Weaning help

[LottyB]

Hey ladies, hope you're all well.

Niamh is being a madam with weaning. Properly started weaning about two weeks ago at 24 weeks, I started with baby rice and defrosted breastmilk for four days, then changed to baby porridge as that was going great. I make two teaspoons of dried baby porridge mixed with her milk, and she generally eats most of it, so I then introduced lunch about one week ago. Pureed fruit or veg (homemade mostly) with a little baby rice and a bit of baby milk if needed. She started having lunch great, but the last two days she's refused it, but then when we are eating our evening meal she tries to pinch it. She ended up having a bit of mash potato last night. Do I switch to giving her an evening meal instead of lunch or give her a bigger breakfast first?

My hv says just do what i think, and Every book (or which I own three!) says different things and I'm just not sure.

Any help would be appreciated. 😊

Xxx

[Cheekymonkey85]

I really think you should go with the flow here. Mix and match perhaps, if she doesn't want lunch, give tea- she will tell you what she wants I'm sure lol At the end of the day there's no rush, and her main source of nutrition should still be her milk at this stage anyway. When milly was this age we were only doing lunch- baby led, then mixed in some spoon feeding of porridge etc a week or so later. there really are no rules to this- you will find what works best for you both in no time ☺️ Good luck xxx

[LottyB in reply to Cheekymonkey85]

Thanks cheeky monkey! We've just shared a banana, she fed herself. 😊 she's still taking quite a lot of milk. Waking up lots in the night again though. She's a little tinker! Xx

[Steffi_27]

Have you looked at baby led weaning? She may be more willing if she gets to do it her self! All of mine refused the purées but loved feeding themselves. soft fruits and veg chopped to the size of babies fingertips! Mashed potato is fine too. start with one food and introduce a new food 3-4 days later just to check for intolerances. If she's grabbing from your plates in the evening use that as a cue. Don't worry if she's not eating much yet, this stage is all about learning and building a good relationship with food, the rest will follow.

[LottyB in reply to Steffi_27]

I'm hoping to do a combination of baby led and puree's. 😊 she loves porridge so I daren't stop that, but she this morning wanted to feed herself more banana, so going to have her sat at the table with us tonight and give her some veg and such. Worth a try. I never thought of sticking to one food at a time! I've been really let down by my hv team, I get different advice every time I ask. 🙈 ive just been giving her whatevers handy. Poor baby! and I'm trying to study for my final accountancy exam too, so much going round in my head. I just want to do it right. 😊 xx

[Steffi_27 in reply to LottyB]

HV can be a little hit or miss unfortunately, best thing to do is go with your instincts, there is no right or wrong way of doing it, after all, all babies are different some (like mine) are stubborn lol and want to dive straight in and others are more cooperative. My LO won't eat unless we're all at the table with him, that can be difficult as the older two have various clubs in the week so they tend to eat late. We still have porridge for breakfast (or shredded wheat) sometimes when he's being stubborn and doesn't want to be fed we give him some chopped fruit to feed himself, that makes him more cooperative then and it's a bit of a distraction too. It will come, be relaxed with meal times and if she doesn't eat don't stress, at this stage it doesn't matter too much xx

[LottyB]

We're getting there! Having lumpy puree lunch half an hour before her 3pm bottle every day for the last 3 days! And a bit of banana and rice wafer before bath time. 😊 once those portions increase a bit, I'll introduce a bit more in the evening. X