7.5 month old weaning advice needed - pouches/portions/water

[DonnyBurrito]

7.5 month old weaning advice needed - pouches/portions/water

Been weaning my boy since 5 months, he took to it like a fish to water and I've been gradually offering him things to eat more often. He breastfeeds for his milk, and feeds often at night.

So solids wise; on average he has a pouch for breakfast and some peanut butter toast to mess about with, then omelette/eggy bread/pancakes or bit of a sandwich and half of another pouch for lunch, then for dinner he has the rest of the lunch pouch and banana/pear and broccoli/sweet potato as finger foods. For snacks, he has puffs dipped in hummus or baby rice cakes.

I feel like that's plenty for hin to be getting on with for his age really but my HV has suggested I need to be getting bigger portions down him to stop him waking up so much to feed at night. I am very used to the night wakings now, and would rather make sure he's getting enough nutrition, even if it is as night... He's a big lad at 24lb; was born big and has stayed big.

I feel like I need to do as I'm told however, so I am trying, but I feel like I would need to restrict BF through the day so he is hungrier at meal times. I'm not sure if that's the right thing to do at this stage though, and if it would actually increase his night wakings?

I'm also not really sure how to increase his portions, as he for the past few weeks he has refused to let me feed him more than a couple of spoonfuls before he kicks off. He is much happier feeding himself, but obviously a lot of that ends up on the floor... I think he was eating a lot more when he was happy to let me feed him.

This brings me to the pouches. He can get through a big pouch in about 10 minutes if I let him feed directly from the pouch. It says on the back not to let babies under 36 months do this, I'm not sure why? I have to assist him with it anyway otherwise it just gets squeezed all over the floor, so he is never unsupervised and I can't see how it would be a choking hazard anyway once the cap is removed and out of reach.

Also, water... I use an open cup with him, and he maybe has about 20ml of water a day. Is this enough? He isn't constipated at all. I know I should be asking my HV about this, but I'm not sure I 100% align with her vision for us 😬

Any advice or sharing of personal experiences would be much appreciated!

Had you expressed concerns about night waking to the hv, or had they decided you and your baby needed sorting out? Honest, you and your baby sound like you are doing brilliantly. Night waking to feed is normal and healthy. Infant Sleep Imfomation Service (I think that's what it's called, they used to be called ISIS...) are a brilliant online resource.

@Thissucksmonkeynuts

Thank you for your reply, I'll check that out!

It was more like she was a bit concerned when I said he was still feeding frequently through the night, and asked me how often and if I was managing with it. I said if it's the usual 3/4 times a night then I can handle it well now, but when he's having a rough patch with teething/illness and it's more like 5/6 times a night, then I find myself a bit more irritable through the day. I didn't ask for a solution as I thought it'd just work itself out eventually. I think she implied because he's a big lad he could stand to be night weaned. She suggested just giving him water at night when he rouses... I'm not doing that until he's atleast 1 though.

I just don't know how to feed him up more during the day. It's like she gave me homework to do, but I don't know how to do it!

You don't have to do anything if you don't want to, you can say no thanks to imput from the hv. The Leaky Boob is a great fb page, Kelly Mom is another one with a good website.

It's both normal and exhausting and like you know, will not last for ever. Mine dropped right down on night feeds by 18 months, night weaning at that point didn't reduce waking, it just meant I didn't have to get a boob out to get them back to sleep. They are both at school now and sleep 11ish hours solid most nights, it's like I only have to be a mum part time.

I think that sounds like a good amount of food for his age! It there are no actual health concerns and you’re happy to continue with the night feeds then I would just ignore the HV advice and carry on as you are.

I thought the 'more solids = better sleep' thing was a bit of a myth, so shame the HV is spreading that. My understanding is that baby's primary nutrition & hydration until 12m should be from milk (breast or formula) so it sounds like you're doing exactly the right thing OP. We also only give water in an open cup after meals and she probably has a few sips each time. This website is really good for straightforward fact based advice

solidstarts.com/starting-solids/water/#:~:text=While%20breast%20milk%20can%20%E2%80%9Ccount,toward%20that%208%20ounces%20minimum.

