It has been a thug of war getting my baby to eat now that am trying to introduce solids to him. He just won't eat anything apart from brea.st milk. I have tried pap, rice cereals, beans pudding, mashed potato with egg yoke, even expressed brea.st milk into the bottle for him, he refused to feed from the bottle and won't eat when spoonfed. He won't eat anything that is not coming from the brea.st. When i want to spoonfeed him, he will clasp his lips and gums shut.

I' m seriously worried because he may not be getting enough from brea.st milk.
Please how did you wean your baby? Was it difficult like this? What tricks did you use to get him/her to eat?
Your contributions will be appreciated. Thanks.

PrettyCindy: It has been a thug of war getting my baby to eat now that am trying to introduce solids to him. He just won't eat anything apart from brea.st milk. I have tried pap, rice cereals, beans pudding, mashed potato with egg yoke, even expressed brea.st milk into the bottle for him, he refused to feed from the bottle and won't eat when spoonfed. He won't eat anything that is not coming from the brea.st. When i want to spoonfeed him, he will clasp his lips and gums shut.

I' m seriously worried because he may not be getting enough from brea.st milk.
Please how did you wean your baby? Was it difficult like this? What tricks did you use to get him/her to eat?
Your contributions will be appreciated. Thanks.

1. how old is the little man ? i was smiling at him clasping his lips ...these kids so much know what they want.
2. patience, is the key and consistency....my son was the same, when he was 6 months old, he would want to starve during the day so when i get back from work, he could nurse from then to the next day, i was worried at first because all the baby-sitters could not feed him, his doctor said he was doing it on purpose, he would prefer to wait till i get back from work before he would start eating his meal for the day!!! can you belive that , Anyway, we passed that stage and it was a thug of war, introducing all the meals to him, we are still fighting, it will take awhile, but keep giving it to him, reduce the rate at which you breast feed him, and once he is hungry he will eat whatever you give him.

3. My mum helped with my weaning my son, she had to make him sleep in her room for two good weeks, my son has a very good memory so it took him forever to forget nursing. my mum fed him baby yoghurts, so he became used to drinking the yoghurts, after i had to wean him from yoghurts so i introduced pediasure, Omo when i saw that he was used to drinking the pediasure and would not eat, i just closed my eyes and stopped giving him that pediasure and anything at all , he cried and cried, well i had to do what i had to do... now he eats well.

He gets all his nutrients from the breast milk...so he is eating healthy...but this boys can keep nursing till they are 10yrs old...i don't know what it is with boys and breast...

my dear I don't know what to say - my little one is 18 months (we thank God) and she still refuses to eat proper food. so I can't even advise you as I need advice as well, and yes she is still breastfeeding.

@ronke, he is 6months and two weeks. Its just that i can't bring myself to deny him of brea.st milk when he ask for it (and boy, he always does like his life depends on it). It always breaks my heart watching him cry when am trying to force feed him. I really don't know what to do. The brea.st milk, though contains all the needed nutrients is no longer enough for him and so i don't want him growing lean or something.

@cotton, you are trying o! You are still brea.st feeding your daughter at 1year and 6 months? You try o! I no sure say i go fit do that one.

PrettyCindy: @ronke, he is 6months and two weeks. Its just that i can't bring myself to deny him of brea.st milk when he ask for it (and boy, he always does like his life depends on it). It always breaks my heart watching him cry when am trying to force feed him. I really don't know what to do. The brea.st milk, though contains all the needed nutrients is no longer enough for him and so i don't want him growing lean or something.

@cotton, you are trying o! You are still brea.st feeding your daughter at 1year and 6 months? You try o! I no sure say i go fit do that one.

My dear...that baby is still little...give him the breastmilk jor!!!!see you already thinking of weaning, my baby was weaned when he turned 13 months, just keep adding other food, little by little....it will take time but he will get used to eating other food too.

@ pretty c,abeg allow the baby u can start wit anythin sweet like, bottled fruit.

My sister ehn if you see what I saw with my son you will sorry for me. The boy will just not eat and it was such a battle. I used this strategy of pretending like I'm nursing and when he opens his mouth, put the food in. Sometimes he will eat one spoon sometimes 5. Slowly he started eating. Your boy is still young just give him time he will improve.

