How much and how often?

[Willsmum79]

Will is a greedy so-and-so.

He is 22 weeks in 2 days and I have begun (take 2!) the weaning process. I have various guidelines from Heinz, Cow and Gate and Gina Ford (the latter I find very good but offering foods we don't eat!).

I am interested to know how much food you gave your LO and how often. For example: Will had a 50g pot of Hipp Organic apple and pear dessert yesterday and devoured it. (my puree pear and apple did not go to plan!).

When did you start offering two 'meals' a day then three?

When did you start to increase quantity and how much?

I am doing puree at the moment but will be BLW as well.

Ds is 26 weeks. We do 2 meals a day, some purée some finger food. He eats as much as he likes.

I read Weaning Made Easy (got for kindle app). Ive found it really useful.

IMHO blw is not compatible with purée feeding . Do you mean you will be doing finger foods alongside purees cos baby led weaning is something different. Also you shouldn't start weaning till 26 weeks. I think Heinz want to get you started earlier so they can sell more jars of baby food but that is not medical advice

paranoid2android

PLEASE do NOT tell me what I SHOULD and SHOULD NOT be doing with MY child! I get very cross about this! My question was not about whether I should be weaning my child or not!!!! I have the full support of my health visitor and GP who I am more likely to listen to than some 'paranoid' person sat behind a computer screen telling me what I should and should not do with my child!

It seems that many people are completely unaware that guidelines regarding weaning have RELAXED in the past few weeks (as instructed at a sure start weaning class that a friend went to!) and that they are NOT as strict on the 6 month guideline as they have been. 17 weeks is the absolute minimum and they should have the 4 signs that they are ready and fruit and vegetables only, no other foods!

I'll go on the other website. Less irritating and less judgemental!

To answer your actual question, I started DS on lunch at 5 1/2 months, he loved food and we moved swiftly onto tea as well, by about 6 months. He wasn't much interested in breakfast as he was always desperate for his milk in the am, so breakfast came a little later, I'm not sure I remember exactly but probably at 7 or 7 1/2 months. He was nearly all purees, but then he loved them. Favourites were root vegetables to start with, and apple and Lear, then a little later he loved lamb stew and boroccoli in a cheese sauce. Quantity wise I made lots of ice cubes of purée and froze them. To begin with he'd just have one, but within a couple of months he'd be eating several.

DD was later weaning, at 6 1/2 months, but moved rapidly to. 3 meals a day. I gave her purees and was less worried about her choking, so also gave her loads of finger foods and it worked well. She preferred to self feed so I left her to it. She loved chunks of roast veg, strips of beef and chicken, rice cakes, chopped and grated fruit, toast fingers, broccoli florets, anything really. I didn't really measure or think about how much she ate, just let her munch until she got bored! She did self feed sloppy stuff like pasta in tomato sauce too, it was messy but fun too. She drank soup by putting her face in it and sucking!

Apologies I did not know the guidelines had changed. However I just wanted to point out that purée feeding is not compatible with baby led weaning. One is led by parents the other by the baby. It may not matter to you what you call it but other people might be reading this thread and get confused which i is really why i wrote it. Finger foods and purees can be done together but blw is a completely different philosophy.
In my experience there is a lot of misinformation going around about blw so I just wanted to correct you on your point. Of course you are free to feed your child whatvever you please it's none of my business !

The guidelines haven't changed - see here

The media may have suggested to relax them but they haven't been relaxed yet.

Paranoid is correct that BLW and purée don't go hand in hand.

Your baby, your rules. But you're right, maybe the other site is better for you

Hi Willsmum, my maths is bad, but if your DS was born in Dec 11 come and join us on the postnatal club "Caution December 11 Babies" thread as we're all comparing notes on what our little ones are having and what's going down well!

From all my reading up on weaning if you are formula feeding your DS will still need between 500-600mls of milk per day in addition to any solid foods.

I started off with one purée a day at breakfast, and now I've introduced a purée at lunch. I will add dinner when DS seems to need more, probably in a few weeks as he seems quite happy at the moment:

7.00am bottle and a fruit purée 2 or 3 ice cubes worth
10.00am bottle
1.00pm bottle and a vegetable purée 2 or 3 ice cubes worth
4.00pm bottle
7.00pm bottle

My mum told me once you start weaning, if the baby seems to go off milk, get the dairy into them in other ways e.g. yoghurt, rice pudding, apparently you can make jelly with milk too!

Also offer some water with each meal too.

If it's any help, my dr said to introduce solids "when milk feeds are becoming too frequent" and she has a baby herself and isn't massively stuck on the magical 26 weeks....as she said "all babies are different".

