How fast to move to three meals a day?

[MyCatReallyIsAGit]

How much food would you offer a six month old, and when did you move to three meals a day?

We have been weaning our six month old for 2.5 weeks now and he can’t get enough. He has been EBF (91st centile) and was a little hesitant for the first ten days or so but has then got stuck in. He doesn’t seem to have an off switch at all!

We are currently doing a late breakfast and early dinner (with DC1), which is working well. But I’m not sure how much food to offer, and when to add in lunch.

As an example, for dinner he had a little weaning pot (think large ice cube size) of sweet potato mash with pasta stirred in, some broccoli and carrot as finger foods, a pot of pear purée and a teaspoon full of white fish - and I think he would have eaten more. This feels like quite a lot to me. But he is eating it and seems happy, and complains when the supply trails off, so I’m assuming it’s ok?

Honestly let your baby guide you, he’s enjoying his food and trying new things so that’s great.

DD went into three meals around 10 months but it kind of happened naturally we didn’t make a decision to do it that way. We’ve adjusted her bottles to suit around those mealtimes but finding the balance is tricky!

We meandered our way through weaning. I remember that DD was on 2 meals a day at 8m but only went onto three meals every day as a regular thing from 11 months.

She was an enthusiastic eater from day 1 but I just did whatever fitted in with what we were up to/what I was cooking for me etc.

I found it difficult to get to three meals a day before the third nap was dropped. There’s such a narrow window for food (not too tired, not too hungry, not too full from milk) that I found it impossible to fit in three naps and three meals.

Currently intro’ing solids with DC 2 who is a little over 7 months. Just up to two meals a day but which meals varies depending on what else we have on and how naps are going.

Thank you - he’s a very enthusiastic eater but doesn’t seem to know when he’s full so has ended up being sick a couple of times today! I think I need to balance things with more finger foods, which may help to keep him occupied without him getting quite so full.

Agree that fitting in three meals would be tricky in terms of naps at the moment . Because of his older brother and sleep patterns, a late breakfast around 1000 and an early dinner around 1700 has worked well, with at least two milk feeds in between those meals.

Dd is 7 months and often has 3 meals a day. About 3 quarters of what she eats is finger foods but not that much is going in still. She is an abismal napper though - if her naps total 1 hour then it's a good day, so we have plenty of time to fill!!

NHS website says after 9 months.

@Lockdownseperation, thank you - I also saw that and it made me worry I was going too fast in terms of him being on two meals a day already. I wasn’t sure if it meant that by 9 months they should be on 3 meals a day, or whether this shouldn’t happen before 9 months. I know milk is meant to be their main source of nutrition throughout the first year.

I find weaning tricky because there’s so much conflicting information out there, but also because my first was nowhere near as interested in food and struggled to maintain a steady weight. Plus we have quite a big age gap and I’ve forgotten a lot!

Hi OP,
The HV told me to look at this for weaning info as they’re not running any workshops.
That does mention 3 meals by 7 months. Hope it’s helpful

www.hertsfamilycentres.org/media/documents/professionals-docs/eating-well-for-the-first-time.pdf

My DD is 6 months old and on 3 meals. She just grabs and eats whatever! And polishes off whatever she is offered on spoon too. And bottles of milk during the day as I have now moved BF to morning and night in preparing for joining work next month. and massive breastfeeds morning and night at that!

My DD started on one meal a day at 6 months - just some finger foods like cooked broccoli, green beans, cauliflower, etc.
She’s now eating 3 meals a day which started at about 8 months, whilst DD enjoys lunch/tea , she doesn’t really eat a lot for breakfast, just picks at a few strawberries and banana or has 2/3 mouthfuls of weetibix. I’m still EBF about 6 times a day so I think DD fills up milk (DD is 10 months old) otherwise she would eat more.