A question for Exclusively breastfeeding mums.....

[Dozeyland]

Or mums in general really...

• When did you wean your baby?
  
• What did you first introduce to them?

[whomovedmychocolate]

What do you mean wean - do you mean add solid food.

In which case six months.

If you mean breastfeeding - um DD self weaned and DS is still going.

We did Baby led weaning. Google it. :)

[thisisyesterday]

if you mean solids then 6 months. we did baby led weaning, i think the first things we gave were cooked veg like broccoli heads

off the breast then ds2 16 months, ds3 19 months and still going

[StealthPolarBear]

DS just over 23 weeks and DD just over 24 weeks. vegetables in both cases, and I think DD had bread and pasta too

[Beamur]

My DD started showing interest in solid food at about 4 months, so we gave her a few bits to suck/chew, introducing more came gradually, and by about 6 months she was having 'meals' - sort of, but continued to bf for some time.
The first solid food may have been strawberry ice-cream - I'd left her with DH while he was eating some and he thought he'd just sneak some in to see what reaction he got..

[bumpybecky]

dd1 (12) was breastfed until 13 months, we'd been mixed breast and follow on milk from around 10 months

solid food (well baby rice) first introduced at 20 weeks, cos that's what we did back then

dd2 (10) breastfed until she stopped at around 8 months, then went onto follow on milk

started solids at 12 weeks, we gave her apple puree as she suffered badly from constipation and I preferred fruit to chemical laxitives

dd3 (5) breastfed until 22 months, never had formaula or follow on milk,

started solids at around 6 months, we did BLW

ds (3) breastfed until 26 months, started solids at around 6 months, did a mixture of BLW and purees (he got frustrated at BLW as he couldn't get the food in fast enough!)

[Dozeyland]

Sorry I didnt type that correctly!

-Wean to solids/purees/baby-led weaning?

-How did you then breastfeed with weaning? (did you just start off with breakfast solids? then gradually add lunch & dinner along with feeds?)

I'm due to be going back to work in August (only for 2 mornings probably) and im hopefully still BF by then, DD will be 8/9mnths)Would i for instance: morning BF, breakfast, lunch BF when i get home along with solids, then dinner, then BF for bed then whatever through the night?

"long question cut short" how does weaning affect how many feeds you give? does a moment of solids replace a Bfeed?

(Obviously i know it entirely depends on each individual, just nice to hear other peoples experiences)

[Dozeyland]

sorry for all the mixed Q's!!!!!

[Beamur]

You know, it wasn't that long ago but it's already a bit hazy! I think I kept bf 3/4 times a day, dropping to 2 or 3 when I went back to work. By 6 months I was offering DD 3 or 4 small meals a day, but not to a very fixed schedule.
I went back to work at a similar time that you're planning and it was fine, nursery (2 mornings a week too) helped to establish more feeding of solids to a routine. Having solids did reduce bf a bit, but my DD was happy to bf alongside solids which worked for us. It was just a natural progression of gradually introducing more solids over time.

[Dozeyland]

What would you guys say is the best thing to offer first?

[violetbouncer]

I let him have a floret of broccoli one day when he was 6 months old. I continued demand feeding - milk feeds were unchanged for around 2-3 months.

[Beamur]

I think my HV suggested things like well cooked carrot, so that it could be picked up but would be soft and mushy in the mouth.
I tried a mixture of plain home cooked veg and purees and also some shop bought ones for convenience. DD disliked most of the bought ones but quite liked the 'Ellas kitchen' ones, which were useful to have on hand. We tried baby rice but she seemed to tire of that very quickly.

[MoonFaceMamaaaaargh]

We just gave ds what ever we were having ( with a couple of exeptios, eg chilli, whole cherry toms etc). The main difference was just chopping it up in ti baby grabbable lumps (makes for some strange soups

You'll be amaized how quickly thier skills (ie picking things up) develop

It takes a while for them to actually eat much (generally) so just offer bfs when you think they need it

The weaning board oin here is great

Baby rice has no nutritional value of it's own...you'd be better of giving them the milk you mix it with instead