Baby advice, nursing, weaning, real food

[nesser1981]

So Harper is my only exclusively breasted baby. Keira had both from birth, Coop got formula at daycare around 4 months, and nursed until 9 months. I was still in the Air Force with them. I'm home with Harper, he's only had maybe 10 bottles in his 9 month life, none in the last 3 months or so, because he won't drink them.

He shows very little interest in baby food, or even regular food. He has been eating a couple if the baby snacks here & there, but that's it.

Help! How am I going to break this kid from the boob in 2 months? I will not nurse him past a year! Lol

[MommaTrish]

If he takes bottles well, have you tried pumping and introducing the bottle more and more, that way when you're ready to stop nursing at least he'll take a bottle and you can switch him over to formula, milk, what have you then.

[nesser1981]

He won't take a bottle, that's the problem. I shot a wedding in June, I was gone 9 hrs & he ate 1 ounce & a couple bites of baby food for dh & he was just hungry until I got home

[MommaTrish]

Oh and just keep introducing foods or trying. Mason wouldn't get serious about food until he was actually a few weeks over one. Before then it was just eh.

[MommaTrish]

Originally Posted by nesser1981

He won't take a bottle, that's the problem. I shot a wedding in June, I was gone 9 hrs & he ate 1 ounce & a couple bites of baby food for dh & he was just hungry until I got home

Ahhh... yeah that's how Mason was. He'll only take liquids out of one kind of sippy cup. Anything else he just doesn't even bother with.

[maryinaz]

Try a sippy cup. My 2 oldest went from breast straight to cup at about 10 months. They never had any bottles in their life, as I was home with them 100% of the time and never left them for more than 2 hours.

[Sarah8914]

Do you nurse him first or try baby food first? It sounds like he just really likes nursing. But if you do keep trying solids, make sure you do that first and the nurse after to "top him off" as my pediatrician says. Maybe you already do that though.

At this point, if he doesn't take a bottle, I wouldn't push it. My kids never have bottles and around 11 months, I start trying to "wean" them with a sippy cup... and just skip the bottle. But that's just me.

I don't really have any advice other than keep trying solids! I don't know if it really helps, but our ped always says to have them eat with the family and if they see the others eating, it might make them want to!

[jacinda]

My kids never had bottles either, and it wasn't for lack of me trying. They went straight from the boob to either a sipper cup or a cup with a straw.

[jacinda]

Will he eat fingerfood? Maybe he doesn't like the texture of baby food, and would prefer to start holding something himself until he gets used to trying new flavours? Like a teething biscuit dipped in baby food?

[eranslow]

Yeah - don't do the bottle if he won't take it. Try a sippy cup and work on water? As for food - are you just trying the baby food? Cause Landon (my littlest) wouldn't eat any baby food. Didn't like the texture or something. So I would just feed him little bits of what we were eating. Give that a go.

And you know - you don't have to stop nursing at 12 months. There's nothing wrong with extended breastfeeding I know with Blake I stopped at 17 months and I am still nursing Landon at 22 months (though it's only once a day in the mornings).

[MommaTrish]

Originally Posted by eranslow

And you know - you don't have to stop nursing at 12 months. There's nothing wrong with extended breastfeeding I know with Blake I stopped at 17 months and I am still nursing Landon at 22 months (though it's only once a day in the mornings).

Yeah Mason is going strong at 16 months.

[jacinda]

My oldest dd breastfed for nearly 18 months. The youngest weaned herself at 11 months.

[nesser1981]

Good advice! Thanks!

I want to stop nursing at 12 months! That's more than long enough for me!

[mariewilcox]

I would try the sippy cup too. Cheyanne weaned herself at 9 months - decided she was just done and refused to nurse. It was like a someone flipped a switch. She didn't want the boob or a bottle with breast milk anymore.

She really took to table food though - never would eat anything remotely related to baby food, which was fine by me. At 9 months she was eating whatever we ate - including onions and garlic. Yes, she had and still has a cast iron stomach and a huge appetite

[eranslow]

Originally Posted by nesser1981

Good advice! Thanks!

I want to stop nursing at 12 months! That's more than long enough for me!

that's perfectly fine everyone is different. I wouldn't mind having my boobs to myself lol!

I hope you figure something out! I know with Landon he wouldn't take the normal sippy cup - but he had no problem using a sippy cup with a straw. So hopefully you can find one that he likes! Good luck

[joelsgirl]

I concur with the straight to sippy cup advice.

