Weaning questions for small baby

[GillL]

I've just started weaning 6 month - 14lb dd (approx, haven't had her weighed for a few weeks) by giving a tsp of baby rice per day. Will be following Annabel Karmel's routine loosely but just wanted some advice from other people with small and not particularly hungry babies.

What times is it best to give food at this stage? Have started with 2pm feed.

How long should we give her baby rice? IMHO I don't think 2 days (as the book recommends) is long enough.

When should I go to 2 solids per day?

DD is currently on 26oz of formula per day (4 5oz and 1 6oz). I normally add an ounce per day when she starts waking earlier. Should I start giving her more food instead when this happens?

I'm no expert just a mum. I followed Annabel Karmels book for my first child for about 3 weeks.

I'm going through the weaning process with my second child now & basically wing it but refer every now & then to AK.

I found the best time to give any food is the lunchtime feed. Firstly because you are more chilled than at breakfast & baby has atleast had some thing inside them. I give them a bit of milk first & then introduce the solids. Secondly, when I'm introducing new foods by giving it at lunchtime I can see if they have a reaction. DD had egg at lunchtime and then her face started swelling. If I'd given it at teatime I wouldn't like to think of what would have happended if the reaction had taken place after she'd gone to sleep.

I gave them baby rice for about a week. Initially the baby rice was quite runny & then after two days, I made it a bit thicker so that eventually by the end of the week it was more like ready brek than sloppy baby rice.

After the first week I started with the purees or mashed banana all with baby rice initially. I introduce new food every couple of days. By the end of a month I had started serving the purees without baby rice.

I found that my son had a large appetite so whilst having any solids he always had his milk aswell. Around 5/6 weeks of weaning I started him on a weetabix in the morning with cow's milk. I introduced it then as he started eyeing his sisters breakfast up & so I just figured he was ready for it. However, I remember playing things far more by the book with my first.

Also, after about 8 weeks of feeding a mixture of foods that have been integrated into his diet, I ended up adding two ingredients or more at a time rather than just the one. However now, DS in now 11 months, I just give him whatever. I can't remember whether he's been given it before or not, plus he is eating at nursery aswell.

DS now has 8oz of milk for breakfast + a weetabix.
He has gone to 8oz of milk for mid morning snack as he flatly refuses to drink it if he sees solids at lunchtime. So just has water and solids now at lunchtime. And as he also flatly refused milk at teatime when saw food, he now has 8oz of milk around mid pm & then tea.
He has a further 8oz of milk at bedtime.

Finally after boring you for so long, I'd start introducing baby rice as an evening supper before her last milk feed, then her tummy will be fuller and so should (fingers crossed) stay asleep.

Sorry if this is too long, but this is the way I've done it.

That sounds fine. But only thing I would say is that if you add milk to anything they eat, it is recommended that you either use EBM or formula, rather than cows milk for babies up to one year, as it is lacking in the certain quanities of vitamins and minerals babies require .

Actually, you can use cow's milk from 6 months to add to food, just not as a drink. The small amount that you use to mix with food won't make any difference vitamin-wise, as the baby will still be getting plenty of milk anyway. EMB or formula is fine as well, but you can use cow's milk.

I didn't bother with baby rice at all; I thought that it was better to go with something that actually tasted nice! We started on mashed banana, pureed butternut aquash, that kind of thing, to get dd used to new tastes. We didn't go to two solid "meals" a day until dd had been on solids for about 6 weeks.

At the moment milk is more important than solid food, you're just giving new tastes and new textures, so there's no real rush to shovel more food into her. Take it at a pace that suits you and your baby.

Thanks for your advice.