If you do BLW, what is your 8mo able to eat?

↑ miami85

Thu, Jun 06 2024, 10:42 am

amother OP wrote:

At this point I'm not married to any method either, just whatever works and whatever helps baby develop the skills they need. Bh pickiness doesn't seem to be the issue, hardly every rejects food outright. I'm more suspecting oral motor issues.

So you could reach out to Early Intervention or whatever 0-3 services are called where you live if you have a concern, ask your pediatrician for a referral. It shouldn't cost you much-if-anything depending on where you live. A speech pathologist should be able to guide you if its a real issue or not. With my baby she didn't have true oral-motor issues so I was only able to get OT for the "Sensory aspect" and I had to get her feeding therapy through a local hospital clinic which ended up being very expensive through my insurance but I was losing my mind at that point.

I have another child with true oral motor issues--and his food issues were more sensory as well. But start with EI and see what they tell you.

amother

↑ Peach ↓

Thu, Jun 06 2024, 10:42 am

amother OP wrote:

Yes. So when I do purees it's mostly a preloaded spoon. I've never sat and fed her a bowl or jar of puree by the spoonful. At most I would take my own spoon and sneak it into her mouth while she was playing around.

But why? Are you nervous she's not getting enough nutrition right now?

If so, why not just switch to feeding baby food jars? That way you'll know that she's eating enough. And you can traditionally wean her. Assuming she likes purees, doesn't that make more sense? That way you'll know she's getting food into her and won't have to be anxious about it.

As she gets older and you introduce new finger foods, it will be alongside the purees, so you won't be as anxious about how much she's getting. And she'll be older and probably be able to handle them better.

amother

↑ Peach ↓

Thu, Jun 06 2024, 10:46 am

miami85 wrote:

I don't like this rigid "Baby Led Weaning" mentality--feed your baby foods s/he likes and can handle. There is nothing wrong with purees--if your baby likes it, feed your baby your real food if s/he likes it.

It's not a matter of being rigid. There's nothing wrong with doing a mix of both, if that works for you and your baby. But in this case, it doesn't seem like it's working.

A baby learning to BLW needs to WORK at it. It's hard. (And enjoyable, but still requires effort.) If they're getting purees at the same time, they wont' be willing to work at it.

Also, babies who are traditionally weaned learn how to swallow first, not to chew. They only learn how to chew waaaay later. Babies who do BLW learn how to chew first. It may take time for them to learn how to swallow, and that's normal.

Doing both at once might make the whole process take longer. Since OP seems anxious about how much food baby is getting, it just seems counterintuitive to continue this way. OP, is there a reason that you're married to BLW, if it seems that your personality would be happier with spoon-feeding?

amother

↑ OP ↓

Thu, Jun 06 2024, 10:53 am

amother Peach wrote:

Yes, she kind of can use the calories. It's not about my anxiety, she really does need to eat more and it's too late to introduce bottles. But she also really needs to develop skills. And also because I don't want to turn food into a power struggle and she already wants to be VERY independent.

Focusing more on purees and spoonfeeding alongside finger foods is exactly what I'm considering, but first I wanted to know if I'm not giving up to quickly.

amother

↑ OP ↓

Thu, Jun 06 2024, 11:00 am

amother Peach wrote:

So this is exactly what I was asking, if it's normal that she's biting and chewing, but not swallowing. And you seem to be saying it is?

I'm not married to anything Wink

and I'm really NOT the personality to sit and spoon feed baby jars so I can gauge exactly how many ounces baby ate and record it in an app Wink

BLW and following baby's cues is much more intuitive to me. But this baby had other plans re: feeding since day one and like I said, I have reasons to suspect delays and don't want to be wasting time if baby very obviously needs intervention. And don't want to be keeping nutrition from her if she needs it and isn't capable of getting it otherwise.

But it seems like she's still in the normal range so I may give it some more time

amother

↑ Peach ↓

Thu, Jun 06 2024, 12:22 pm

amother OP wrote:

So this is exactly what I was asking, if it's normal that she's biting and chewing, but not swallowing. And you seem to be saying it is?

