Just starting to wean 6.5 month old. Schedules?

[newchronicles82]

Just as the title says.

I have tried her earlier but it's only now that she is becoming at all interested. But now I'm anxious I've left it too late and I'm keen to get into a good feeding schedule ASAP.

DD is still BF and is doing very well with that alone, but I now want to add food and gradually get her to take solids - by solids I mean purée.

So, please help me with a schedule - should I be attempting 3 meals a day plus BFs? So far she will only have the most minuscule amount of actual food, but I'm assuming that's ok?

Also, I don't want to do BLW as I have quite bad anxiety around this. Is purée ok at this stage?

[newchronicles82]

Sorry, meant to say - thanks in advance to any help with this.

[KatyN]

It's not too late. I remember someone telling me that up to 1 food was just for fun. Try not to hurry yourself.
Start with one meal a day. Offer food before milk. Once she's happy with one meal, add another one and then another.
Once she's happy with purée then you can add lumps etc.

If you like them, talk to your hv about it. I found mine really helpful (after I burst into tears saying everyone else's baby was weaned and mine wasn't).

Try and stay relaxed and take it slowly. A meal could take an hour at first for us. It's a great day filler!!

K

[Andcake]

I did blw and ds didn't put anything in his mouth til 7 months so it's not to late. Starting with one meal a day is good. Make sure it's at least an hour after milk so they are hungry. Tbh I started with 2 meals - so an hour after morning milk I would sit him at the table and just let him play/chew on a bit of banana or toast etc. Then again with something more savoury at about 5 pm so an hour or so before bed time milk but distanced from an afternoon feed - I remember I used to have pointless on in the background it was lovely having ds in high chair as he was stationary and wasn't needing to be held ( a Velcro baby) so I could relax with a cup of tea and watch him throw cheese or avocado. Even if trying purées I think these kind of timings work.
If your nervous go to the library and get a few books out. Or have a nose down the baby aisle and even though not really my thing there are lots of things that might tempt you- just avoid baby rice go for a porridge.
There is a good weaning area on mn too
It will be ok. You're not late-

[newchronicles82]

Thanks for the replies :-)

I didn't realise there was a weaning section, have been having a read just now.

It seems most babies are weaned before 6 months but then the guidelines are to wait until 6 months. Have I missed something?

[qbc01]

I think a lot of people get impatient and start before six months, but honestly any time after six months is fine. If your baby hasn't been interested until now then you did the right thing to wait. We started around six months and i used purees, then moved onto lumps and finger foods. I bought a cheap Annabel Karmel recipe book off ebay for some puree recipes because i was quite nervous at the beginning too. DD is now almost one, on three meals a day and pretty much eating the same as we do. It's been great fun watching her try new things and I definitely relaxed as time went on and I saw that she was gaining weight even though sometimes it seemed like she didn't eat much. Good luck!

[CultureSucksDownWords]

I don't think you've missed anything. The NHS guidelines say to introduce solid food "around 6 months" and never before 17 weeks. So I personally don't think that 5 months 3 weeks makes any difference, and neither does 6 months 2 weeks, for example.

It's more important that your baby is ready for weaning e.g. Can sit unaided in a high chair without slumping, can bring food up to their mouths, have lost their tongue thrust reflex. That doesn't happen at exactly 26 weeks, but it will be around then.

[CantThinkOfAGoodUserName]

Do not stress too much, it's fine..... It's a gradual process and she will slowly take more food and less milk but just go with the flow and relax (easy said than done I know!) My DD is 8 and bit months now so we have been weaning from 6 months and 1 week, I really wasn't in any rush!
Promise you it takes time but she will get there, my DD has only recently really started to like her food and eat substantial amounts, guidelines say to work up to 3 meals a day by 8-9 months so all will be fine

[kiki0202]

I used to just let DS eat when I ate if he didn't eat it then that was fine. Start with tiny portions like 2 tables spoons of puree each time if she wants more give more. Can I ask what makes you anxious about BLW? for me I liked to have a good idea what DS ate so he had puree as his 'main' part of the meal with things like toast and apple to chew on as extra.

I remember talking to my gran about what method to go with and her having a right old laugh at me she told me to give DS food when I ate and if he was hungry he would eat it forcing it would stress us out.

[ThirteenMeetings]

Purées are fine. We weren't on three meals a day until DD was about 8 months and even then she often wouldn't eat much of one or two of them. I think we started with lunch time - avocado, puréed carrot, that sort of thing.

It's definitely been trial and error. She went through a major gag phase so I took it slow, but she's made huge leaps in the last month and now at a year old she is eating brilliantly.

Sounds like you're about on schedule and don't worry if she doesn't show much interest for a while yet - just keep offering her different things and she'll get there.

[hollie84]

I can give you my 5.5 month olds schedule. He's been weaning for about 2-3 weeks I think. I'm also introducing some day time bottles as I am going back to work next month. I started offering breakfast, then later lunch and we sort of do dinner occasionally by giving him finger food of what we're eating if suitable.

7am- breastfeed
8am- breakfast (porridge/fruit puree)
10.30am - bottle
11.45am - lunch (veg puree/finger food)
2pm - bottle
4.30pm - breastfeed
5.30pm - dinner
7pm - breastfeed
11pm - bottle
(and he still feeds in the night between 3am-7am but I'm trying to cut this out!)

[Andcake]

Really don't worry about the delay. Not weaning before 6 months is the right thing to do and better for your babies health.
There are no health risks associated with weaning later than 6 months but there are for weaning enforce.
It's fine