Weaning help please!

[Colleen1988]

So we're not quite ready for weaning yet... My LO is 19 week, I did start at 4 month but he wasn't ready/didn't need it (we thought he did but turned out it was a growth spurt) so we're waiting.

The more I read about weaning the more confused im getting?

I get the whole "first tastes concept" checking for allergies and getting them used to swallowing etc, but what I don't get is how to Introduce meals... Ie what time do u introduce a meal? When to Introduce lumpier good? When to drop a bottle? Do you give good before or after a bottle?

ATM we feed 9oz in each bottle at 7am, 11am, 3pm, 6.30pm and then dream feed of 1 or 2oz at 9pm (not sure he needs this but we've tried to stop it and he wakes up at 2am wanting an oz lol so we're stickin with it until he's on 3 meals) he's a big baby at 18lbs 6oz at 19 week old:

Did anyone have a feeding routine similar to this that could advise me on when you added a meal? Which bottle did you drop first etc?

Just any advice really xxx

 

[El1en]

As far as I'm aware you don't just drop bottles you wait until the baby doesn't want it, I think, I bf so don't know 100% but I know my Lo has cut down her feeds herself

I started at 5 months. After her breakfast milk feed I have her a bit of fruit purée. Just one spoon, she wouldn't have anymore. I did this everyday and she started having more and more over the first week. I then started trying porridge at breakfast time and a fruit purée at lunch.

At 6 months I started giving her a couple of slices of banana after her fruity lunch and started some more savoury pouches as well as blending veggies myself. I then tried toast fingers and sticks of cheddar and worked our way up

At 7 months she had lumpier food, I'd mash veggies rather than blend them

She's 7.5 now and still has some milk every 4/5 hours

 

[Aimee84]

Hiya I've found weaning a bit scary as there's so much information etc. In the end I just did what I thought was right for us. My lg had bottles at 7.30, 10.30, 1.30pm, 4pm, 6pm. I started with the lunchtime feed of giving her food half hour early so she wasnt really hungry but hungry enough to have the patience to try food. She would then drink a bit of milk afterwards, I kept going with this till I could drop the milk feed. For breakfast I did the same process but for the 10am feed and then swapped it for first feed when she realised how much she loved porridge. Then after a week or so I introduced the 4pm feed with actual food. Hope this helps x

 

[russellmuscle]

Ohhh I remember weaning petrified and confused the life out of me. I was scared hed never eat enough or something!!

HV advised me baby will let you know when hungry. First tastes are literally wee tasters. This goes on until baby gets the grasp of tastes, textures and what they like. Also giving things like peas helps with the pincer grip so alot is going on at the weaning stage.

We followed baby led weaning which is pretty self explanatory you let baby decide what they want etc.

We did first tasters at 5m and I bought one of those nubby nibblers which is like a mesh pouch with a handle and you can put fruit etc inside. Theres a silecone one on amazon something mama its called its far better to clean things like banna from.

Then we moved on to finger foods so like steamed carrots in batons and finger foods, different foods cut up like bread, toast, egg, fruit. This goes on for a wee while. Once hes about 6m you could start with a light routine please know baby wont eat full dinners until about 1 year once they are up and about and have grasped feeding and drop milk. Once hes about 6m you could introduce 3 meals just small portions and then you will notice whether he takes as much milk or bottles.

It is a long process, but really fun and amazing to watch once you get going. The amount of times Jackson fell asleep with pizza fingers in his hand or pasta... Never a dull moment.

I will say every baby is diff, some textures theyll take longer to grasp or like than others. Jackson doesnt like the texture of egg in a cup or mash! Which are soft. But even at 3 hes not that keen.

Ive posted a link for the BLW page:

www.babyledweaning.com

xxxx

 

[Karenb]

As far as I'm aware you don't just drop bottles you wait until the baby doesn't want it, I think, I bf so don't know 100% but I know my Lo has cut down her feeds herself

I started at 5 months. After her breakfast milk feed I have her a bit of fruit purée. Just one spoon, she wouldn't have anymore. I did this everyday and she started having more and more over the first week. I then started trying porridge at breakfast time and a fruit purée at lunch.

At 6 months I started giving her a couple of slices of banana after her fruity lunch and started some more savoury pouches as well as blending veggies myself. I then tried toast fingers and sticks of cheddar and worked our way up

At 7 months she had lumpier food, I'd mash veggies rather than blend them

She's 7.5 now and still has some milk every 4/5 hours

What sort of portion size does you lo have as sophie still wants bf every 3 hours! I go by what she wants but maybe she doesn't have big appetite yet?? I sound clueless haha!!

