how many "solid" meals should a six month old be eating in a day?

[jeckadeck]

dd has been eating "solids" for a couple of weeks. Pureed veg and fruit. So far she's doing OK with it and I've been introducing solids at her 11 o'clock feed. Not too much, 10 or so mouthfuls, sometimes more if she's hungry. I want to start moving the foods she's comfortable with back in the day to a later feed and introducing a new food earlier so she's effectively on two solid meals a day one tried and tested, one experimental but MIL says she shouldn't have more than one "solid" meal a day for a good few weeks more yet. I can't see the problem, assuming she likes the food she knows and isn't showing signs of allergy, of allowing her to eat one known solid food in the day and try another one. Do I need to slow down a bit or is MIL being old-fashioned?

The HV always tells us to 'go for it' at 6 months. If she's happy on 1 meal then crack on. As an example, they say the Annabelle Karmel approach is quite slow.

Go with what your DD is happy with. She'll refuse it if she doesn't want it. How old is she?

my baby is 6.5months and we're up to 3 a day. the hv said crack on and get moving fairly quickly now. you need to take it really slow if you start before 6months but after that they get the hang of it quicker. i think the weaning chart i have says 3 meals a day on week 3. the advice is to get onto meat fairly soon as well.

Be guided by your DD. I had it all planned for DS2 who has reflux and was weaned early that we'd go really slow at 6 months so he doesn't throw up, but nope, the last 2-3 weeks he's been eating around 3 huge meals plus 2 snacks, as well as more milk than he's ever drunk (growth spurt methinks). But then, DS2 has been eating the last 8 weeks, not 2 weeks.. Think it all depends on your baby and how much she can eat/digest. YOU normally know best. :)

we got onto 3 meals a day within a couple of weeks although the meals were very small to start with - we started solids around 23 weeks so would have been having 3 small meals by 6 months.

We're only on two - still not getting very far with breakfast to be honest. (6.5months) But had slightly mad conversation with HV last week who said DS should be having Breakfast Mid morning snack Lunch Mid afternoon snack Tea then something before he goes to bed. Oh and a pudding (or as the HV said "pudd'n - always offer a pudd'n"), with every meal. Plus the milk feeds. I would go and lie down in a darkened room but I don't think I'd have time in between all the meals...
Anyone else had this advice?

breakfast was the last meal I introduced. I didnt add in snacks until ds started dropping daytime milk feeds which was around 9 months for the mid-morning one and 10 1/2 months for the mid-afternoon one. I offered pureed fruit or a yoghurt as pudding if I felt he was hungry enough for it after his main.

Yep, same advice here. At the moment (DD is 7 months) I'm doing 3 meals, and 4 or 5 BF in a day (depending on how good a food day it's been) and then 2 at night so I already feel like I'm constantly feeding.

Our HV also said to always offer a pudd'n (though without the accent!).

I think we're supposed to aim for 2 milk feeds (first and last thing), 3 meals and 2 snacks. If you make the snacks finger food your DS should be able to feed himself? I haven't got this far though so haven't figured out how much food a snack should be.

It's what you're ultimately aiming for, but whether you need to be doing it at 6.5 months is questionable. For that you have to go with what DS wants to do and go with his timing.

Oh, and I was advised to give breakfast before milk (if DD had fed in the night) so she'd be more receptive. Once she's got the hang of it then I'll do milk then food, but it seems to be working. Lots of babies I know aren't too fussed about breakfast.

(sorry for hijacking) Thanks Carrotcake - this is what I thought, that I was ultimately aiming for that pattern, but not quite yet. We've only really been on solids for about 3 weeks. I do offer pudding - but, like Seona, only if I think he's hungry enough. DS has so for shown no interest in breakfast, mainly because he feeds in the night.

I think your MIL is being old-fashioned jecka, and like timetosleep says I would just go at the pace that feels right for you and be guided by your DD's appetite. I think now that weaning is closer to 6 months rather than 12 weeks some of the old advice doesn't really work as well.