Nursing/solids Feeding ?

He may be weaning himself. I know I weaned myself by 3 months and was on formula & baby food....my mother reminds me how disappointed she was at not being able to do it longer. My 1st son was weaned off by us parents at 2+ years old and we still have issues with him eating anything. I'm just started on #2 who is now 4mo and still breastfeeding....who knows what he'll be doing! LOL

Don't worry about it, some kids just prefer regular stuff and some don't.

As long as your nurse him when he wants, you will maintain your milk. And he seems like he likes the food. Feed him, then nurse him.. He is probably thrilled with this new world of tastes, but he will probably go back to preferring the boobie in a month or so. Kids do that, especially breastfed babies!

The best thing is that you nurse on demand and he tanks up at night. I wouldn't worry - just go with it. His world is getting very amazing and he is working on becoming mobile. Who the heck has time for the boobie when life is so exciting!!! He will go back to the beloved tatas when he wants. Nursing through the night is great for him though.

Great job!
Peace-Love-Boobies

Hello Amy, Oh the wonders of parenthood, as the mother of 5( 1 we got when 16) I have learned that each child has different needs. I have one son that hated nursing after 8 months and HE REFUSED so I just stopped. It would seem that your little one is simular. You have provided him with a great start and if he still wants the comfort of nursing at night you should not worry that he isn't getting the best start possible. I would suggest that you par-boil foods like carrotts, use red delicious apples as they are softer into mashed cunks or you can even cook them til soft and it is ike a chunky applesauce, frozen peas are great for him as well. Both of you will be fine. As for on demand feeding I did that also and remember the frustration of not getting things done so please take care of yourself and remember the housework won't run away it will still be there when you can get to it.

It doesn't sound too bad, just a nursing strike since there are so many things going on! :)
Since he nurses at night, he's getting the nutrition, so hopefully this little phase won't last too long. I'd keep offering nursing before solids because at this age thats where most of his nutrition comes from.
Good luck! :)

If he's hungry, feed him! My triplets (3 and a half now) all began needing to eat more about the same age. It took me a bit to catch on, and they actually started waking up again at 11 at night because they were hungry! That drove me bonkers until I figured it out. My boys started biting me about this same time, so I actually stopped breastfeeding at this point and just gave them a bottle before feeding them solids. (They had already been getting a bottle with formula since birth, so this was not a difficult transition.) Depending on how strongly you feel about breastmilk, you could start giving him bottles of formula then feeding him solids. I started giving my boys yogurt and tiny chunks of bread and cheese, too. Soft frutis like apricots and peaches are great, too. You may want to call your pediatrician for some other ideas, too.

Dana

This sounds completely fine. Some kids need something more than milk to keep their bellies happy. You are doing everything right: you try small pieces, soft foods, pureed foods, you still try to breast feed him as much as he will let you, and you said he is 20 lbs and doing fine. Do not fret. All children are different. From the womb to college they will be different. Enjoy the differences. I will only add one thing he might need iron only because he might not be getting enough in pureed foods (unless you are pureeing them yourself). Good Luck!

It sounds like your little guy is going to be a good eater. I know the nursing problem is frustrating you, but it sounds like he's getting the nutrition he needs.
As far as your concerns about him possibly choking on the foods because they aren't pureed, the key is that when he's eating you are there with him watching to be sure he doesn't choke. Don't put him in his high chair with food and walk away. One way to do this is to feed him when the rest of the family is eating. You place his chair up to the table near yours and sort of face him so you can keep a good eye on him. That way if he does begin to choke on anything you are ready to help him with that. An additional advantage of having him eat at the same time the rest of the family eats is that he will begin to imitate others in table manners and to learn proper eating habits with whole foods. I think it is also good to let the little ones feel they are part of what the family is doing.
Currently, we have a six month old in our home childcare. She is sitting at the table with us at lunch time. I feed her cereal and once she's done with that we have a small glass with about two ounces of water for her. I hold it and let her begin to learn to drink from the glass (no sippy lid) and she's loving it. By the time she's a year old, I fully expect she'll be handling a glass of liquids on her own fairly well and won't need to use a sippy cup for transition at all. She also watches us eat and makes mouth movements as if she's chewing... like she's trying to learn from us what it means to eat solid foods before she's even ready to be given the solids.

Do you pump? You could try nursing and if he deosn't want to you could mix the breast milk in like oatmeal or fruit. Or you could put the milk in a sippy cup. My daughter could drink from a sippy at that age. Maybe he's over the breast and wants to feel like a big boy. At that age I was giving baby food twice a day but each childs need is different. You just want to make sure he's still getting atleast his minimum amount of milk. As far as finger foods you could try diced carrots (steamed very well), pieces of toast, red pears (they are softer than the green ones), yogurt melts by gerber, freeze dried fruits by gerber, soft cheeses, well cooked potatoe, diced avocado, steamed/ diced zuchinni and squash. For the bananas you can also try coating them with crushed cherrios that way their easier to grab. I bet you if he's nursing a lot he's getting enough milk. I would let him eat if he wants too during the day. I hope this helps!

While he seems young, he seems to be able to handle eating pureed food w/o choking and as long as his stomach is able to digest them it should be fine. As far as the apples, I wldn't quarter them but instead thinly (like paper thin) slice them. (For the bananas, I would feed them to my son on a baby spoon.....while it took longer because I had to sit there it worked.) If you HAVE to give him finger food, I would cut them up into tiny pieces and again make sure he can digest them. He may be able to get them down w/o choking but their intestines can be quite immature at that age. And yes I would always try to nurse first then go for the baby/finger food in the high chair. Hope that helps.