Terrified of weaning this time round.

[MrsHelsBels74]

DS1 is 2.11 & such a fussy eater. He was like that from when we started weaning, I'd make all kinds of purees & he refused the lot. I also tried BLW but he wasn't having any of that either. It ended up that about 3 varieties of Ella's kitchen were literally all he would eat & because I was worried about him not eating I let him have those.

I'm convinced he's so fussy because I failed at weaning. DS2 is 4 months & I am absolutely dreading weaning him. The HV keeps saying I ought to start but I honestly don't know what to do for the best.

[lorisparkle]

I would not worry too much, by offering variety you did not fail, but children have an amazing ability to pick up when you are anxious which then does not help. I understand the current advise is 6 months. I started with all mine at about 5 ½ months and did blw. However they all have different tastes and different levels of fussiness even though my approach did not change. It really shows how individual children are.

[SirBoobAlot]

Firstly there is no need for you to be starting weaning right now, so ignore the HV. Try to remember that all children are different, there is no guaranteeing that your children will be the same when it comes to how they first reacted with foods.

You didn't fail. Children just have their own opinions from day one!

How does your DS1 eat now?

[LadyWidmerpool]

Why does your HV want you to start early? It doesn't matter if they don't eat much when they are starting out as long as they get plenty of milk. I don't think you failed, children are all different and there are loads who are fussy whose parents fed them in lots of different ways. I personally would forget it until 6 months. Then I would just offer little bits from my plate to start with. Much easier and more relaxed for you.

[MrsHelsBels74]

HV keeps saying he's more likely to sleep through the night when he starts on solids.

DS1 is an incredibly fussy eater now, which is why I feel like I failed him. I can probably count the number of things he'll eat on my hands (sweets etc aside).

[SirBoobAlot]

That's a myth. There are more calories in milk right now compared to the tiny portions of solids they eat at this age. Their bodies are not designed to process solids at this age anyway.

There is a big sleep regression at 4 months which is often mistaken for the 'need' for early weaning, and is actually just a normal development stint, and settles down soon.

Sleeping through is seen as something to aim for a lot of the time sadly, as if it is something to measure your parenting abilities against, when it just isn't.

Try not to stress about the introduction of foods. Actually if you did, maybe you could try and use it as an opportunity to encourage your older DS to try things? Just an idea.

[lorisparkle]

Definitely not true about them sleeping through when they start weaning, it can even go the other way because their bodies are coping with something new. My ds1 had a huge growth spurt at 4 months.

One of the mottos of blw is food is fun until they're one. Try and keep that in mind when you do start. It is really common for DC not to really take to solids til they're 8mnths.

Another thing to remember is you don't know that they don't like something until you have offered it many times. Ds2 is by far my fussiest but loves kidney beans but hates peas. Bizarre child!

[MrsHelsBels74]

Ok so am going to leave it as close to 6 months as possible & try BLW so can I have an idiot's guide to BLW please? I bought a book but it was so BF centric & as I was a defensive non BF it put me off (BF failed rather than I decided not to do it, hence the defensiveness).

Just need a few ideas of what to offer really. Am definitely going to try & get DS1 involved too, hopefully that will help his eating problems too.

[Themobstersknife]

Hi. Sorry to hear you were unable to bf. I too was unable to this time, and feel a bit defensive about it. I also had to leave a blw facebook group because of their lack of tolerance for ff. The good news is that I have done blw with my second and it is going just as well as when I weaned my first who was bf. I basically offer whatever we are eating. Sometimes I adapt it so it is easier to pick up - so strips of meat or veg in a casserole for example, as opposed to chunks. But I am doing that less and less. I use a loaded spoon a lot. I am not sure this is 'purist' blw but it works for me. This means I can serve casseroles, pasta, soup, cereal, porridge without having to mess about.
Typical day's meals would be:
Breakfast - shreddies or weetabix, or porridge, then some toast fingers or a crumpet or similar
Snack - banana, orange, other fruit - tend to avoid apple as it can be a bit chokey
Lunch - sandwich - maybe cheese, ham, turkey whatever we have in. Or a piece of quiche. Some salad bits like cucumber, tomato, olives, antipasti, or some soup on a loaded spoon, with some crusty bread.
Dinner will be whatever I am cooking for me, DH and DD1 which is generally pasta, or something from the slow cooker, or sausages, or jacket spud, or curry, or risotto etc etc. Only thing I would do is cut down the salt, and as above, maybe make sure there are bits that can be picked up.
I think I started both girls on things like toast fingers, banana, cheese fingers, cucumber, carrott sticks, bread sticks and went from there.
Good luck with it. Blw is not a favourite subject on mn, but I have found it great. Let me know if you have any questions.

[EdgarAllanPond]

"There are more calories in milk right now compared to the tiny portions of solids they eat at this age. "

this is also a myth, depending on which foods you mean.

veg puree (presumably made with water) = fewer calories
baby rice made up with milk = more calories
avocado = more calories (though some babies hate it, some love it)

however you are right to say there is no evidence that weaning helps with sleep. some of the studies on it are a bit pants though.

[Flisspaps]

OP, have a look at babyledweaning.com - there's also a FB group and although I ff DD from 7 weeks, I never found any issue with it being 'frowned upon' - in fact, it was no different when I weaned DS (who was EBF)

[sleeplessinderbyshire]

My 3 yr old DD eats only a few dry carbs, peanut butter, petit filous and apples (oh and chocolate of course). Waening her was awful and just got worse.

By contrast her baby sister, my DD2 is 6 months old and from about 20 weeks was grabbing food off us and growling like a dog if we tried to take it off her and eats like a horse. I was so so stressed about weaning her but have realised it really was DD1 and not my fault at all (and I am so so relieved)