Should I be giving more food?

[ruth2007]

DD is 6 months and we are on day 4 of solids. Today I gave her milk from one side (BF) then gave her the "recommended" amount of pureed carrot. I then offered her the other boob but she refused to drink and still screamed so I caved in and gave her the same amount of carrot again and she still wanted more!
I obviously want to make sure she has enough food but am worried about too much too soon.

Should I just give her both boobs of milk first then give her solids until she refuses any more?

Any thoughts welcome

i think at this early stage its important baby has her usual amount of milk, then say half a dozen teaspoons of food, build that up to 3 times a day (ie 'meals') then increase the volume

at least thats what i did

there are so many different ways of doing it, mainly its best to go with your instinct

i LOVED weaning and shall lurk on this thread to get cute baby weaning stories

is this annabel karmel that you're following? i'm not sure how it works her way. all i did was put slices of fruit or veg in front of dd every time i ate a meal and gave her milk as normal. she ate when she wanted to eat, or didn't. and she gradually cut back on milk as she got better at eating food. i didn't have to think much about it.

Yes I am following AK but only really so I don't do anything really silly like give her a Sirlion at 27 weeks . DP and I are both allergic types so am trying to go slowly with introducing new types of food but I never thought she would take to eating so well! day 2 she fed herself babyrice .

She will let me know she is full won't she?

i'm not keen on AK i'm afraid. so i'm probably not the best person to help, but i didn't want to ignore you.

i know lots of mums like AK as they feel happy having a structure to follow, recipe ideas, menu planners, guidance for fussiness etc. i've gone with BLW, so that means dd may have had sirloin at 27 weeks (except she didn't cos we don't eat meat!) which you may or may not want to look into. there is a guide on this link for allergy prone families too.
here

Thanks Bizzydint - great name by the way!

Yep! One DD 26 weeks.
Asked the HV this question this week and was absolutely livid by her answer! She told me LO should be on 3 meals by now (she has dropped down the centiles a bit) inferred that it was my fault for exclusively BF to 26 weeks .
She is now on 2 meals and I am going with the flow, I give her as much as she seems to want and she starts playing with it when she is getting full so I just give her the spoon and let her play, she gets some in her mouth occasionally. I then put a bit more on the spoon and offer it and she sometimes opens her mouth sometimes not. She eats so well I don't need to shovel it in to her which I am pleased about because I hate the idea of force feeding her mush!

Ruth - GRRRR at your HV. They get more calories from bm according to everything I have read. My HV was great last time I was there re the percentiles thing - DD has dropped down them and she said "well hardly surprising is it given how active she is!"

It sounds like you are doing fine.

Personally I do do the BLW with DD, so variety is fine - she just has what we have.

ruth, just wanted to give you some support as my DS is just over 5 months and I've just started weaning too, am on day 5 today (so far he's had baby rice, pumpkin and pear), all pureed.

I've been giving most of milk, then the food, then milk to finish, but is maybe more complicated as he has a bottle of expressed milk twice a day and then breast morning and evening cos I'm working full time.

HV sounds very annoying! I'm out in Central Asia and no-one is weighing DS, which makes it more relaxing , he seems very well and looks happy and normal...

I have a lot of questions about it too, like when do you need to offer water, when can they start protein etc, personally am not into the baby led weaning idea, I want to make it fun and of course not force him, but at his age anything he has, just has to be mashed up and offered on finger or spoon. even later I think I will basically help him to eat off a spoon, I just can't see why that's supposed to be bad. I don't mind him playing with food and experimenting, but he needs my help!

anyway just to let you know there are others in the same boat!

Hi Gemmitygem
Thanks - confusing isn't it! DD got constipation after 2 days of 2 meals so I have dropped brekkie for now until she clears herself out The GP told me to give water, when I questioned the BF and water thing she said SOME BF babies need extra water and that it should be offered - if nothing else you are teaching them to use a cup. She also said they will not drink if not thirsty - as they are BF they are able to regulate their intake. She actually recommended I look at Kellymom website! VVV impressed - shame she was a locum - my GP is a nightmare!

Ruth - your OP sounds completely reasonable to me. You could try giving both sides bf before the solids, but you may still find that your dd is like my ds2 who absolutely refused to bf if he wanted babyrice!