How much proportion of solids / milk should a baby have 9-12 months (HV giving confusing advice)?

[Eulalia]

ds2 hasn't put on a lot of weight since birth. He was 7.3 1/2 lbs at birth (went to full term) and now at 9 months weighs 16.12lbs. He's gone from the 25th centile down to between the 9th & 2nd. I don't really care much about the centiles to be honest but I do know he's a good bit smaller than my other two children. He seems fine but not as chubby as they were.

Started solids at 6 months but he's not keen on taking a spoon. Hardly drinks from a beaker either. Gradually increased food to 3 meals but I doubt if he takes more than 1-2 tablespoons of food each time and will suck at a bit of bread, has finger foods but not a lot.

Anyway at the last weight in was told to try more solids, more fatty food etc... he should be having 3 meals per day with puddings at two of those meals. Sounds like a hell of a lot of work and with 2 other kids also I don't have time to sit and coax food into him. But don't want to starve him either!

The leaflet she gave me (and other stuff on the web) talks about Stages of weaning but doesn't give much indication of age except that at 12 months he should be eating 3 meals previously mentioned with a snack also.

Not sure how much breast milk he should be taking at this stage (he still feeds a lot and at night also).

Contradictory to all this is something from the Kellymom site which says "Aim for baby getting no more than 25% of her calories from solids by the age of 12 months" and the rest should be milk. Completely different advice!

more here ... \link{http://www.kellymom.com/nutrition/solids/solids-how.html\advice on introduction of solids}

Which is right?!!

Hi eulalia

My dd is 10 mths and eats loads - 3 meals a day (2 weetabix in the morning!!) with 2 puddings, 2/3 snacks (ie baby biscuits etc) and 3 breastfeeds. I give her a vitamin supplement too cos I'm a paranoid mum.

But she is dropping off her centile from 75th to under 50th for weight and from 50th to under 25th for height. The HV seemed more concerned about height than weight, but just said to give her more snacks!

So no idea really - sorry!

hi eulalia
my dd is 10 months, & a very avid breastfeeder. she too is loathe to take much off a spoon, & certainly no purees. so i give her what ds gets & hope for the best..... she does have 3 meals a day, but only 'cos everyone else does. ditto pudding, but this is very rarely anything but fruit or yoghurt. i am still feeding on demand, & she probably has 5 or 6 bfeeds a day as well as some at night. have to say she hasn't been weighed for months, but seems to be growing fine. not sure how much help this has been, but you're not alone!

They should have at least 20fl oz of milk a day (but it's hard to translate that if your bf)and 3 meals.

My ds is smallish (between 9th and 25th percentile) and weighs 17lb at 8months, but is chubby. He's not a particulary good eater either.

Is he sleeping at night? If he is then I'd assume he's getting enough food then and is just a small baby.

Mcmudda 2 weetabixs? Wow we're on half a weetabix mixed with 2 cubes of fruit and we struggle to get that down as ds is sooooo desparate for his milk!

I think it's very normal for breastfed babies to go down on the percentiles - my dd's started off on the 98th but then dropped down to the 50th.

Isn't that one of the reasons why the WHO has now said that percentiles should be based on breastfed babies? Because the weight gain described in the growth charts is only "normal" for bottlefed babies.

Also I think it's very normal for babies under 12 months who are breastfed on demand to have more milk than solids. Both my dd's were like that, now they eat fine.

I think as long as he's putting on weight and developing normally I wouldn't worry if I was you.

With dd1 I used to get really stressed about getting three meals into her, but now I think you should offer them food three times a day plus possibly snacks but don't worry if they don't have them all.

They will eat when they are ready.

Eulalia, we could have the same baby! DS has started to eat more now that we've night-weaned him. But he's a long titch - was 8lb at birth but i doubt if he's much over 17lb now at 10 months, and I haven't taken him to be weighed because I strongly suspect he's dropped off the bottom of the chart, after hovering around the 25th centile for the first few months. We did BLW with him and he feeds himself beautifully, he just doesn't have a huge appetite. He's very healthy and active so I don't worry any more. And given a choice between the HV and Kellymom, I'd ALWAYS go with Kellymom. Their stuff is actually based on research and not on 'i've been doing this job for 30 years so the WHO can't tell me anything...', like many an HV.

Thanks for all the replies. Good to know of similar babies. He's still night feeding but I don't mind as we co-sleep. Usually just 1-2 small 'snacks' in the night although he had a huge feed about 5am this morning.

Yes ds is very developmentally advanced, crawling around, very alert and when he is eating he does all the right chewing motions and so on.... Think I will just put the HV's weaning leaflet into my recycling bin .