With feeding directly from the pouch- whilst not the worst thing in the world, it doesn’t teach baby to chew or move food around their mouth, move their tongue etc etc. It’s just suck and swallow, a skill babies already have.
Is this what you mean by he feeds himself from the pouch?
Also those pouches tend to be quite water heavy, lots of veg etc which again no bad thing but the water content is high so not really that filling in term of calories. The finger foods you are giving sound great and that’ll teach him more about solid food, chewing, gagging, bite sizes, tongue movement etc etc. And if he likes feeding himself, great! He will be the best regulator of his appetite so let him lead the way.
As for the breastfeeding and night wakings- don’t change things if you don’t want to. Solids don’t guarantee longer stretches of sleep!

I breastfed my boys and they were and still are big boys! (10lb 9oz and 9lb 3oz at birth) I was OK with feeding them at night, by the time they were 1 I was a bit less keen on it but 7.5 months is very young. He spends like he's trying lots of food and eating a decent amount. He'll probably drink more water as time goes on.
Have you tried weetabix and banana mixed with warm milk for breakfast? Mine used to love that and it sticks to a spoon quite well so good for self feeding.

We've found using a spoon with a short handle helped our little one to self feed with less mess- the type we use are called chewtensils and we just preload the spoon for her. Hope that's helpful!

I wouldn't cut down the night feeds. Like a pp said, milk is the best thing for an under 1. Milk is still the main source of nutrition for them.

@ShleepyMumma Yeah I wondered whether it was a developmental type thing, that's the only issue I could see from letting him suck the food out directly from the pouch too... but thought that seemed a bit overbearing for food packaging. I think they'll end up phased out to being just a snack at some point soon 🤞 Tbh I think even the Aldi ones are a bit pricey for what they are

@katienana I will try weetabix, thank you! I've been meaning to for ages, I've been boring him to death with oats and chia seeds for 2 months so he probably is due a new cereal.

@MrsMaudeLebowski I'll have a look at those, great, thanks!

Thank you everyone for the replies. I'm going to relax a bit on this then and just take his lead. He barely ate a thing today anyway, the bloody front teeth are on their way now

Maybe substitute the pouches for the real food equivalent. Pouches are quite tiny, have been manufactured weeks or months ago, and in the long run, they might alter taste preferences because they don't really taste like the original food as they have been pasteurised and put through high pressure to keep shelf life. They have a high water content to make them more liquid. Pouches also tend to include sweet tasting food and will make accepting non-sweet food harder.

Cook your veggies in 1-2 cm of water and then blend everything together water included.

The puffs are baby junk food. They have the same ingredients as Cheetos and Doritos : 75% corn flour , 15% oil. Then of course one has powdered nutrient -void veggies which give the colour and a right to be on label in big letters. Puffs and rice cakes and other snacky food, will fill his belly, but won't meet his nutritional needs, and of course he will be hungry.
Instead of puffs, make polenta sticks. Instead of ultra processed rice cakes, make you own. Overcook some rice, blend it with a veggie of your choice, spinach, kale, cooked pumpkin . Make some balls the size of a gold ball, flatten it on a baking tray covered with baking paper and cook in the oven until dry.

If the bulk of his diet is made of pouches and baby junk, it is not very nutritious. To prevent a predilection of industrial food vs natural and fresh, try to prepare soups, stews, and offer a variety that doesn't rely heavily on sweet tasting food.

@Cormoran Oh God I know they're junk, but they are a different mouthfeel to milk, and I try to give them him dipped in more nutritious stuff. He holds them and has to aim them into his mouth himself, and I feel like that is a fone motor skill at least. The salt content in baby puffs is obviously very low too. So I'm not going to feel too guilty about that, but I will take your concern on board.

I like the home made rice cake idea, I'll try that. Thank you!

I was making my own purees, I tried really hard to give him tasty home cooked things and did loads of recipes, and now have lots of ice cube trays of frozen purees sitting in the freezer.

The issue is he won't let me feed him, he just won't entertain it anymore. I can't even feed him a pouch unless it's directly from the pouch, but even they've been getting a frosty reception the last few days.

He's eating such a tiny amount now... The bulk of his diet is definitely breastmilk, as it should be I suppose at this stage, but he's definitely gone over to the BLW side and is refusing to let me spoonfeed him at all. He was so, so good at it too 😢 Opening his mouth like a little baby bird every time. Sadly it's a thing of the past now, glad I got photos of him doing it at least! It was very cute.

I used to make very thick soup and dip bits of bread in for baby to feed their self.I would the let the soup down a bit for everybody else.The self feeding stage just needs to be got through.My experience is that they can get the hang of it pretty quickly.