Considering hiring someone to help us with solids
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Final thought - have you tried bought pouches? Like Ella etc I know not as good but babies do love them. Super smooth and tried and tested flavours. I think they can help to start off, and you can always add things to them to up the protein/iron etc but they are getting all they need from milk now anyway (especially if not really eating solids) so it’s just about exploring the texture and flavour.
But - on your actual question - not got a feeding consultant yet, but I think it’s a good idea if you can.
Had/having a long road with my eldest. Look up Arfid in case useful as time goes by. Take it steady and at your own baby's pace with no pressure. Like lady above says - try purees for a while. Or different temperatures / textures. Good luck xxx
@Hollie thanks for all your suggestions! So we've tried purees and started off with single ingredients. Now we're making meals that we can all have because it's just too much work otherwise. As an example, yesterday we gave baby pasta with avocado and lemon and we all ate together. We managed to make baby lick the pasta and have some of the avocado sauce, but that was it. If we try to feed baby ourselves, 9 times out of 10, baby will shut their mouth and turn their head. There doesn't seem to be a difference if it's finger food or puree at this point,tbh. I'll try giving baby solids after a feed. I keep hearing to wait at least an hour, so we've been trying to do this, but will try the other way around 🤞 Yeah, I was wondering if I needed to get baby more "nursery ready" or if nursery will help... guess I'm just really nervous. Good to know that nursery helped you out with this! Haven't tried the pouches yet. I keep hearing that they're bad for babies but will consider them again. Thanks again!
@Jane oh Arfid sounds familiar, but more for myself... I hope baby doesn't deal with the same disordered relationship to food as I am/was... thank you! Yes, will try different temps and textures as well
I don’t think the pouches are ‘bad’. They lack some things, so if you only gave your baby pouches then they might miss some vitamins/iron/not enough protein. But there isn’t anything in them that is ‘bad’.
Sorry I should add that the puréed fruit ones contain a bit of sugar, so they aren’t great. But no more sugar than if you pureed fruit at home. It’s pureed fruit that is bad, not that it comes in a pouch.
@Hollie that makes sense, thank you!
I found purées easier to get going on than finger foods. She liked picking up the finger foods but didn’t really eat much. I tried purées a few times and eventually she let me feed her with a spoon. Are you doing single food purees, like just carrot purées? I know they suggest this but my baby really wasn’t interested in these. She was much happier when we moved to more meals, like fish, potato, peas all puréed up. My other tip - and really no expert - is not to feed her hungry. Give milk first. Sounds counter intuitive but, especially at the start, my baby hated being offered solids when she was hungry. Sounds like you might be doing this already… Finally, I would wait until after she starts nursery as that might push things along. She will be with other babies eating, she associate you with milk but won’t have the same associations at nursery. My baby is getting on ok with solids now - we too had a slow start - but has much more solids and less milk with the childminder.