Weaning

[cunners1982]

Hi, I'm just after a bit of advice, my baby is 6 and a half months old and is on 3 small meals a day ( baby cereals, fruits and porridges) he gets milk with every meal and also inbetween, he is impossible to get him to wait any longer than 3 hours between meals, he is always so hungry.

When do I need to start reducing his milk and how often should be be getting fed a day? He doesn't have a night time feeds anymore.

Thanks

I don't think you need to reduce his milk. I just gave milk whenever my kids wants it though offered water with meals.

If he wasn't touching his food then maybe reduce milk so not too full before eating.

My dd is 9m and its really hit and miss

She will eat if her df feeds her
Porridge - brekki
Mash and veg and a meat - dinner
And what ever I can get down her for tea

6oz bottles in between each . Bed time bottle at 6.30/ 9.00 pm then 4.am

I'm doing something wrong here surely ???

If he is hungry, he needs more milk and less food. Make sure you offer milk before food. Babies should work towards 3 meals by 9 months. How many ounces does he take during 24 hours?

He loves his food and would happily eat more, I just have to stop him ha. He was breast fed for the first 5 months and nursed every 2 hours, I changed to formula at 5 months cos every 2 hours was a nightmare. I now have him every 3 hours-
0730- Breakfast- cereal and 5oz milk
1030-11ish 7oz bottle
1330-1400- fruit pot with 5oz of milk
1630-1700- 6 oz bottle
Then bath, porridge, 6oz bottle and bed! Is that ok or too much?

Watching this thread. I have a baby who begs for more food when we give it and seems to really enjoy it ... But who isn't at all fussed on his milk.

That sounds fine. As he gets older the milk feeds will drop down but at 61/2 months I wouldn't worry. He's meant to get most nuitrition from milk until one anyway.

You could introduce a lunch, perhaps about 1pm or earlier and then the fruit pot as a pudding? The aim is to get them eating 3-4 meals + milk isn't it. Then in a week or so introduce tea at about 4 ish, perhaps with more fruit or a yoghurt for pudding.

When do I need to start reducing his milk and how often should be be getting fed a day? He doesn't have a night time feeds anymore

Not for a long time yet. Until he's one his main source of nutrition should be his milk. The nhs advise only moving to 3 meals between 8 and 9 months and the current advice is to offer any solids roughly an hour after their usual milk. This is to stop them eating too much. It really doesn't matter if he doesn't eat but it's very important that he gets enough BM/formula.

So, approx. 30 ounces per day? DD was offered about 42 ounces a day a 6 months - 7 bottles of 6 ounces of milk. She tended to have big gaps between feeds in the morning and then by evening was showing hunger signs every couple of hours. She was only offered solid food at lunchtime but hadn't yet realised solids could fill her up.

My son is 7 months and I just give him milk when he wants it. We have him on about 2 meals a day (sometimes 3, sometimes 1) usually lunch and dinner, but it depends if he's awake, happy etc.

I'm not worrying about the amount of solids he's eating at all yet, for me, the main thing is ensuring he gets enough milk - there's precious few calories in carrot sticks and apple mush and at 6.5 months your son needs lots of calories - so fatty milk is the way forward for a good few months yet.

Babies reduce milk feeds on their own, you don't need to do it for him, he'll tell you when he needs less.