Weaning help......many questions.

[lewsmummy]

ds is 21 week old and a big baby at 20lb 2oz, i started weaning 3 week ago. He started on rusk and milk and has now also had pureed carrot, swede and sweet potato.

How long til i start introducing more meals?

How long before it can be a bit lumpier?

When to give him more at each meal (he's having 2-3 ice cube blocks and then 8oz milk)

When do i give him savoury and pudding?

When is it ok to cut his amount of milk down?

Any help greatly appreciated.

[koalabear]

i did about the same at about the same age and the same weight!!!

effectively, you want to work towards 3 meals a day, with 3 to 4 milk feeds also

1. we got to 3 meals a day very quickly, so at 21 weeks our schedule was:
   
   7 am milk
   8.30 am breakfast (porridge with fruit)
   11 am milk
   12.30 pm lunch (vegetables, then fruit)
   3 pm milk
   5 pm tea (vegetables, then fruit)
   7 pm milk, then bed
   
   
2. leave it a while until you go lumpier - say around 8 months
   
   
3. as for quantity, he will tell you - is he still opening his mouth for the spoon, or turning his head away?
   
   
4. savoury and then pudding is up to you - my only advice is stay well clear of anything with sugar, and do more savoury than sweet
   
   
5. his milk will cut down naturally over time - continue to offer it, and he will let you know how much he wants - as a general guide, they are getting most of their nutrition from milk up until they are around 1 year old

[lewsmummy]

Thanks for that. A great help, i've been giving him milk at 7, pureed veg followed by milk at 11, then milk at 3 & 6.

HV told me to start with some kind of breakfast now so've bought some sunshine banana and some ceamed porridge so i'll start that tomorrow.

[koalabear]

as a tip, the "Organix" porridges/puddings are much nicer than the others (and don't have the added sugar)

you can also use your own pureed apple/pear/whatever fruit, some powdered formula, and some baby rice to make a home made one

[koalabear]

oh, and if you can, wait until around 7/8 months to introduce meat/fish/chicken

[bramblina]

IIRC we did rice for the first week, then veg and rice the 2nd week (rice mid morn, veg mid aft) then introduced friuit the following week, once he'd been on solids for a month we moved up to 3 meals per day- our indication was when he started waking through the night again. After a week or so of bigger quantities we introduced lentils, chicken, fish etc and other proteins.

At first obv. all is puree, but then I just started cooking the veg well but just mashing it, to giv it more texture. Then I would mash it roughly, then just with a fork. Or youo can add well cooked rice to a veg puree, giving a soft but lumoy texture.

Watch out for the content of the rusks, they have quite a lot of sugar in them- you may find baby rice is just as good for the stage you're at.

I read Annabel Karmel's book, The complete Baby and Toddler Meal Planner, and got a few good guidelines and recipes. You may find it helpful. Some on MN don't much like her though!

In the first month I would give ds one boob then solids, then offer him the other boob and he would take what he needed, if you are on bottles you could offer half milk then food then offer the rest milk and see what he takes. Don't know about reducing tho.

HTH

[lewsmummy]

Thanks. He never seems full he always finishes what i offer

[bramblina]

Then IMO you can't go wrong! Well done!

[Miaou]

I would just add lewsmummy that although he is eating well, don't be too quick to reduce his milk intake/up his meals, until he shows he is ready (eg demanding more milk) - I went for the "let ds show the way" route, having done this with my dds, but he loved his food so much that he was rejecting milk out of hand in favour of food, but at that stage needed the higher calorie content of the milk (at six months). He went back to feeding loads at night and so I cut back on the food, offered more milk during the day, and he soon settled down again. HTH and doesn't confuse the situation for you!

[lewsmummy]

Bump

[lewsmummy]

I followed ur pattern today koalabear without tea

7am milk
8.30 cow & gate sunshine banana
11am milk
12.30 pureed swede
3pm milk
7pm milk
8pm bed

Not sure the sunshine banana agreed with him though, he liked it but around 2pm he was screaming with tummy ache (i think. 10 mins after calpol he was asleep anyway, after trying to sleep for 30 mins before it) Don't think it was the swede cos he's been havin that everyday for a week. The banana was the only different thing he's had today.

Going to try c & g porridge tomorrow.

Thanks for all replys everyone x

[koalabear]

lewsmummy - if he had the cereal at 8.30, i doubt it was upsetting him at 2 pm - far more likely, if it was going to upset him, so do it much closer to the time of feed

if you are off to buy different cereal anyway, try the organix ones - they don't have sugar and preservative stuff so are more likely to be kinder to their little tummies

in any case, i've had success with them - you can also buy them "readymade" in little pots for travelling or when you are out and about

[lewsmummy]

That's what i thought too but it was so unlike him to be screaming in pain and the cereal was the only difference to what he normally has.

[lewsmummy]

He might have just been having an off day cos obviously he can't tell me whats wrong with him. But not sure i want to try that cereal again just in case it was that that made him scream iykwim

[koalabear]

you could be right - sometimes they just have "off days" - maybe teething?

maybe just tired?

its one thing i find really hard - no KNOWING what is wrong - sometimes i wish she came with a little diagnostic computer

[lewsmummy]

He was really tired but every time he calmed down and closed his eyes he'd start screaming again after a few seconds. I tried bonjela for his teeth but made no difference and he really hasn't been bad with his teeth (yet) he's gota little white spot on his gum which i think is his first tooth but it hasn't cut thru yet.

Sorry i'm going completely off the subject.

[koalabear]

when you get to teething, try Nelsons Teething Powder, over the counter from Boots - it's fantastic