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Help with 7 months weaning

Hi I'm a first time mum & feeling like I've appraoched weaning the wrong way. I've been weaning my 7 month dd since she was 19 weeks (on advice of paed). I followed Annabel Karmel and she loved the stage 1 recipes. I also gave her Ellas kitchen & some cow & gate jars when we're out & about & over xmas. Anyway on 11th Jan when she was 7 months I moved onto stage 2 weaning and she's hating it. As we're moving house and things r chaotic I've been giving her Ellas Kitchen pouches or jars for 1 meal a day and her other meal has been something I've made. I can only manage to give her a few mouthfuls of the food and she'll refuse anymore. But she'll have a pudding (yoghurt/ fruit etc) which is pretty much puree. She isn't v good with finger foods. The only finger food she'll chew on is Organix rusks. Everything else she'll play with, suck a little & throw on the floor.

So I feel like I should have moved onto stage 2 quicker as she only eats things that are smooth. Is there anything I can do to encourage her to eat lumps?

Thanks in advance x

Replies

  • DON'T worry about this.



    My baby is one in nine days time and she is only just getting her head around food with lumps now. I still struggle when she's tired or bored of her high chair and we end up in front of Waybuloo spooning a stage one Ella into her!!!



    As long as she's getting a balanced diet and putting on weight she'll be fine and she'll get her head (or rather her mouth) around lumps eventually. Don't give up with the finger food either. I gave Elysia a few bits of cucumber and tomato every day from the beginning of weaning (for us 6 months) along with the stage ones and so much went on the floor before it went down her throat! It used to really depress me but gradually she started eating it and now she's a finger food champion.



    Playing with and sucking is a good start though - let her do it and she will start eating eventually. I gave Elysia cucumber and tomato but also steamed broccoli florets (which she LOVED right from the beginning to my amazement), steamed baby corn and carrot batons, fingers of apple, pieces of bread, baby suitable cheeses (which she is only just getting her head around but I figure if I keep offering it she will get it eventually), halved grapes and blueberries, raisins, dried apricots, fingers of toast with cheese or philadelphia or just butter, or finger sandwiches. Perhaps try the finger foods again but don't have too high esxpectations in the beginning to avoid disappointment?



    Also, I tell you something, it's nothing to do with what you have or haven't done you're doing a great job and she will do stage two in her own time. Or like my baby skip it entirely and swing between stage ones and feeding herself pasta. (Oh that's another good one, start off with a few pasta twists (I just discovered small fusilli in the pasta aisle of my supermarket and it's a perfect size) with melted butter - it's then really easy to move on to bowls of the stuff with sauces eventually).



    Good luck and loads of love.



    Rx



    ps the above isn't me being smug - weaning has been a total nightmare for me, I spent ages cooking up and freezing stage one purees in the beginning a la Annabel, and Elysia refused all of them one by one. One day I had to throw about 8 bags of the stuff in the bin as it had reached its use by date and I was gutted. And I have my own guilt complex about giving her pouches from the beginning as a result of my own efforts being rejected, but hey we're getting there beautifully now and so will you!
  • Try her with stuff like mashed potato - thicker than puree but smooth in the mouth, it's an 'interim' texture that will get her used to feeling more solid food in her mouth.
  • With regards to the finger foods. Evening Baby Led Weaning says 'food is fun until they're one'. My 10 month old still tends to suck on stuff and then drop it on the floor. Sometimes she'll stuff herself and other days she'll not be interested and then she'll decide she really hates something she loved the day or two before.



    I've asked around my friends and they say this just happens and it will still be happening when they're 2.



    Don't worry about rushing onto Stage 2 if your LO isn't ready. If they decide they prefer more lumpy textures in a couple of months time that's fine. Plus you'll find around teething times, you'll be going back to mush anyway.
  • Thanks for your replies! I'll keep going!! Reenyree thanks for your advice & suggestions of finger foods. Think we need to experiment. I hate finger foods tho coz she often gags on them and then brings up ALL her lunch!

    Maenad- good idea for mash! It's cauliflower cheese tonight, which is similar texture so I'll see how it goes.

    Tritread She is teething at the mo- 1st one cut through last wk, so that may have something to do with it then?!
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