"Food before one......" Blah blah blah!

[Traveller]

Although she is not eating much, it does sound like she is trying a good variety of food which is great. If you are worried then try offering her food about half an hour before you think she is getting hungry, so she is not going to abandon the solids in preference of breastmilk. Also consider cutting back a little on breastmilk so she is not getting full and might be more inclined to try solids. Try regular small snacks instead of offering main meals as she might prefer that. The main thing is though, don't pressure her to eat. She will eat when she is ready and you don't want her to have any negative connotations about food.

[MummaSue]

Thanks guys. We have fun at the table, she's willing to try anything - it's just the actual eating part that is the worry!

I do find as the day goes on that she eats more - meaning she'll eat more at dinner than she will at breakie. But maybe that's because we start the day off with a breast feed?

So maybe start the day with breakfast instead of a breast feed? And offer the feed after breakfast?

[starangelk]

I think that would be a goer MS - we don't give DD milk until after food and it sort of works well for us as she is now on 3 milk feeds/day (plus a night time one if she wakes.) I think the basis is that they soon realise that eating stops them from being hungry, it's not only milk that can satisfy hunger.

[Mrs P]

MummaSue we just had our 8 month checkup with the CHN and she said around this time they recommend offering solids before milk. So for eg in the morning offer breakfast before the milk. Nice concept but I know some mornings DD is so desperate for the boobie that she starts shaking while I'm trying to get them out for her, ha ha! I am going to try offering food first at 'lunch' time and see how that goes I guess. So maybe try that at some point during the day? 10 BFs a day is awesome (though I'm sure time-consuming for you!), she obviously loves her milk

I'm also confused as to when DD will start to 'drop' a BF during the day. CHN said she would just start to refuse the boob, or play around etc when I try to offer a feed. But so far, she just guzzles away. Maybe over the next few months she might drop one. Starangelk when did your DD drop down to 3 feeds/day?

On a side note, the CHN had not heard of BLS but she said she thought it sounded good. I suggested she read the book, ha ha!

[Tuesday's Child]

I think DD was around 10-11 months before she'd eat breakfast. She just loved her milk first thing in the morning too much. On daycare days, she'd get up around 6:30-7 and have boobie. I'd then pack breakfast so she could have it at care (at around 8:15am). So maybe try offering solids well after bf, if solids first doesn't work for you. For us, breakfast was the last meal to be established.

Mrs P, I used to wonder about when DD would drop feeds too. Then it just happened! DD has very rarely ever refused boob, but I'd notice she'd just play around or would be on and off, on and off. If she'd be doing it at the same time for 2-3 days, I'd stop offering that feed. DD seemed happy with that. Be prepared that she may ask for it on the odd day as well. We've just dropped the morning feed in the last couple of weeks, but DD will still want it occasionally.

[MummaSue]

Thanks for the responses everyone, I'm still as confused as ever but I'm sure that DD will keep me right. She's all about the boob today though!

Yesterday I took her for a sushi lunch for her birthday and she ATE HEAPS! Maybe we should just have sushi every day

[starangelk]

Mrs P - my situation was different, I work full time so she was only BFing morning and night and then when I fell pregnant she just stopped in total. So until last week I was expressing for her - now she is on formula as I just couldn't keep up with supply But she dropped down to 3 milk feeds a few weeks ago. She now has milk after breakfast, around midday and before bed. Previously she was having a bottle at 3pm as well but we found she wasn't really drinking all of her milk at her other feeds and having a midday bottle, then lunch, then 3pm, then afternoon tea, then dinner then another bottle was just too much. So we trialled giving her that bottle a bit later and a bit later and then just stopped it and she didn't even notice or miss it. She probably ate more afternoon tea and now drinks all of her night bottle so I think it probably worked out to be about the same.

[Traveller]

Thanks guys. We have fun at the table, she's willing to try anything - it's just the actual eating part that is the worry!

I do find as the day goes on that she eats more - meaning she'll eat more at dinner than she will at breakie. But maybe that's because we start the day off with a breast feed?

So maybe start the day with breakfast instead of a breast feed? And offer the feed after breakfast?

That's what I would do
xx

[Miss E]

Thanks guys. We have fun at the table, she's willing to try anything - it's just the actual eating part that is the worry!

