Weaning – slowly does it.

I thought I’d share a little update on our weaning journey with Noddy. He’s 7 months now, and by this stage his older siblings were greedily eating all the food they could grab. N though, has always had a rather disinterested approach to food. It’s really hard when your child has little interest in food. I have battled for years with a fussy eater, and it is heart breaking, so I did panic when N didn’t want to try solids at first. But, we’ve persisted.

We started weaning a little early on the advice of our health visitor. However, it was a disaster and we gave up, deciding to try again once he was 6 months. Our journey began with trying to encourage him to eat finger foods, but he just threw them down. So we tried pureed carrot which nicely decorated clothes (mostly mine) and the floor. We had 5 weeks of pure frustration, weaning wasn’t meant to be this hard?! Noddy was unimpressed with everything we presented him with, looking at us like we were insane. It was hugely frustrating, and I did begin to wonder if I could ever persuade him to eat. He would try a tiny bit one day, and the next day keep his mouth firmly shut. While we were on holiday he ate more, but it didn’t seem very much still.

7 months arrived, and I decided to just carry on the weaning journey introducing more to his diet.

7 month old weaning

Noddy greedily ate a big portion of pasta with ricotta and tomato sauce, yes he smothered quite a lot over his face, but a huge amount went in his mouth and was greeted with happy noises. Stronger flavours are more popular with him, we have had success with foods flavoured with herbs and spices. He likes to feed himself, though finger foods aren’t always a success. I’ve noticed that he prefers to grab the spoon and help feed himself. Though, he is no where near co-ordinated enough to do it all by himself, he does try! We have started to try things like egg on toast over the last week, which has proved popular. He also happily sits in his highchair while we eat dinner, and will have a little of whatever we are having. This has mixed success – sometimes he will just throw it on the floor and other times he will try a bit.

Drinking..

He loves his sippy cup, though I think he loves throwing the contents of it around as much as he likes drinking from it! Everywhere gets soaked! Thankfully it is only water, so it is quick to mop up! I’ve started to think that he’s having a little too much milk, but he’s such a petite baby that I’m trying not to worry. This week he has a horrible cold, and perhaps that is why he is keen to drink a little more milk than “he should”.

So, all in all, while we have had a slow start, I think we’re getting there. I just hope he continues to enjoy trying different flavours!