Also meant to add, I'm probably going to introduce finger foods in a few more weeks, but I'll see how it goes with DS appetite and follow his lead. My DS has two bottom teeth, I'm hoping he'll get a couple of teeth at the top soon so he can bite foods properly :)

I have been on the other website and yes, better for me. Less judgemental and actually a lot of people have also been told the same the guidelines HAVE relaxed due to UCL. The research done by UCL is credible and considering millions of us who have been weaned at 4 month+ are very healthy and well enough to tell the tale, I'm sticking with it!
As for BLW and puree - they DO go hand in hand because I'm doing it. I'm led to believe BLW is a very new concept to many and has an almost 'hippy', 'new aged mother', 'middle class' lead on it which in my experience some mums who are strong advocates of it are more likely to be a bit snotty and less flexible when it comes to other ideas, especially combination feeding like what I am doing.
CHERRYBLOSSOM27 - Thank you so much for your input. I think I will come and join you but I'm also on January 2012 board as that was when he was due!!! Your reply was very informative and NOT judgemental. The advice you give is what has been quoted to me from elsewhere. At the moment new foods are being introduced via puree and finger foods. In fact I was very shocked at how well Will can chew!!! When doing puree, he likes to take the lead and so have to use 2 spoons - one for him and one for me! I put the food on the spoon for him and he actually feeds himself. I'm very impressed as I was led to believe that comes at 9 months or something.

I have started weaning at 17weeks with the health visitors advice and blessing. Using gina fords weaning guide and it's been great so far (18 days in!)

"As for BLW and puree - they DO go hand in hand because I'm doing it. I'm led to believe BLW is a very new concept to many and has an almost 'hippy', 'new aged mother', 'middle class' lead on it which in my experience some mums who are strong advocates of it are more likely to be a bit snotty and less flexible when it comes to other ideas, especially combination feeding like what I am doing"

You advocate that you do not want to be judged on this website but say this and generalise that BLW mums as snotty and less flexible?

purée = parent led;
BLW = child led;
purée + finger food = parent led & baby led.

With giving purée you are able to measure how much food your child is taking, ie by jar or ice cube quantity. With BLW, you can't do this. By doing purée and finger food, you will always be assured that your DS has had some food alongside what he gnaws from his finger food, as you are able to measure what he is spoon fed.

The NHS guidelines suggest this method too (purée and finger foods) so it is very common.

Any one of the methods above are absolutely fine for weaning, it's what ever works for you and your DS. I know plenty of people doing purée and finger food and their babies are thriving, as is mine who is BLW'ed. So there is no magic way.

However, I think that BLW does get confused with giving finger foods as paranoid pointed out earlier.

As for weaning at 4 months, this is your decision and you are happy with it but you sound very defensive in your posts, not sure why if you are so happy with your choice.

Op I've had exactly the same problem in terms of quantities, milk feeds etc even though I have 3 guides to read.

I agree with cherry as am also on the December thread we are learning so much from each other on there.

I weaned from 18 weeks, massive baby with massive hunger, huge uncomfortable milk bloated belly I couldn't actually get more in him without fearing he'd explode . He's 24 weeks now on breakfast and dinner and we now introducing lunch mainly mashed veggies, fruit purees and muesli or porridge at breakfast though sometimes give him bits and bobs to hold too.

I don't think you are defensive just exasperated at having to justify ur patenting decisions against guidelines which do not apply to all babies and strangers on the Internet thinking they know what's best for your child. I know how you feel

You don't ask how much and how often if you do BLW. As simple as that. Its not being judgemental. It's the wrong us of the word because finger food is finger food and is not BLW.

The answer to your original question, if you are doing BLW, then is

1. Straight to 3 meals and 2 snacks. I don't really have morning or afternoon tea myself, so DD got 3 meals on day 1 if she was asleep.

1. Let your LO take as much as he wants from your plate, until he's full or the food runs out. For us, it means DD in her high chair and I put stuff on her highchair tray from my plate until I have finished my food.

Obviously I cool more next time if I'm left hungry after a meal.

Hi Willsmum, no worries! I agonised over whether to introduce solids before six months, but in the end I felt I was starving DS by not giving him solids as milk alone just wasn't enough. Now I've decided to go with the flow and trust myself I'm feeling a lot better and my DS is a lot happier now he's not hungry all the time!

I know people will say it's anecdotal evidence, but my mum weaned me and my brother at 14 weeks and we both survived.....and she feed us formula milk.....and she even smoked whilst pregnant I'm really not advocating smoking btw :o