Actually I prefer the Kellymom advice, particularly as it calls the introduction of solids - 'Complementary' rather than 'Weaning'. The first means in addition to milk, the second means taking away from milk. I am sure a lot of people drastically cut down on milk and give too many solids that are just bulky and not nututrious enough. Daft HV says "give him higher calorie food", well surely that's what breastmilk is?!

Also I read that about the Weight Charts but its only just occured to me that not only the actual weights are wrong but the style of curves are incorrect too and should take into account the more gradual weight gain of b/fed babies. If they are re-drawn then the baby wouldn't fall between centiles to the same extent.

Hi E I am going with the milk more important than food lead - ds nearly 10 months and 18lb 10 eats three meals a day - 3-5 different finger foods, rejects the spoon cos of teething.

I just don't worry about his weight because he is so well overall, despite the fact he has now 'slipped' from 20th to about the 9th as since he was weighed 3 months ago. i am more concerned to get him to like eating and to figure out his tastes so that in a few months time i have a sound idea of what to be offering as food does get more important.

Looks like ds is doing BLW whether I like it or not. Any attempts at the spoon are being rejected. He will hold the spoon himself sometimes but I feel its often just getting in the way. So for those of you who let them feed themselves do you let them eat mush on their own too? And do they actually eat it rather than play with it!? :)

Bumping this back up for advice :). We had ds's 12-month check today - he hadn't been weighed since his 6 month check. He's on 3rd centile for length, which is consistent with last time, but has taken quite a drop on weight and is now hovering just below the 3rd. Paed didn't seem too worried, but has asked us to come back in a couple of months for a check, and in the meantime try him with some more calorific foods. She said she also thought he was a bit pale. We've been very careful wrt introducing solids because of allergies in the family, so we haven't done wheat, egg, dairy etc. yet - he's been having different kinds of fruit and veg (some cooked with olive oil), potatoes, rice cakes, millet, oats, plus frequent bf. Do you think his weight will go up more if we start introducing meat (not happy about this mind you :( ), wheat and milk (we want to skip the formula and go straight to cow's milk)? He's happy, active, alert and developing fine btw.

by 'taken quite a drop' I mean on the centiles - he hasn't actually lost weight. He weighs 7.1 kg now.

Hmmm, I'm not really sure whether you need to change anything tbh. His weight is consistent with his height, and I think it's normal for the weight curve to sort of tail off as they approach their second year because they become more active and more mobile.

Why are you thinking about introducing cow's milk? Don't see any advantage over breastmilk.
As he's now a year old maybe up a bit on the dairy products, because they got lots of calories, haven't they - do cream, cheese etc.

Are you vegetarian?

Which weight percentile was he before?

Just wanted to say that my ds is 13 mths, rarely accepts food from a spoon and doesn't have a very big appetite. He still has bmilk day and night alongside the 3 'meals' that I offer, and would only really have a snack if he asks for it. His weight has always been steady so I've never been concerned. You can offer more calorific foods, but if they won't be spoon-fed then you can't force them. If I was told to 'get more food into him' I really don't know how I would do it. My ds eats what he wants and is quite certain about what he will or will not eat and he knows when he has had enough. I think you have to offer a variety of healthy foods and eat with your child to encourage them, but apart from that I think it's up to them. Eating 2 weetabix or having puddings is inconceivable for us BTW!

Foundintranslation, we don't eat meat (we do eat fish though) so ds hasn't had any by default. But I try to give him as much iron rich foods - dried apricots, green veg, lentils, etc.. as possible.

em - he started out on or around the 25th and then wobbled downwards, then upwards a bit (the charts in the U-Heft are so tiddly that it's hard to tell exactly). His length shot towards the 3rd very soon after birth and has stayed there. He started crawling and pulling himself up at just past 7 months and loves to be on the move, and is also not the world's best sleeper, so I did wonder whether that could be part of it.

I'm not planning to cut out the breastmilk - I was thinking of cow's milk for porridge etc. Yes, I'm veggie.

He does actually eat pretty well Tatties (when he feels like it ). Dried apricots - fab idea. :)

My DS started at 50th for weight, dropped below 25th and now hovers between the two. However, he doesn't even feature on the charts for height as he's too wee - he was 90th when born. But as his dad is slight, the HVs have said that there is no concern until he is 18 months (which concerns me lol!) I think they prefer to worry about wieght as it's something they can do something about.

I'd say that if a baby seems well and happy and is active and using up calories then weight shouldn't be a problem as long as it is going upwards (albeit slowly).

From what I have read and heard, the amount of solids before 12 months doesn't matter really. Not sure about after that. I don't think forcing large quantities of food into a baby that doesn't want it is a good idea.

My DS eats loads more when it's finger foods. FIT - I wouldn't worry about the meat thing as your DS can get nutrients elsewhere.

Hi fit, from what you say I would say not to worry really, he sounds great.