Meal Times - can any one advise please?

[LittleMan]

Hi all
My DS is 23 weeks + 5, and we have been weaning since 20 weeks (HV advised to begin and DS giving all signs of wanting something more than breast milk). Until 23 weeks was just on purees of veg and fruit at lunch, since then has had some cereal at breakfast as well. He is eating everything I give him and also drinking milk well (b/f), HV at baby clinic suggested 3 meals now as he is nearly 6 months. My question is how do I fit it all in and schedule the day so he has feeds at 'proper' mealtimes? Also do I need to remove some b/feeds yet?
Our current daily routine is like this give or take 15mins here and there:
6/6.30am Breastfeed - long one as gone 7/7.5 hours through night. He then goes back to bed as is still tired.
8.30am Wakes, breastfeed but shorter.
9.00am Cereal, about 3 tbsp
12.30pm Breastfeed (~12mins average) followed by lunch, ~2tbsp veg and 2 tbsp fruit puree.
4.15pm Breastfeed,shortish one.
6.30/6.45pm Breastfeed generally longish as tends to doze a bit too.
7.00pm Bath and bed, asleep by 8.
10.40pm Dreamfeed, formula ~5/6oz.
Also I am aware that eventually the 6/6.30am feed will be somewhere between 7 and 8am, so do I keep a breastfeed there, then loose the 8.30am and bring breakfast forward a bit? Sorry to ask so many questions, been winging it a bit until now, just keeping up with normal breastfeeding and adding meals in where I can. Thinking that best thing to do is add evening meal in at say 5/5.30pm and then top up with milk at 6.45pm?

Hmm not quite sure where you want to be with all this but I think for the first while my ds had breastfeed first thing, 7.30am then we'd go through and have breakfast. (A full feed for my ds would be both sides, so when he was quite well established with solids but still relying heavily on milk he would just have 1 side first, then solids then I'd offer him the other side.)
He'd then have a feed before lunch and solids, offer bf again. He'd have a feed (full) mid afternoon, and one before dinner, then solids and offered other side again. Full feed before bed. I never gave him a dreamfeed though.
If you don't like the idea of feeding before and after solids, you could breastfeed at say, 7am, breakfast 8am, bf 10.30ish, lunch 1pm, bf 3pm, dinner 5pm, milk before bed at 7/8?
I think you're somewhere along those lines already, sounds fine. He possibly doesn't need the 8.30am one atm. You could poss bring the 4.15pm one a little earlier so he's hungry again by say 5 or 6 when he'll have solids, then he may want a bf before bed. He may not need the dreamfeed when he's having 3 meals a day. I just winged it too really, never stuck to a routine and every day was very different- sometimes he'd sleep 8 hours, sometimes 10, sometimes he'd wake at 4am, sometimes 2am, I just never knew.
HTH...?

ds eats with us (blw) at mealtimes, i dont worry about how much he eats, and still bf on damamd. Although try to offer a feed after mealtimes.
Find it alot less stressful that way, might eat loads one day and a lot the next.

I think you're doing to much 'thinking' about it . and i know that by the fact you can calculate the midday feed to average at 12mins long!

I used to give dd solids at same time i was eating and offer a breastfeed in between each meal - basically on demand.

Don't stress yourself about the timings etc, your son will let you know if he isn't getting enough. I know i know that babies like routine, but i think there is a certain benefit from allowing flexibility also. E.g if we were out at our usual lunchtime, i'd give dd a breastfeed until we got home for lunch. I still have a very flexible dd who will sometimes be fed her dinner at 5 and sometimes as late as 7pm.

Littleman you seem like a person who likes routine and structure so it may be helpful to you to borrow one of the weaning books from the library or a friend.

As I am control freak queen I quite like She who must not be mentioneds weaning book and used it as a guideline for what to do. However every baby is individual, plus your capacity to produce new purees may wane in time, so I used them as a helpful supplement to watching what rookiebaby eats and when he seems hungry.

By the way now that you are weaning you might be able to drop the fream feed.

Good luck

Hi all

Thank you so much for your replies - is it that obvious that I like routine and control! You are all correct, I think too much about things and am desperate for everything to be right!! Can't stand the thought that I am doing things wrong, he is not getting enough food and/or milk etc etc! However, am working very hard to take each day as they come, fortunately my ds does seem adaptable and not too fussed when food comes, and tells me when he is/not hungry. I shall try and be more laid back and read his queues a bit more, right now he is eating everything I give him and looks for more, so maybe he's saying 'mummy milk is a bit boring now, I would be happy to have more of the lovely purees you are making for me!!'.
Again, thanks for the advice!

Littleman, you sound just like I did when I was at your stage, and like Hattie05 sys, I read far too much! I was soooo like you, and everything was measured and noted down! But like Hattie says, in time you will realise you can easily "manipulate" feeds, eg if you're caught out when you should be at home with lunch, give the afternoon bf instead, and when that's due, give the food you would have offered.

You're doing just fine.