weaning queries

[mufti]

• ds is 6 months in a couple of days, really wanted to hold off weaning as long as poss. the last few days he has been finishing his first bottle, but not the rest, so i don know how to fit in solids. it just feels very muddly so far, no idea of how to get a new routinegoing.

so far , he had half a mashed banana , and mashed avocado with natural yogurt last week , , both mid bottle. and christmas day it was carrot. today he had full bottle , 240ml at 645am, half at 10, and 11.30. by one he was hungry again. so had a carrot , followed by banana in natural yougurt,which took an hour, but then didnt want any bottle! hes on the bottle now, but this feels like a step backwards in some ways. not knowing what to give, how much and when.

I would suggest you take a look at the BLW blog (baby led weaning) Here , remember that early weaning is about introducing new tastes and textures and they only need about a tablespoon full per day in the beginning. It is usually best to introduce solids in the morning, it helps you to keep an eye out for any allergies and intolerance with new foods, you should introduce new foods one at a time every few days. I started ds with his 11 am feed, I gave him half his bottle then a tablespoon of puree and then the rest of his bottle. I only introduced a second meal ( around 5pm ) after a month or two. It is a slow process.

HTH

i did baby led weaning. so dd had her normal milk (bf) then just got bits of food when we were eating. so when i had lunch i'd chop up a peach for her to play with and possibly eat for example. she's now 7 months old and eats 'meals' at 8am, 11am, 2pm and 5pm. this can be some of what i'm having (sandwich/ veg/ pasta etc) or just fruit or bread and cheese, whatever really.

then she also has her milk when she wakes up and before bed, and also has maybe 60-100mls after each of her 3 naps. so this works out to be roughly at 7am, 10am, 1pm, 4pm, 6.30pm.

I got myself very confused about volumes of milk and weaning for a while there. I'd been fretting that I'd started weaning when DS wasn't draining five 240ml bottles. Then I read that babies of his age (5 months) take on average 7-800 mls a day. I think the draining bottles constantly thing only applies if you're doing early weaning to satisfy a very hungry baby, whereas I'm doing it on medical advice because he's so sicky.

I give a very small amount of solids after the second feed of the day. Sometimes he needs a nap after the bottle before the solids, sometimes is straight after. I ere on the side of caution with the amount and it doesn't seem to affect his intake at the next feed. I think as your DS is six months you can be a bit more generous with the amounts and follow his lead if he wants more. If you make sure you give the solids just after or during a milk feed then he'll only take what he needs and should be ready for his next feed as normal - in theory! Try to make sure he doesn't get too full up with solids too soon as milk is still his most important food.