Cindy your son is still very young and he is not ready to be weaned. Your little guy seems to want to follow the blw (baby lead weaning) protocol. Please go along with him once he is ready he will begin to eat solids and will loose interest in the breast. Dont force him he is still getting enough from teh breast. WHO ( world health organization) actually promotes strictly breast feeind till 6 months then you can gradually introduce, rice cereal etc. My son hated everything but the breast also, but i took my time with him, I tried rice cereals when he was 6 months also yogert etc. He eventually began to like them but this process took months. I think he was almost one year befor he actually stated to eat solids. Now he is gonna be 2 in a few weeks and he still does not eat hard food im still blending his foods. He wont eats rice that is not pureed I am once again taking my time and hope he will soon adapt. Remember not to stress him out with your anxiety about his eating habits.

PrettyCindy: @ronke, he is 6months and two weeks. Its just that i can't bring myself to deny him of brea.st milk when he ask for it (and boy, he always does like his life depends on it). It always breaks my heart watching him cry when am trying to force feed him. I really don't know what to do. The brea.st milk, though contains all the needed nutrients is no longer enough for him and so i don't want him growing lean or something.

@cotton, you are trying o! You are still brea.st feeding your daughter at 1year and 6 months? You try o! I no sure say i go fit do that one.

breastfeeding and working full time my sister, i will stop soon

Thanks everyone for your contributions. I have learnt alot.
@ronke, am not planning on taking him off brea.st milk entirely. I will continue doing that till he is a year old.
@aigboma and daresh, looks like our babies are "tied with the same rope". I will take it one day at a time and let him have all the brea.st milk he offer after all its his territory for now.
@cotton, dear you have really tried for your daughter.

One thing i have heard women say during my antenatal days and post natal period is that female babies are easier to wean compared to male babies.

PrettyCindy: Thanks everyone for your contributions. I have learnt alot.
@ronke, am not planning on taking him off brea.st milk entirely. I will continue doing that till he is a year old.
@aigboma and daresh, looks like our babies are "tied with the same rope". I will take it one day at a time and let him have all the brea.st milk he offer after all its his territory for now.
@cotton, dear you have really tried for your daughter.

One thing i have heard women say during my antenatal days and post natal period is that female babies are easier to wean compared to male babies.

All 'normal' men love bobbi

ziddy:

All 'normal' men love bobbi

Yeah right and it starts right from them day you are born!

OP! Am sure ur baby would come round.

I stopped bfeeding also at 13mths, and it wsnt funny. The good thing ws da I introudced forumlar very early, while he stopped taking milk(sma's) in bottle wen he ws 4mths!

As for him taking food! He will wen he's hungry enof!

And its true, baby boiz r somthing wen it comes breast**feeding!

My older daughter did the same thing when i had to
resume work after my maternity leave
she was 2 months and won`t take the bottle
all i did was leave the house often
and when she got very hungry she
would fight with my mother and end up drinking the milk.
i could not stand her crying too so i had to leave the house for
her to get used to.
concerning feeding him solids i would advice not to force it coz
he would grow more resistance to the foods
try putting what ever food you eat in his mouth when
u are eating. you will discover one food he likes
u will be surprise dat he moght like your own food instead
GOODLUCK MOMMA lol

I hope he comes around o! The funny thing is that if at all he is going to accept a spoon, i will have to make a demonstration of me eating a spoon first and this has to go on all through yet he won't eat more than 1 or 2 spoons. Hmmn, i guess its part of the motherhood experience and am loving it.

PrettyCindy: I hope he comes around o! The funny thing is that if at all he is going to accept a spoon, i will have to make a demonstration of me eating a spoon first and this has to go on all through yet he won't eat more than 1 or 2 spoons. Hmmn, i guess its part of the motherhood experience and am loving it.

Dont worry from 2 spoons he will grauduate to 3 then 4 and so on. With these kids its a learning process and you have to take time with them. But their sweet loving face makes up for all the trouble in my books.

