So how exactly do you wean?? (premature twins)

[firsttimetwins]

Sorry if this is really basic but I seem to be completely lost.
Twins were born 8 weeks early, almost 6 months ago (10 days till their 6 month birthday). Paediatrician (not health visitor) said to start weaning them just after 4 months, I realise that's early but for prem babies that's often the advice.
So what I want to know is, how much food should they be getting and how much milk? I'm mainly lost because the bigger twin would eat and eat and drink and drink till she exploded, while the smaller twin eats the same but then often can't be bothered drinking her milk.
They've been on solids for about 4 or 5 weeks, with gradually increasing amounts. At the moment they're getting:

6:30 am 240ml bottle
9 am little bit of apple juice mixed with water
10:30 am 100g fruit puree or fruit puree mixed with porridge, 110 ml bottle
2:30 pm 100g veg puree, 110 ml bottle
6:30 pm 240ml bottle

They eat all the food with gusto (except potato mixed with spinach, that wasn't a success!) and both drink the full bottles down, but smaller twin often refuses bottle after food. She has recently started being unsettled at night and I think she might be hungry, so going to give her a bottle during the night tonight (both had previously been sleeping 7pm to 7am).

Does this seem ok and would the next step to be to continue gradually increasing the puree and decreasing the milk? Started with a couple of teaspoons puree and increased very gradually, their systems seem to be fine with it.

Any help much appreciated.

you could try giving solids in between milk feeds and see if that helps your smaller twin to maintain their milk intake.

At 6 months ds's day went like this:

7am - milk
8am - breakfast + water
11am - milk
12pm - lunch + water
3pm - milk
5pm - dinner +water
7pm - milk

I wouldnt bother thinking about cutting the milk yourself as they will naturally decrease their intake as their solids increase. They still need a minimum of 20oz up till the age of 1.

To be honest, it sounds like they may be hungry. Fruit and veg is not really going to sustain hunger (imagine if you just ate fruit and veg - you would probably wake too).

Given that they have taken to weaning so well (well done), I would get protein in their diet straight away. Perhaps you could try adding pureed fish, lentils or chicken to the veg - a teaspoon full to start and then increase over a week. I would increase the puree quickly and eliminate the milk feeds at the same time as solids.

Also, if you structured your feeding a little differently and spread out the milk and solid feeds, then they would hopefully get more calories in the day and therefore not need to wake for a feed at night time. At 6 months, my DS was having:

7.00am: milk
8.30am: breakfast (solids + water)
10.30am: milk
12.00 pm: lunch (solids + water)
2.30pm: milk
4.30/5pm: tea (solids + water)
6.30/7pm: milk

At this age they need at least 20oz of milk (600ml, I think?) but that includes milk used in cooking + yoghurt/cheese etc.

I would then quickly get rid of the 10.30 am milk (you may need to bring lunch forward for a little bit) and replace it with a snack. Then aim to eliminate the 2.30pm bottle by about 12 months (and replace it with a snack). That way they are having milk in the am and pm with three meals a day (with a snack of fruit/biscuit etc at 10.30am and 2.30pm).

Good luck

Thanks for the responses. Can I ask, were you both BF or FF? I ask because on the pack of formula (Milasan, not sure if that exists in the UK), it says babies between 4 and 6 months should be getting 4 or 5 bottles a day and that each solids meal should replace a bottle. Obviously you can't overfeed a baby BM, but I think you can with FM and solids, so that's why we've been cutting down on the milk. Also, I presume if you were BF then your babies just cut down themselves but you obviously wouldn't know exactly how much at a time.
Also, can I ask how come everyone in the world except me knows how much milk a baby still needs at this stage?? What have I failed to read, the inadequate mother that I am?!

I formula fed both my lo's but was guided by them as to how much milk they wanted. At 6 months ds had 5 feeds which included one in the night. He dropped to 4 feeds at 8 months, had 3 by 9 months and was down to 2 feeds by 10 1/2 months. Milk is still an important part of nutrition up to the age of 1.

how much formula milk does my baby need?

how much milk should my 6 month old be having?

p.s. as your lo's pass the 6 month mark you can introduce meat, pasta, bread, dairy, etc and that will add a bit more bulk to their diet.