When do they need 3 meals a day?

[CARNAT22]

James is nearly 7 months and is a bit ambivalent about all this food business.

Some days he is great other days he isn't fussed, which I know is normal.

I try to give him breakkie, lunch and dinner but they aren't at rigid times.

I feel like this is too much for him as he seems to get more stressed every time I feed him? I make sure he isn't tired or wanting milk and I alternate where I feed him (highchair, on my lap, bumbo with tray)

So breakkie he is fine but come evening time he has no interest at all? I know he is more tired later in the day.

Should I just go back to trying him a few times a day?

We are BLW.

Cheers

xxxxxx

 

[kittyrooroo]

Do you eat while he is eating?

We all eat together at the table at breakfast, lunch is BLW stuff and I sit there with him and eat my lunch and again the same at tea. It's a bit inconvenient as he has a purée at tea so one of us has to feed him but he definitely shows more interest in food if we're eating too. Xxx

 

[Hope81]

I would simply offer him food every time I eat and if he wants it ok of not not.

We started 3 meals at 6 m. Until 7 m it was hit and miss until we found a routine at 7 m I started offering food regardless if she wants it or not 3 times per day if she eats it ok if not then its fine.
So since 7 m she had
Bottle at 7
Breakfast 8.30 we both have breakfast together, she is offered finger food only, she barely eats it...
Nap 9.30-11
Lunch: 12 we both have lunch together that's the main meal for her so she has a protein and vegetables and some fruit, all finger food usually.today she had fish pie with extra veggies for her and some pear.
Afternoon bottle 2 o'clock, usually 3 oz
Nap 2-3
Dinner: 4.30-5 we all have dinner together she eats whatever we have finger food.
Bedtime bottle: 6.30-7
Bed at 7

Is good to get into a routine of offering food 3 times per day usually when you eat as its quite important for finger foods . Then e decides when to eat or not.
Saying that if he is asleep during mealtime you can always skip it but I usually change my mealtime to suit era an we always eat together.
She is being in the same routine though since 6.5 m so its just a matter of time to just find sth that suits him and you

 

[Lynds77]

we were similar, I struggled to get Freya to eat her dinner as she just seemed too full and not interested.

she eats every meal in her high chair, with the TV off. We have just settled into this new routine, and its working really well. She is pretty much finishing all her meals now

7.30am - 8oz bottle
9.30am - bowl porridge
11.30 - lunch (french toast, dairylea sandwich, mashed egg, avocado + philly etc etc) and some cheese cubes or other finger food or fromage frais (grated cheese works really well, it keeps her occupied for AGES!)
2pm - 7oz
4.30pm - dinner. Meat/fish and veggies followed by soft poached fruit in cinnamon
7pm - 8oz bottle

so she is getting 23oz of milk a day and 3 good meals. its really working well for us. x

 

[CARNAT22]

I am not enjoying this weaning malarkey I have to say.

James starts off OK then he'll just decide he doesn't want anymore and scream (he is a very good boy in general but my God when something displeases him he goes bonkers)

It's every meal time so I am conscious of not taking too long which goes against doing BLW.

Today he decided that eggy bread is vile whereas two days ago he couldn't get enough of it?

He is still having almost 40oz of milk per day (same as pre weaning)

I just find it so tough... it is so much extra work - I'd at least like him to enjoy the experience considering all the extra work Mummy does lol

xxxxxxxxx

 

[Lynds77]

I am not enjoying this weaning malarkey I have to say.

James starts off OK then he'll just decide he doesn't want anymore and scream (he is a very good boy in general but my God when something displeases him he goes bonkers)

It's every meal time so I am conscious of not taking too long which goes against doing BLW.

Today he decided that eggy bread is vile whereas two days ago he couldn't get enough of it?

He is still having almost 40oz of milk per day (same as pre weaning)

I just find it so tough... it is so much extra work - I'd at least like him to enjoy the experience considering all the extra work Mummy does lol

xxxxxxxxx

thats a LOT of milk! hungry boy. Maybe try dropped some and see if it makes him hungrier for food?

also, Freya sometimes moans and gurns when I sit her down for food and refuses to open her lips. I then give her some juice and she starts eating ok! I have to give her a few sips of juice after every 5-6 spoons of food. (I think it was FBE that gave me that tip!)
but its worked wonders

its trial and error really. Try giving food before bottles, bottles then food. Or just spread it out every 2 hours or so!

but it think I would be dropping a bottle to start with. Whats your routine just now? x

 

[Leah04x]

Ethan has been on 3 meals a day since he was 6 months, but it was hit and miss how much he would eat. He started eating more when he got to about 7 months.
Now he has:
7am - 6oz bottle
8am - Bowl of porridge (3oz milk), slice of fruit loaf & some fresh fruit
12pm - Finger food (e.g cheese omlette, jacket potato, sandwich) with a fromage frais and fresh fruit
4pm - Spoonfed dinner (e.g. beef stew, cottage pie - whatever we're having) with fromage frais or sugar free angel delight and fresh fruit
7pm - 6oz bottle

He also has about 6oz of water throughout the day.
I'd say to try and give him regular mealtimes, eat with him and let him eat as much or as little as he wants. You'll probably find soon, he drops some milk and starts to eat more. I wouldn't worry, especially seeing he's still taking 40oz milk xx

 

[mrswoody]

We are the same here Nat! Will manage breakfast and lunch the come dinner time it's hard to get her to eat, very frustrating!
She will eat more if I put it in her mouth for her rather than leave it for her to choose, which I know goes against the blw rules.
I'm hoping that at around 7months she will be more interested x

 

[l_maclean]

Food before 1 is just for fun!!!

