What do your meal timings look like?

[Smurfy23]

We've just started weaning with DD and im struggling a bit with working out what im aiming for (eventually) with her. So was just wondering what times people have their meals and snacks in the day?

Also how did you get to that point? Have 3 meal times from the start and build up what was in them? Or one meal at a time?

I'm interested in thread as we have started weaning DD too as of yesterday but have no idea how or when! X

The current NHS recommendation is to build upto 3 meals between 8 and 9 months. At first, I’d just pick a time that suits you both for one meal and stick to that. If you are out in the day, you could offer breakfast or dinner. If you’re home a lot you may want to offer lunch instead and have dinner in peace. I found eating my lunch while they napped was a good way at the beginning 🙂

I don’t eat to a clock and neither does DD.

Feed when they’re hungry.

If the baby is awake during a meal time give them some food!

With BLW, at 6 months - offer vegetables etc around either lunchtime or teatime to suit you and your family, ideally when you're eating, but try not to do it if she's hungry as she will just cry for milk.

Gradually you can introduce more fruit and veg etc. Around 7 months introduce a breakfast, you can stick to BLW approach or we was giving our son porridge etc and would offer him toast to fed himself sometimes. It's all about being gradual, don't be in a rush. If you're eating you could offer her something from your plate, just be mindful of the salt and sugar content. Food before one is for fun. They don't "need" 3 meals a day before 9-10 months. Continue with formula or breast milk and this is their main source of nutrition until a year old.

I found our routine gradually appeared when we got to about 9 Months. Our day is roughly

8am Breakfast (breastfeed on waking beforehand)
9.30 nap
11 snack after nap
Lunch is somewhere between 12.30-1.15
2ish nap
3.45 snack
5.30 tea
Then milk at bedtime

I’ve put the nap times in too as I found it all came together. We’ll have to get quicker when I’m back at work as need to be gone by 8 but this routine has suited us for a while.

As you’re at the start choose a meal time you have time for the fun! Lunch was good for us and we eat together.

Hope that helps. I was full of questions at the start so ask away if I can help/ give you our experience

Just read your first post again- we went one mealtime and once DS had cracked it and was enjoying a range I added another meal time. Our order was lunch then breakfast then tea.

We just started with lunch as it was the easiest meal (not first thing in the morning when we were getting up, dh was getting out the door to work and not just before bed when we were rushing around and dd was tired). I aimed to offer solids about 2 hours after her previous milk feed, so usually around 12 (she had a feed about 10am and then a nap).

We did just lunch for a month. Then at 7 months, I started to add in breakfast, again 2 hours after milk, which she had when she woke up about 6/6:30am, so it was usually about 8/8:30am. And then we started to add in dinner about 7.5 months, usually around 5 ish (she had milk usually about 3 or so).

I think it makes sense to start off slowly and add in meals as you get the hang of it. Starting solids is rough on the digestive system usually so no reason to rush into it 3 meals a day if you don't know how they'll adjust. But we mostly took our time for my benefit. Cooking healthy meals that are baby-friendly is a bit of a hassle and took some planning and creativity. We typically eat a lot of heavily spiced foods, so I really had to think differently about how to make meals we liked that were suitable for her too. So at the start one meal a day was enough for me to deal with!