We use a method called "Baby Led Weaning" which is really more like baby led feeding. We skipped the purees adn went straight to solids. At 6 months, we gave Ari pizza crust (healthy, I know, lol) and long things she could hold and chew/suck on. She eats table food now at 14 months like a pro. She loves spaghetti, BROCCOLI, cauliflower, papaya, pineapple, strawberries, pretty much anything we eat, she eats.

I highly recommend this style of feeding babies. She's fat and healthy, and she's developing a love for food that my boys missed out on.

[YepBrook]

I nursed both of mine well past 12 months, but I did have the same problem you are having with them not taking a bottle. I introduced them to water in a soft-spout sippy cup during our mealtimes when they were in the highchair. They went straight from breastmilk/boob to milk/sippy. Especially Grace, who began weaning herself slowly at 12 months (although she still nursed until 18 months).

[rach3975]

My kids would never take a bottle either. We weaned at 13 to 18 months depending on the child. For all of them, when we started the switch to sippy cups, I discovered that they were very picky about which cup they'd take. It's been 3.5 years since then so I don't know what's on the market now, but they'd only use a soft-topped Nuby sippy cup. I hated them because they leaked more than the others, but for the first few months of the transition that's all they'd drink from.

Since he's already 9 months, I'd stop trying purees and let him eat mushy or disolvable foods that he can pick up himself. Some of my kids' favorites were small bits of soft fruit, cheerios, scrambled egg yolk (my peds said no whites until age 1), black beans, and pasta cooked super soft (so soft it almost falls apart when you touch it). Good luck!

[eranslow]

Originally Posted by joelsgirl

I concur with the straight to sippy cup advice.

We use a method called "Baby Led Weaning" which is really more like baby led feeding. We skipped the purees adn went straight to solids. At 6 months, we gave Ari pizza crust (healthy, I know, lol) and long things she could hold and chew/suck on. She eats table food now at 14 months like a pro. She loves spaghetti, BROCCOLI, cauliflower, papaya, pineapple, strawberries, pretty much anything we eat, she eats.

I highly recommend this style of feeding babies. She's fat and healthy, and she's developing a love for food that my boys missed out on.

I wish I would have done this with Blake. I wasn't planning on doing it with Landon but he choose otherwise. But I love that he devours foods that Blake won't even try - especially black beans and rice. Blake won't touch rice - poor kid is missing out.

[lovely1m]

I nursed until 14 months when he just suddenly decided he was done. I made all my own baby food, he ate it well, it was easy and cheap. If you are interested, check out www.wholesomebabyfood.com. He doesn't need anything except breast milk until a year anyway, if he's not interested, just keep trying, but don't worry.

[nesser1981]

It just so different than with Keira and Cooper, because for one thing, I was at work a lot. Now I'm home. And he's so funny, he loves the boobs! LOL! He will almost pouch on them, I took a bath with him the other day and he just crawled over and start eating.

My biggest issue with him is, as much as he likes to nurse, he only wants to do it in bed laying down or he's getting where he wants to sit on my lap or stand up and try to eat. That's why I really want him to start eating more solids. I need a break.

[lovely1m]

Its OK to tell him no and put them away if he's doing it in a way you don't want to do. He will learn he needs to in the way that is comfortable for the both of you. He won't starve himself, he will just adjust.

[YepBrook]

Originally Posted by lovely1m

Its OK to tell him no and put them away if he's doing it in a way you don't want to do. He will learn he needs to in the way that is comfortable for the both of you. He won't starve himself, he will just adjust.

Yes, this. You've gotta have boobie boundaries. LOL!

[nesser1981]

Lol!

[MommaTrish]

Originally Posted by lovely1m

Its OK to tell him no and put them away if he's doing it in a way you don't want to do. He will learn he needs to in the way that is comfortable for the both of you. He won't starve himself, he will just adjust.

Yes, Mason and I go through this daily with the creative ways he tries to nurse. He'll grumble at me a time or two and try again, but eventually he gives up and resigns himself to just plain regular nursing. lol

[glumirk]

We made our own baby food, and by the recommendation of my chef SIL she said to add just a little bit of salt to the veggies and they gobbled them up. At 9 months they definitely preferred finger foods. Have you tried diced sweet potatoes? And I couldn't believe how quickly my kids gobbled up carrots when I put a little bit of sage in them.

My kids were always on a routine of nursing when they woke up and right before going to sleep at night. I let them play for awhile before feeding them solids, then they would play a little longer before going down to sleep. When DS was too crazy, I took him off the boob and counted on solids to fill him up. With that consequence he learned to behave really quickly, but he also weaned himself at 14 months. DD would have nursed forever, but it got to the point that I needed it for my sanity, so I lessened it to morning and night, then just night, and then every other night for a week or two before we stopped.

