Weaning - Am I doing it right?

[CatA35]

My baby will be 7 months on Friday. She is sitting up on her own and shows interest in food when I eat. So I have given her finger foods as she is great at putting it in her mouth. However she chews or sucks but never swallows and spits the food out if she gets any loose bit of carrot in her moth for example. So I also try to give her purees just Baby porridge, purred vegetables etc but she pushes the spoon away and closes her mouth when I try to give her anything? So I’m guessing she isn’t ready? I don’t want to force it on her so feeding becomes a taboo but it’s very hard to know when she is ready or just doesn’t like it? When I do manage to give her anything she tends to spit it out? Any advice would be appreciated! Thanks!

[Zoe310798]

My baby was like this when I first started solids! She screamed and cried when I went near her with the spoon. Now, she can’t get enough. Just keep persisting until she realises that actually the solids fill her up.

When I first started, I gave my little one solids around 2 hours or so after a bottle so she wasn’t hungry but she was getting there.

It’ll work out - just keep at it!

[Georgina_D]

Carrots are hard. Have you tried soft foods like sliced bananas, porridge or toast?

[CVITA in reply to Georgina_D]

Baby uses it to scratch the gums. At 7 months loads of teething going on and cold carrots really help

[Hidden]

I have had a very positive experience with weaning my now 9 month old following the same advice I received below. We did BLW with no purets and she was exactly the same at the beginning. It’s all about no pressure and keeping things fun. They get all their nutrients from their milk so don’t worry if she doesn’t eat anything. It’s all about exploration and discovery at the beginning. Try things like bits of toast with salt free peanut butter, watermelon, mini shredded wheat and warm whole milk or formula, banana, etc all these things feel super squishy and interesting and some might make it in their mouth! I chucked away so much food in the first few weeks. I found carrots were best given boiled and asparagus was also a winner in the early days. You have to fight food off my baby now and she’s really dexterous with her fingers and holding a spoon. Go to your local book shop and get a couple of baby led weaning cookbooks. They’re really good for some inspiration! Young gums on instagram also shares some good recipes once you baby had got into the swing of things,

Hope that’s reassuring! X

[CatA35]

Thanks everyone, I will definitely give more effort in to BLW. As she is constantly putting things in her mouth and likes doing things herself. She is currently trying to eat my glasses!

Just reassured that I’m not doing anything wrong as it’s hard to not compare your baby with others. A lot of my NCT friends babies are all eating purees really well and seem to be eager to eat. Where as Chloe just isn’t interested but does love playing with the food etc so I think BLW is the way forward for us.

[ChrisWest1983]

I was dreading about weaning as I have seen so many babies having no much interest in food. My son is nearly 6m so 4 days ago I gave him steamed squash - loved it and did not wasted a gram - straight away swallowed all of it. Then today introduced steamed cauliflower- he loved it too- cried when finished his spoonful.

Good luck mama! In many places I read that first year is all about milk and introduction of foods- you are on the right path!