At 7months I'd just let him eat whatever he wants. Some kids don't even start weaning till this age or later.

Could he pick up that your feeling tense at meal times?? I def second the eating with him, I always offered G food anytime I ate.

Xxx


On my iPhone - so cant see tickers

 

[CARNAT22]

He has 37oz a day Lynds and has done for months now, I am quite keen to let him drop his feeds naturally though so I'd rather he have his milk.

He is 25th centile - although today for the first time ever he's up to 50th (I am super happy as until he was 5 months he kept sliding down to 9th so we were going for fortnightly weigh-ins)

I'll just keep persevering. Today we didn't have time for breakkie so I made a nice lunch and he can have some beefsteak for dinner.

I eat breakkie with him, but normally I have lunch when he naps and in the evening we eat too late (trying to change our evening routine but to no avail yet)

xxxxx

 

[positivity :)]

7 months is still very young and at that stage it was still all very experimental for DS.

Also with that amount of milk it makes sense that he's not wanting to eat as much. I think literally offer the food and over the weeks to come he should naturally start dropping bottles, in turn eating more. It took us a while to get to 3 meals a day and 12oz.

Also I found the whole weaning thing fairly hard work but have realised with time that they won't let themselves go hungry so try not to stress (even if u have stood in the kitchen knocking up a gourmet meal for them - been there and done that lol) xx

 

[kedi376]

We started weaning early and it's only the last couple of weeks J is on to 3 meals a day and she doesn't really eat that much. She has 4 bottles of 210ml a day. Although the middle two bottles she doesn't always finish now.

Our routine is normally:

6.30am 210ml bottle
8.30 - Breakfast - Porridge
9.00 - Nap
10.30 - 210ml bottle
12.30 - Lunch - a combination of cucumber chunks, tomatoes, grated cheese, toast, Yoghurt
1.30 - Nap
3.00 - Bottle
5.15 - Dinner - baby pasta and tomato sauce, steamed veggie sticks

It's only been the last 10 days that I've started giving her non puree food for dinner but I'm still feeding her with a spoon, unless it's the veggie sticks, and I'd say most of lunch (the true BLW foods) ends up in the high chair.

This is my routine if I'm at home, if I go out then I always have milk on me but try and offer her some snack like item around lunch like rice cakes or some of what I'm eating.

Hang in there Nat, he will get there when he is ready.

xx

 

[sallybee]

Do you eat while he is eating?

We all eat together at the table at breakfast, lunch is BLW stuff and I sit there with him and eat my lunch and again the same at tea. It's a bit inconvenient as he has a purée at tea so one of us has to feed him but he definitely shows more interest in food if we're eating too. Xxx

This is exactly what we do, brekkie is usually porridge/cereal/yoghurt with fruit purée which we eat together (she kept stealing mine and I kept nicking her yoghurt so I just make her a small portion of mine now lol). Lunch is BLW and we either have the same or similar, eating together. Then tea she will just have some of what we're having (BLW) if OH is home or I usually get her a freezer meal out and spoon feed her if not (I am terrible for not eating a proper meal if he is at work as I hate cooking for one!)

I used to do all her meals purées but its just so much easier making her the same as me if I'm having something "proper". If she doesn't eat it it's not a big deal and she prefers to eat off my plate lol. It's also made me eat much healthier and stop adding salt to my meals as I know she is having the same.

Don't stress about weaning hun, I know it's hard when you've made him a special meal though. He will pick up on your stress as I've found out the hard way xx

 

[CARNAT22]

Thanks for the input ladies.

As I mentioned I only really have breakkie with him due to naps and stuff and the fact we eat dinner quite late.

Currently this is an average day:

7am - 8fl oz
9am - nap
9.30am - breakkie
11am - 7fl oz
Midday - long nap
3pm - 7flo oz
4pm - late lunch
4.30pm - nap
6pm - 7flo oz
7pm - dinner
8.30pm - 8fl oz

So I am giving him food between an hour and 2.5 hours after a bottle?

Should I maybe try to offer him food quite soon after when he is still really content? He never really naps immediately after eating.

xxxxxxx

 

[Hope81]

I think at almost 7 m I would offer 1/2 bottle then food and then the rest of he still wants it. I wouldn't have place for any solids either with so much milk

So I would do sth like 7 bottle, breakfast before nap, 11.30 lunch followed by milk if he still wants some or 1/2 bottle then lunch then rear of the bottle. (Amelie can go from 7-12 with nth else than 4 oz of milk...but if he is too hungry and gets frustrated that can't eat solids fast with blw i would do milk-solids-milk before the long nap) then at 2 bottle at 5 dinner followed by bottle if he still wants and at 8 bottle.

 

[Jbeanie]

Were just starting to really get into the idea of 3 "meals" a day and I was getting my self in a but of a tizz with feeding about how on earth I was meant to fit in milk, food and naps in a day! Never mind actually getting anything done myself or getting out!

Spoke to a lovely hv (not many of them around so I've found!) and she said to to offer food then when finished offer the bottle about 5 mins later otherwise we'd forever be feeding etc and just 'topping' Jules up without her really getting hungry for a feed.

Since adopting this approach, Jules seems to already sometimes not be finishing bottles depending how much she's eaten which at the mo is still trial and error! So fingers xd it seems to be working!

We're doing tw but I give her some finger stuff to 'play' with and suck on an afternoon.

It seems that no sooner have we settled into a nice milk routine that now it's all changing again! Fun and games!

Jill x x

 

[CARNAT22]

We're currently doing 2 meals a day (breakkie and dinner) and lunch if he seems in the mood.

He has been much better this week, no screaming lol.

xxxxxxx