Talk me through your "food day" with your 6mo

[VerityClinch]

I am finding it a real struggle to fit everything into the day now that we are weaning. We are BLW mainly, but I am interested in views from everyone, not just the BLW-ers.

DD wakes around 6:30am for a milk feed, then goes back to sleep until around 8am.

We do a "food feed" at about 9am.

Then a milk feed at 10:30am

Then lunch around 1pm, a "food feed", with water, but she doesn't drink much, say 40ml

Then a milk feed at 2:30pm

Then tea about 4:30 - 5pm, depending on whether we have been out in the afternoon

Bathtime is 6pm and she has another milk feed at 6:30pm, and is then down for the night until 6:30am the next morning.

However, factor three naps (at least one of which is usually in the buggy while we are out and about) into the above and I feel like I am constantly either preparing, feeding or cleaning up after feeding. I am struggling to get out of the house - and the house is a tip with bowls, spoons, bibs, wipes everywhere!

The other thing is, since we are supposed to offer food when they are not ravenously hungry or tired, I find she needs a nap after her food feeds, so I am lying her down with a full tummy and that can't be good for her digestion, can it?

I'm sure it's not SUPPOSED to be like this - how much milk does she need now? She hasn't dropped a milk feed, but the girl really doesn't have an off switch, so she will call for her bottle and drain it, however much is in it.

Since she's not drinking much water, I'm reluctant to cut her milk down as I worry about her getting dehydrated/constipated.

Any ideas about anything?

as far as I can remember we used to get up with a milk feed at 7am. solids at7.30 followed by another feed/water if they wanted it to wash down, short sleep on way to school, feed mid morning 10am, lunch at 12 followed by feed then long sleep 2hrs, feed mid afternoon, tea at 5.30ish followed by milk/water feed at 7pm sleep till 11pm wake for feed sleep till 7am (or something like that)

If you offer milk after food she'll be more likely to cut down herself the amount, it sort of worked itself out for us and it had to work in with the others routine by the time it came to no 3 so in some ways it made it simpler - he just ate when the others ate and had milk feeds at their snack times - eventually becoming his snack times.

Its quite a messy period by it does pass quite soon

I do remember this feeling of all day being spent thinking about/preparing/offering/clearing up food from when I weaned dd just over 2 years ago. Weaning ds (7.5 months) has brought it all back to me! It does get easier when you get into the swing of it, they can eat more food that you eat and are a bit quicker and tidier. IMHE, 3 'meals' a day aren't necessary unless they're absolutely gagging for it. Dd only had 1 or 2 until 9 months or so and ds counts himself lucky if I get it together twice a day . She'll probably cut down on her milk when she gets the hang of drinking water.

My DS is nearly six months and we have started giving him breakfast. We feed him food at 7am and then he has his milk.

Seems to be working well so far - its only been for five days though!

I think Im going to stick with this for another week or two and then introduce a dinner at 6ish then he can have his milk at 7pm as normal.

He has an 11am and 3pm milk feeds too.

Did you introduce each meal gradually? Or did you just start in at 3 meals a day?

at that age ds had 3 small meals and 4 daytime milk feeds (he had 1 night feed too):

7am - milk
8am - breakfast
11am - milk
12pm - lunch
2.30/3pm - milk
5pm - dinner
7.15pm - milk
in the night till 8 months - milk

They are supposed to have a minimum of 20oz up to 1 year but it is ok to have more than that. I found that as ds's solid intake increased he naturally cut back on his milk.

You can feed on the move too so you arent stuck in the house all the time. I found banana and yoghurts good for feeding out and about.

She's having a LOT more than 20oz, though. Double that, I'd say.

She'll eat and eat and eat whatever's offered... but I don't know if she's hungry or just eating because it's fun, if you know what I mean? She does seem FULL of food, though. And she never refuses her milk.

Seona when you say "three small meals" - how small? Like, for one meal, just a yoghurt? Half a banana? Or a whole pouch/jar of baby food etc?

I'm not worried about her being chubby - she is, and has been for ages, but her weight is consistent with her height on the centiles (91st) - she's getting very active now, not crawling yet, but rolling around all over the place and I am pretty sure once she's properly up and about she'll burn it off very fast.

