in April 2024 Babies 🇬🇧

Really struggling with weaning

Is anyone else still really struggling with weaning? My little girl is just not interested, she seems to have such a tiny appetite and is really not driven by food at all. In herself she is 1000 miles per hour all the time, she is so active and never sits still, honestly don’t know where her energy comes from!! Weaning started off really well for us and has just gradually gone downhill. The only meal she will willingly eat is breakfast so I try to get as many calories into that as possible but the rest of the day I would say she isn’t even eating ‘snack’ amounts. We’ve tried purées (pouches and homemade) and baby led, smaller snacks and actual meals but nothing makes a difference. She’s happy to taste everything but will not eat it, she has a couple of mouthfuls and will then just spit everything out! I eat with her for 2 meals out of 3 which makes no difference, she’d honestly just rather be doing other things and wants out of the highchair after 5 minutes. We’ve tried singing songs, playing music, making it as fun as possible but it doesn’t change anything. She has dairy and egg allergies which I’ve found makes things difficult in terms of ‘easy, favourable’ options people always tell me to try, she’s barely maintaining her weight on the 9th centile currently and has lost weight the last 2 weeks running. She also doesn’t care about milk and it’s a struggle to even get 2 7oz bottles in her a day, she’s been on less than 500ml for a couple of months now!! I’m starting to get concerned and if I’m totally honest I find meal times really frustrating and a waste of time currently (I know that sounds awful) along with the hours I’ve spent making things for her. She is under a dietician who simply told me to feed her more 🙄 and a consultant who says she’s developing amazingly so not to worry! Surely there is a point though where her not eating actually becomes an issue despite her developing well? Is anyone else in the same boat?

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Sorry you're struggling with it. Hope she is just taking her time and will warm up. But just for future reference, look up ARFID. Weaning was hellish with my first and suspect this was/is one of the issues xxx

We are exactly in the same boat as you! My little one loves breakfast but then only picks at food and the majority of it goes on the floor. She is very reluctant to try new foods too

Hey ! We have the same issue with our daughter not eating with cow milk and egg allergy. She dropped two centiles. Turn out she has a very bad silent reflux and started omeprazole when she was 8 months. Since then she is eating better (5 to 10 spoons max) but not enough to put on weight. As a result the dietician advised on a NG tube. It really helped with her weight but it is a bit of nightmare and so sad to see her with a feeding tube. I feel you. It is tough to try everything and nothing works + baby loosing weight. I try to give her high calorie snacks such as peanut butter toast or homemade hummus

Have you tried feeding her out of the high chair? I know you’ve probably had this suggestion before a million times but my LG is constantly on the move like yours and never sits still and tries to escape the high chair as soon as she’s in it even tho she loves eating. I’ve started putting her food on a table that she has so it’s her height and she just comes and goes from it and can carry on playing. She’s always ate a lot but I’ve found she eats even more this way because she doesn’t even realise she’s eating if that makes sense xx

We’re exactly the same. Likes the tastes and likes playing with the food and chewing it but I’m not convinced he’s swallowing much so we’re still topping up with milk. He only has two teeth though and both on the bottom so I’m hoping once he gets top teeth he’ll be better…

My little boy is the same. He eats breakfast okay and lunch isn't too bad if I give him finger food but dinner isn't good. He has a few spoonfuls and then doesn't want anymore and will push it away. I don't look forward to meal times as I know it's going to be hard work. He also isn't interested in his milk, will have about 30ml and then just push it away and wants to crawl around.

Sounds fairly familiar to my first, I think she has ARFID like @Jane She was at least breastfeeding a lot so gained rather than lost but it was a LOT

My lil 1 i just but his food on tray half of time he doesn't eat it ...I'm not concerned yet as he still drinks enough milk maybe too much but I ain't going to stop milk till his ready to drop as trying to get him to drink is a disaster happening he gets soaking wet as he chews on end 🤦‍♀️ my daughter was same when she was old enough she ate loads just now she goes to nursery we seen some learnt behaviour ... I'd say your doing good for trying just leave her at her own spaces I'd say offer her more milk until she ready.. my sons teething so he drinks more milk than food

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