Weaning and expressed breast milk

[CinnamonSwirl31]

Wondering if anyone has any suggestions... DD is 6 months and I have just started weaning her. She has really taken to food, but so many of the recipes I have found with fruit, veg, baby rice etc require the addition of expressed breast milk. She's been exclusively breast fed up until this point and although I have expressed for her on a number of occasions, it's really time consuming and I've never been able to get very much. I am now finding myself sitting expressing for a few drops when I should be playing with her/ cleaning the pig sty of a flat etc. I don't want to give her formula at this stage if poss. Any advice or shared experience appreciated! Thanks

Once a baby turns 6 months, cows milk is fine in cooking. No need to express or use formula in recipes, in fact, no need to purée either, if you don't want to.

Thanks danny , I am reluctant to give her cows milk though as she had a really bad allergic reaction to some cow and gate baby porridge which I later discovered had cows milk in it. Don't know if that was the reason but i am not really keen to risk it

Sorry I should have said that about the allergic reaction in the original message, that's why I don't want to give her formula either

That being the case, I would look into baby led weaning. So long as baby is over 6 months, there's no need for baby rice or purée - just offer chunky chip sized pieces of whatever you are having for baby to gum on and play with. This is all about introducing flavours and textures, and not about how much food baby eats.

Otherwise you could use salt-free stocks as liquids if you'd rather make purée, or perhaps goats milk - many babies with allergies have reactions to cows milk protein, which is in cows milk, not all milk.

Thanks loads, just had a look at baby led weaning. I know it sense there isn't a greater risk of choking but I'd still be a bit paranoid, what first foods would you suggest to minimise choking risk? Should it be mushy foods that will dissolve in their mouth anyway? Otherwise I like the idea of it

Roasted sweet potato is good, or pear lightly poached in some water in the microwave if necessary.

The Baby Led Weaning cookbook by Gill Rapley is good, or the boards here are full of helpful and experienced weaners.

Honestly - it sounds scary but it's actually really easy.

If you want to express to give something like weetabix for breakfast, then you might get better results pumping twice a week at/after her morning feed.

I also think if you have concerns about an allergy to cows milk you should speak to your HV.

Do you really need recipes for purees? Surely you just puree some fruit/veg?

Or just mash up normal food without any salt or milk in it.

Thank you. I just looked at recipes for ideas for first foods as this is my first baby and maybe not as confident in what I can feed her as I should be. Spoke to the health visitor today and she could not have been less interested in the allergic reaction. Also phoned 111 after it happened as a bit scary and the out of hours gp was similarly disinterested. Will try and get an appointment with normal Gp.

Can I ask what the reaction was? Rash? Vomiting? Breathing difficulties?

Hi anything just saw your reply . She had a bright red rash which started round her mouth and spread over her face, front and back. It was blotchy and had little white pimples in it. Happened both times after porridge, worse the second. Completely disappeared after 40 mins or so. No other symptoms and she didn't seem to be in any discomfort. Thanks.

My DD had exactly the same reaction after egg. You really do need help to work out which ingredient she is allergic to. Can you go back and try a different HV?

Lots of babies have reactions to things at this age and tend to grow out of them but it can become a minefield if you don't know which ingredients to avoid. Also, as she eats more and drops milk feeds it's handy to increase dairy intake via food to ensure they're getting enough.

I'd go back and ask for help again. If she's had the reaction twice there's definitely something in it to avoid, at least for now.

She needs to get an allergy test for the reaction.

Meanwhile, use koko (coconut) milk for cereal etc. it has added calcium too.

Btw my DD had exact same reaction too, and we found out later that she is allergic to milk, egg, soya and wheat.

Thanks, I have made an appointment to see the gp. anything and shine how old are your daughters? Have they grown out of their allergies and if not, how do you manage them?

DD is 9 months now and had her reaction at 6 months. We were advised to try egg again on her skin (ie just whisk some up and paint it on the back of her hand) at 9 months and see what happens. We're going to try it next week ... Will report back.

In terms of managing it we've just avoided egg. It's actually not been that tough wheat and dairy are harder to avoid I think. Product labelling is pretty good these days.

We've gently introduced all the other major allergens - kiwi, strawberry, dairy etc - one at a time but she's not had any other reactions. We're yet to try peanut butter but I'm not sure whether to wait or not. Think well see what happens with the egg next week first.

Good luck with your GP.

you could use oat milk or soya milk rather than cows milk for your recipes (just avoid rice milk as its not advised for under 5's due to arsenic levels)

Thanks everyone you've really helped xx

My DD is 14 months.

At 6 months the skin prick test showed a reaction to both milk and egg.

At 10 months it showed no reaction, but she was still reacting to them both, but more importantly to wheat.

I'm hoping this means that she is on her way to loosing her allergy. Her reactions are delayed so hopefully she will outgrow them, but no idea when.

If you look through some of the older threads I mention as well as other posters ready made products that have helped us. It is tough but you do get used to it. All the best

Haven't had time to read the replies but dd1 has allergies and we used oatly milk in cooking from 6 months old.