Does this feeding 'schedule' sound right for /2 month old

[minesapintofwine]

I never thought weaning would be so confusing but feel like I'm somewhere with it now. Though I'm not sure if it's where I'm meant to be iykwim!

My dts are 28weeks old and started weaning at 21 weeks on h/v advice. I held back a little so they were only on a b/fast for about 4 weeks but once they started a 2nd meal they moved to 3 very quickly and also have started dropping bottles. I know this is all the aim but it seems to be very soon does this sound right to you? I've posted their whole schedule inc naps it varies by half hour to an hour time wise but just to know if I'm feeding too much? Too little? Sleeping too much/too little? They stay awake 3 hours in the day now too.

Previously had 5-6 bottles daily of 7oz formula each (big babies they were 17lb at 21 weeks being weighed tomorrow and will ask h/v advice too) they fed every 2 1/2-3 hours. Now:

6.30am-2 t/b spoons of baby porridge made with 1oz of milk plus 6oz bottle.

9am-7oz bottle

9.30-10.30-nap

11.30- equivilent to 1/2 jar of veg puree (h/made) plus yoghurt or fruit puree plus water to drink. They dropped this bottle

1pm-7 oz bottle

1.30-3.30-nap

4pm-1/2 jar baby food plus h/made 1/2 jar of veg puree. Sometimes (usually with dt1) fruit puree to follow and water to drink. They dropped this bottle.

After play then bath they have a 7oz bottle at 6.30ish then sleep mostly 12 hours.

Does this seem right to you? I can't get my head around the new pattern and though thy are very healthy, happy and thriving (which is the goal!) I just want to make sure they are not eating too much solids and too little milk! But I do bear in mind that they started weaning a little on early side and are biggish!

If only this parenting lark came with a manual!

Oops! Title should read 6 1/2 MONTH OLD NOT 2 MONTH OLD!!!!!!!

At 6 1/2 months old my dd was on 3 meals, one snack and three bottles - one on waking, one at 2.30 and one before bed. Her meals were at 8, 12.20 and 5.30. Snack at 10.30. She is basically still on the same schedule now but about to drop the 2.30 bottle in favour of snacks. At one point, she was only taking 10oz of milk a day (supposedly they should be taking 20) however, HV told me to increase her dairy intake (with yoghurt, cheese sauce etc) to compensate. She actually picked the milk back up after a couple of weeks. I would say go with your boys, they sound as though they are eating plenty and clearly enjoying themselves!

My 5 month old ds does the following-

7am/8am - Wakes but refuses bottle so has 1/4 weetabix/readybrek/baby rice with formula and fruit purée. Has probably equivalent to half a jar.

9-10 nap

10.45 - between 3-6oz of bottle

11.45 - veg purée followed by fruit purée. Equivalent to half a jar of each

12.15- 2.30 - nap ( usually between 1.5 - 2 hrs if in cot only cat naps if out and about)

2.45 - between 3-6oz of bottle

4-5 - nap (if just cat napped at lunch then he goes to bed around 3pm or if we're out at this nap time he just has a cat nap in car usually on way home)

5- veg purée and rice pudding made with his formula

6.15 bath bottle and bed by 7. Try to get 8oz into him but sometimes much less if he's too tired. Sometimes has a bit of baby rice too. He still wakes during night for a feed. Usually between 4-5am for 4oz.

He has cmpi so is on aptamil pepti 1. He was 9ibs 9oz born and is 17ibs now at 19 weeks. We weaned him after hospital said it was ok. He has had problems due to the cmpi. I held off because I didn't want to wean him so early but he was guzzling 35+ oz per 24 hours and wasn't happy.

The hv has told me to up his solids because he's obviously hungry if he's still waking during the night for a feed but I'm happy as it is. I don't mind getting up during the night and ds is happy. Once he's mastered a beaker/cup and can drink water then I don't mind cutting out the milk for more solids but at the moment his bottles are the only fluid he gets.

mines before one he should have his bottle an hour before solids. This is because the milk should be his main form of nutrition and the solids should be just supplemental. Once he is one you can start offering milk after solids.

So it sounds ok, but I'd try bottle at 8 and breakfast at 9. Bottle at 11.30ish and dinner at 12.30ish. The rest seems pretty much ok .

Thanks everyone for the advice I spoke to h/v yesterday she really reassured me that we're on the right track etc and said to introduce lumpier food now. So I'll probably be back asking questions about lumps!

jilted as they take 28oz of formula a day (they dropped the earlier morning milk) do you think it would be ok to stick to this routine we have now? Only because we have it all sorted now and though I do appreciate solids are secondary they are certainly still happy to have milk! I suppose the worry would be if they start refusing more milk? Sorry if that sounds a bit off I know you are totally right in what you say!

Yeah, I think that as they are getting 28oz you are right. I think the hour before milk rule came about because so many people were substituting milk with solids. I even heard one Mum say the other day that her baby was fully weaned at 4 months, from bottles and only had solids!

My dd never took milk in a good quantity so when we were bottle feeding she was feeding every 2 1/2-3 hours (taking between 1oz and 5oz at a time). That is why I fed her on a schedule so that we were alternating bottle and food every 2 hours. Before we weaned she refused milk feeds and was dropping centiles so we were under GP supervision to encourage her to eat and her weight to stabilise. After a month or so she actually began to take a little more milk. Pre-weaning, a good day was a day where she took 21oz of milk in 24 hours, post weaning she actually still takes 18oz per day at 12 months.
I would say that you are doing very well if your little ones are getting 28oz of milk as well as taking solids. Some babies do tend to want to drop milk fairly quickly but I would recommend persevering with milk feeds even if they start to take less. I did this with dd and we went through a stage of her taking about 10 oz over the day (post weaning) but by offering her the milk she came back onto it again. x

jilted at the baby that didn't have any milk! The 28oz rule is going out the window here anyway as dt2 started waking at 5am again so having to give him an extra bottle now hungry baby!

mamado you give your dd cows milk now she is one? Does she like it as much? (Im not going to give my dts cows milk dont worry!).

mines I know. He is a very, very small and skinny 5 year old now, worryingly so.

Could it be a one off with DT2?

Maybe it was as they slept through again last night he wouldn't take any more than 4 bottles anyway yesterday so will see how the next few days pan out. Started with a bit of lumpier food I don't really like it as they gag so much but I know it's the way forward just introducing it slowly.

It is hard but you know there is a big difference between gagging and choking and I havent met many adults still on purees, they will get it soon