I just wondered if anyone has a magic wand and if they do can I borrow it?

Neve has always been a pretty good eater with no fussing at mealtimes. For the last week or so she has been takng 5oz of milk (she usually has 7-8oz) and then turning her head away and refusing anymore (lol she is polite but firm!) If I keep trying to get her to take it she gets very upset. The dream feed has also stopped being a dreamfeed and she is taking anything from 2-5oz and going back to sleep but she is going to bed at 9pm now where she was going a 8/8.30 and I just cannot get her to go up any earlier , she is really grumpy and overtired in the evenings now because abviously she needs to go to bed.

I had thought that she needed to start weaning as she also has her hands in her mouth a lot and stares at us while we eat and when I spoke to my HV she said to start her on babyrice but she doesn't seem interested in that either so I'm really not sure what to do, I have also moved her to a faster teat but this hasn't made a difference either - do you think she is going through a phase or can anyone see from what I have written if I am missing some signals she is giving me? Aside from the food and sleep issue she is a very happy, calm baby so I don't think she is ill.

Sorry - this is a bit of a waffly post!

What age is she now? I would give her some banana porridge but if she is under 6 months make sure its the gluten free one, cow and gate do this.
Also i would think if she is refusing bottles that she isnt hungry and ready for solids. I wouldnt worry about the dreamfeed, how much does she take during the day? Is she sleeping all night? sorry for the questions, just might be fit to give better advise if i was sure of them. x

Hi Diane she is nearly 17wks. She has gone from taking 34-36oz a day to 28-30oz which seems quite a big drop. She weighs about 17lb and sleeps from 9 (usually 8ish) until 7.30am with a dream feed at 10ish.

What a big girl for 17 weeks! I would definatly start her on solids, she is practically asking for them. I would try her with bland things first, like porridge and rice, you could blend up some oranges and add them to the rice to make it taste a bit better, it is rank, i try everything i give Ellie! LOL
Also if she is going all night or almost i would drop the dream feed and see how that goes, if she is not taking much of it but still sleeping she must not need it any more.
Good luck with weaning, it only gets harder as they grow because next its deciding if they are eating enough and if they are taking too much milk and what about the poo changes! LOL Oh the joys of motherhood! x

Oh god I hadn't even thought about the poo changes lol! Thanks for the advice, we are off to get some banana porridge and oranges!

Hi lottie, my little boy is nearly the same age as Neve and I tried him on some baby rice a week or so ago as advised by my hv. He doesn't like the rice but does like the cow and gate plain porridge.
He takes just over 5fl oz per feed and feeds around every two and a half hours during the day. He has his bath at 7pm, then last bottle and goes down anywhere between 8pm and 9pm. Just recently he has started sleeping through to 6am, and after a bottle goes back to sleep from anything to 7:30-9am depending on how lucky I am!!
So it sounds like they are very similar. Bren is also teething and sometimes refuses his bottles because of it. If I put some teething gel on and leave ut 20 mins he will then usually take his bottle.
Keep an eye out for her getting constipated once you start her on solids as it can be side effect! x

Thanks for the advice ladies, have just put a tiny bit of pureed mango in with her baby rice and she liked it - covered her hands in it and was trying to push the spoon in! She followed it up with a full 7oz of milk!!!

Will puree some butternut squash tonight and see how she gets on with that in a few days.

Sending you all some imaginary chocolates!

LOL Glad we could help. x