She's constipated today too...have given her a little bit of watered down juice (something I swore I wouldn't do, ho hum) which seems to be getting things moving, but she never seems interested in water when I offer it to her, either from a bottle or a cup. She LOVES the cup (bang, bang, bang) but doesn't want to drink from it (can't drink and bang at the same time, it seems).

i hate the weaning phase! i was so confused at the very beginning, my sister had to email me to tell me what to do, what food to offer first etc. my son is now seven months, and he loves porridge after his first 2 milk feeds in the morning, then ill offer him mashed banana/youghurt at lunch, and a baby biscuit to chew on, then at dinner, ill offer him ready made organic pureed veg or fruit. my health visitor recently told me he should be on meat and two veg already! but i refute that as he just isnt interested at this stage in that. i realise that patience and a relaxed approach are both key to this stage! cant wait til he is on pasta and sandwiches....

I'm trying BLW, and have just written this out for DH to follow tomorrow while I'm out - I was planning to be a bit more flexible on routines, but DS demands like clockwork!
7am milk
7:30 breakfast (toast and fruit)
8:30 nap
10:30 milk
11:30 nap
2:00 pm milk (he's usually starving at this point, so I give milk before solids)
2:30 'lunch'
3:30 nap
5:00 tea
5:30 milk
6:45 bedtime milk
DS is 6 months and I feel the same as you - he's either sleeping or eating! I think he has about one or two ounces of water with each meal, but I don't really measure it, and at least 45oz milk. He isn't really eating much yet though!

I'm confused by this too. I'd read that you should offer them food after milk, so they don't fill themselves up on non-nutritious food rather than the milk they really need. So, I'd been doing a BF, then giving food, then giving him some formula at the end if he wanted it.

We're a week into BLW (+ porridge with spoon), and the day goes roughly like this:
7am breastfeed, then snooze
10am BF + porridge, or rice
1pm milk feed (BF and/or formula)
3 or 4 milk plus finger food - veg, banana, rice cake, etc
6.30 milk
7 pm bed
11 milk

Everything varies, though, according to how he sleeps, when/if he naps, etc...
He's thus getting his milk, and his solids, but the whole day isn't dominated by food. Is this OK do you think?

Milk about 6am

Breakfast - 9.30am

milk - 1pm

Dinner and pudding - 4pm

Milk 7.00pm

then it is bed time!

It is so hard because my son is nearly 7 months.

Am i doing the right thing?
It is working for him but do i need to introduce a lunch now? but then he is only getting 2 bottles. i did try lunches but i have stopped them, i dont no why but i did.

does he need more food rather than milk because he is 7 months?

any advice?

why would giving lunch mean you drop a bottle? You could either give lunch along with milk or give milk or solids first and then the other an hour or so later e.g. give milk at 12pm and lunch at 1pm or vice versa. He still needs a minimum of 20oz of milk so unless he is taking huge amounts in his bottles I would stick with 3 bottles. DS didnt get to 3 bottles till around 9 months.

milk is the main source of nutrition until they are at least a year old.
babies should be having around 20fl oz a day

offer milk first, then solids, to ensure they don't fill up with less calorific "real" food.

there is no need to drop bottles when you introduce solids

My day today with DS - 6 months

Milk feed 6am ish
Solids 9.15 (after school run )small bowl ready brek
Milk 10.30
Solids 12.30 1/4 slice toast and a banana
Milk 3.30
Solids Cheaty Jar of sunday lunch as we were having curry and a rusk (DS prefers to hold something to eat at the same time as his mashed food)
milk 6.30

Hope this helps

Just starting to wean GuardianBaby and our day is below. No breakfast yet but have put it in brackets where it will be!

Wakes 7:30am (ish)

Milk at 8am (will also have breakfast here soon)

Nap mid-morning for 45mins to an hour

Lunch (solids) at 11:30ish with water (takes hardly any water though - prob. only about 0.5-1oz) I am also still giving him any milk he wants too (only takes a small amount though..........about 3 or 4oz I'd say)

Big nap 12:30 until 2:30 ish

Milk in the afternoon - about 3 or 3:30ish

Solids for dinner at 5:30 or 6ish

Bath and then has his bedtime milk at 6:45 immediately before bed at 7pm

So, is cutting down to 3 bottles already but still having some milk with lunch which I'm happy with for a while yet

Does this help? He seems happy enough and sleeping well still so can't be hungry

P.S. Know what you mean about fitting it in though! Seems all we do is feed or think about feeding! Have found it has cut morning activities as not confident enough to feed him out at 11:30/midday (lunch) yet. Will be soon though and then we'll be happy again!

