[soontob6]

My 6mo ds is a real boobie boy, he will only occasionally drink out of a bottle and everytime I try to give him solids, he screws his face up and pushes it all out of his mouth. I have tried farex, pureed vegies, pureed fruit and even baby custard as a last resort.

He's my fourth child and I have never had this problem with my others. I started trying at 4 months, then 5 months and now at 6 mts as his weight is only in the 5th percentile.

He seems very interested in my food, as in trying to steal my kitkat off me last night

Then I read here about baby lead weaning. How does it work? and is that maybe what I should try with him?


I'm starting to worry that he ca't physically push the food from the front to the back of his mouth to swallow and that's why he spits everything out.

Any advice would be appreciated.

[baby4me!]

My baby hates all puréed food. He is seven months and I have been trying from four months also. He is also on the the 5th percentile, but loves real food he has toast, pasta, garlic bread, roasted veggies and anything else we eat provided its not mashed..Give it a go it's very messy for us but ds loves trying our food.

[soontob6]

I've always done the pureed thing first, thinking they would just choke if I went straight to proper foods?

What finger food should I try first?
Hmm this just shows no matter how many kids you have, you never know everything

[SplashingRainbow...]

Let him try foods when you're eating from you plate. Anything soft that they can hold and isn't a choking risk.

Steamed carrots and steamed broccoli sticks were popular fom day 1 in our house. Anything with a stick that they can hold.

There is a difference between gagging and choking. Gagging is how they learn their limits.

Keep him upright and closely supervised, let him put things in his mouth - leave him in control, don't surprise him by putting something solid in his mouth.

[bluedragon]

We've done BLW with DS. We bought the book by Gill Rapley, you may be able to find it at a library, and found it very good, gives you lots of info on what to do. This is her website http://www.rapleyweaning.com/. I think we bought it off amazon.

This site also has lots of info and a great forum for advice http://www.babyledweaning.com/

There is a BLW group on here you could ask any questions in http://www.essentialbaby.com.au/forums/ind...howtopic=931273

The choking thing seems to be the biggest hurdle for most people but like a PP said there is a big difference between choking and gagging. Babies have a gagging reflex much further towards the front of their tounge than we do so it's pretty easy to make them gag. It's part of them learning how to move food around their mouth and control it. A good description of BLW that I heard was BLWed babies learn to chew first, swallow second whereas it's the opposite for mush weaned babies.

You may need patience too. DS was not really interested in (eating) food until over 10 months. He would eat a little, and it did slowing increase, but it's only in the last few months I would say he'd been eating a good quantity. Like you little one he was a real boobie boy, and still is!

[~ky~]

My 6mo hates puree and also just spits it out.

She will eat anything hand held (even biting chunks off, chewing and swallowing) and very lumpy mush as I found out yesterday.

If they gag on lumps it's just a natural reaction, not them choking. They actually do extremely well with lumpy food even if it is the first food they try.

DD is my first to refuse purees. She now just eats some of whatever we are eating. I cook low fat and no salt meals anyway so it's mostly fine for her.

[fozzymum]

My DD was like this. I remember all my mothers group friends' babies happily munching away and me stressing that DD would never eat normally and her weight would always be below the 3rd percentile.

She just needed another couple of months. I persisted, a mix of trying to feed her various things and BLW from my plate and after a while she miraculously just started eating one day and I'm pretty sure it was around 7 or 8 months that this happened. At 2 she now eats whatever we eat and her weight is travelling comfortably on the 50th percentile.

[ausmumof2]

DS1 was like this and is still a terrible eater

DD2 was showing signs of being the same so we did BLW and she eats a great variety of food



You get the highchair out and put some of whatever is suitable that you are cooking on the tray... steamed or roasted veg, (sweet potato is my DSs favourite right now), avocado and banana, lightly stewed fruit. If you keep some banana or avocado in most of the time you have something they can have if nothing you are eating is appropriate.


I'd say the intake of food is slightly less and the intake of breastmilk (or formula I guess would be the same) is more for longer, but I don't see that as a bad thing.

[junebuggy11]

BLW a total winner for us... we added in puree to bulk up his weight gain, but after he's played with food.

He has a genetic disorder which means he should have trouble with eating, but he's actually really good as is his fine motor control.
I credit BLW for us accidentally helping his development! Not as scary as you imagine, and lots easier (not heaps of prep etc)

[libbylu]

5 years ago the recommendation wasn't to introduce solids until 6 months, so I waited until then. DS was the same. He still had the 'spit it out' reflex. He never actually swallowed anything. I just slowly persisted and by 7 months he was taking quite a bit. I hadn't heard of baby led weaning at the time. I think some kids are just into more quickly than others. I wouldn't worry too much about it. Just keep trying 2 or 3 times a day with various things and he will get the hang of it eventually.