Hi, my 2nd baby is 6 1/2 months old. My 1st baby took to BLW like a dream. It was so much fun and he ate everything in sight. Wolfed down entire pears and bananas, and anything else we put in front of him, with no teeth until 3 months later! My 2nd has always been a little less advanced in many ways and we weren't sure he was ready at 6 months (mainly as he wasn't showing much interest in watching us and his hand to mouth coordination wasn't that great/couldn't keep hold of toys etc). However, we did put food in front of him - just bits of our meals that we all sat down to eat, and he began feeding himself no problem, and learned very quickly how to coordinate hand to mouth, and enjoyed it! However, this past week has been a nightmare. He's getting very whingey at the table, and often throws a right strop, until I have to give up and take him away from the table. He's refusing to pick things up and put them in his mouth, including things he started with, toast fingers, veg, chicken, even breadsticks etc. I admit I have spoonfed him a few things, and he just seems to prefer that...so: yoghurt (always loves, still), cereals, stewed apple/pear, mushed up cottage pie etc. He often still gets mardy about it, but definitely prefers that method. So, does this mean I should go down the spoonfed route?? (in a way. it's baby-led as it's what he wants). I am really reluctant to...especially if it means puree-ing. One of the things I love about BLW is that I'm lazy, and, especially with him being our second, it would be so much easier if he just joins in our meals (less time/energy!). I guess I could just mash up our meals. So, my question(s) is/are: Should I try and persevere with BLW and how? and/or if I do spoonfeed (perhaps for a bit, until he's happy feeding himself again?) how do I go about this? Do I have to puree? What foods should I be gving him? Whole meals pureed/mashed up or just veg etc? I suppose that's not your area of expertise!
I imagine you will say not to worry, just put food in front of him and don't worry if he doesn't eat it. But I put food in front of him and he gets really cross! No fun at all!
He's a very big baby and I think he gets hungry. If he doesn't eat in between, he will need to breastfeed every 2 hours.
Has anyone else experienced this?