How much and how quickly?

[MrsWembley]

Just started with DS and I'm trying to remember how quickly we are supposed to go from one meal a day to two to three. I have a chart of what we fed DD and when but I've a feeling we took it slowly with her as we started at 5m. She seems to have been on one meal for about 2/3 weeks but I can't believe that DS will go that slowly, not by the way he took his first meal.

Hi MrsWembly,

It's up to you how many meals you give just bear in mind that milk needs to be the main part of their diet up until 12m. You could give two small meals or 1 larger one or even 3 snack sized meals spread through out the day, if that suits your DS better and then build up from there, keeping in mind his age and developmental needs.

6-8m need 130 kcals of complementary foods and 485 kcals from milk - total 615 kcals a day

9-11m need 310 kcals of complementary foods and 376 kcals from milk - total 686 kcals a day.

12-23m need 580 kcals of complementary foods and 314 kcals from milk - total 894 kcals a day.

Full details here on page 18. Please note that there is different values for industrialised/developed countries and developing countries. I've listed the industrialised/developed countries figures.

HTH

Thank-you, Truth but I've not actually thought about the calorie content of what I'm going to feed him, or indeed how many calories he is getting from my milk.

It really us just a case of, do I increase to two meals after a week or is that too soon?

Sorry didn't mean to confuse . I think with bfing if you let baby feed all they want and then just offer foods to roughly the age appropriate amount you won't go wrong. No need to get some dieter's scales and weigh everything just keep an eye on baby dropping lots of feeds.

I'd be lead by baby really as to whether to offer another meal - if he looks in askance at you eating dinner when he hasn't got any, then sticking a bit of what you are eating on his highchair tray isn't a bad approach. Can you tell I've had 3 babies and am now slightly laissez faire

TruthSweet Aren't the different values for Developed and Developing nations down to different average baby weights in the two groups and not because of any intrinsic differences in the needs of an individual baby. ie what matters is the weight of the individual baby as to how many calories they need rather than anything else. (a 12kg baby needing more than 6kg one)

One thing that's surprised me is how much DD1 is eating, both in the amounts and the milk that she no longer eats. We've gone straight to 3 meals a day (or more), and normally on a day when I have DD we've often gone through 3 150-200ml's of expressed milk in a morning, now we generally only have 50 or so. Her appetite could've reduced of course if she's not growing so much, but it certainly seems like she's eating a lot less in the day.

Obviously it's difficult to know how much she's eating and how much is going on the floor, and even then how much is actually digested in the less efficient gut that an adults, but I still think she's already getting significant calories from food.

No, not the different sizes of baby but down to the different amounts of milk the mothers feed their babies at the different stages of development.

The developing nations values for complementary feeds/BM are 200/413 at 6-8m, 300/379 at 9-11m and 550/346 at 12-23m vs 130/486 at 6-8, 310/375 at 9-11, and 580/313 at 12-23m reflecting the drop off in bfing amounts in toddlers in developed/industrialised countries (i.e. toddlers in the UK/Australia/etc feed slightly less often than their counterparts in say Peru or the Sudan.

Actually I'd be inclined to give a 6kg baby of the same age as the 12kg more opportunities to eat (be it bf or complementary solids) and make sure the food was higher in cals/fat too. I wouldn't starve a 12kg baby by any stretch of the imagination but I wouldn't be encouraging it to eat in the same way I might offer a 6kg baby an extra bf or another snack.

Are you doing BLW or puree? With BLW we actually just went pretty much straight to 3 meals a day because DS was desperate for food off our plates anyway.

Same with Bertiebotts, we went to 3 meals straightaway when DD turned 6mo and we started BLW. (After a failed attempt of 2 weeks of purees, but that's another story). She was very enthusiastic so I don't see any reason not to allow her to share every meal.

Thanks for all the input, I feel better at the thought of DS getting some Christmas dinner now.

Truth, sorry, I sounded rude, but I was abut taken aback at the detail of your answer. That document you linked to looks very interesting, mind you. Something to peruse during a night feed, I feel.

You really didn't sound rude - I am just a science nerd! I really wish that I had known about the guidelines when I started weaning DD1 as I had no clue about appropriate amounts or how much to increase solids or when so floundered a bit.

Plus I had been told BLW was giving baby sticks of raw/lightly steamed veg or fruit (NCT weaning class) and that was it so went down the puree route as I didn't see how you could feed a baby on just cucumber sticks (especially as I am allergic to them) and carrot batons.....

Wish I'd know it was just giving them baby appropriate table foods in pick-up-able shapes. It wouls have been so much easier than having a freezer full of little cubes and agonising over giving 3 or 4 cubes for dinner

I found GF baby book of weaning excellent when weaning DD1 as it tells you exactly what portions to give them day by day. I ignored the timings though