6 month old weaning

[alakhx]

My baby girl is almost 7 months old and I started solids as soon as she turned 6 months. She is not a very big eater and I give her bits and bats throughout the day including purées and bits of what I eat. I give her it in her high chair and let her play about with her food and also feed her from a spoon. In addition to this she is a exclusively breastfed baby and will not entertain a bottle whatsoever. My baby does prefer to have finger food and food to hold rather than food out of a jar. I get judged for not feeding her 3 big meals a day but this is only because she doesn't want to eat 3 big meals a day. I get told to skip a feed and give her a big meal instead but I don't think it's right to skip a feed as they still need the same amount of milk always. I'm always worrying because of people saying things to me about her eating and how I feed her and they say letting babies hold their food and make a mess is wrong but I disagree because I think it helps them learn by experimenting. Has anyone else had the same experience and how old was your baby once they started eating properly ?

My baby is the same age. I do feed three meals a day and have reduced his breast feeds by one feed so far. So 7am Bf, 8am breakfast, 11.30-12ish lunch, 3ish bf. 5pm. Dinner bf at bedtime 6.30ish. I agree babies can make a mess with food. I do think you can reduce milk intake and try meals an hour or more after a feed so baby feels hungry. I wouldn’t like food from a jar! Make mince and potato’s, then mash for baby and freeze portions, same with other meals just don’t add salt and use reduced salt stock cubes. Examples of food he eats is porridge, ready break or weetabix for breakfast with mashed banana or puréed fruit. Buttered toast. Homemade soup for lunch or scrambled egg with mashed avocado. Dinner, mince, cheese sauce, couscous and puréed cauliflower, diced chicken, veg and rice.

Hey, sounds like you're doing amazingly, I think weaning can be quite overwhelming with all the mixed info don't you? I follow 'Solid Starts' advice re the weaning for most of the bits I give and do BLW the same as you.
My DD is 7.5 months, we're still on just one meal a day as she's been slow to take to solids really, wasn't showing any interest for ages but has been teething so much over the last 3 months it's been hard to find good days between her pushing through 6 teeth.
I am also EBF and daughter will not take a bottle at all either.
I was under the impression that babies will slowly just drop feeds the more they're eating over time, and given milk is still a staple part of their diet till a year old I think there's lots of time for this to slowly drop down whilst feeding on demand rather then having to actually remove a 'scheduled' BF? I could be completely wrong though!

There’s a saying ‘good before one is just for fun’.

Your baby sounds perfectly normal. Don’t worry about ‘feeding’ her, just let her explore tastes and textures at her own pace. I would not expect a six month old baby to be dropping any feeds.

What @daisyflowergirl says is exactly right. You don’t need to withhold feeds. As baby starts eating more (which will happen gradually over the next few months) she will gradually as for less milk.

Don’t be tempted to shovel puree down your baby three times a day. It’s unnecessary, very old fashioned and far better to allow baby to learn to handle solids on their own and feed themselves. Being spoon fed does not allow baby to control how much is going in their mouth or learn to manage chewing and swallowing and, crucially, what to do if they have too much food on their mouth.

You’re doing great, keep going.