Hellobee Boards

Aw, poor guy!! We're kind of in the same boat at 9 mos, but have seen progress the past two weeks with some modified BLW. When DD started purees at 6 months she went from pooping every day to once every 7-10 days. Although she didn't seem constipated (it was never hard, but there was a lot of grunting sometimes), I think she was having some tummy issues with it all and was refusing purees because of it. A few weeks ago we started giving her LITTLE chunks of what we were eating and she gobbled it up. I was pretty shocked! I'm still nervous to give her big chunks and she doesn't bring food to her mouth yet so it's still a lot of me hand feeding, but I don't mind and her poop issues have resolved, too!

I hope you find something that works for you guys!

ETA: She now also lets us feed her purees 75% of the time (trying to use up what we have!).

Aw, poor blake/babies!

So I know I told you a little on IG but I never pass up an opportunity to expand haha. So as you know we have been doing mostly BLW. Which Fiona has done pretty well with (sort of) because she is a huge fan of putting everything she can get her hands on into her mouth. But everything I gave her she pretty much put in her mouth, put a sour face on, and spit it. She did okay with some things. Avocados and bananas, mostly. Sometimes she'd eat a few bites of those. But mostly it was her chewing on things and being disappointed they weren't plastic chew toys. We tried stuff like oatmeal mixed with fruit too and it was basically the same. I also tried some pouches I bought and she actually liked the pear/spinach one okay but wasn't interested in the apple/blueberry/spinach.

So that is why I bought the puffs. I just wanted to try something totally different with her and see if she was able to pick it up and get it in her mouth. Plus she thinks it is funny when we crunch on food so I thought maybe she'd like to crunch too. She immediately looooved them. The only food she didn't make a bad face about and that she hasn't spit out at all. She also has improved significantly in her pincer grasp in the week I've been giving them to her. It's so freaking exciting to me that she actually WANTS to eat something. Also after a few days of those I gave her a pear again (which she liked before sort of-- but still spit out a lot) and she suddenly did so much better with it. Less pick up/lick/throw. More pick up/chompchomp/swallow. So I feel like the puffs are sort of helping her understand about food.

I'm not so sure about the constipation stuff though. Fiona has never had that issue at all. But I sort of wonder if any part of that is because she really likes water? Ever since I started giving her solids I gave her water too and she is allll about it. We do the straw cup once/day and she also is constantly reaching for my cups (I only drink water so thats easy) and I give her sips whenever she wants.

Oh and re: gagging-- fia actually does better with bigger food (like a pear cut into 1/6ths rather than skinny slices) because she can't get so much in her mouth and she has to mush it rather than break off pieces. She definitely gags sometimes and I've fished pieces that made me nervous out of her mouth. The whole process is a little bit nerve wracking but I figure you've got to do it some time right? lol

My LO wouldn't eat anything until he was 9 months old. Not even purees. We kept trying and eventually, he got into purees (especially pouches). Now at 11 months, he's onto table food. We thought maybe he had a food aversion because he had reflux. By the time he really started liking solids, he'd mostly grown out of the reflux. I'd suggest mixing a bit of prune juice in his foods and to keep trying.

I didn't read all the responses but have you tried prunes? Both my guys LOVE them and my older LO has like 5 foods he eats. He tries to steal his brother's prunes every single time. G doesn't love purees but eats the entire jar of prunes in one sitting.
Also isn't it probably fine to start some regular food? Things G loves that aren't constipating are avocado, quinoa, peas, blueberries.
Maybe if you're not comfortable moving away from purees yet you can let him try to feed himself? Liad up spoon and let him go at it. G eatsbetter that way!
ETA pouches are great too!

@twodoghouse: I just use regular prune juice. I didn't even know there was a baby kind I've been doing 3 tablespoons of oats (regular oatmeal too), 1 tablespoon prune juice and 2 tablespoons water. Then microwave for 1 min. And when it's cool I just put it on his tray and let him play. He probably plays with food as much as he eats it, but I'm ok with that.

We do water with meals, too, but I'm not sure if that helps him poop or not. He's not drinking very much, because as much as he loves his straw cup, he is a serious dribbler.

@skipra: those are good ideas! I've not tried eggs because I'm scared. With her being MSPI and allergic to avocado now too I'm worried about allergies and I know that is common. What do you give with hummus? I don't know if she'd understand dipping yet.

@twodoghouse: I started the pouches around 9 months. At first, we were emptying them into a bowl and spoon feeding but then daycare decided to teach him how to eat directly from the pouch using his pacifier (putting the pacifier in his mouth and then switching it with the pouch). It worked really well. Ella's Kitchen pouches are the ones that he likes best and they have a great one that already has prunes in it. They are sold at Target.