confused about weaning; time and quantity

[LoobyLou33]

Ok so I?ve been bumbling along a bit through motherhood and DS (6 months) is not really in any kind of a routine, partly because I can?t put him down to sleep in the day so we just have to go with when he falls asleep. I?m BF on demand (or offering him a boob if I think he?s due) and he feeds roughly every 4 hours except at night.

What I?m confused about is the timing/method of weaning onto solids. Some books talk about cutting a feed short and then offering solid food, but I?m worried he won?t get enough milk if we do this as I have no idea how much he?s had part-way through a feed. On the same note ? he seems happy to have quite a bit of solid food on some occasions such as yesterday evening. But if he fills up too much on mashed potato and banana, surely he won?t take his usual full pre-bed milk feed? And therefore his milk intake will drop too much? Knowing the amount of milk and solids to give is what I?m confused about.

Connected to this is working out WHEN to offer solids and whether it needs to be consistent. So far I?ve offered late morning/early lunchtime which hasn?t been too popular, and around teatime (5.30/6ish) which he seems to like a lot, perhaps because he?s always sat with us at dinner time and is now a part of it. But it isn?t exactly the same time every day and i wonder if that's even a bit late for his dinner.

Basically I?m worried that I?ve been a bit all over the place with the whole weaning thing ? partly cos LO got a nasty cold a few days in which put it on hold (he wasn?t interested). I?m doing a combo of BLW and spoonfeeding, both going generally well with happy faces and interesting nappies!

I really wouldn't worry too much about it at the moment and just carry on BFing on demand as you are. General advice is to offer solids an hour after a milk feed.

I would just offer solids when you think he's in the mood! If he enjoys eating with you just offer something whenever you're eating and don't worry too much about rigidly sticking to 3 meals a day.

DD is 8 mo and it's only in the last few weeks that a "routine" has emerged and she has naturally started cutting down on her BF to about 3-4 a day.

The main thing I have found is if they are tired or want milk they won't be interested!

There is a book called Baby Led Weaning. It takes all of the guess work out of weaning, I'd highly recommend it.

Googling BLW will also lead to some websites with information if you can't get hold of the book.

I did food after an hour after milk at first - so first bf at 7am, breakfast at 8am. When I started weaning ds bfed about every 2.5 hours in the day so it went something like

7am milk
8am food
9.30am milk
12pm milk
1pm lunch
2.30pm milk
5pm milk
6pm food
7.30pm milk

By about 8 or 9 months the 12pm/1pm lunch and milk became just a solid meal and one of the afternoon breastfeeds became a food snack, so he had 3 meals, a snack and 4 milk feeds.

thanks a lot, I hadn't heard about an hour after milk so that's very helpful and makes sense. it's difficult fitting it in when you're out and about so i think i should carve out a few quieter days to try to get a bit more consistent.

We're trying an "eat when we eat" policy, so DD has a semblance of eating with the family.

I do five milk feeds a day at around 7, 10, 1, 4 and 6.30/bedtime, and some form of solids for breakfast, lunch and tea at 8ish, 12ish and 5ish.

If we're out and about, I try to stick to it as much as possible, even if just to give DD the idea of eating regularly.

Thanks Handmini.
Last two days DS hasn't wanted his bedtime milk feed at 7.30ish and consequently (I assume) is waking more in the night and wanting feeding.
Because he had a cold last week I fed him more at night and so it could just be that he's reverse cycling...during the day he'll often go for more than 4 hours without asking for milk and I end up offering it.

It's a bit frustrating because weaning's going well but I'm wondering whether it's taking his appetite for milk away too much too quickly! I want to keep the bedtime feed - presumably that's one most people keep the longest?