weaning schedule for 4.5 month-old?

[naturopath]

Before you all shout me down for weaning early, I have been under strict instructions by paed. to wean at 4 months. Deliberated long and hard about it and in the end took his advice.

Now obviously I want to take it v slowly - does anyone have an appropriate weaning schedule they could replicate here?

DS still on small amount of baby rice once a day (is day 6 today). Not sure of best way to go from here (and frankly it terrifies me!)

My next step was to add a bit of pureed fruit/veg to the baby rice - sweet potato and pear (not together!) went down very well. I started with lunch, after a couple of weeks added dinner then breakfast last. After about a month I started to add some protein - adding cheese to the cauliflower and baby rice mix, bit of chicken with the sweet potato. Yoghurt also goes down very well.

I'm having a bit of a problem with DS refusing anything savoury at the moment so, in retrospect, I think I would have avoided introducing fruit straight away and just concentrated on different veg with the baby rice.

Should also add that I haven't dropped any milk feeds, I offer the milk before the solids. He's just coming up to 6mo BTW.

HTH.

supermonkey yoghurt and cheese is a no no until 6 months I think
I would just do bland purees of fruit and veg if you really have to wean this early.
maybe one food for a whole week just for one meal?

if it's under strict instructions then i would ask the paed for a guide to follow to make sure you're doing it as he/she requires.

DoH guidelines say it is fine between 4 and 6 months - no raw cows milk but yoghurt/cheese or milk in cooking OK.

say what is fine?

I'm sure it is only fruit and veg until 6 months and then dairy and wheat after 6 months

if you are under a paed, i would ask them, as Rn has suggested.. as there are definitely certain things that he cannot have before 6 months and 8 months

To quote: "Solid foods should not be introduced before the end of your baby?s fourth month (at 17 weeks). If you decide to introduce your baby to solid foods before six months there are many foods that should beavoided. These include foods which contain wheat, gluten, eggs, fish, shellfish, liver, citrus fruits, soft and
unpasteurised cheeses."

from babycentre website "The Department of Health recommends that you avoid giving cow's milk or milk products (cheese, yogurt, fromage frais), fish and shellfish, soya beans, citrus fruit (including orange juice) or eggs, until your baby is six months old. "

that's ok - can't do any milk or cheese anyway as he can't process the milk proteins.

Basically, can't decide whether to add a fruit (pear) next or a vegetable (sweet potato) as, as Supermonkey says, don't want to give him a sweet tooth with the fruit and have probs later.. but then again a lot of books say start with pear.

Also, is a week on each new food too long? Maybe I'll do three days each.
And how much?
??

eg. GF says give a "scoo" of baby rice - how much is a "scoop"? Or a "cube" for that matter??

When should I be progressing from 1 tspn of baby rice to 3 tspns??

It's all so confusing!

oh yes, and he told be to be VERY cautios about eggs, wheat, tomatoes, fish etc., so I certainly won;t be giving any of those until recommended times. (DS already has excema as well as the dairy problem).

OK. I've been following the DoH weaning guide itself (which I quoted) and the advice of my HV.

it is worth trying both fruit and the sweet potato, to check whether he reacts to either
if ok and he is fine taking the sweet potato then all good
If he does not like the veges and plenty don't it is worth mixing the fruit and veg together and gradually lowering the fruit content
I have done this with my two before and it worked out fine as 5 and 13 yr olds they eat anything

Piffle - sounds like a good plan.

Supermonkey- wasn't aware of the DoH weaning schedule, but in any case, wouldn't that be for a 6 month-old (i.e., going through foods much more quickly)?

Also, if I buy those weaning cubes for the freezer things from Beaba babycook or Jojomamanbebe - are they the correct "cube" size? Have read books where it says - "add a cube of carrot" etc.

i would personally go back to the paed on this,if he thinks it is a good idea to wean at 4 months but also not to give certain foods early, perhaps a chat with the paed dietician could be arranged to work through a schedule of foods with you?

i'd go w/pear over sweet potato as it's less starchy so less likely to cause constipation.

then again if you're talking teaspoons it's unlikely to make a huge difference. i just tend to go with their appetite, which varies but is often more in the tbsps range.

not a bad idea to go back to the paed I guess, but I get the feeling he would think I was a little strange. Next appt isn't for another few weeks. Will think about it..

oh, ok, keepyourpuppydaviesindoors, I suppose that's a good reason for trying pears first.

What do you do, just boil, puree with a handheld blender and put through a sieve??

(have ordered Beaba babycook but not arrived yet)

any good book you have used? I really want something I can print out / open up and refer to every day without having to think too much.

Sorry I'm not suggesting my schedule comes from the DoH, that's just what I did. I was quoting the DoH for the list of foods to be avoided only.

ripe pears, peel and core, mash w/fork. 23ish wks now i think, started at 20 never had much gagging w/lumpier stuff.

This is the DoH guide.