How do bottle feeds correspond to 'proper' meals?

[xmasstocking]

I am going to start weaning DS within the next few weeks and am a little bit confused. He currently has 4 bottles (approximate times) - 7.30am, 11.30am, 3.15pm and 7pm. I can see that the first bottle corresponds to breakfast, the second bottle to lunch (ish) - but what about tea? 3.15 is too early to give him his tea but 7pm is too late.

Not sure if this makes sense - will he start to go longer between feeds once he is eating solids so the 11.30 one becomes later and so on?

Any advice would be great.

[Sugarfree]

Yes,he will,they don't mind having meals at odd times any way.The 11.30 and 3.15 will gradually move later and the 7pm can remain the bed time bottle for as long as you like.

[xmasstocking]

Thanks Sugarfree - I have just got visions of us all eating tea at 3.15 forever! Great to know that they will gradually stretch out.

[CantSleepWontSleep]

Don't forget that he still needs at least 20oz of milk every day as well as solids though!

[xmasstocking]

I knew he still needed milk - would you give him his milk at the normal times and give him his meals at 'mealtimes' - god, this weaning thing is so confusing! How come with babies, you think you get one thing sorted and settled and then another thing comes along and throws everything out??

[CantSleepWontSleep]

Well we do meals at mealtimes, but my dd is breastfed on demand, so not sure what you'd do with bottles, sorry!

[Sugarfree]

What I did was (to start with) was most of a bottle,couple teaspoons solids, rest of the bottle,at the usual feed times.
As their tummy is fuller,the next bottle feed was delayed.
I only did one meal a day for a week or two before adding the next one and didn't worry about the timings of everyone else's meals.
You don't need to worry about eating together for a while yet.
It all sorts itself out,honestly.
Does this make sense?

[fluffyanimal]

Xmas, I alternate bottles with solids, because if I gave both together he didn't want the milk. So we do: 7am bottle, 9am breakfast, 11am bottle, 1pm lunch, 3pm bottle, 5pm tea, 7pm bottle and bed. But to start with just give your ds a bit of solid with one of the middle bottle feeds. When he is used to solid food and has more than just a spoonful or two, then you can do it as a separate meal.

[MiaMamma]

Basically same here as fluffyanimal - DD didn't take solids same time as bottle, so now give solids appr 1-1,5h after bottle and it seems to work (took some time to figure it out!).
8am bottle, 9.30am breakfast, 12pm bottle, 1.30pm lunch, 4pm bottle, 5.30 dinner, 8pm bottle - this is what we do, sometimes we miss lunch (when out and about) but DD doesn't seem to be bothered. HTH

[xmasstocking]

Thanks for all the advice - giving him food a bit after his bottle sounds good - I am assuming that his bottle intake would reduce? I guess when the time comes, take it as it comes.

[MiaMamma]

I've been giving DD (7months) solids almost a month now and still can't see her milk feeds reducing. Think her 'proper meals' need to become much more bigger before she's ready to drop a bottlefeed, so she'll do it when she's ready

[fluffyanimal]

Xmas, don't reduce the milk intake yet - until he is 1 it is the more important food source and he needs at least a pint a day. My ds has 3 meals a day but they are still quite small meals.