How do you fit three meals plus breastfeeds into your day?

[KatyBeau]

I'm trying to get my 7 month old onto three meals a day, but can't work out how to fit it into the day!

It currently takes between 6am and 10am to bf, get my own breakfast, get her breakfast, get her dressed, get me dressed. Then she usually wants another feed and a nap. And I have to fit in cooking, laundry etc. So quite often it's 2pm before she gets lunch, or her nap is delayed so that she's too tired to eat. Then she ends up eating too late to fit in a third meal without it being too close to bedtime. And that's without trying to fit in getting out and about once in a while!

That's an extreme example, I know, but I do feel like I'm struggling, and I'm going a bit stir crazy!

I can't help feeling like I'm missing something and that everyone else manages ok!

OMG.

I think the secret is demand BF. Aim to give breakfast at say 7am, lunch at 11.30 am and tea at 5pm. Inbetween give a few BF as and when they want one. I used to try not to give one too close to when I was going to give a meal. As the eat more food they need less milk anyway so it lessens to about 3 or 4 feeds throughout the day.

Why don't you eat your breakfast while she eats hers? I tended to give them lots of finger foods or things they could feed themself so I could do stuff (such as meal prep, laundry a dn so on) while they were eating their meals. Got a bit bored of shovelling puree in after a while.

I never tried to fit in 3 meals at this age with DS. Basically if he was awake when I ate then I offered him some food. In the main at 7 months he only ate at supper as he always slept through my lunchtime and was so full from his first feed in the morning that he didn't want any solids when I had breakfast. But that was fine - he was BF on demand so was getting all that he needed. As he got older, started napping less, got better at eating solids he gradually ate more solids. But apart from a brief 2 weeks at 10 months during a growth spurt, he didn't start consistently eating 3 meals a day of solids until he was nearer 18 months old.

Forgot to say I did BLW with DS so I was free to eat while he did. Much easier than trying to eat and feed a baby at the same time

Surely you know by now that feeling of "everyone else is brilliant and I'm a crap mum" is in fact what we're all thinking too?! I ws determined to hold out to 6 months before weaning but after a crushing week of bf every two hours day and night I relented. Now have a semi-schedule that kind of works, similar to Cece's.

All times are APPROX
7am bf
8am my breakfast - always offer to baby but she is never interested
830 baby breakfast - usually a bit of plain yoghurt and some rice cakes or pear but mostly bland & easy
11am bf
12 lunch for both of us as I am too hungry to wait much longer! She's more into this meal - stick of cheese, some slices of tomato, some breadsticks or bread dipped in soup.
3 Bf and i eat some fruit and offer it to her. Cold strawberries in this heat a big hit
5 Baby has dinner and i nibble at it to keep her company. Toast and philadelphia, or grilled mushroom slices, or falafel & avocado went down well tonight. Always finish with fruit and yoghurt. Slices of plum tonight.

Hope you can see that it's achievable to be healthy without cooking for hours. doing BLW as I cannot face spending the evenings making puree and I am really enjoyinng sharing my food with her. I don't get the laundry done on time either.... But the food is more important to me! Good luck and hope you have more fun with this...

My 8 month old's routine is generally:

6am-7am - breastfeed in bed with me
8am - breakfast
10am - breastfeed and nap
12pm - lunch
2pm - breastfeed and nap
3.30ish - snack/tea
6pm - dinner
6.30pm - bath
7pm - breastfeed and bed.

He sometimes manages to fit in an extra breastfeed or two, especially if we are just hanging around at home. If we are out and about though he just wants a breastfeed when he's tired.

I'm not doing BLW exactly, but I do tend to eat with ds and share food, plus a bit of spooning things in for him, so it doesn't really take any longer than just doing a meal for myself. And DP and I have our dinner early now at 6pm so we can eat with ds. Dinner is the only cooked meal, so I start cooking when DP gets in at 5 and takes ds off my hands.

DD is 27 and a half weeks and we're doing BLW (started at 24 weeks). Our routine (although I bf on demand, so it can vary) is:

6-7am - bf in bed with mw, then I shower etc;
8.30-9am - we both eat breakfast, following which I get DD dressed;
10am - bf follwed by nap;
12.30ish - bf;
1.30 - we both eat lunch follwed by nap for DD if she is sleepy;
3ish - bf;
3.30 - 4ish - nap;
5ish - bf if demanded;
5.30-6pm - dinner;
6.30pm - bed routine;
7pm - bf and bed;
midnight - bf (trying to cut this!)
3amish - bf (again, trying to cut!).

I am assuming that iver the next couple of months bfs will reduce. I am BLW becasue DD totally refuses to be spoonfed. She eats quite a bit already though by feeding herself and I have noticed her eating slightly less breastmilk already.

HTH

Oh you're just coming to that "delightful" part of weaning when you seem to be feeding the baby non stop. Sorry but until they start dropping milk feeds that's just what you do all day... morning milk, followed by breakfast, followed by mid morning milk, followed by lunch, followed by afternoon milk, followed by tea, followed by bedtime milk! Argh, it's never ending. But it doesn't last forever. I think by about 8/9 months both mine were dropping lunchtime milk and mid morning milk so it went morning milk then breakfast, lunch, then afternoon milk, then tea then bedtime milk.

I agree (especially when looking at my routine above) that EVERYONE is feeling like they spend all day feeding (milk or solids) and getting baby down to nap at this stage so don't be too hard on yourself. As I said, I am doing BLW simply because DD won't have anything else (she is one seriously determined miss!) but it does seem to make it easier for me than for some of my friends as I just eat at the same time as DD. I don't eat my dinner at 5.30pm obviously, but I am ready for a snack then so I join her in eating. Typical day (below is yesterday) looks like this (I eat the same at each of her meals!):

Breakfast: toast, strawberries and banana (or scrambled eggs and toast);

Lunch: pitta, houmus, avocado and cooked asparagus spears;

Dinner: homemade fish cakes - tinned tuna, potato and spring onions - and broccoli (but I don't always do this! Sometimes its just, say, sticks of cheese (mild cheddar or mozzarella works well), sweet potato and some veg or fruit).

I would say that right now, at 27 and a half weeks, DD is probably taking in the equivalent of 2 heaped teaspoons at each meal, but its hard to say and could be more judging by the nappies - no more breastfed poo!

I am just starting to offer water and snacks at other times - so far just the Plum organic spelt biscuit things.

Approx routine dd3 is 6m
5-bf
6:30-dd up with dh
7:30- me up & shower,breakfast for all
8:30-school run
9-10 jobs/play
10-11 bf & nap
11-12:30- jobs/play/lunch/nap
12:30-3out to group or play/jobs
3- school run
4-bf
Make tea
All eat about 5:30-6 depending on clubs
Dd3 straight in bath then play for 1/2 hour while I tidy up then 7-8 bf then bed.
I feed approx twice more in the night.

8 month DD:

7am BF in bed
I shower while she plays in cot. I then eat my breakfast while she plays in playnest
8am, - nappy change, her breakfast, usually wheatabix and some fruit or yoghurt
9.30am - BF and a 30 min nap (on me!)
12.00pm ish - Lunch, always finger food only so sometime she'll eat very little. today it was philly on bread, carrots, bannana and hard boiled egg.
I eat with her. Follpwed by a BF
Nap around 1ish
Sometime around 2-3pm a BF
5pm BF
5.30pm - dinner. Either homewhat puree or shop bought, some finger food and a yoghirt.
6pm bath
6.45pm BF-sleep

Plus one night feed anytime between 1am and 5am!