@prettycindy I also passed through this b/c I did exclusive on my son. At 6 months it was very hard for him to eat any other food but I thank God who gave me the knowledge to hand it. Buy cerelac/milk for him. Mix the normal proportion in a feeding bottle. If its milk you wanna give him, mix the normal ML for 6 months I think about 150ml-250ml. If its cerelac you also mix it properly in a feeding bottle with milk and make it watery for him. Use your teeth to open/cut the feeding bottle's mouth wide. let the feeding bottle have a big opening so that the prepared food can pour easily inside his mouth as he cries. Remember you are doing him good. Beat/pitch him small in his bommbom let him cry and open his mouth. As he does that you continue pressing the feeding bottle to pour to food in his mouth till he finishes it. B/4 2/3 days the taste of the food will master his mouth $ he will be eating it normal. Secondly you can allow him go hungry, prepare his meal and leave the house so that your sister or anyone your with can feed him. He will also eat normal. Children do shakara on what to eat whenever their mummy is around. If they are hungry and didn't see you, they can eat anything available in the house. Mine now he eats noodle two packets, rice $ beans, garri with egusi soup. Many things and he hasn't sick for a day.

Less I forget, whenever you are feeding him, always give him something on his hand to distract him. Any toy it will make all his mind to be on the toy while he sucks the food. He wouldn't know when he will finish it. Me I stop breast feeding him at 10 months. Since I did exclusive on him and not with my hubby. Also always pronounce the name of anything you give to him. You can start teaching him how to talk now. I started with water. Whenever I wanna give him water to say it to his hearing, water several times, anything you wanna give him or he touches tell him the name of that thing. Cheers.

Thanks joy. I have been doing the things you described in the first post. It just breaks my heart to hear him cry (but as soon as i dont put anything in his mouth again, he suddenly starts smiling and you will never believe it was the same baby that was screaming down the house seconds ago).
About the distraction, you are right on that one. Another thing that i “manage“ to use to distract my baby is music. He loves the sound of music so i just play him songs from my phone and immediately he starts to concentrate on that (even though he has no idea what he is hearing) while i try my best to feed him.

The only thing with my baby is that even if he willingly opens his mouth for food, trust him to use his little tongue to push almost everything out. I will use his spoon to scrape the food from his chin, feed him again and same thing happens. We continue with that process till the spoon becomes empty and by the time we are through with one spoon, its almost 15minutes so you can imagine how long it will take by the time he starts eating up to 5spoons. Well, GOD DEY.

I wasn't planning on commenting here until I saw this post!

obasijoy: @prettycindy I also passed through this b/c I did exclusive on my son. At 6 months it was very hard for him to eat any other food but I thank God who gave me the knowledge to hand it. Buy cerelac/milk for him. Mix the normal proportion in a feeding bottle. If its milk you wanna give him, mix the normal ML for 6 months I think about 150ml-250ml. If its cerelac you also mix it properly in a feeding bottle with milk and make it watery for him. Use your teeth to open/cut the feeding bottle's mouth wide. let the feeding bottle have a big opening so that the prepared food can pour easily inside his mouth as he cries.

That is the most dangerous way to feed a baby!!! D'you want the child to choke to death??!!! Have a read of this below and educate yourself pls!

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2060305/Nurse-Gloria-Dwomoh-force-fed-baby-death-jailed.html

Remember you are doing him good.

I don't think so!

Beat/pitch him small in his bommbom let him cry and open his mouth. As he does that you c[b]ontinue pressing the feeding bottle to pour to food in his mouth till he finishes it.[/b]

The heck!! You are totally unbelievable!

B/4 2/3 days the taste of the food will master his mouth $ he will be eating it normal. Secondly you can allow him go hungry, prepare his meal and leave the house so that your sister or anyone your with can feed him. He will also eat normal. Children do shakara on what to eat whenever their mummy is around. If they are hungry and didn't see you, they can eat anything available in the house. Mine now he eats noodle two packets, rice $ beans, garri with egusi soup. Many things and he hasn't sick for a day.

@Cindy, I would strongly advice that you view the so-called helpful posts here with a pinch of salt. Force feeding a child is so wrong. I think you probably know that.

PrettyCindy: It has been a thug of war getting my baby to eat now that am trying to introduce solids to him. He just won't eat anything apart from brea.st milk. I have tried pap, rice cereals, beans pudding, mashed potato with egg yoke, even expressed brea.st milk into the bottle for him, he refused to feed from the bottle and won't eat when spoonfed. He won't eat anything that is not coming from the brea.st. When i want to spoonfeed him, he will clasp his lips and gums shut.

I' m seriously worried because he may not be getting enough from brea.st milk.
Please how did you wean your baby? Was it difficult like this? What tricks did you use to get him/her to eat?
Your contributions will be appreciated. Thanks.