All very interesting. DD is 7.5 months and sort of doing 3 meals but she has never ever been a 'hungry'baby - when a couple of months old she was struggling to take 2oz in 2 hours. Teat size etc didn't make a difference. She had one growth spurt at 6 months when she DID increase her consumption. For 3 days. Then back down. Anyway, long and short is that I've offered solids then milk; milk first means she takes 1oz then spits out solids and rejects any more milk - silly mummy, I've eaten! I found useful to intro new foods at lunch (half 11 ish though creeping nearer 12 especially now she's in creche)to get adverse reactions out of the way before bed (please god).

She only takes 15, up to 18 oz milk even on a good day - and she's not partic hungry over night or even first thing (till she sees her bottle & breakfast and remembers). But she will kill for parsnip.

We've tried cutting her dream feed out but not convinced - she wakes up for it, even though when she IS given it she stays asleep (if you see what I mean). Plus I'm worried that she won't get enough milk/fluid if we cut this feed - because she's asleep, she doesn't fuss and actually takes up to 5 oz which substantially adds to her daily intake quite often.

Wakes sometime between 6-7am, never fed before 7am, usually nearer 7.30: bit of weetabix plus milk (bottle I mean)

9am ish - nap for about an hour (on a good day)

11.30(ish)/noon - lunch: solids plus v small bit of milk.

1.30/2pm ish - nap for hour/hour and a half (2 hours on flying pig days)

4pm ish - tea: solids plus v small bit of milk. Have tried her with cup of water/water & juice but no success yet. Can spit for Ireland though.

7pm bath; 7oz (optimistic Mummy) bottle though usually takes 5oz tops; bed.

10.30/11pm dream feed (depends how fucked tired Mummy is).

AND! Why do all the books say don't wean till 6 mo (we followed this) but then harp on about how your DD MUST be on 3 meals etc by 7 mo else they're doomed ie effectively assume that everyone weans early at 17 weeks anyway? Bleedin hypocrites. Sorry, pet rant now over.

My boy is 7 months next tuesday so should he be on 3 meals a day (solids) he has breakfast and dinner but no lunch, i usually just give a bottle!

he has 3 bottles a day at the moment, early morning about 5am/6am, afternoon about 12pm/1pm maybe later, and a bottle before bed if he wants a bottle before bed.

when he was about 2 weeks old he was a hungry baby but now he isnt, like today he had a feed at 5.30am then porridge at 9.00am and a youghurt about 12pm that is all he has had today so far.

Like yours - unless he see's it he remembers.

GinjaNinja THAT is exactly it - I went to see the HV when DD was 27 weeks, hoping for a pep talk about how it didn't matter that she wasn't really interested in food yet, what with only having started weaning at 26 weeks, and instead got "get some purees into her, she needs food now, and an iron supplement, blah, blah". WHAT? When the DoH guideline is 26 weeks - AND she was 2 weeks early... was very and then quite angry.

Glad to see not everyone is on 3 meals a day yet. Is it right that their tummies are the size of their fist? If so, there's no way my DD could stomach 3 meals a day and 4 milk feeds. She is pooing a lot more than normal, more waste, I guess, since they don't really digest much at this stage so it just passes through them. Is anyone else finding this too?

GinjaNinja and Verity- the GP told us that ds (6mo) should be on 3 meals a day by now as 'the current advice is to wean from 17 weeks'!! WTF? We started just before 26 weeks when ds was sitting, able to feed himself etc. No way are we on 3 meals yet!

I'm trying to be relaxed about the whole thing and give him bits off my plate 1-3 times a day depending if he seems in the mood. He seems to have dropped a nap though, so his routine is all over the place at the moment.

A day in the life of our (very small, 6.8kg) baby aged 7.5 m:

(all times very approximate, we are not people who are great on rigid routine!)

