[bittersweet]

Ugh, what a mess! Jenna turned 6 months this months and I was so excited to start solids. Now I dread it!

I am making all her foods. So far, we've done brown rice cereal and avacado. It has not gone how I imagined. She grabs the spoon and wants to feed herself (which makes food go everywhere). And on the rare occasion food makes it into her mouth, she hold it in for a bit then drools it back out. I don't think she is swallowing anything.

With the avacado, since it was a bit thicker, I tried letting her feed herself that with her hands. But she just rubbed it all over herself

Since she seems so interested in feeding herself and grabbing at our plates, I figured maybe BLW was best for her. But when I let her feed herself the avacado, it didn't seem like she was getting much into her mouth. She would lick her fingers, but other than that, she just spread it all over. I also tried an apple slice, she loved gnawing on it, but again...she didn't swallow any of it...just chewed on the slice.


Her growth has been fine up to this point. But it seems like other babies her age are eating a couple jars/Tbls of food per day and we aren't even close to getting that much in her.

How long did it take your baby to get the hang of eating solids. How did you start? For those that did BLW, what were the first foods you introduced?

On a funny note...today I used these giant plastic bibs for the first time. She was SUPER interested in eating those!! Much more so than her cereal.

[LisanAndy]

That's how, as far as I know, most babies are according to my 2 girls and everyone IRL that I've talked to. They won't starve themselves, just let her have fun. Try and get in as many bites as you can until she gets frustrated with not holding a spoon and feeding herself and then let her have at it. It does go everywhere and feeding solids is MESSY and I dread it when the time comes Just relax and let her enjoy... then have "fun" cleaning up the mess LoL!! Anyway, I'm sure she's just fine

[Resi]

I started the day her turned 6 months old. I made my own puree fruits and veggies. He took right to it and opened his mouth. He was never a messy eater. Do you think she is interested enough to want to eat it? Maybe she isn't ready and you can try again in a week or so? Or just keep letting her play with it and she will eat some of it.

[Mod-LadyCoconut]

Try not to stress about it. For the first year the majority of their nutrition should be from breastmilk or formula, so if she's not interested in the solids yet... oh well, she'll get there eventually. And you might be surprised by how much she has taken in. I know when Bug fed herself broccoli we didn't think she actually ATE any of it, ... until we saw her poop! haha. Lily is almost 7 months old and we don't do jarred food, s o its hard for me to really measure her intake, but I doubt she's eating as much as the people in my PR who's kids eat like 3 jars a day. I BF on demand so I'm just not worried about it. A lot of people in my PR haven't started solids or their kid isn't interested or they got constipated and are holding off for a while. Its okay if she doesn't eat like a champ right away. Right now its all about practice, and getting used to different flavors and textures, not so much about actual nutrition from the food.

A lot of people in my PR also give their kid a spoon to hold and it kind of distracts them.

[greeneyes]

Originally Posted by LadyCoconut

A lot of people in my PR also give their kid a spoon to hold and it kind of distracts them.

This. Try giving her a spoon to play with and then use another to feed her. If trying solids is frustrating right now, just wait a bit and then try again in the future.

[Mars]

Ditto what was said already.

[ANGWife]

Originally Posted by LisanAndy

That's how, as far as I know, most babies are according to my 2 girls and everyone IRL that I've talked to. They won't starve themselves, just let her have fun. Try and get in as many bites as you can until she gets frustrated with not holding a spoon and feeding herself and then let her have at it. It does go everywhere and feeding solids is MESSY and I dread it when the time comes Just relax and let her enjoy... then have "fun" cleaning up the mess LoL!! Anyway, I'm sure she's just fine

Great advice!

[bittersweet]

Originally Posted by greeneyes

This. Try giving her a spoon to play with and then use another to feed her. If trying solids is frustrating right now, just wait a bit and then try again in the future.

OMG, I don't know how I didn't think of this!! We give her a spare wash cloth at bath time since she always wants to eat one too

Originally Posted by LadyCoconut

Try not to stress about it. For the first year the majority of their nutrition should be from breastmilk or formula, so if she's not interested in the solids yet... oh well, she'll get there eventually. And you might be surprised by how much she has taken in. I know when Bug fed herself broccoli we didn't think she actually ATE any of it, ... until we saw her poop! haha. Lily is almost 7 months old and we don't do jarred food, s o its hard for me to really measure her intake, but I doubt she's eating as much as the people in my PR who's kids eat like 3 jars a day. I BF on demand so I'm just not worried about it. A lot of people in my PR haven't started solids or their kid isn't interested or they got constipated and are holding off for a while. Its okay if she doesn't eat like a champ right away. Right now its all about practice, and getting used to different flavors and textures, not so much about actual nutrition from the food.

A lot of people in my PR also give their kid a spoon to hold and it kind of distracts them.

Besides broccoli, that else has she eaten? Do you just steam everything until very soft and then let her feed herself? When doing table type foods, do you still have to wait 4-5 days between introducing things?

[Mod-LadyCoconut]

Originally Posted by bittersweet

OMG, I don't know how I didn't think of this!! We give her a spare wash cloth at bath time since she always wants to eat one too



Besides broccoli, that else has she eaten? Do you just steam everything until very soft and then let her feed herself? When doing table type foods, do you still have to wait 4-5 days between introducing things?

She's had:

Broccoli, watermelon, canteloupe, peaches, cucumber (fav), squash, zucchini, carrots, green beans, snap peas, cheerios, avocado, banana, apples, applesauce, orange flavored crasin, pickle, plum, a couple little bites of bread... and as of today, pink paper envelope. The veggies have all been steamed and the fruit has all been raw. She just gets some of whatever we're eating and I just hand it to her and let her play with it and put it in her mouth if she wants to. She usually sucks on it, makes faces, bites tiny pieces off and swallows them, and then bangs it around on her tray. I figure its all about her practicing and learning the flavors and textures, and I don't want to "force" food into her with a spoon since I don't know when she's full or truly doesn't like something vs. just being surprised at the new flavor, etc. Plus, its nice to be able to eat at the same time as her, lol.

Initially she'd go 3 days or so between new foods but that's b/c I was lazy about introducing things. The other day she had zucchini and squash for the first time at the same time. I'm not feeling super strict on waiting several days between things if they aren't high on the allergen list.

[**jessie**]

We started solids at 5 months. At first, it was a no go. It was a struggle and I wasn't getting anything in him. We stopped for 10 days and started again and it was a complete 180. He ate anything and everything.

I would just keep trying different things. Jaxon liked a bit of 'weird' things at first, such as mango or spinach or zucchini/mashed potato.

I don't worry about overfeeding him. He is not shy about telling me when he is done. He turns his head and won't open his mouth anymore, so I don't consider spoon feeding to be force feeding, imo. I did the 3 day wait between foods at the very beginning, but then got lax and would try combinations all at once.

[soImarriedAnerd]

Shannon described what we are doing perfectly (well minus the waiting 3 days thing--I give him new stuff every meal almost! LOL! London is JUST NOW starting to have three "meals" a day... and this has been in the last week. (1yr old). One thing I notice is that babies tend to get to much solid food before 1 yr old and they don't get their main nutrition from BM or Formula!!!! I know how exciting it is to get a break from being the sole feeder, the joy of giving them new things also, but it also starts more mom worry...are they eating enough, are they eating the right things, are they growing fast enough. Remember that once they are crawling and then walking that their weight gain slows WAY WAY down....some moms think its lack of solids but its not its normal developement. As long as they aren't losing wt your good. London stayed the same wt from 7 months to 1 yr!