Can anyone help suggest a schedule for a 5-6 month old?

[donchap]

Can anyone suggest a feeding schedule fo a 5 month old? How much, how often. We are just starting on fruits and veggies. Dr, says 3 tbls TOTAL a day (half cereal and half fruit or veg), and four 6 oz bottles a day. Doesn't seem enough to me. What worked for you?

[Catchup]

Have you thought about baby-led weaning? We started with our daughter at six months. At first only one meal a day. Now she is having breakfast, lunch and dinner with us (she's 8 months now). And a snack in the afternoon -basically whenever I am eating she is having something.
There are some brilliant online sources for info. www.babyledweaning.com is very good for ideas and getting to know more about this very simple idea: baby feeds herself form the beginning. I breast fed exclusively to six months. Now still bf fully.
We love being able to have meals as a family and for our daughter to have kept the sense of feeding herself. She's thriving and doing very well.

[ColdComfort]

Do BLW - then they eat as much as they want. If you give the mlk first, they won't over eat on the solids.

[Jojay]

Don't limit the milk at all at this age - give him as much as he wants, then if you want to introduce solids now, offer him some after his bottle.

A fifth bottle given late in the evening, at 10.30pm ish, is still perfencly acceptable if you think he's not getting enough or is not sleeping through the night.

Don't get too hung up on quantities, as long as the solids come after his bottle he'll just take as much as he needs.

Milk is much more important at this age, it is denser in nutrients and higher in calories than fruit and veg, or baby rice.

At that age, my DS had not started solids, but had 5 7oz bottles a day, and this rose to 5 8oz bottles a 6 mths, before starting solids. So yes, 4 6oz bottles doesn't sould like much. But all babies are different.

[littlethings]

Hi - catchup, my DS is same age and we're not quite doing BLW but are doing 3 meals a day which he is enjoying. Anyhow, my question is how many times a day are you BFing your daughter? I'm doing 4x day and sometimes he's not so hungry for his food. Shd I start cutting down on BF? I know he's supoosed to have quite a lot of milk still but since its not in a bottle I have no clue if I'm giving him enough/too much. Any views out there?

[littlethings]

sorry, menat to say DS is 8 mo now and the books seem so to be suggesting cutting down on his milk to make him hungrier for food at this age so that he gets a range of nutrients. That's why I'm asking, nont because I want to force change on him necessarily. Oh god its a minefield isn't it!

[vonsudenfed]

Would love to know the answer to this question too? DD has five bf a day - although she seems to be cutting down herself on the daytime one. And I'm jsut as confused, don't know whether to encourage this or not?

[MaeBee]

i still breastfeed my 9 month old on demand in the day (about 7 times usually) (we;ve finished night feeds! wayhay!). my breastfeeding counsellor said that they start getting more of their nutrients from meals than breastmilk sometime between 9 - 12mths. so, until 9 mths at the earliest, theres really nothing to worry about in terms of whether they are eating enough food, its much more important they are getting enough milk. the reason they say at 6 mths to start giving solids is because their iron stores are used up by then, and if they are a possible candidate for low iron they might need a bit extra. this is, for once!, more of a breastfeeders worry than formula feeding mothers: if your baby is bottle fed they are getting enough iron too.

in short your 5 mth old doesnt need any food, but does need milk feeds! i started giving my baby food at 5 mths too, but this is all play and experience rather than nutrients. dont be fooled! your baby will be thriving on milk for the next few months unless there is any sign to the contrary.

the other important thing to note is that around 6 mths they have another growth spurt, which can make them hungrier. this is why the NCT/ la leche league advice is not to nightwean before 6 mths, because they might be in need of extra food then....and not even the most nutritionally balanced meal you can possibly create will come close to the milk in terms of meeting those needs.

hope this is some help.

[terramum]

Best to let the baby set the pace so carry on offering milk on demand and food when you eat, preferably blw style imo so they have full control over what goes in. They gradually start taking less milk & more solids on their own.

I am leaving my DS to self wean off bm & he is still bf on demand even now at 3 yrs....he just demands it a little less than he did before & eats a LOT more solids ...

TBH I really wouldn't worry about it this early - all they need is milk at that anyway.....although notice you sat your Dr. has recommended 3 tbls a day - is your LO needing solids for medical reasons?

[Catchup]

My daughter is now 8 mths, and I bf about 5 times during the day, and once or twice at night. So her milk intake has not gone down at all since taking solid food too. I don't expect it to any time before her first b'day. Up to 12 mths a babies calories come mostly from milk (which is just the right balance of nutrients) and the solid food is mostly for learning tastes, different textures, moving food in mouth and swallowing.