Balance between milk and solids?

[FlightofFancy]

Hope everyone can help - am having a bit of a weaning wobble. Probably sleep-deprivation induced as 7.5mo DS still waking several times a night to feed...

I seem to be feeding constantly at the moment - and wonder if I'm doing too many milk feeds. Or, if I'm doing too many solids and should try to prioritise milk?

Day looks like this:

7am: offer milk (BF). Doesn't usually have much as has fed at 5-6am. Prob 5 min feed in total

8-8.30: breakfast - usually Readybrek or similar. Has two heaped dessertspoons mixed with 2oz formula/cows milk (depending on whether I can be bothered making up formula) and a couple of cubes of fruit/chunk of banana.

11-11.30: offer milk. Again, not usually that keen. Makes it very clear when not interested by arching backward, shouting at me and batting me away with fists!

12.00: lunch. usually mashed up version of what we ate last night. So, spag bol, fish pie, chilli, chicken and veg etc. Quantity equivalent to small shop babyfood jar (as that's what I freeze food in!). Plus some fruit/yoghurt. If we're out and about, a pouch. Will happily finish a whole stage 2 pouch, plus half a fruit pouch.

12.30: BF before lunchtime nap. Very keen on this feed and will have good 10 mins before settling. Without this feed he often wakes half way through lunchtime nap.

2.30-3pm: offer milk. Sometimes really goes for this, sometimes doesn't want it at all. Sometimes refuses then gets to 4pm and is 'starving'

5-5.30pm: dinner. Usually something like lentils/sweet potatoes or veg then fruit. Not sure if should be second 'proper' meal (sim to lunch) or lighter version (on basis that adults don't eat full dinner twice a day). Again, happily eats good size portion.

6.30-7pm: milk feed before bed. Usually very good feed, unless too tired.

Then wakes sometime between 9.30-10.30pm demanding food with menaces (trying to settle without feeding leads to screaming hysteria...). Bottle feed then - usually has around 5oz formula. Then wakes 2-3 times in the night around 2am/5am - again, have tried settling without feeding and doesn't work. Usually feeds for around 15 mins before going straight back to sleep.

Mainly puree fed as he seems to prefer that - gets very frustrated when have tried baby-led approach, though he likes playing with finger foods and gets something snacky at most meal times.

Sorry this is so long and thanks for reading - I really want him to drop just one of the night feeds and getting in a twizzle about what he should be having during the day as don't see how I can fit in more milk feeds and whether should be giving both lunch/dinner as meat/fish 'big' meal. Too tired to try and work it out now!

my dd is 7 months - she is having much less milk feeds (though she's still a terrible sleeper and wakes for 2 feeds in night so don't know if this will help you much) but as a comparison may be useful -

she generally has milk around 4/5am.

an oatibix with goats milk at 8am ish

fruit at 11am

milk & snooze at 1230

yoghurt when she wakes up around 2.30

vegetables/chicken 5pm

milk & bed at 7pm

my sons were having much more milk at this age, but even so i think you could probably cut your daytime milk down a bit. my experience with dd has been that the longer the gaps between milk feeds in the day, the longer she goes at night without it too.

i should also have said - she will tend to eat a couple of ricecakes/breadsticks or nick a bit of my lunchtime sandwich or her brothers' teatime toast too. then wakes between 11pm-1am for first night feed. on a rare good night she might then sleep to 6am.

i'm in a similar pickle myself although DS is 10m and we're doing BLW so food intake is probably waaaaaaaaaay less that your DS. Around that age though DS was definitely having milk about the same amount - every 2.5 hours and I was beginning to think he would never slow down! He has though, and now feeds every 3/4 hours but even then that's because I offer. If I offer BF, then he feeds 7/8 times a day. As an experiment I didn't offer yesterday and he only fed 4 times - the.whole.day - which for him I thought was totally amazing! I was expecting him to be gnawing his arm off but he wasn't. He didn't up his solid intake though either, so whether it nutritionally was the right thing I don't know!

At 7.5m DS went through a reaaaaaaly bad waking in the night patch for feeds, but he has naturally lessened down to 1 night feed (sometimes 2 if I'm unlucky. Sadly though, days are starting from 5.15 am :(

Long old post with not much help other than to reassure you that you're not along!

Thanks both - just running out the door so will reply properly later.
Seems to go with my instinct which is that he's probably trying to tell me to drop one of the daytime milk feeds.

I would drop any feeds where he hardly has anything and start giving cooled boiled water from a bottle at night rather than milk - he'll soon realise its not worth waking for, and I'm sure he really doesn't need feeding at night.

My DS is 7.5 months and our day goes roughly like this:

0730 breakfast
0800 milk
1130 milk
1300 lunch
1530 milk
1700 dinner
1900 milk, bed