Hngrybaby (she doesn't like plastic)

hngrymummy

No. 1 daughter is now at weaning age, and she seems to be very interested in food. She'll chomp on fruit etc while I'm holding it, but not from a plastic spoon. She won't take a dummy or a bottle either.

The Dr has suggested that we try using a metal spoon carefully, which has worked so far. So it seems to be that she really doesn't like plastic in her mouth. She won't even gum on plastic toys!

Has anyone else experienced thins? Are there any alternatives to plastic cutlery and plastic sippy cups? I'm ok with using metal spoons, and was wondering if there were any with rounded edges. Are there metal sippy cups available?

Kayalana99

Not saying I don't belive you...but I find it really hard to belive that a child of this age would know the differnce between all items of plastic just by taste.. i.e not chewing on a plastic toy but happily on another.

Are you sure shes not having some kind of reaction to it? Seems the only explantion for it to make sense....

Fair enough for them to reject a certain spoon kids can be akward but I would of thought because a sippy cup is a differnert kettle of fish she wouldn't be rejecting that as well because of the material...

Please don't take the wrong way but just saying incase thier is some kind of underlining reason that shes rejecting it.

As for your question on sippy cups I highly doubt it tbf maybe someone will have some ideas of things you can do.

duchy

Why not just skip the sippy cup stage and go straight to proper cups. Need more supervision but babies managed just fine without sippy cups and plastic spoons before plastic was invented.

balletshoes

Kayalana99 wrote: »

It would be a risk of chocking as child has no idea how to control a cup... if you was taking this option I would just carry on using a bottle for as long as poss. My 10month old can pick up a glass and drink out of it but it would all go in his mouth/over his face and he would probally choke if it was actally full.

which is why duchy suggested using a normal cup with supervision, surely?

notanewuser

Kayalana99 wrote: »

It would be a risk of chocking as child has no idea how to control a cup... if you was taking this option I would just carry on using a bottle for as long as poss. My 10month old can pick up a glass and drink out of it but it would all go in his mouth/over his face and he would probally choke if it was actally full.

Rubbish. DD never had a lidded cup. We did start with 2 handled cups, but there's no reason I couldn't have held a glass or cup for her.

Premature babies can take milk from an open cup.

I think you need to look up what "choking" means. You can't choke on liquids!

fluffnutter

She can eat food with her hands. If she won't take a bottle, I assume she's breastfed? In which case, just keep feeding her yourself - she'll get enough fluids. Keep offering her the cup (sippy, bottle, doidy, normal cup, whatever type you prefer) regularly and she'll get used to it in time.

I made the mistake of thinking that weaning happens overnight - it doesn't. I started introducing food at six months and it's only now - six months later - that my little boy eats regularly and drinks regularly. Provided she's getting lots of milk, even better if it's coming from you, the food and water isn't that important until she's one.

fluffnutter

Kayalana99 wrote: »

It would be a risk of chocking as child has no idea how to control a cup... if you was taking this option I would just carry on using a bottle for as long as poss. My 10month old can pick up a glass and drink out of it but it would all go in his mouth/over his face and he would probally choke if it was actally full.

I think babies are far more able to handle cups etc. than people give them credit for. The only advantage of a bottle over an open cup, as far as I can see, is simply that it makes less mess

fluffnutter

Can I also say, that in my experience (and my brother's a paediatrician ) that doctors are great if your child's ill, but pretty rubbish for normal childhood development. They tend to see the bad stuff and so have a skewed perception of what's normal. I certainly wouldn't ask my doctor's advice about what spoon to use! I'd just ask other parents.

hngrymummy

Thanks for the replies.

No.1 daughter is breast fed, as she won't take a bottle. We've tried on several occasions, and she'd rather go to sleep hungry than have a teet in her mouth!

We've tried several types of plastic spoon (from when we weaned No.1 son) but it all gets rejected.

And really really, she won't tolerate plastic in her mouth. I'm not just being a fussy mother.

We'll keep with the BFing, give her finger foods to try, and feed any mush with a metal spoon. We might try and get a metal cup too and skip the sippy cup stage.

Fluffnutter - we were seeing the dr about another issue, and he suggested that we might want to try a bottle feed at bedtime (possible reflux, so trying to get medication in to her last feed) and I explained the plastic problems. So we've gone down a different route, and he suggested a metal spoon for weaning.

fluffnutter

Honestly, you can wean her without using spoons at all. Have you researched babyled weaning at all? Purists don't use spoons (even for soup!) although most people aren't that hardcore. She doesn't need much water if you're still feeding her yourself. It would be nice to get her used to cups, but don't worry too much if it takes a while.

Why is the bottle needed for the medicine? What are you giving her? Gaviscon or similar and mixing it with a feed? You can give it to her before the feed using a syringe or spoon and then just breastfeed her.

notanewuser

fluffnutter wrote: »

Honestly, you can wean her without using spoons at all. Have you researched babyled weaning at all? Purists don't use spoons (even for soup!) although most people aren't that hardcore. She doesn't need much water if you're still feeding her yourself. It would be nice to get her used to cups, but don't worry too much if it takes a while.

.

We used spoons for things like yoghurt, but DD held them for herself from day 1. Never mushed a thing.