Weaning - what routines do people have?

[Chump123]

I've stared weaning and finding it confusing when to feed the puree and when to feed the milk. Do we do the wean feed inbetween a bottle, eg give half a bottle, feed carrot purée then give the rest of the bottle. Or are you meant to give the bottle first, wait an hour and give the purée?

I'm currently on two feeds, doing breakfast and dinner feed. I do want to go onto do BLW and don't know when to start introducing the solid food..

Would be great to hear what others are doing as am totally confused!! And there isn't much help out there from HVs!

Thank you

I do:
7am bottle
8am yogurt
10am bottle
1pm bottle
1:30 finger foods
4pm bottle
6pm 2 puree pouches
7pm bottle

Then just a bottle whenever she's hungry in the night.

The word bottle looks really wrong now I've written it so much!

Hi OP

Could you just stick to your baby's normal milk feeds and then offer her solids when you're eating at mealtimes? The list you've put above sounds pretty intensive, and that way it will be easier to start offering them what you're having too.

You don't say how old your baby is, but once they're eating a little more proper food they may start wanting less milk. Would you consider giving milk on demand rather than on a schedule? That way you are feeding baby when they are hungry and are less tied down to a schedule.

Soon after starting weaning my babies dropped milk feeds to roughly first thing in the morning, before nap and before bed (and during the night...). Possibly at other times too for comfort, but I was breastfeeding.

BI

Astrid - how old is your baby? I forgot to say my little one has just turned six months. So your baby is still on the five bottles a day? And does she take a full feed at each bottle still?

Blackink- I think the milk on demand by this stage is more of a breastfeeding thing and it would be difficult to give a bottle fed baby milk on demand now, as more of a routine has been built up

I use to do bottle
7
11 fruit snacks
12 dinner real food no purees so sandwiches,soups, wraps
3 bottle
3.30 snack yougurt, fruit or chesse

1. Nap

7.00 bottle and bed

Forgot to say tea at half 6 which is just meal share with me and lol ones dad. I gave milk an hour to 40 minutes before food

Hi, I started weaning my dd at 5 months and i used to give a bottle and then puree or finger food about 45 mins after so she wasn't too full but wasn't hungry for milk. I started off o 1 meal a day, then 2 and gradually built up to 3. Shes 7 months now and she has 3 meals a day and fruit or yogurts after lunch and dinner and has cut down to 3 or 4 bottles a day

User14967 - you have fruit snacks straight away when you started to wean your baby..?!

OP it's pretty normal to offer babies fruit/whole foods by doing baby led weaning, has anyone talked to you about it? It's all my bloody health visitor would talk about when I asked her about weaning. My DD started at 6 months and she's never had purée really, she's never liked it, we've just had soft fruit and veg, casseroles and pasta/sauce etc all just cut up very small or cooked very soft.
We've not fully done baby led weaning as she eats more when I feed her as well.
When you first start I'd just offer bits of food and tastes when you are eating, then you won't have to stress about timings too much and baby won't really 'eat' for quite a while so milk schedule should probably stay just the same as it was before.
We always tried foods when she wasn't too hungry, after a feed, so it was just for fun and not to fill her up just for tastes.
Have fun 😊 xx

i bought the gina ford weaning guide it waa brilliant

Blimey I don't know how a baby would go straight from fluid to knowing how to chew and swallow on a bit of fruit. It's confusing! 🙈

My daughter is 7 months. We mainly do purees/us feeding her as she doesn't really eat much when she has finger foods and she's still waking at least twice a night for feeds so we were trying to fill her up a bit. Doesn't work btw, little bugger still wakes up a million times a night.

7am milk
8am weetabix/toast/porridge/scrambled egg.
9am nap 30 min
10am milk
12pm snack fruit/yoghurt
2pm milk
3pm nap 30 min
4pm what ever we have or if he can't have it ill give him a puree jar
5:30/6pm milk and bed.

7 months old, he does prefer to be fed but I let him have finger foods too

My DS is 8 months and his routine is usually:

8-milk
9-breakfast, porridge, fruit etc
12-lunch (today was cottage cheese and fruit)
1-milk
4-dinner, usually whatever we’re having
7-milk

We also give him snacks such as fruit and veg sticks if he’s hungry

Can you give a baby cottage cheese?

I’ve done a mix of finger foods and spoon feeding this time, but I hate all the waste and mess! I don’t follow any routine, just have mealtimes at the same time as mine/my other kids, and bf on demand.

Mine had tomato wedges (straight on the floor!) cheese on toast and a couple of baby crisps while he was waiting. Breakfast was raspberries and shredded wheat (as finger food). He’s 8 months.

I constantly doubt myself and think I’m doing it wrong, though!

BrutusMcDogface he’s only just started having it, but it is safe

My DD is nine months and never really took to spoon feeding (always grabs the spoon and chucks it!) but loves baby-led weaning. It’s got much easier now she has two teeth.

I give her banana, soft pear, melon, avocado, strips of omelette, little pieces of cheese, cucumber, tomato, small strips of chicken and all sorts of pieces of bread and toast (mostly she’ll suck that). We’ve also given her small bits of fish and lamb when we’ve been out.

You’ll find it takes a while for your little one to learn to chew and swallow. They’re learning every meal.

Please avoid anything hard like raw apple, as we know a family who had friends whose daughter choked to death at five months on a piece of apple. Watch them all the time obviously.

It is daunting I agree, but so much fun as well and easier than spoon feeding.

Mines was offered food when I was eating and boob if they were hungry the rest of the time. Didn't purées anything apart from soup but I blend my soup anyway. Child just got on with it, same way you know how to walk and talk from instinct and observation, you don't knock them down every time they try to walk because they haven't learned to walk yet.

Should also say as well as the baby-led weaning menu above, I still breast feed on demand. We don’t have any routine for food or milk although she usually wakes once at night.

Just remembered another couple of finger foods that work with DD: cooked pasta pieces and big bits of cereal, like oat flakes. I also sometimes bake little mini muffins for her without sugar.

Blimey I don't know how a baby would go straight from fluid to knowing how to chew and swallow on a bit of fruit

Well, they don't normally - they go through a stage where they're spitting a lot of it back out before they start chewing and swallowing a significant amount - but they don't learn straight away with puree either, do they? Hence needing to move onto lumps (and the many babies who struggle with that). They're going to have to learn to chew a bit of fruit or similar consistency food eventually, you can either give them the food and let them get on with it (in a supervised way!) or guide them through different 'stages'; they all get there eventually whichever way you do it!

You shouldn't need to give a six month old fully puréed food though - NHS advice is that it's mashed if you're going to spoon feed and that you do offer finger foods too. I think a lot of confusion is being caused by the fact that people are waiting much later to wean (in accordance with current guidelines) but then trying to follow the same weaning process as you'd use for a three or four month old.