Colleen I've messaged you Hun xx

 

[El1en]

As far as I'm aware you don't just drop bottles you wait until the baby doesn't want it, I think, I bf so don't know 100% but I know my Lo has cut down her feeds herself

I started at 5 months. After her breakfast milk feed I have her a bit of fruit purée. Just one spoon, she wouldn't have anymore. I did this everyday and she started having more and more over the first week. I then started trying porridge at breakfast time and a fruit purée at lunch.

At 6 months I started giving her a couple of slices of banana after her fruity lunch and started some more savoury pouches as well as blending veggies myself. I then tried toast fingers and sticks of cheddar and worked our way up

At 7 months she had lumpier food, I'd mash veggies rather than blend them

She's 7.5 now and still has some milk every 4/5 hours

What sort of portion size does you lo have as sophie still wants bf every 3 hours! I go by what she wants but maybe she doesn't have big appetite yet?? I sound clueless haha!!

Colleen I've messaged you Hun xx

Hi Karen

My little girl loves her food so if Sophie doesn't eat much yet please don't be disheartened by my portions

Breakfast is 8-10 baby spoons of porridge and 3-4 of fruit purée.
Lunch is a slice of cheese on toast (or a crumpet and butter), half a banana in slices and half a fruit purée pouch.
Dinner is usually 6-8 spoons of mashed vegetables or half a savoury pouch if I'm short of time, a few spoons of fruit purée and something she can feed herself either a couple of cheese sticks or a couple of rice crackers

 

[Colleen1988]

So always give bottles at the same times as I usually do but introduce meals in between bottles? Or should I give meals with a bottle? xxx

 

[Browneyed Girl]

Hi, I've not started weaning yet (will be doing at the end of Jan) but my health visitor ran a session on weaning. The advice was that at 6 months babies have gone past the purée stage and can have well cooked veg/fruit etc mashed up with a fork. Benefit of this is that baby will learn to 'chew' and swallow lumpier textures straight away rather than introducing purées and then lumps further down the line which can be problematic. She said purées are intended for babies weaned early eg 4/5 months. Or you could go down the baby led weaning route of soft cooked sticks of veg etc big enough for them to hold in their hands and let lo feed themselves, she said if you choose this method not to put food in baby's mouth though, they must feed themselves so they're in control.

She also said to give solids after a bottle eg an hour later so baby isn't hungry - these are just first tastes and baby won't eat much at first but this will increase as time goes on and gradually lo will start drinking less milk after a solids meal because they're filling up on solids so dropping of the bottles should happen naturally you don't need to work this out. Also remember to offer water with solids. If you want me to post the info leaflet we were given I can do xx

 

[Belfa]

We're on to 3 meals a day now and I started weaning at 5months. Basically LO dropped the amount of milk he wanted himself and has gone up in meals pretty quickly.

I started at lunch time so if h was due a bottle at 1pm I would offer him puréed veg at 12.45 with water in a sippy cup. I batch cooked a variety of veg and used ice cube trays (I got posh weaning trays from John Lewis as I couldn't find regular ice cube trays!). I would then offer his bottle afterwards. A week or so of this and he was finishing the whole cube so I started giving him two cubes. Once he was finishing these I started giving him a breakfast. Once he was eating the recommended starting portion of baby porridge I introduced a cube of purée at dinner. Gradually I have upped his portions and not offered a bottle but water instead.

So, pre-weaning diet:

6am Bottle
9am Bottle
1pm Bottle
4pm Bottle
6pm Bottle & Bed

(That's a rough guide)

New routine now that he's weaning:

6am Bottle
9.30am Porridge
12.30pm Lunch (3 ice cubes of savoury food)
1.30pm Bottle (then nap)
4.30pm Dinner (3 ice cubes of savoury plus one ice cube of fruit)
6.30pm Bottle & Bed

Hope that helps, I was terrified too but now I don't know why!

Oh I also offer finger food snacks like toast and cucumber sticks to help with teething and so that he can eventually eat sandwiches etc for lunch himself. Have tried offering him mini cheese sandwiches but he gets more on the floor and he's too hungry to waste it x

 

[Colleen1988]

How much milk does your baby have in his bottles now belfa? Thanks brown eyed girl.. I might see if our HV's offer anything like this that I could attend xxx

 

[mrs_b_x]

Milk should come first above solids until they're quite a lot older, I think the guidance is 12months? Altho I'm sure more baby are loving food by then b drop their milk! I just remember still offering milk first for ages.

