Struggling with weaning

[elliejjtiny]

DS4 was born at 35 weeks last June and is now 7 months actual age, nearly 6 months corrected. He has low muscle tone and a cleft palate (cleft lip was repaired last month).

I've tried weaning him but it's not going very well. If I hold bits of fruit and veg near his mouth he enjoys licking and sucking it, then spits it out. If I try giving him purees he just can't do it and gets frustrated so we give up. Not sure whether to leave it for now. All my mum friends say he's probably not ready and to leave it but the paed says he should be having lots of solids by now and has referred us back to the dietician we saw in NICU. We've got an appointment next Friday with the dietician and we've been given a food diary to fill in. I know it's stupid but I'm getting the impression I'll be in trouble if the food diary just has milk in it .

He was having weight problems initially when I was exclusively expressing but now he's on infatrini milk all the time his weight is quite good I think. He weighed 13lb 6oz 2 weeks ago which is small for his age but it matches his height and he looks chubby like a normal baby, he was a bit skinny before. Not sure if this is a premmie thing or a cleft thing or a low muscle tone thing. DS1 was weaned early (17 weeks) on the advice of the hv and we had similar problems until something "clicked" at 6 months and it was suddenly easier. I'm wondering if this will happen with DS4 when he is a bit older but I'm not confident enough to ignore what the professionals are saying.

[minipie]

I'm a bit surprised the paed is saying he should be having "lots of solids" by now, most full term babies haven't even started having solids before 6 months and are still only having small amounts by 7 months (at least if their parents are following the guidance).

It sounds a bit old fashioned to me, harks back to a decade ago when progressing on to solids asap was seen as a good thing, but that's now outdated thinking (and milk is actually more nutritious than the first stage fruit and veg purees anyway).

I also know quite a few full term babies who didn't really take to solids till they were 8 months plus.

So my inclination would be not to worry too much, keep trying sometimes but don't worry if it doesn't work. As long as weight gain is ok and he seems happy and alert that's the main thing. TBH if a baby won't eat solids there isn't much you or they can do about it anyway!

That said I'm not medically trained at all so it's possible there is a medical reason I'm not aware of. You could ask the paed or the dietician why solids are so important (especially given full term babies wouldn't be on much solids at this age)? See if they have a convincing answer?

[elliejjtiny]

thanks minipie. The paed is really good with the medical stuff but really old fashioned when it comes to weaning. I'm wondering if it's some weird hospital policy because when DS2 was in hospital aged 8 months the babies under 1 weren't allowed food from the menu, it was jars only. DS2 was eating a mixture of purees and finger food then but he had always refused to eat "baby food". I had to get the dietician to bend the rules for him.

We go to a special needs playgroup and they suggested giving him food to play with like cooked pasta or rice crispies on a tray and just let him experiment at his own pace. That sounds like a good idea and more like baby led weaning which is my preferred weaning style anyway.