Yes, it's normal to be chewing at the beginning and not seeming to swallow much. It's also normal for them to then move on to the next stage and start swallowing, while still spitting out a lot. And then to move on to swallowing and not letting any out of their mouth. I'd say she's at the the point where if you'd been doing pure BLW until now, I'd be somewhat concerned why she hasn't moved on yet, especially if she's really not swallowing anything. But if you've been doing a mixture, then it might make sense, which is why I suggested testing out for a couple of weeks whether she's actually swallowing when you do pure BLW, and whether she improves when she doesn't have the "easy" option of purees to fall back on. And in a couple of months from now, if she's still doing this, I would say it makes sense to be concerned and get an eval, whereas at this point there's a decent chance she'll outgrow it on her own.

Also, is your pediatrician concerned about her growth at all? If she's gaining well, I'd try really hard to avoid trying to get calories into her. I know it's hard -- two of my babies had a really hard time latching at the beginning, failure to thrive, all of that -- and it's hard to get out of the mentality. But at 8 months old, the struggle with nursing is going to become a moot point soon when most of her calories come from food, so if she's gaining fine I would try to get out of the mentality that you've operated under until now, in terms of trying to get calories into her. Just let her eat what she eats, let her be in control, and as long as she's gaining at each checkup, start viewing her as a "normal" baby who will eat when she's hungry. Some days more, some days less, and that's okay.

I'm just saying this because it can become a real power struggle with toddlers if they feel like you WANT them to eat, can turn mealtime into a really tough time...

I'm sorry if I'm offering more advice than you asked for. I've BH had different babies who I fed differently, who nursed differently, and who became completely different eaters somewhat based on that, and these are things I wish I knew beforehand...

amother

↑ OP ↓

Thu, Jun 06 2024, 12:48 pm

amother Peach wrote:

I hear you about why the purees can be obfuscating things.

And I'll also just say that she's been gaining on her curve probably because I've been working crazy hard on nursing, but I *still* have good reason to suspect oral motor issues, and my LC agrees. So like I said, I'm really not anxious to get calories in her, like, today, but I do want to see a progression of oral motor skills because she really needs it. You said at 8 months the struggle with nursing will become moot, but not if she doesn't develop enough skills to be able to eat solids... which is exactly my concern. If whatevers preventing her from being a good nurser will also prevent her from being a good solids eater.

Part of the reason I want this to work is precisely because I don't want food to become a power struggle.

amother

Brunette

Thu, Jun 06 2024, 1:24 pm

amother OP wrote:

So I'm no expert, I'm like you and had a baby who's not a great nurser, but something that's kinda worked for me is focusing on healthy but calorically dense options. My DS (8months) eats oatmeal every morning loaded with nut butters, blueberries, sesame seeds, and apple sauce or mashed banana so it's not too hot. I used to feed him cottage cheese with stuff in it. And yeah, I'd do the preloaded spoon. I've kind of given up spoons for him for the moment and just let him get elbow deep in the oatmeal (because that's what would happen anyways) but it's good to remember, before 1 food is for fun.

amother

↑ OP ↓

Thu, Jun 06 2024, 1:40 pm

mushkamothers wrote:

Did I miss if you said anything about checking for tongue ties? I assume the LC would have? Water dribbling and the lack of tongue movement is something a myofunctional therapist treats. In general does she sleep with her mouth closed?

She's been a mouth breather since she's born, which I know is highly unusual. Can't keep it closed even if I pop it shut 😞 . Had her tongue tie revised with Dr seigel, loads of cst with a tongue tie literate provider before and after. Tongue and airway literate LC says her tongue range of motion is great now, everything feels great in her mouth. She does have a high arched palate and a recessed lower jaw, but nobody's sure that's been a contributing factor to her nursing issues. Is it time to see a myofunctional therapist with her? All my other kids have been at some point or other... I know she has stuff going on but sometimes kids with lots of stuff end up being good eaters despite so I'm really just wanting to know if we're on the right track or already there are glaring issues. LC said to give it another month and if no improvement, consider ENT consult and feeding eval.

amother

↑ OP ↓

Thu, Jun 06 2024, 2:19 pm

amother Brunette wrote:

Wow that's amazing your baby can eat that, I can't see mine dealing with all that texture very well and I'd hate to prep that every morning for her to take 2 bites and play with the rest.