Does my baby eat enough???

Hi there Bel,

Well wouldn't you believe it, my little Paige has started not to eat as much vegies come tea time. She still loves her cereal in the morning and her lunch time feed so I'm not too bothered just yet.

I know what you mean about trying them with other foods, I am a big chicken when it comes to that department. I often checking my food guide book and my notes from the child health care nurse just to make sure she is eating the right things at the right age.

I have only given Paige a rusk and she wasn't too interested in that, don't blame her they taste revolting. I have tried her with a little finger of toast but she just enjoyed squishing that in her hands. I have already tried her with little tiny bits of chicken(she loved it) and some time this week I am going to try mince meat.

Now that she is nearly seven months, I want to try her with the pieces of soft fruit and strips of vegies but I think I am heading for disaster....................imagine the fun mummy is going to have picking all the pieces of her face and floor.

Does Ella go down to sleep by herself? Paige has only just started doing it in the day but will not do it in the night. Would you believe I have to tickle her arm or actually rock the matress to get her off to sleep.

What is Ella's sleeping routine in the day?. Now that Paige goes to sleep on her own, she is only sleeping for an hour but then about an hour later she is sleepy again. She ends up still having about 3 sleeps in the day. If I am out and about with her, she is fantastic and will stay awake for hours.

Sorry to hit you with all these questions but these are just a few of the issues that have been concerning me a little.

Cherie

Hi Cherie,

What is it with them at this age and not wanting to eat??? Hopefully they'll both grow out of it soon and have nice big healthy appetites again. I'm finding the only way i can get Ella to eat cereal or vegies is to trick her into opening her mouth and sticking the spoon in... takes a bit of skill and fast hands smile once she's got food in her mouth she'll happily eat and swallow.. go figure!

Ella doesnt seem interested in finger foods, tried her with some avocado and she looked at me like i'd lost my mind. I guess in time she'll get into it.

Yeh, Ella goes down by herself. I just give her a little cuddle, put her down, hand her a wrap (instead of wrapping her i just give it to her now and she snuggles up to it) sometimes she'll still take 30mins (playing with her feet orsomething) to go off to sleep but she does it on her own. During the day she usually has a 1.5hour sleep in the morning, then two more sleeps between 30mins and 1hour (usually by 2hours of awake time she's ready for a sleep). Then at night i feed her, bath her, give her some more bottle and a little cuddle and put her into bed about 7pm and she puts herself of by about 7.30pm sleeping usually til about 6-6.30am sometimes waking for a feed about 2am but not often any more thankfully.

Sounds like our girls have quite a bit in common. Did you have much trouble getting Paige to put her self off to sleep? Ella's pretty much always done it but about a month ago she decided she wouldnt sleep unless i rocked her. We had a couple of rough days and i had to let her cry abit (which i hate and end up crying too) but she got it again pretty quickly.

If you want to email me so we can chat easier my email address is belsco1@bigpond.com

Would be interested to hear how yu go with the finger foods!
Bel

Hey Belinda,

I am at work at the moment and yes it is my lunchbreak and I'm not slacking off.....ha ha. I just wanted to let you know I did send you a return email to your personal address but I had a few problems sending it so I hope you have it. I havent had a chance to check my home email so you might of already replied.

Chat soon.
Cherie

I'm glad I found this site and discussion tonight as I have been a bit worried about my baby girl (just 8 months) for a while.
We started solids at 5 1/2 - 6 months and she still isn't really interested. She'll eat half a jar of custard but will only eat a baby spoonful of anything else virtually I give her, rice cereal, veges, fruit. I spned all this time preparing different foods for her and she'll only eat a tiny bit and I end up eating the rest so I don't waste it!

She'll happily chew on most foods as finger foods. I usually try giving her something 3 times a day but don't want to give her custard more than once and try to give it to her after she's had something else. I end up trying to trick her by putting it in her mouth when she is about to put a toy in her mouth! My Mother in law saws my husband was the same and they used to hold his nose so he'd open his mouth , and then hold his jaw closed so he'd have to eat it - I don't think I want to go that far!!!

The clinic sister doesn't seem too worried as she is putting on weight etc - is on 50th percentile for weight, height and head circumference and has always been very alert etc.

I only know boy babies aroudn her age and they all seem to eat a lot so don't know whether it is boys vs girls?!?!?

Any ideas?

Hi Gail

it seems alot of babies are doing the same sort of thing. I also revert to tricking Ella into eating when she has her mouth open for a toy or when she laughs if i pull faces at her... i just keep thinking that if i keep doing that atleast she's eating and hopefully one day she'll just get to the point where she'll happily eat.

Have you tried mixing a little rice cereal and/or fruit in with the custard so at least he's getting a little more than just custard. I did this with Ella a few times and she ate it, i think because the custard taste disguises the rice cereal... is worth a try.

Here's hoping they grow out of it!!!
Good luck
Bel

Hiya Cherie!

Just wanted to see if you got the email i sent you the other day? I've also had had a few probs with some of my emails going out....

Hope to chat soon
Bel

Hi Bel,
Thanks for your reply.
This morning I tried giving Elia the mixed cereal for the first time and she ate a little bit more of that more happily. I have tried putting veges or fruit in with the custard but she has spat out the veges so I have bought the different flavours of custard with apple or strawberry or whatever and she doesn't seem to mind it.
I'll try putting rice cereal in with it too but I too hope they'll grow out of it soon!
Gail