What are the best times for meals and milk?

[sjcmum]

Confused here and would like opinions or to hear what other people do....

Is it better to fix meal times or does it not really matter at all and as long as my dd has three a day, not really worry too much about when they are?

She is 6 and a half months and has been on solids for 3 weeks now, and already on 3 meals a day. She's loving it - but definitely feeds better if I give her meals soon after a sleep. If I give her breast feed first thing in the morning, and then wait until after next sleep for her breakfast, it can mean this varies from 8am to 10.30am, depending on what time she has woken up. Does this matter? Would I be better off just giving her breakfast first thing in the morning? (One book I have read says give them breakfast two hours after morning feed... but this would probably be hopeless, as when she is most tired and wants to sleep again generally)

Sorry for the ramble... but feel like all my other friends know exactly what they are doing with the whole weaning thing, and I'm busking it big time!!!

What works well for you???

[DizzyBint]

at this age i was doing...

7am up and milk then bath
8am breakfast then play
9am nap 1hour
10am up and milk
11am lunch
12pm nap
1pm up and milk
outing
3pm nap
4pm up and milk
5pm tea
6.30pm last milk and bed

having said that though, i did blw so 'lunch' might have been just half a peach maybe more, maybe less. my routine worked like this just becasue dd needed 3 naps, i was breaking the feed to sleep cycle..so gave milk after each nap, and food before each one basically.

later i introduced a 2pm snack, dropped the 1pm milk, then she dropped the morning nap and the 10am milk. now she's 9 months old she has milk when she wakes, then at 2pm with a biscuit type snack, then just before bed.

[sjcmum]

Thanks Dizzy - that's helpful to see what someone else does. Seems with my dd that she is happier having food straight after a sleep though, and not so fussed about time for milk which she'll always have! Will try a few different things though, and hopefully she may settle into a pattern.

[sar123]

hi sjcmum - my dd is just over 7 mths and i had the same problem with sorting out the routine when i started weaning! I would say whatever works for you is right, but if you have a routine and your dd takes regular naps during the day then fixing meal times would probably be a good idea, it certainly works for us and means she is v. settled and sleeping well at night.

This is what we do now (roughly - timings do change depending on what our day is like!)

6.30 awake
7 breastfeed
8/8.30 solid breakfast
10 - 11.30 nap
11.30 breastfeed
12.30/1 solid lunch
2 - 3 nap
3.30 breastfeed
5/5.30 solid tea
7 breastfeed and bed

so basically she has 3x solid meals at pretty much the same time each day, plus 4x breastfeeds (7am, 7pm and 2 in between which tend to come after her 2 naps).

She did have 3 naps a day until i started weaning - noticed she was sleeping for less time at each nap and staying awake longer so i pushed the morning nap to later in the day (from 9am to 10am) and cut out the late afternoon nap. over the next few weeks i will probably drop one of those 2 daytime feeds - because her longest sleep of the day is morning i will probably cut out that one first. Hope that helps.

[sjcmum]

Thanks for that - good idea about trying to push morning nap back a bit - might give that a go... although need to fit round music, swimming etc too!!