Is he still waking you up at night to nurse? If so, he may be getting enough calories from nursing so he doesn't need the solids. I had a friend who was trying to figure our why her kid was waking up so much at night, and she realized it was because she wasn't pushing solids enough. It took a few days and nights, but she kept pushing the solids and then he was sleeping through the night again.

[MommaTrish]

I know Mason really liked things like chunks of squash and avocado. Both are full of good stuff and work well with other flavors, so we just mush them a little and mix them with new things and he goes nuts for them. His favorite thing is to have avocado and taco meat and refried beans. lol

[lovely1m]

I mixed a lot of stuff with yogurt. He loved it that way and ate it right up. He still loves yogurt.

[clearskies]

I introduced the sippy cups with breastmilk in them. That way the delivery was different, but the contents were familiar...

And DS2 didn't eat hardly any solid foods until he was around a year. (DS1 ate table food at 7 months...) Each kid is different. In my book it's not worth stressing over...

[nesser1981]

I'm going to try more regular foods with him and see. He will clench his lips shut if I try to give him anything! LOL! I don't know about this boy.

[Timberlyn]

My son, Callum refused the bottle since he was born... When we started introducing milk to him I tried different bottles (like tippies, the straw bottle)... I started out using a straw & suctioning a portion of drink in it & letting him drink from that until he was able to get the suctioning motion down... And that's when he started using the other bottles...

As for breastfeeding past year its not bad... My DS1 self weaned at 14.5 months, DS2 didn't wean until 18.5 months, we are in the process of weaning DS3 hopefully between his 2nd BDay & Christmas... Each child handles weaning differently; so if he is not weaned by then don't sweat it, he just needs a little more time...

[rach3975]

Originally Posted by nesser1981

I'm going to try more regular foods with him and see. He will clench his lips shut if I try to give him anything! LOL! I don't know about this boy.

How has he been at meeting other milestones? The reason I'm asking is that we're all assuming it's disinterest or just not being hungry for anything but milk, and most likely we're right. But if you're noticing anything else going on with him, he could have some sensory issues or low tone affecting his willingness or ability to transition.

My now 7-year old has since been diagnosed with lots of things, but at 6-9 months old that wasn't the case. He was on the late side meeting most milestones but still within the normal time frame. He was exclusively breastfed with no problems until we introduced solids at 6 months. He had more trouble with starting solids than my oldest, so we backed off for a couple of months and just kept trying. Then around 9 months we started to feel like he had gone from being on the late side to not meeting milestones on time. At 10 months he was diagnosed with low muscle tone (and sensory processing disorder at age 4), and all of a sudden his feeding problems made more sense. Like I said, I doubt it's the case with Harper or most kids who aren't interested in solids when they're this young, but I thought it was worth mentioning just in case you're seeing any other signs.

[nesser1981]

He's met all of his other milestones, he just doesn't seem interested in solids. It's just weird.

Originally Posted by rach3975

How has he been at meeting other milestones? The reason I'm asking is that we're all assuming it's disinterest or just not being hungry for anything but milk, and most likely we're right. But if you're noticing anything else going on with him, he could have some sensory issues or low tone affecting his willingness or ability to transition.

My now 7-year old has since been diagnosed with lots of things, but at 6-9 months old that wasn't the case. He was on the late side meeting most milestones but still within the normal time frame. He was exclusively breastfed with no problems until we introduced solids at 6 months. He had more trouble with starting solids than my oldest, so we backed off for a couple of months and just kept trying. Then around 9 months we started to feel like he had gone from being on the late side to not meeting milestones on time. At 10 months he was diagnosed with low muscle tone (and sensory processing disorder at age 4), and all of a sudden his feeding problems made more sense. Like I said, I doubt it's the case with Harper or most kids who aren't interested in solids when they're this young, but I thought it was worth mentioning just in case you're seeing any other signs.

[glumirk]

One other thing, my kids never really took to Cheerios or those little fruit and veggie puff things, but they both like the fake cheetos (of course!).

Have you tried handing him the spoon with food on it? He may try to teethe on it and then find that he likes the food. I always remember how foreign a spoon must be to a baby who's been eating solely boob for his entire life. Letting my kids play with the spoon (with lots of supervision because they love to gag themselves with it) always helped, and they were always more interested in feeding themselves than in me feeding them. I often watch people feeding their babies and wonder how they do it. We always have to let them go at it for awhile before we start to feed them (usually with a separate spoon/fork) so that they will actually get enough food.