for those on soilds

[ToriElla]

the only solids eva is opening her mouth for is her baby cereal in the morning and sometimes potato at lunch time. i think i'll ease off a bit for now. she is on hungrier milk at the minute, just giving it a try. my health visitor said it can cause constipation so i'm monitoring it.

think i'll just give her a teaspoon of solids in the morning until she shows more interest.

 

[Duds]

You lot are all doing so well, I am terrible and dont have a clue what im doing & really need your help.
Iv been feeding Aimee one meal a day of baby rice with nothing in it for about a week and a half & I just dont know what to do now....

Do i add fruit or veg to that rice? or do I up the dose? or do I introduce breakfast aswell ? HELP!

Also, how much milk should you give before/after a meal ? Should they still have a full feed?

Im so clueless. I cant even cook !

 

[michelle82]

i do the following with matthew

7ish morning bottle
10ish another bottle what he doesnt drink i mix with baby rice and he has had banana mushed up with it
bottles in the day as usual
baby rice for supper
last bottle before bed

You should introduce foods one at a time, like carrot on its own etc and then use it for a few days before trying her on something else like pear etc. So now matthew has been eating for a couple of weeks he has some fruit or veg mixed with baby rice for midmorning then supper is the same.

over time once you know they are ok with certain foods you can mix and match like cauliflower and brocolli etc

You dont have to be a great cook, just boil or steam the veg and blend it down if you want to freeze it use ice cube trays as they give you ideal portions (matthew has 2 cubes per meal) same with fruit you boil it up and then when soft blend it up and freeze, simple!

 

[beanie]

Duds, I'm the same. I have such a slapdash way with introducing solids. Since she was about 19 weeks I have just let her try things (if I was eating an apple or strawberry I would let her have a suck on it to taste) but the last couple of days I have been giving her slop. She has creamy porridge slop in the morning (will not touch baby rice), then has one cube of veg slop (am very slack as not been doing the one food at a time) and then has some mashed fruit slop after. I feel like I am winging it completely as she is still demand feeding and I am following her lead.

 

[Rosebay]

Duds- I think what I did was to move the baby rice to before bedtime like michelle says and then tried some veggies at the 11ish feed after most of the milk (I tended to save a little bit to wash it down with!). To be honest though he wasn't too keen on the baby rice once he had tried carrots and parsnips as I think he liked the flavours so after I'd tested the veggies for three days each at lunchtime to watch for reactions I moved some pureed carrot to before bedtime and then carried on adding more veggies to his menu at the lunchtime slot. When he started to get hungry earlier than 11am I then started giving him some rice pudding mix for breakfast or some banana.

Mel is now 6 1/2 months and on three meals a day, I started weaning him at the end of 17 weeks as he was so hungry. What kind of happened over the weeks was that he went longer at lunthtime so that the 11am has become 11.30-12, he has a bit of ready brek or wheatabix for breakfast and then a veggie based tea at 5.30 ish before his milk at 6.45. I'm trying to make the lunch meal the largest if you see what I mean? Not sure if this is all "right"! I have about three weaning books I'm reading at once and they all say slightly different things! (I'm a librarian so I am incapable of doing anything without an open book at my side for reference- so sad!) I did notice a major increase in his appetite for veggies before I introduced protein two weeks ago but now the amounts have settled down again, apparently protein takes longer to digest (is this how the atkins diet works?) so I guess he feels more full...?

So at 6 1/2 months his day is like this:-

7am 8oz milk + 3 tablespoons of readybrek made up with some of the milk

11.30-12 2 cubes (tablespoons) of chicken casserole + 4 tblsp baby rice made up with 3 oz milk so it's thick and water with a dash of grape juice to sip from a cup

3pm 4-6oz milk

5.30pm 4 tblsp worth of pureed veggies or tonight he had pureed veggie risotto + large dollop of plain yog and 1 cube apricot and I offer him the water again

6.45 8oz milk

According to my books they should still have between 16-20oz milk a day at least although that includes stuff on their breakfast or that makes up baby rice etc.

One tip is to write it all down somewhere as I got lost as to what I had introduced etc and how much milk he was having without doing that, also I got some little round measuring cups/spoons from Asda that measure out a tablespoon etc so that I could keep an eye on the amounts as all my icecube trays are different sizes and some work out as two and some one. That's probably over-picky but Mel has the appetite of an ox and he has always eaten fast then spewed up what he can't hold so I've learnt to offer him a set amount then wait for it to settle then see what effect it has on the next feed- if he's ravenous then he needs a bit more on the previous feed but if not then it's kind of ok! He has never turned down more food if you see what I mean but he rarely cries out of hunger for the next feed!

+++

 

[Tiny Sue]

My health visitor said that I should try Naomi on a teaspoonful of baby rice before three bottles in the day for a week. Then up that to two teaspoons for a further week, then three for the week after that. Baby rice is very bland, though, so by the end of the third week I caved and tried apple puree.

She loved it - and won't take rice on its own any more. I was supposed to wait until week four before starting one new taste every four days or so, to make sure that she doesn't have a reaction to any particular food. So I introduced apples, and then four days later carrots, and this morning she had her first taste of pears. She's going to try broccoli next and after that, maybe some melon or a bit of potato. I'll keep adding new tastes until she's got a variety.

As for the schedule, Naomi's normal day is

8 am, rice and apple , followed by bottle immediately - and she takes about 9 oz sometimes.

12 pm carrot or carrot/apple mixed, usually about four teaspoonsful. Then usual bottle. She doesn't usually finish the 9oz here.

4pm apple or pear or mixed , same amount, followed by bottle of milk.

9 pm 9 oz bottle if she's awake.

I offer juice and water in between feeds too, but she hasn't taken to the water much and the juice tends to make her explode in her nappy!

I was wondering about the quantities though, is four teaspoons enough, or should I increase it if she shows signs of frustration when I say "all gone!"? She is satisfied by the milk feed afterwards but I am unsure as to when she has enough as she sometimes overfeeds a little. Is the key more solids to feel less hungry, followed by milk to fill up?

Sue