How will I ever get him on food?

[Pjay]

I'm a first time new mum and i'm wondering how i'm ever going to get my 4month old off bottles and onto food. I've just started weaning him and he is great, he eats the whole lot of baby rice I give him and then demolishes his 8oz bottle as well. It isn't getting him to eat the food that's a problem, but i'm wondering how I'm ever going to start to miss a bottle like they tell you to without hum screaming the house down (which I think he's quite capable of)! I don't want to feel guilty that I'm depriving him or that he will miss the bottle and be starving. HELP!

Don't worry! At 4 months, solid food is just a 'taste' - I think his main food should still be milk anyway. It's a gradual thing - my ds just gradually moved away from the milk onto the food - as they eat more they will drink less.

I think Musica is right. Just keep on gradually increasing the solids and then the bottles will eventually decrease. My problem now (DS is 18 months) is getting him to take any milk but he eats like a horse! Maybe you could decrease the volume of milk if necessary (ie 7 oz) but I wouldn't do that yet because milk is still the most important thing.

It's very early days Pjay and I don't think you need to think about missing out milk feeds yet. It might help if you regard your baby's solids as in addition to his milk rather than instead of milk. I think I'm correct in saying there are more calories in milk than in solids so milk needs to be his main nutrition for quite a while longer yet. He'll probably let you know when he is more interested in food than milk, in a few months time!!

Pjay - agree with everything here. My 5 month old DD is still guzzling 8oz every feed as well as having quite a lot of puree etc..

I think it is at 6 months they start to reduce milk once protein is introduced via their solids. At the moment the only protein they get is from milk so it is important they still have plenty.

HTH Ellasmum

Pjay, 4 months is a bit young to be weaning if you follow current guidelines. I started to wean my 3rd at 6 months, and although I am still b/feeding him (about 4 times a day) at 11 months, he eats like a horse and eats absolutely anything. Leaving it until a bit later was much easier IMO. Having said this, with my 1st baby (now 7 yrs), I started to wean at 3 months Good luck anyway and try not to stress too much !!

Thanks for all the advice, I think I will stop worrying so much about getting him onto 'solids' and just let him guide me, I guess I didn't think of just letting him decide how much milk he still wants after gradually increasing the amount of puree I'm going to give him.
Thanks again I feel a lot beter