Timings of solid and milk feeds

[blossombath]

DS is six months old on thur, currently bf sort of on demand: I offer him milk roughly every three hours unless he shows hunger cues before this and he (obviously) takes as much as he wants

Was hoping to be pretty relaxed about weaning and basically just have him sit with us at meal times and do a bit of blw plus maybe some mashed food if he seems to need or want it.

My concern is timings of milk around this. I know it should be milk first and understand reasons for leaving an hour so baby doesn't drop milk to quickly (at least I think that's why), but since ds is fed with only the vaguest routine I'm worried our mealtimes won't fit with his feeds and I'll end up in some crazed cycle of constantly feeding him or trying to jig our meals to his feedson any given day.

Would it make sense just to treat the two types of food as pretty much separate and sit him down with us whenever, as long as he isn't starving, and then feed him stillon his rough three hour cycle so he can just take some or play with my nipple depending on his current hunger?

Sorry this seems stupid to ask but am wasting lots of time fretting about this, any advice welcome.

My DD was fed on bf on demand but more or less fed every 3 hours. I just sat her down with us. We started on lunch first, just so that you have plenty of time to see if there is a reaction before bed.

I'd try to be pretty relaxed about it. Feeding them an hour before is an ideal and your DS isn't going to be eating much at first anyway. DD ended up being fed at times anything from 2 hours before to straight before, depending on our day. Once we introduced tea it was easier as she had always liked a bf at 4 pm and we eat tea at 5 pm. She only fed for 10 mins so that gave me plenty of time to get the meal ready.

I am not organised enough - my 7mo is bf when he wants and sits for meals as long as he's not too tired or hungry. It seems to work fine so i'd say don't worry too much about timings.

Thought you might like some links too:

Why delay solds?
How do we get started on solids? and
starting solids

Thanks JiltedJohns, the first link was already purple as I have been cruising Kellymom for the last six months :)

Good to know the relaxed approach works for others and isn't just me being optimisitc/naive. DS enjoyed sucking some mushroom and carrot from our spag bol tonight - wanted his dad to be with us for the first 'meal' but will definitely concentrate on lunches from now on and probably just let him sit with us and play with toys/plastic spoons at breakfast and dinner.

Selfishly, though, I'm hoping he will drop a bit of his milk feeding sooner rather than later - a variety of reasons including I want to take some medication which isn't tested as safe for bfeeding (not proven to be a risk, either) so I am waiting til he has dropped most feeds, and could feasibly be fed expressed milk for a day or two, before using. Still, telling myself he'll drop feeds when he's ready and I definitely want to enjoy all the feeding cuddles for a while yet...perhaps my ambivalence about him reducing the feeds is why I've got so het up about it all.

Thanks again for advice/reassurance.