(all portions of food rather tiny, he still has a very small tum!)

7am breastfeed

9am brekkie: baby yoghurt, fruit or baby cereal plus diluted juice or water to drink

11am bottle of expressed bm (if I am at work) or breastfeed (if I am at home)

nap (usually!)

about 1 lunch: often pureed whatever we had last night (without the salt etc), or other protein/veg puree, plus dessert (fruit or yoghurt) plus drink

3pm bottle or breast

nap (often!)

5 or 6pm milk again (and often little nips of breast throughout evening)

7pm supper, as for lunch

10pm bottle of special high cal milk (Infatrini) plus breastfeed to sleep (hopefully!)

About half the time will wake once in night for a breastfeed.

Redtabby - don't know that your babba is that small. DD was 7.5 kg last week when I insisted she be weighed (just not the done thing in the Rep of Ireland it seems - much eyerolling by nurse at the paranoid English mother every time I take her in) and is nearer 8 months than 7.

Thank you Verity and Paranoid! Us 3 against the world eh? Feck them all. They'll be first in line for dirty nappy salvos when the revolution comes.

I've decided I can't give enough of a toss about 3 meals a day yet; the new panic is getting protein into her. (You can tell I've been back at the books can't you?) Sieved half an egg yolk into her pureed veg for lunch today (as per Annabel Karmel....I think? Some feckin book anyway). Problem of meals compounded by DH working away (so no incentive to cook for self only) plus he is veggie (though I'm not) so tends to be lots of Quorn in the house - unless we're eating out I don't eat meat(not since ooooooh, 3rd June then; DD D.o.B would be 4th June....). I don't bother cooking meat/fish at home therefore as too idle to cook 2 separate dinners. Am now quite concerned whether bunging DD jars of chicken risotto, shepherds pie and the like will do for now. Guilt that not fresh done at home etc. Once she can cope with proper lumps the problem is more or less solved - her creche does really good dinners on site (and no, they've refused to do take away for all the parents) so she'll get her roast chicken, spag bog, curry etc then. Have lentil recipes but currently desperately short of sleep (3 hours in bits last night) so cookfest not a priority - feeling guilty that it's not, but I just can't do it today. Ditto every day this week so far. [Insert smiley with big ZZZZZs coming out of it]

Well, he is going along the third centile (if corrected for prematurity) and staying on the line, I would just love to bump him a bit above it! He has some days when he does not want to eat, which is frustrating, we just give him extra milkies to make up. I have not started eggs yet, think I will try the egg yolk thing this weekend.

DD is now constipated AGAIN and this time, juice isn't working to loosen things up. She's obviously uncomfy.

I'm sure it's because she is FULL TO THE BRIM of food - and she hasn't dropped a milk feed either.

I am going to drop a meal, I think, and see if that sorts her out.

Unless anyone has any other (better) suggestions?

Ginja - protein from chickpeas, hummus, lentils, avocado - I've been mushing them up and spreading on toast for her. She can't get enough (see above, not necessarily a good thing)...

Have decided to treat HV much like any random old mad woman on the bus* and smile sweetly whilst ignoring everything they tell me.

*eg the one who told me "socks stunt their growth" and the one who asked me "are you going to pluck her eyebrows soon?". What IS it with the #74?

Ooh, hadn't thought of stuff on toast. mind you, we're not good at finger food yet (I know, I know should be using a knife and fork and know all her cutlery by this great age etc) but will def try. Might try hummus anyway on a spoon..... Ta Verity!

Sorry nothing to suggest re: constipation. DD scored sh*trick today before lunch (I think she has her father's bowels) but then she is mostly eating root veg and fruit still ie hence concern about lack of protein. Sweet potato did bung her up at first but pear puree with baby rice seemed to clear her out, and I've made sure the spuds go with fruit since.

Cutlery? At 7.5 months? Seriously?

That's never going to happen here. She can't even hold a cup in both hands.

Cups are good for banging and throwing on the floor ("get that, please, mummy"). They are NOT good for drinking out of.

Going to feed her stewed apple all day tomorrow until we get some poo action. If nothing, then it's prunes. However, since we are going to Monkey Music at 12, I feel relatively confident there will be some kind of poo explosion around 12:10... sigh