I think what you're going through with your baby is normal Cindy. Babies who are exclusively breastfed take longer to wean in my opinion. My oldest child was breast fed for 1 year and 10 months (yes, I was working full time but would express bottles of milk and store away in the fridge for him). My other sons were given a combination of breast and bottle (SMA), but having said that, my last son was breastfed for exactly 2 years. I stopped on his 2nd birthday.

My daughter though 4 months old now started off a bit early on semi-solids at 3 and a half months. But even then, the food must be at the right temperature else she swishes the food in her mouth and spits it all out onto her bib. I normally start off with the main food say Chicken and vegetables and then save the dessert (say creamed porridge or mixed fruits) for later.

I also find that singing to her whilst feeding her helps. She's probably well versed in all the nursery rhymes I know now! Have you tried giving your baby chunky finger foods that dissolve easily in the mouth? Say bread sticks or rusks for example? Or even a piece of fruit like a peeled banana. That way, you get to help your little one experiment with the different tastes.

Then at 8months + you can introduce him to our foods like, eba completely covered in Ogbolo soup! that worked a treat for my boys.

Anyway, try not to worry too much and if you do need help, then speak to your health visitor or paediatrician.

Hope this helps and goodluck!

@efemana, about your first post, i believe we are intelligent beings and we are supposed to thoroughly sieve all the advice, suggestions and ideas people give on nairaland and in general and pick what we feel as the right advice (that is even if any). And NO! i can never pinch or beat my baby all in the name of feeding him.

@second post, yeah, like you and the other ladies have said, i am more relaxed now and now believe he will start eating properly in his own time. He was exclusively brea.st fed so that has contributed to him having difficulty in adjusting to cereals, puddings and the rest.

Thank you all for your contributions.

@efemana, thanks for posting that link. I read the story, even though the lady mearnt no harm, still i can't help but agree with the court. She went too far.

4 me my kids use 2 eat,
1st, 4rm 3mth u v 2 start puttin oil in his mouth,
4rm 4mth u intrds cereals.

Angymatini: 4 me my kids use 2 eat,
1st, 4rm 3mth u v 2 start puttin oil in his mouth,
4rm 4mth u intrds cereals.

Oil? Hearing that for the first time. Are you talking about palm oil or vegetable oil? And what is the purpose of that?

i used to be like you prettycindy and worry, also had the people who suggested force feeding and ignored them - as long as an NGO is not going to use ur child as a poster child for starvation then don't stress yourself. my daughter does not eat proper food yet, the doctors have told me she is fine.

i used to have sleepless nights over it but gradually she is coming round - now she eats only pasta, rice, and some fruits and her baby snacks and yogurt

cotton101: i used to be like you prettycindy and worry, also had the people who suggested force feeding and ignored them - as long as an NGO is not going to use ur child as a poster child for starvation then don't stress yourself. my daughter does not eat proper food yet, the doctors have told me she is fine.

i used to have sleepless nights over it but gradually she is coming round - now she eats only pasta, rice, and some fruits and her baby snacks and yogurt

My sister that is the essence of this thread, to learn ways to feed and to read the experiences of other mothers. Now am convinced my baby is not doing anything abnormal and am no longer worrying myself to the point of stress. I was really worried he wasn't eating cos i used to think that as soon he clocks 6months, he will naturally like food but alas i he had other plans for me.

I must confess i have learnt alot from this thread.

As u r eatin (soup) u ll be puttin in his mouth.
Dat is de oli l mean (ie) wen he was 3month.

men and breasts... the affinity starts from a very young age.

Angymatini: As u r eatin (soup) u ll be puttin in his mouth.
Dat is de oli l mean (ie) wen he was 3month.

Ok. Your earlier post gave the impression you were talking about ordinary oil. I have tried to do that but i only succeed at the first time on each occasions, after that am on my own as he keep his gums shut.

If am trying to feed my baby and he starts crying, my baby cries with his mouth closed! So nothing goes in. My little man is damn trickish.

davidylan: men and breasts... the affinity starts from a very young age.

Lol. Thank God you agree.

cotton101: my dear I don't know what to say - my little one is 18 months (we thank God) and she still refuses to eat proper food. so I can't even advise you as I need advice as well, and yes she is still breastfeeding.