Dropping the dream feed/ weaning

[Casi]

I've just started weaning my 6 month old, and he's been a bit fussy about food, but we are slowly getting to the stage where he'll eat veg as well as fruit purees! I am not sure how much food he should be eating per sitting - 2 ice cube size chunks at a sitting is the most he'll manage. Is this normal? Should I be offering him a pudding as well as his main course?

I'm also still doing a dream feed at 11pm. When should I drop this?

Thanks!

Two ice cubes of veg sounds about right if you've just started weaning. Personally I wouldn't offer pudding at this stage as some babies will start to refuse savoury and demand the sweet things instead.

Is he ff? If so, between 6 and 12 months he should be having 20oz a day, so it's totally upto you and him if you still do the dreamfeed. If he's bf and a feed before he goes to bed helps you all to sleep then that's fine too.

At this age weaning is more about exploring new tastes and textures rather than replacing milk feeds.

I completely agree with Jilted.
it's not about replacing feeds at this time but finding out what they like. In a few weeks you will be at the stage where the majority of the food is going in (and not all over the floor) and He won't want to finish his milk because he is full.

I would definitely encourage finger foods, Organix do some great stuff. I wish I did this earlier as my DD is only just getting into it.
The other thing I would recommend would be to allow him to try your foods, i.e make a lasagne and take out a small portion of the mince before it is salted or seasoned too richly, mush it down if need be. Much better than the bland jars!

My DD used to have a dream feed and I realised that she was never really eager for her milk in the morning, she used to drink it, but only because it was there. You could either cut it down ounce by ounce or just loose it completely and see how you get on.

DD is 8 months and has 3x 5oz bottles per day and then another 5oz in her porridge.

Good Luck!

If you do want him to start eating your food, like Courgette suggests, (really good idea as it cuts the amount of time you are in the kitchen) then try to get hold of some low salt stock cubes.

I think Heinz do baby stock cubes. They sell them in Tesco.

Thank you all for your comments. He is now less fussy and little 'meals' (i.e.proper cooking seem to go down well). Am starting finger food but am finding that so much goes to waste as it ends up on the floor! Apart from toast - he loves toast (the least nutritious finger food I'm offering him!)

Any tips from anyone on dropping the dream feed? Thought I mught wait until he's on 3 meals a day before I do this?

Hey Casi,
I am at a similar point with my DS, having introdued food at the start of the month he has started to only feed for 5 minutes (ebf) at 11pm for his dreamfeed, this was previously a 15 minute feed. My thoughts are to continue to give him his dreamfeed as long as he is interested in feeding at that time. As soon as he starts to become disinterested and not want to feed when woken at 11pm I will try stopping it and see how it effects his sleeping through the night.