Feeling so defeated about solids / rant

My lil one is over 7 months now and I've been struggling to stay on top of introducing solids every day. He's EBF so I know he needs more iron and I really want to help him figure out all the food asap. So far though I've been scared of choking and mostly sticking to purees/mashed soft foods. I feel like the days are so busy and flying by and getting the right timing for feedings, plus the time to make the right food, has been such a struggle!

Usually I only manage to get a few bites of something in him per day, sometimes more if I'm lucky. My partner really hasn't been helping figure any of this out. I keep intending to read more or get the Solid Starts package just to make sense of it all but I've been intending to for weeks and keep getting sidetracked. I have ADHD and staying on top of everything is just a lot. He started crawling and pulling up a couple weeks ago and he's actively cruising and trying to walk or stand on his own, so we have to be at his side constantly, plus the separation anxiety has started. I just don't get how people are feeding their babies 3 meals a day, plus the BLW stuff.

Today I tried oatmeal with apple sauce and some chunks of banana on the side, and he took one bite of that oatmeal and it was a big nope. So later I tried bigger chunks of eggs than usual so he could also try feeding himself. He likes egg and that was going sooooo well. He kept wanting to chew on his spoon (mega teething lately) so I got overconfident from the egg success and traded the spoon for a chunk of my toast. He was chewing on the crust and slowly softening and eating it - perfect! - until he pops the rest of the chunk in his mouth. Afraid he'll choke, I encouraged him to spit it out, and bam he gags up the whole meal. 😭

Please tell me I'm not the only one who is struggling so hard at this. I'm worried he'll become iron deficient if I can't get it together soon. We're huge food lovers and I want him to be too, but here I am resorting to rice cereal and banana all the time because it's easy and he usually eats enough of it.

I don't know if any advice will even help but if you're struggling too it's nice to know I'm not alone.

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Hey a few bites is great! It's taken us a few months of pure BLW to get more than a few bites and we're only doing two meals a day so far at 8 months. Honestly the less I stressed about how much she was eating
and just remembering to offer at least once a day it got easier. Then we started twice and soon we'll try three in a month or so. It's a lifelong skill you're teaching so don't beat yourself up that it's a hard thing to teach.

It’s such a lengthy process and I swear some days it feels like, wake, breakfast, nap, lunch, nap, dinner, bed.
There’s a book by charlotte Stirling reed called how to wean your baby. She’s a nutritionist. The book has a 30 day plan to follow which introduces all sorts and allergens. I found it helpful to follow as I would then make our dinner based on what I served baby. It helped take some effort out of it.

It’s got loads of helpful theory and recipes to follow on after the 30 days. She’s also got a toddler book for 1 onwards and a family one.

I’m with you! I also have adhd and am struggling. My daughter is I’ll be 14 months at the end of the month

You’re doing great, a few bites a day it’s already a good improvement from 0 food not that long ago. What I used to do when I was giving our baby purée was (whenever I had a bit of time) boil a lot of different veggies and then purée them in combination of two or one by one and freeze them in ice cubes. So whenever I needed I would take just one cube. Now that he is eating solids (he is almost nine) what I do is when we cook I just do it without salt and we share what we feel comfortable giving him. Remind yourself that your baby is eating to play and is slowly learning, they are not eating to feed themselves yet 🧡. For a bit we also used food feeders (from Amazon) when it was something we were afraid of chocking

Thank you all for your responses :)
Very helpful!

it is rough!

in our community

Hidden veg mince pasty 🥐

Grated courgette and carrot mixed in with onion and mince and a little bit of tomato puree. 😋

My daughter has become a little fussy and prefers anything she can hold so made these today for lunch! She’s 14 months old 🩷

Appropriate age to go out

I am the kind of person who struggles with being at home all day, not good for my mental health. I have a 1 month old and I am trying to start doing things with her. Like going ti the park, running errands. But people seem surprised and kind of judgy that I am out with the baby at her age. Is this wrong?

Am I wrong for getting upset?

Long story short. My cousin made a group chat for bridesmaids and groomsman to plan out bachelorette party.
I sent one text about finding a sitter and my cousin texts me to stop saying stuff like that cause no one gives a shit? As if no one else is gonna mention their personal lives during planning a trip of 10 people?
I. Put the screenshots. I got so hurt I told her just count me out if the mention of my kid offends everyone.

Roles between a sthm and a working partner?

I started wondering if our arrangement makes any sense. When I was pregnant I saw a cute video of a couple where they sleep seperately, the mom takes care of the baby during the night, the husband wakes up early in the morning takes over so the woman sleeps a bit before he gets to work I suggest this arrangement to my husband and we both liked it. Since I gave birth to my 22 month old boy, we are sleeping separately, I’m taking care of everything. My toddler still wakes up during the night every two hours on average. I wake up in the morning to make his breakfast and drive him to the train station and pick him up later in the day. I clean and cook and take care of my boy, with no appreciation or thank you. If I say I’m tired it turns he’d say what are you doing all day or he’d remind me of how he’s paying for everything. I am emotionally and physically exhausted and I don’t feel this is how a team should work.

Having a bit of a sad day

I don’t know if I want advice or just to get it out a bit.
I had a bit of a rubbish Mother’s Day, and then today had a falling out with my mum.
Very long story short, me and my partner turn 30 this year and were thinking of taking a short trip (2-3 days max) just the two of us to celebrate. Our son will be 2 by then.
We had discussed leaving our son with our parents and them sort of splitting having him (eg. My mum has him one night and my boyfriend’s mum has him the other two nights, or whatever we collectively decide on). They are both happy to do this.

Yesterday my MIL was pushing my son’s pram and got distracted and pushed it off the pavement into the road, a car missed the pram by about 5 seconds. This upset me a lot.

Me and my partner discussed this later on and I said it worries me leaving our son with her in case she does something like that. We also discussed the fact that my mum pays very little attention to our son when she’s with him and is absolutely glued to her phone (looking at social media etc) so we might just take him on holiday with us.

Then this morning I had a chat with my mum and told her we would probably just take our son away with us. She asked why and I mentioned the pram thing with my MIL so she said she would just have him- so I thought it was time to mention that when she’s with him she is glued to her phone and gets distracted and that it just worries me a bit. (For reference she’s been watching him before and because she’s been on her phone he’s managed to get half way up her stairs.)
She absolutely lost it at me. Called me rude etc.

I try so hard not to upset anyone and I’m just so so fed up now. I just wish it was simple and we could trust them to take care of him but they are both away with the fairies.

I want to talk to my mum but i don’t know how to approach it now. Just feel like i need a big cry.

Sending my baby to nursery

My daughter is just shy of 6 months old and I'm already feeling horrendously guilty about putting her in childcare for 5 days a week (2 days nursery, 3 at a childminder 8am to 4/5pm) when she's just over 13 months!

Right now, she goes to bed by latest half 7 so I really don't know how I'm going to handle going from being with her 24/7 to only seeing her for max. 2.5hours a day!

Does anyone else feel like this? Does it get any easier? If it wasn't for how expensive everything is nowadays, I'd be a SAHM in a heartbeat!