Confused about how much to give...

[Wilkie]

I have been weaning my LO (18 weeks) for a few weeks first on rice, now have progressed to fruit/veg purees. He won't take the solids after his bottle, so I give two ice cubes of food first (thawed etc) then his milk.

How do I know when to increase the amount of solids?? I don't want him to stop taking his milk but he appears to want more solid food.

is there a specific reason you are weaning early, if its for weight gain then you may want to move away from the baby rice and veg as they contain far fewer calories and nutrients than breast milk or formuula

No it's not or weight gain, my LO has reflux and my GP and HV have recommended I wean now to try and resolve the problem which it is.

I don't want to get into a weaning debate, I know all the facts and figures etc and made a choice. I am just interested to know when I should start increasing the amount of food

i wasn't getting into a debate I was simply asking because if you had been weaning for weightgain you would have been better off with potato based meals with veg and things added as they contain greater calories. But I shall keep my opinions to myself from now on. In terms of increasing amounts I would follow your baby and wgat ge wants, I always give ds a breakfast cereal made with milk so that I know his milk intake is still quite high and I try to give him a fromage frais every day for the calcium and fat you oculd also look at other foods made with milk like macaroni cheese/caulliflower cheese etc.

I started weaning dd at 17 weeks on hv advice because of suspected silent reflux and v slow weight gain. I started with baby rice and now (after 6 weeks) am on 3 meals per day of about 6-8 small ice cubes of baby rice, fruit and veg. Weight has thankfully started to increase and averaging about 5 oz per week (rather than 1 or 2 oz). DD also not always keen on milk first - she just screams if I try to bf when she wakes up but will demolish a bowl full of fruity babyrice made with expressed milk. I then offer a bf about an hour later before her nap and she will feed for a reasonable time (and without screaming too ). My routine (at the moment!) seems to have ended up with something like:
0730 breakfast
0900 bf then nap
1130 bf
1230 lunch
1400 bf then nap
1700 bf
1730 tea
1900 bf then bed
2200 bf
0330 bf

looks like a lot of feeds but she seems happier with little and often (sometimes there are two night feeds )

In terms of quantities I would go with what she wants to eat and try to include as much milk as possible e.g. I mash potato or sweet potato with expressed milk and thin pureed veg with milk too. If she regularly finishes the portion size you are giving her increase it by one cube but don't worry if she doesn't finish it. When she regularly polishes 3 cubes off try 4 etc. It does feel like trial and error - I feel that if weight gain is okay and she has plenty of wet nappies she must be getting enough milk overall.

i didnt strart weaning till 28 weeks but always (and still do at 8 1/2 months) keep food and milk separate - i read this somewhere on MN nad ity sounded sensible! I always allow at least an hour between them and dd still has around 26 oz of milk a day, as well as heaps of food.
HTH