weaning questions

[kbaby]

Hi,
Hope you can help me as im getting very confused. Im thinking about weaning DD when she is 22 weeks. This is because I start work then and didnt want to leave her with a childminder and then get them to wean her at a later date. The thing is im getting very confused. Ive bought the gf guide to weaning and also annable karmels books both have different ways of doing it.
1)Firsty the GF book starts weaning at 4 months because I am starting nearer to 6 do I go through the routines and suggestions she offers quicker to get to the 6 month stage?
2)What are the best meals to start solids on. GF says lunch then tea, but annable says lunch then breakfast
3)How quickly would i progress to 3 solid meals a day?

Id appreciate some help with the above or and advice in general you have.
Thanks

[helsi]

I found that the book I got from the midwife/health visitor covering the first five years is good. Your health visitor should be able to advise you. Sorry but I tried to remember what I did with DD but I can't remember!!

[kbaby]

also when do i cut down the milk

[kbaby]

also when do i cut down the milk

[Papillon]

Are you weaning her from a bottle or from breastfeeding?

If you baby has an early morning feed I would be more inclined to give lunch then tea.

I think by 8 months babies can start having 3 meals a day plus snacks and at least 2 bf or bottles. Although if your dd is taking to food well you may want to start with 3 meals earlier.

[muminlondon]

It all depends on your baby - I looked at a few books and bought the NCT handbook on weaning and first foods which was geared to weaning at 6 months and very helpful. GF's book is very sensible though. I improvised depending on what worked. Your baby may like some foods and not others, and be hungrier at certain times of day, and then it may change again. My dd has never been into breakfast, for example (but loved toast when she was ready for finger food). But yours may be different. Also, the weaning process takes months as they go through different phases and develop different skills so don't worry about doing it all at once. Any childminder will be used to that.

[cab]

kbaby I found Gina Ford's advice to be excellent, but wouldn't go at a faster pace than she suggests - introducing one new ingredient every three days or so. Starting with lunch worked well for my dd but she had tiny amounts to start with.
It's a VERY slow process and a lot of work to start with. I would go with the GF advice as for a 4 month old at whatever stage you actually wean at and use Annabel Karmel's recipes later once you've introduced the basics carefully.
p.s. dd is a wonderful healthy eater and definitely feel I have GF to thank for it.
pps as others say if you can leave it until 6 months that's better according to government advice. (At 22 weeks you'll just be starting the process so the childminder will be involved in weaning regardless.)
Best of luck.

[Judd]

Hiya Kbaby - don't worry about it! I used GF's weaning guide with DD and am doing the same with DS. I used Annabel Karmel just for the recipes once I was past the 6 month stage.
Whenever DD is ready, I would start very gently and introduce a different food every 3 days so you can see if there is any reaction to it. I followed GF's recommendations to do lunch first and then tea - seems to work OK for us.

[Judd]

Whoops! Sorry cab, just read my message and realised that I have simply regurgitated (how topical ) yours!

[muminlondon]

I've just checked the NCT book again. It recommends starting around 6 months with one meal of 1-2 tsp baby rice, gradually mixing it with fruit (apple or pear probably), still giving about 4 or up to 5 milk feeds a day. Then after 2 weeks introduce another meal of veg or fruit, same milk feeds. Then at 7 months introduce a bit of protein (chicken works well if you're not a veggie), probably as the lunchtime meal and veg. puree for tea, and cut down on a milk feed, substituting water at mealtimes, as you increase quantities. By 7-9 months you will probably have cut down to 3 milk feeds and introduced more variety and even finger food, and greater quantities.

That's actually really similar to GF's advice, but hope that helps.

[hercules]

Forget the gross baby rice. If you start at 6 months then you can just about bypass the puree crap. Give baby a little of what you are eating with out salt etc.
I gave a little before bf and increased the amounts. You really dont have to faff around offering one food at a time unless you have lots of allergies of course.
Banana, sweet potatoes are good starters. Far tastier than baby rice (have you ever tasted it?).

[PicadillyCircus]

With DS, I started with lunch and after a couple of weeks I think moved on to breakfast as well. It was probably a month to 6 weeks later before we started doing tea, but took a while for it to thoroughly settle down.

I was intending to wait until 6 months but baby waking up again at night at 20 weeks drove my good intentions away!

He was totally bf at that stage and at first I always offered milk at the same time as food (can't remember if it was before of after, the mind has gone already and he's only 10 months) and until he was at least 7.5 months was still being bf at least 6 times a day.

It dropped back, but not by anything I was deliberatly doing.

Hope that helps a bit, probably not, but at the time I wondered how he was ever going to have anything other than milk and now he eats most things.

I didn't use Gina Ford at all - did use Annabel Karmel mainly for recipes (and still do )

It's fun, but messy! And I don't think it gets better for years as DS is now wanting to feed himself

[muminlondon]

Come to think of it, I think I was still bf 5-6 times a day at 7 months and at 11-12 months dd was still getting 4 feeds a day (including daytime cups of formula), so I cut that down very slowly. Even at 18 months she gets 3 cups of milk per day.

Sweet potato works a treat as a first veg., parsnip, and apple (and any of those in combination). Banana wasn't a hit until finger food stage then it was perfect.

[bundle]

I'd start with simple things eg carrots, sweet potatoes, and leave avocado & banana till a bit later as I think they're a bit harder to digest (but became both of my dds staples). obviously apples, pears etc good too. we never bothered much with babyrice esp with no.2

[motherinferior]

Started both of mine on mashed banana.

[Egypt]

i think babyrice tastes lovely!

[TracyK]

baby organix banana porridge has been the biggest hit with my ds - he loves it! although one box is £1.99 and doesn't last very long.

[Berrie]

I really can't remember what I did when I started at 6 months (not that long ago!), I think it was lunch first (carrot). What I do remember though that you very quickly learn to play it by ear and respond to their appitite. It's coming back now, I did lunch for about 2 weeks then lunch and tea. Can't remember after that.