurt-smooth gets rejected and she bursts into tears. She normally such a cheerful little lady - it's unlike her to have a meltdown.

Help!

[popsy]

Will she eat fruit you puree? If so, could you start to slowly add vegetables to fruit? Pretending you're getting it from an ellas pouch if necessary?

Id just keep trying (without forcing the issue) and I'm sure she'll start soon. As long as she's getting enough milk I wouldn't worry about it too much at this stage.

[Mariamadeit]

Yes agree with above, bf will still be her main source of nutrition and fruit pur?e doesn't have many calories. Have you looked at baby led weaning, where a whole piece of food is given without pur?e ing it, it may be that she isn't keen on pur?es. Either way, stay relaxed, keep offering and she will get there. You might find www.babyledweaning.com helpful.

[kittenheels]

Thank you! Yes, I love the idea of BLW and bought the book a while ago. So far nothing in any way lumpy is going down - just fruit pur?e and yogurt. She's always refused a bottle but loves the boob and thinks drinking water from a sippy cup is just hilarious.

[Jessie]

My son wasn't interested in solids till he was about 10 months. I had an amazing hv who told me to relax about it, just give him boob as that's all he wanted and he'd come round to solids in his own time, whih o couse he did. And then i did blw instinctively which worked v well (thank god cos we went travelling for 4 months just after he turned 1).

[hellosailor]

Other things to try might be porridge or mushed avocado.

Try to see if she'll go for one of the ella's pouches that has some veg in it like the broccoli pears and peas, which is still sweet but not as sweet as the banana or apple and strawberry ones for instance, so that she isn't getting used to very sweet foods. Will she eat pureed sweet potato or pureed carrot?

[Convex]

I wouldn't worry, echo all the above. My first son only liked very smooth food, I was still pureeing risotto at 9 months old.

You could try plum pouches, they have a few sweet yet savoury flavours, especially the yoghurt based ones.

[EmilyPie]

You can also get pouches that you fill with pur?e yourself. Might be that she likes the sucking rather than the spoon at the moment. Only worked a few times with my very fussy weaner but I was a bit rubbish at persisting with it. Ella's pouches are still popular round here and mine are 31/2 and 1 but they do eat (some) other stuff too. Some are just slow to get into the whole food thing.

[Fuschia]

Did you just start a month ago? It's very early days.

When is she having the 'solids' and what are you doing? Is it the two of you, with her in the highchairs and you poised with a selection of things you want her to try?

If so, I would perhaps rethink it. Don't make any special

Foods that you will then be invested in, emotionally.

Try going out to Peckham rye cafe and getting yourself a latte and share a Mezze sort of lunch, with her having a cucumber stick and a piece of pitta bread (get it lightly toasted) with a splodge of hummous on the tray for her to experiment with. Put a big tshirt over her clothes and concentrate on your own food (all the best if you can meet up with a friend at the same time)

Just give her time to explore the food, gum

It, suck off a chunk, make circles in the hummous, smear it on her face

I don't like the pouches. I think they are expensive, sugary, bland and sloppy texture and thrive on a market of anxious parents wanting to 'do weaning right'

Try to think of this as 6 months ahead for her to practice getting food into her mouth, while also investigating all the shapes, smells, textures, colours and tastes. She will be happier to put stuff in her mouth once she had seen you eat it, then her little brain knows it's safe to eat and comes into the category of 'food'

She also will do best if she can learn that meals are social and relaxing.

Good luck! Exciting adventure ahead!

[shaunag]

My son was the same-Ella's all the way. He only really started going for it recently and he's 12 months. I did get an ounce or two of homemade decent protein rich mush into him but really looking back I wish I hadn't stressed so much-they all start eating in their own time. Just try not to worry about what other babies are doing! Good luck.

[SE22mum]

Agree with all of the above. At only 7 months she is just experimenting, and milk will still be her main food until she is 12 months. I would try and avoid just giving her pouches - keep for special occasions or difficult moments like travelling. I know you are keen to do the right thing, but if she feels you getting stressed around food it will only make it difficult. Try not to hurry her along with just going at her own pace. Kids get into solid food at different times and in different ways.

I agree a good way is to just have an open plate policy and let her try bits of yours. You will know she is really ready for weaning when she starts stealing food from you!

[esme]

I'm weaning baby #2 at the mo and he started off with just wanting fruit puree but now happy to munch/chew/suck/gnaw on most things... if you're concerned about vitamins try baby porridge or one of the savoury wholegrain smooth rice things, my baby now loves solid food (well all he can manage without teeth - scrambled eggs, stuffed pasta and so on) but still loves the Heinz broccoli and cheese packet stuff so when he's tired and dsnt have patience for "proper" food I give him that... good luck :)

[kittenheels]

Thanks so much everyone. Lovely to have so many tips and a bit of reassurance too!

[etta166]

I would echo everything that Fuschia said. That's how my three children weaned themselves and they are (mostly) good eaters most of the time. The only downside that I can see is that they still all consider that my food (or any one else at the table for that matter) to be fair game and my 18 month old will do the rounds trying everybody's food until she finds something that is "just right", even when we all have the same thing on our plates :)

[SLad]

Gosh it's such a big change for everyone but you're doing really fab.

We did baby led all the way and never pureed a thing (much to our nanny's great shock) so repeated the old mantra of food is fun before you're one to ourselves and bought a big sheet of plastic tablecloth to go under our daughter's highchair. Then we all sat down together for as many meals as possible and left her to play with whatever she had in front of her.

As reluctant as she was at first eventually natural curiosity took over and she started picking up the food (and dropping it) and then trying it in her mouth. We tried to let her take as much time with food as possible and not to rush or scold if nothing went in because she was quite happy getting loads of breastmilk as well.

Whatever you do try to keep as calm as possible because she will eat when she's hungry and when the change has stopped feeling so overwhelming.

O, and I did read in the BLW book (I think) that some babies are very wary of food which is mixed up and will end up rejecting stuff if there's one thing in it they don't like so maybe single veg purees (carrot / sweet potato are nice and sweet) might be a good idea until she gets the hang of it a bit more.

X

[minimac]

I had similar issues and what helped was adding fruit to anything I made - over a week or so the amount of Apple, for example, that I mixed in with chicken casserole got less. I also mixed an Ella pouch with mine which also worked. Don't forgot though that even if you want your baby to do BLW, your daughter might not be on for it and want pur?es and spoon fed. Certainly something I've learnt with my second is that a baby knows it's own mind and won't always do it 'your way'! Good luck

[Pippa21]

The local Introducing Solids Workshops (NCT) are very popular, how about coming along to one to help build your confidence and enjoy the journey with food?

Info attached, or contact Alison: [email protected] for local workshops.