Weaning- first weeks and water

[Spanglishmum]

Hi everyone- my DS is 27 weeks and started weaning 3 weeks ago… I started giving him some water after his purée (once a day only) and it seems he cannot stop drinking water: can have 120mls! In one go! I'm stoping him after 50-60 mls because I'm not sure if so much water so little is good or bad for him… should I let him drink as much as he wants or should I continue stopping him after a certain amount?
… so confused!

[murphy36]

I encouraged mine to drink water from a tippy cup after food. Which meant he never really got much.

Then a full bottle of milk. He was rarely thirsty after that. 27weeks is like 6-7months, so yours should still be on 1-3meals and 3-5 milk feeds.

I'm not sure I gave water as it's own drink for quite a bit unless super hot.

[atthestrokeoftwelve]

How are you giving him the water? In a bottle?
I agree about the sippy cup, I made sure my babies knew what was in it and how to use it and left it so they could help themselves. I dis blw so meatimes they were pretty independant anyway and could take a drink when they liked.

[poocatcherchampion]

we use an open cup. its a good time to learn the skill.

[Spanglishmum]

Thanks for your advice/comments:
I'm giving him water in a bottle, I tried with a tippy cup and DS nearly choked as it seemed too fast for him… but I see the benefits of sticking with it as it's good training: just need to be extra careful!
At the moments my DS is having 4-5 bottles a day (210-240 mls) and giving him one meal a day… sometimes doesn't want more than 3-4 spoons… I'm a new mum and still really confused about how to make sure I'm doing the best for the little man!

[minipie]

Yes I would use sippy cup only for water, no bottle.

You can get slower flow sippy cups, ones with valves (the "no spill" kind) are slower as the baby needs to suck to get the water out. For example the Tommee Tippee Easy Drink cup.

Although free flow (no valve) ones are better developmentally (as closer to drinking from an open cup) so maybe move onto those once he's more used to it. Tommee tippee first cup is very popular free flow option.

I realise I sound like a tommee tippee salesman... I'm not I promise.

[minipie]

PS my DD wasn't really able to help herself to the sippy cup until she was quite a bit older - 9 months maybe - so maybe a middle way is to use a cup but hold it up to his mouth for him.

[ZuleikaD]

He should be having a feed before 'meals' so that he's not thirsty - milk should still be his main source of nutrition for the next couple of months.

[Spanglishmum]

Then, is it better to give him his bottle before his 'meal'?
Also, I'm giving him solids only once a day at the moment… should it always be at the same time?
He always has a bottle when requested: it can go from 3 to 4 hrs, but I don't stick to a certain time because he might not b hungry or might cry for a bottle before expected… so I'm giving him his meal in between his bottles around lunch time… at the mo it's kind of working but any advice/tip is welcome!!!!

[FreeButtonBee]

I know it seems daunting but RELAX!! one meal a day is totally fine at the moment. Same time or a different time of day doesn't matter but you could experiment to see if he is more keen at a certain time of day. I think lunchtime is perfect to begin with as it's less likely to mess up their night time sleep

Definitely do milk before - I normally did first tastes about 45 mins after last feed so baby wasn't totally full but not starving either.

For comparison, my twins weren't on 3 meals a day until 9 months. 2 meals at around 8 months. I was definitely the latest out of my NCT group to get going. At 13 months, they now eat everything and have very little milk (no bottles at all).

I second the tomme tippee sippy free flow cups. I just let them play with them initially - it took my daughter about 2 months to work it out! and initially she just spat it all over herself and grinned!

[minipie]

Yep I did food about an hour after milk.

No need for food to be at the same time every day. Do it whenever suits you and seems to go down best with your DS!

It's true that solids can cause extra pooing (and/or constipation) so morning/lunchtime might be safer at first.

[atthestrokeoftwelve]

Not much help but I did BLW while still breastfeeding. I took baby on my knee at mealtimes, they would eat from my plate, have a quick suck of boob during meals, before meals, after meals. A had a sippy cup of water and they sometimes had that too.
I didn't watch how much solids they were eating or how much breastmilk they were drinking, it was all up to them.

[Spanglishmum]

THANKS for all tips and advice!!!