Weaning Help Needed!!!

[Janbo25]

My ds will be eaxctly 6 months old this thursday, I have been weaning him now for approx 4 weeks and started with simple veg purees, his curent routine is this:

8.30am - Breakfast Cereal ( 3 Tablespoons mixed with 4oz milk) and then the remainder of the bottle approx 5oz.

12.30am - 9oz bottle follwed by fruit typically a whole banana

4.40pm - 5.00pm - pureed veg although now tried introducing new flavours such as meat etc. followed by fruit or baby yoghurt

9.00pm - 9oz bottle

My main concerns are that he refuses to take any other form of liquid other than milk, i have tried it in cups and bottles and all sorts of liquid and secondly trying to get the balance of food and milk right during the day he seems to be fine, however at teatime the fun starts if its just carrot or sweet potato he even ate heinz simply veg brocolli & cauliflower the other day he's fine and will eat approx 5 or 6 ice cubes again followed by pureed fruit or a banana however when I have tried introducing meat he will take a few mouthfuls and then absolutely scream but will then happily proceed and take his fruit. He then seems ratty and unsettled the rest of the night and now wonder whether I shouldn't have dropped his bottle off at teatime although I am worried about overfeeding him?

Plz Plz any advice would be greatly appreciated.

[Littlefish]

I'm sure I've read somewhere that for children aged 6 - 12 months, 20oz breast or formula milk is adequate. This includes any milk used to make cereals, cheese sauces etc.

My dd is 7.5 months, so a little bit older than your ds. At 6 months I gave her solids at lunch time, followed by milk because if I gave her the milk first she would only eat a very small amount. Then, at 7 months I dropped the lunchtime bottle (11.45). She still has a bottle at about 2.30 though.

Also, I introduced protein and any new foods at lunchtime so if she reacts, it will not be overnight! Perhaps protein is too substantial for your ds at the end of the day.

If he has eaten well in the day, tea doesn't have to be huge, although from your message, there is quite a long time between tea and bedtime bottle.

Our routine is this:

7.00am - 4 ounces of milk
7.45 - fruit and porridge followed by about 3 ounces of milk

11.45 - 4 cubes of mixed veg & protein e.g. chicken casserole, followed by 2 cubes fruit if she's still hungry. I give dd water from a spouty cup every 3 or 4 mouthfuls.

2.30 - 7 ounces of milk

5.00 - 3 cubes mixed veg followed by 2 cubes fruit
6.15 - 7 ounces of milk.

This works well for us.

[Janbo25]

does your dd have a bottle after the 6.15 one?

[Littlefish]

No, that's it until the next morning.

[Littlefish]

I forgot to say that dd goes to bed at 7.00pm so the 6.15 bottle is her bedtime one as she's quite a slow feeder.

[gigglinggoblin]

ds2 didnt like meat. you could try alternatives like lentils (can be mixed with veg)

[giraffeski]

Message withdrawn

[koalabear]

i personally wouldn't worry that your ds will only take milk - my ds didn't really start taking water until he was 9/10 months, and that was after trying every beaker known to mankind

also, i personally wouldn't worry that he likes his fruit and veg, but doesn't take to the meat yet - the best pieces of advice i was given about this are:

1. at this age, its all about experiementation - taste, texture, touch, colour, smell - the main source of food comes from milk, and this will continue until they are about 1 year old when food takes priority over milk
   
   
2. it takes about 20 times for a child to "like" something, so if they don't like it the first time, leave it for a few days and then try again
   
   finally, for night time at this age we did "tea" as you are around 5 pm, and then had a 7 pm 8 oz bottle, and then had a 11 pm 8 oz bottle - this usually meant that we got to sleep through til 7 am (which was always very nice )
   
   so, i wouldn't be dropping the bedtime bottle (in fact, my ds is now 14 months, and still has it, and will have it until he is about 2 yrs)
   
   having said that, everyone is different, and it is about experimenting and finding what works best for you and and your ds
   
   hope this helps

[Janbo25]

my main concern is getting my ds to have iron because i believe there iron levels drop from 6 months onwards?

[mor]

Formula milks for 6month plus have added iron. Otherwise blend up some spinach and strawberries - spinach is rich in iron and strawberries rich in Vit C which helps the body absorb iron (it also masks the flavour!)Good luck!

[hercules]

yes, but shame the babies cant absorb that extra iron. No need for follow on milk, they are a marketing ploy.

[mor]

That may be so but it's good to get them used to different flavours and it reassures the parent that they are getting iron rich food (I agree about the formula milk by the way!).

[hercules]

How does changing the formuala help tastes?

If you mean the food I agree.

[Janbo25]

so is spinich and strawberries a good one to try then??

why can't they absorb iron?