Advice Needed- Weaning Novice!!

[Happymum1985]

My DS is 6 months old and we started weaning a month ago. It didn't go brilliantly at first (all he liked was mashed banana and milk) but in the last week and a half his appetite seems to have suddenly appeared and its like he can't get enough of food, and will eat anything I put in his mouth (and looks for more and sometimes even cried when it is all gone!) At the same time, his interest in milk seems to have really faded fast-he used to have about 35oz a day- and I am struggling to get him to finish feeds. He is having a lot less at each feed and there is always quite a lot of waste. My questions are: Should I start to miss a daytime milk feed altogether and try and get him to take more at the remaining milk feeds? And also, he isnt fantastic at drinking out of a sippy cup yet, so should I try and give him water in a bottle to make sure he is getting enough? And I am not sure if I am feeding him too much food.. he seems to want it, but at the same time he is pretty chunky (understatement!) and I don't want to overfeed on the solids! I will write an average day below and would reeeeally appreciate some feedback! Thanks.

6.45- 6oz formula

8am- Breakfast of porridge and mashed banana/rusk and milk

11am- 4oz formula

12.30- Lunch of toast fingers and hummous plus some finger food (pineapple chunks/ cucumber/ tomato/ apple rings/ berries) and a fruit pot

3pm- 3/4oz formula

6.30pm- Dinner of something like semi-blended cauliflower cheese/ chicken and veg/ risotto/ chunky veg stew/ baked beans and potato with a yoghurt and some fruit

10.15pm- 4/5oz formula

That is a lot of food for a 6 months old, considering that NHS advice is to move to 3 meals a day by about 8 to 9 months. I don't think there's any need at this age to have main and pudding for lunch and dinner, everyday.

I wouldn't drop any milk feeds just yet either, as milk should still be the main source of nutrition at 6 months. Maybe drop to 2 meals a day for a while and see if the milk intake stabilises.

Don't give water in a bottle, it's not necessary. Continue to give it in a free flow sippy cup alongside meals. He'll get the hang of it eventually, and it doesn't matter at the mo if only little quantities are consumed.

Wow, it sounds like he is doing brilliantly! Yep, sounds about the same as us at the moment as I have a big, hungry girl on the 98th percentile blushes. How is he coping with stuff like toast and cucumber out of interest? I'm a bit paranoid about anything not mushy you see.

It sounds very much like ds... Very soon after starting weaning he 'got it', and now, at 7mo, we do:

• breakfast (porridge with pureed apricot/mango/similar)
• mid morning fruit/healthy biscuit
• lunch of veg/protein & fruit pudding
• afternoon yoghurt
• dinner of veg/protein & pureed prune

Conscious there's a lot of fruit there, so we try to mix it up, avoid apple and banana most of the time because he was getting a little clogged up, and try for more watery fruits. Daily prune is keeping everything going

Sounds like your lo is doing great, if he's anything like ours you'll know about it pretty quick x

Thanks all for feedback. ExBrightonBell I'm reluctant to cut back to two meals, because he seems to be really enjoying them!! But maybe I will keep lunch as more of a finger food picnic..

Aquilla, to be honest he sucks away at the toast and cucumber until smaller pieces break off and he swallows them! I let him suck on a pineapple chunk the other day whilst I held it, but next thing I knew he had sucked it all in and swallowed it!! I was terrified he was going to choke but he seemed fine, so I am starting to relax a bit. He does make gagging noises sometimes, but then always opens his mouth for more, soI don't think it bothers them that much?!

mustardtomango Sounds like your ds IS very similar! So how much milk are you fitting around that now? And what kind of yoghurt do you give him?xx

I give him those little fromage frais, either the plain yoghurt with fruit underneath or the chocolate / vanilla ones - he loves them.

As for milk, we do it in a kind of alternating set up...

Wakes, play, meal/snack, calm time, bf to sleep

... On repeat through the day. It probably takes him 15 minutes to get to sleep, though I doubt he's suckling properly that whole time. He's also dreadful for being distracted, so if we're out and about he might feed for 2 mins (but he does accept food out, so he's not getting hungry). He also feeds on demand overnight as we co sleep.