How do you wean?

[cruisemum1]

ds currently fully bf but am changing gradually to ff at a rate of one feed per 3 - 4 days to give boobs a chance to adjust!
Also introducing solids.

how old is he?

ANYONE?! [

He is 20 weeks and a hungry boy! Spoke to HV yesterday and she says it is fine to wean if I feel he is ready. Just confused as he is bf every 3hrs but on bottle he could go 4 hourly. So if I bf at 7:30am then bottle at 10:30am do I then bf again 3 or 4 hrs later? I am giving baby rice at afternoon feed around 4ish then bf again before bed. All so confusing

Cruisemum1 - How old is DS? It would heklp so that we can give you advice on appropriate foods etc.

Sorry cross posted with you hun.

You could try using baby rice or small amounts of veg or fruit puree.

We tended to just offer a small amount at lunch time and gradually increased quantities and frequency of meal till he was eating 3 meals a day with us. From about 6 months we also started to include Toast, banana and other soft finger foods. DS is now 16 months and eat almost anything.

Hope this helps.

not read it as am off out but found this which could help with info

thanks . just printed off stuff you linked me to.

do you want to change to formula and solids at the same time? imo, if you don't need to go back to work, i would keep up the bf and introduce a few solids so there is more continuity. i gave my ds lots of little 'tastes' of foods from about 20 weeks so when he started having meals he was very open to new tastes...he is 14 mo and has been eating almost all what we eat since about 9 mo. he stopped bf when he was 11 mo.

Weaned my ds at 20 weeks. He was mainly bf, but like you I gradually reduced the bf and introduced bottles. This is the order I replaced the bf - mid-morning, then bedtime, then tea-time, then first thing in the morning. By the time he was 5½ months old, he was only bf at night. He dropped that at 6 months. I started on baby rice at lunchtime, tbh I got fed up with it and just switched to veg and fruit purees. When he finished all the puree at lunchtime, I then did the same at tea time. Likewise, when he woofed all that down I introduced solids at breakfast. He's now 7 months old, has fruity porridge for b/fast, veg for lunch with a pudding and a meat/fish/egg tea with spud or rice or pasta and veg all pureed up together (we're trying lumps at the mo, and finger foods too). Oh, I started by doing milk first too. I found it really nerve-wracking starting solids but once you get into it you just seem to know what they need and when. Sorry to ramble on but I hope that helps.

ali - don't worry about rambling. that is just what i wanted to know! thanks

She is 24 weeks and I am currently going from bf to bottle and going from 3 hours to 4 hourly feeds - bottling 7fl oz each feed. I now only bf early morning and before I put her down at night.

I also find this whole thing pretty confusing and am justy hoping for the best...

I am going to start introducing solids in 2 weeks time when she turns 6 months.

umchuck - so.... when you first started weaning bf to ff how did you work out times?
I bf at 7
ff at 10
Should I then bf again at 1 or 2?
I was giving a tiny bit of baby rice at 4, should this now become 5?
Then bf at 6:30/45 before bed.
When I dro next bf which one would be best to go engorgement wise? The 1pm or 4pm?

Yes it is utterly confusing

Hope this helps you.

Ds was bf until 20 weeks and then I gradually started to introduce ff at 1 feed a day for a week etc.

I bf at 7am, 10am, ff at 1pm, and bF at 4pm and ff at 7.30pm, I then introduced ff at the 4pm feed. TBH I found he didnt really go 4 hrs between ff until he was all on formula. I am now back at work and so he is ff all day apart from a 4am bf and maybe a small snack after tea.

He is now also on 3 small solid meals a day we introduced them in this way;
1 meal a day
Tried to extend the 10am feed to nearer 11am. If he wouldnt wait then gave his milk at 10amish and solids at 11am, otherwise it was milk and solids at 11am and milk at 2pm.

2 meals a day
7.30am - milk
10/11am meal one
2pm - Milk
5pm - small amount of Milk and Tea
7.30pm - bedtime milk

Were now on 3 meals and ff so our days are like this
7.30am 7 ozs
8.45am - Porridge
11.30 - 1/2 bottle milk, dinner, remainder of milk
2.30- 7 ozs milk
6.pm - tea
7.30- 8ozs milk
1am- 7 ozs milk
4am - bf

kbaby - thank you! that is so useful that I ahve copied and pasted onto word document and will peruse it when I am not so shattered. Just what the doctor ordered. Some advice form someone who has done exactly what I am doing at 20 weeks.
Cheers!
sleep well.......

TBH I followed a certain weaning book- I would recommend it just to get the hang of how much and when.

I found it really hard to start off on the formula as its so much easier to get your boob out rather than the bottles etc but in the end I thought that by starting with formula on the night/evening feeds he may sleep better ( ha ha) we started with those and then I moved to the morning feeds by doing every other feed. Its difficult to set a time limit to the feeds as I would think right his mid afternoon feed would be formula but then he would be hungry earlier and no bottle prepared so I would end up bf him! If that happened I would try and give him formula at the next feed. In the end my supply adjusted and now I only really have milk for 4am and a bit for a drink occasionally if hes upset.

ill come to your sleep thread rather than crashing this one for you.