I do find as the day goes on that she eats more - meaning she'll eat more at dinner than she will at breakie. But maybe that's because we start the day off with a breast feed?

So maybe start the day with breakfast instead of a breast feed? And offer the feed after breakfast?

Yeah, that's what I would do...

I have to say though, I've found with DS there is always a different 'phase' when it comes to food. But I do vividly remember when we swapped from BF first to food first. It was a couple of days into it and I swear I almost saw the light switch come on as he was eating a bananna and realised that 'hey, this food stuff actually fills my belly'. From memory it was around the 10 month mark that we swapped things around and at that time he also dropped quite a few feeds quite quickly. I would basically offer food, let him eat (or not) and then offer booby. I'd do this for breakfast, morning tea, lunch, afternoon tea and dinner. HTH

[CrazyLady]

Thanks guys. We have fun at the table, she's willing to try anything - it's just the actual eating part that is the worry!

I do find as the day goes on that she eats more - meaning she'll eat more at dinner than she will at breakie. But maybe that's because we start the day off with a breast feed?

So maybe start the day with breakfast instead of a breast feed? And offer the feed after breakfast?

That sounds like a good plan! Is it possible she's thirsty when she wakes up too? I couldn't give brekky to Pixie unless she'd had some water first because she was too thirsty. I'm not sure if you give your DD a water cup but if you do maybe try a few sips out of that if she refuses to eat.

I found DD got fussy around 1 year and I had to get tough with her milk intake. She was relying on milk to fill her up and just playing with her food. I made it so she'd just have milk before her nap and before bed of a night with maybe a bottle after lunch. It was a tad horrible for me but she was seriously not interested in food! After we cut down the milk she definately had a better attitude towards food and thrived.

[LimeSlice]

They are smart cookies - she won't eat if she knows it will make her tummy sore. So def get the constipation sorted.
Are you giving her a lot of flour? Bread, pastas, etc?

[Bella29]

DD never ate much really either but now is a super eater. Still having 6 or so boobs a day. It is like anything I think. If they have enough of something else they won't be tempted to have more of another. Not that it really matters whether your bub still has so much boob unless it bothers you. Because we have made it all fun for our bubba she eats an amazing variety and is really willing to try lots of things. That coupled with the bf when she wants or needs, I think she is really healthy. And you may just find that you bubba is not in a growth period and will start to really chow down the next time she has a spurt. I thik if you try to push it then you would have a problem. so just like you did offer a boob before food to protect her appitite for boob you can change that around like people have already suggested and you may find her hunger prompts slightly larger intake.... Sorry that seemed quite garbled, the point is there is no right or wrong way. your bubba is not going to be only eating BM when she is going to school

[deletedit]

With the boob first vs food first thing, Lump here at one stage refused to eat anything unless he'd had boobie first. Now he'll shovel down a tonne of food without being booby-primed first. Just go with what works.

I've had to separate the kids now, the toddler was just grabbing his spoon and feeding all HER dinner to him. He liked the arrangement but she wasn't getting any dinner, so now the sit at opposite ends of the table. Now she follows him around feeding him anything he'll shove in his mouth as he roams the house and backyard, and believe me - he'll shove almost anything in that mouth. Fortunately only the squishy edible stuff gets swallowed ...

[MummaSue]

It's a tough one to get right for us because DD won't sit at the table unless she's had boobie first. If she's hungry then she's cranky and we get nowhere. She still seems very reliant on boob so am just going to take her lead at the moment. She askes me for boobie now by coming over to me (if she's on the floor playing) and pulling at my top. If I am holding her she points to boobie and grins.

I guess she'll tell me when she's ready.

I got her weighed the other day and her weight gains are awesome, so we must be doing something right.

Thank you all.
Sue x

[Mrs P]

She askes me for boobie now by coming over to me (if she's on the floor playing) and pulling at my top. If I am holding her she points to boobie and grins.

Super cute!

[starangelk]

That's great MummaSue! Weight gain is always such a nice reminder that things are going the right way. We haven't had DD weighed since she was 6 months mind you.......I know she's below average but still growing so just leaving it at that. How cute about the boobie