Early morning feed for a nine month old

[AmandaCooper]

I've been told by the HV that I should drop DS's 6am feed to make sure he is hungry at breakfast time "because food is getting more important than milk now and he needs to be having three proper meals a day."

I'm disappointed to hear this as I find it very convenient to feed him at this time; at the end of the 6am feed he will usually go back to sleep for up to an hour, which gives me time to get ready for work or just to catch up on sleep if it's a non work day. However it's true that he doesn't have much appetite for breakfast and usually just gums at a bit of toast or eats a rice cake mid morning. He's gaining weight fine and eats well at lunchtime and dinner.

Is it safe to ignore this advice, or do I need to suck it up and start getting up at 6am to feed him porridge?

the feed sounds ideal. everyone's a winner . human milk is full of a whole range of nutrients and immunofactors that will be setting him up nicely for the day. if it is working for you and him, that's great.

I would ignore it. Ds is just one and often just has milk to keep him going until after the nursery run

He 9 months old! Worry about when he's 2

samebutdifferent, cupcake and spotty thanks for replying. I was thinking it was all going brilliantly till I saw the HV! She wants me to stop offering feeds in the night as well - again to make sure he is ravenous by breakfast.

Why does he have to be ravenous for brekkie?

I still feed my near 2 year old in the morning. She has porridge an hour afterwards. It's fine!

Steam he doesn't eat much of anything at breakfast time, he just plays with his food. I didn't think it mattered as he was chock full of milk and clearly contented - but maybe he's not getting enough iron that way or something?

Food is fun until they're one....

I really don't care much for breakfast. He's still little. Does he eat well the rest of the day?

That's one HV opinion, docs will say milk is one of the more important food sources until they are one. If it works stick with it, he'll soon tell you when he'd rather have food and he won't hold it against you when he's older

Thanks all - yes he eats very well at lunch and dinner. I think the HV probably just wanted to be able to tick "eating 3 meals" on her little tick sheet rather than she thought there was anything wrong.

It's the other way around: offer 3 meals a day and, when ready, baby will drink less milk and eat more food. The hv appears to want you to starve him into submission. Stupid. Ignore.