Confusion - bf and establishing solids

[AyeWhySWIM]

Ds is 8mo and enjoys his solids after starting at 6months. He has 3 'meals' a day - cereal for breakfast with cows milk then 2 small meals usually consisting of 2 courses veg/meat/cheese/toast then either fruit or yoghurt. I'm bfing when we wake then twice or three times before naps during the day and then before bed. He usually wakes once in the night but can be more.

My query is about the conflicting advice I'm reading and whether he's getting enough milk. Sites like MN and nhs advise establishing 3 meals and even snacks from 7mo yet WHO and the trusted Kellymom advise that bm should be the main source of nutrition till 1. If it wasn't for that making me terrified of accidental early weaning I'd feel ok about how we are doing. Ds loves his food and is very distractible so refuses to feed if out and about or even round the house during the day so is really only keen before his naps.

Should I be taking steps to encourage him to bf more? Or is what we're doing enough/ok? Another issue is that I'm returning to work just before he turns 1 - I'm hoping to be able to feed when I'm at home, will my supply be able to accommodate this?

It's all so confusing and so hard to know what we're meant to be doing and everyone seems to do something different - argh!!

You can do 3 meals a day but make them small meals (and calorie/nutrient dense ones too!).

Nothing to say a meal has to be a big slab of meat, 2 servings of veg and 3 potatoes (well except for some HVs!), a meal could be a slice of toast spread with soft cheese, or a very small jacket potato with a tablespoon of ratatouille, or a 1oz steak strip with carrot batons and some cheese chunks for example.

The key seems to be in offering solids a little time after bfing rather than in place of a bf though that can be helpful if you feel unable to bf then and there (supermarket queue, meeting with ban manager) to offer a small snack and some water on occasions.

As long as you aren't offering food every time he indicates hunger/need for a bf instead of bfing and carry on offering before meals (a good way is to offer before you start preparing lunch/dinner) then early weaning shouldn't be a real issue to worry about. Though it is easy to worry about anything connected to babies and feeding

Have you seen the WHO guidance on complementary solids? It's here if you haven't (pg 18 is prob. most relevant).

As to 'just' bfing when not at work that seems to be a very common way to carry on bfing on returning to work so it must be do-able for lots of women and their DCs!

DS is 8 months and his routine looks a bit like this
7am - BF
8am - cereal & fruit
nap
11am ish - bf
12:30pm ish - lunch
nap
3pm ish - bf
4:30pm - sometimes a biscuit or some fruit
6:30pm - dinner
7pm - bf

So breakfast and lunch are not long after bfing so he doesn't usually eat that much. Lunch is usually something snacky such as oatcakes or a sandwich and fruit. At dinner he often eats quite a bit (compared to his other meals) depending on how tired he is and usually has whatever we are having then a yoghurt or equivalent.

We are BLW so it's difficult to tell how much he's eating, but he's still gaining weight well, he has 3 'good' BFs a day for a total of about 40 minutes (altogether, not each). He eats a LOT less than his puree fed counterparts.

HTH.