Ella's kitchen have a really good how to wean guise which u can either view on their website or ask for a copy in the post! Literally tells u how to build it up n add in new tastes etc.

Just remember that their milk is their nutrition and food is for fun! Enjoy!!

 

[Lucyboo]

We finally started weaning at 5 months properly starting on single veggies. She wasn't finishing her feeds so needed to make up the food somehow. At 5.5 months started introducing second portion later in the day again of just veggies, with porridge for breaky mixed with fruit. once she hit 6 months it got 100 times easier and is now on 3 meals a day, lunch is sometimes cooked carrot sticks or toast fingers, I was told don't give anything lumpy at all,before 6 months, this is when I started offering proper dinner, if you start then can go straight into mashed food then rather than purée as others say. Our LG only has a bottle at 7am, 12pm, 4pm, 8pm and has between 6-7oz we decided to do less bigger feeds as was only taking 3oz a feed at the old times.

 

[Belfa]

How much milk does your baby have in his bottles now belfa? Thanks brown eyed girl.. I might see if our HV's offer anything like this that I could attend xxx

He'll take 7oz in each bottle. There's an odd day where he'll have a 4th bottle or in the past couple of weeks he's woken in the night a couple of times for a bottle but we have noticed that he's got a lot more fat rolls now haha!!x

 

[JD.Deedee]

I've recently started making this vegs purree, cause I'm fussy too like my son so I could eat it with him.. A thing for a batch of home made food what I've seen is to put it in ice cube trays and just pop out a cube as you go so to speak and during weaning times as my son wasn't a keen weaner due to his throwing up.. I've always felt like I've wasted loads of pouches and jars.. I suppose I could've even divided that in icecube trays and freeze the lot!

I eventually ended up with trying to get some porridge in with some fruit mixed in and because it was made up with milk I would have to start and try and give him before a feed.. My little one has always been way beyond what his minimum needs are milk wise.. I think as long as they're taking at least the minimum required amount of milk for their age, dropping a bottle isn't too bad as long as the minimum amount is spread out between other meal times.. A bigger bottle for bed for example..

And yes, I was too late but in our area back when he was young enough (they don't do it now) was a messy munchers group.. First tastes and such.. People in the same boat and health visiting/surestart type of people who can help you with any questions!

 

[Colleen1988]

We finally started weaning at 5 months properly starting on single veggies. She wasn't finishing her feeds so needed to make up the food somehow. At 5.5 months started introducing second portion later in the day again of just veggies, with porridge for breaky mixed with fruit. once she hit 6 months it got 100 times easier and is now on 3 meals a day, lunch is sometimes cooked carrot sticks or toast fingers, I was told don't give anything lumpy at all,before 6 months, this is when I started offering proper dinner, if you start then can go straight into mashed food then rather than purée as others say. Our LG only has a bottle at 7am, 12pm, 4pm, 8pm and has between 6-7oz we decided to do less bigger feeds as was only taking 3oz a feed at the old times.

My LO is 5 month now and ive just started single veg with his 3pm bottle and baby porridge with fruit puree wth his 11am bottle, planning on introducing dif ones every couple of days but at same times! Then at 6 month I plan on trying to get him onto 3 meals...

Am I right in thinking after 6 month you can try and reduce amount of milk at each feed so they eat more solid food but as long as they are getting the recommended 20 oz of milk in a day??

People say they reduce it naturally... So does that mean you just introduce 3 meals but still offer milk at normal yimes and let them have as much as they want? My LO is full off his milk so I don't understand how I can introduce solids when he's full off milk?

Xxx

 

[Lucyboo]

Our LG dropped milk herself but do I remember you saying your Lb drank quite a lot of milk. How about offering him the puree before a milk feed is due then he might automatically take less and maybe try stretching out the feeds a little when he is on 3 meals as our lg happily waits for her bottles /dinner now unless she is genuinely starving x

 

[Colleen1988]

Yeah I will try that once he's 6 month... He's only 5 month at the mkment so im just doing first tastes and letting him have his normal feeds... He's starting to take more at his dream feed now... He was on 8oz dreamfeed, dropped it to about 2oz and now has gone back up to 5oz so he's obvs needing more food now.. When you say it was easier once you LO hit sixmonth, why is that exactly? Xxx