How do you fit in 3 meals a day

[forevermore]

DD2 is 7 months. A rubbish sleeper and Weaning has gotten off to a slow start. Not BLW but trying spoon feeding. Range from refusing to open mouth to wolfing down a bowl of porridge. Seems to only eat or drink milk if left for at least 3 hours between offerings.

Today finally got the spoon past lips for a reasonable amount of food so she wouldn't take more than half bottles. Day before very ittle food so took full bottles. How do I do both with the following schedule:
7 am 5-7oz
nap at 9ish
10am porridge. Won't eat sooner.
11.30 4-6 oz then longer nap
3pm spoon feed savory (hit and miss)
4.30 pm 3-7 oz depending on food intake at 3

not hungry enough for 3rd meal so bath and 5-7oz bottle at 7.30pm
10.30pm up for another bottle 5oz
2am up for another 5oz
(also crap sleeper so can be up several times anyway between any of the above evening times which I think is due to lack of solids??)

she has two teeth and has started crawling and so burning calories so really want to get more in her during the day. Any advice on any of the above appreciated. Thanks

Sometimes she sleeps for 30 min or so at 5ish but not routinely. Should I make bed time later and introduce a late afternoon nap regularly so I can offer another spoon feed before bath?

Hi, I'm not sure if it'll help, but at 7 months my ds started enjoying feeding himself rice cakes and little nibble-able foods, whereas he wasn't so keen on being spoon-fed. He sometimes didn't want three proper meals because he was a bit too keen on the milk, but I did find that giving him finger foods got him more excited about it, and also allowed him to snack in order to up the calories.

Also I might not worry that she's not eating huge amounts yet, although for your sleep I can understand why it would be helpful. I read the BLW book (didn't stick to it but took some suggestions) and I think the author suggests that the first month or so is warming up rather than getting lots of food in.

Looking back at your routine it seems like that's actually quite a regular intake of calories! Is her weight ok? Hope it goes well.

i am having similar problems with my twins 6.5mo. the first routine is very time consuming and i seem to be feeding them ALL the time:
5am 50z(t1) and 7am 6oz(t2)
9am porridge (twin1 wolfs it twin2 hit and miss
11am bottle(twin 1 fussy 4ozish twin 2 5ozish)
1pm 2/3rd tommee tippe savory and 1third pudding or vice versa both usually eat this meal
3pm bottle
5pm as lunch but is hit and miss
730 bottle and bed, tw2 taks 7oz twin1 only5(he is a night waker and had to have dummy put back in several times!)

other way ive done it is, bottle when they wake in the night at 5 and 7 ish as before.
brekfast at 9 bottle followed by lunch at 12(they hit and miss with this, but when they do well, they often vomit it up+dont take as much as if they had had a break.) then bottle and dinner at 4, but they often get to full and are sick, then a bottle at 7;30 with bath.

they are both gaining weight well, but i cant seem to either squeeze 3 feeds in that are satisfactory, if i do, twin 1 doesnt drink well enough, he usually take less than 20oz a day(2o if im lucky, mostly its 14oz)

i dont know if this helps you or not, but you could try it. im looking for other ideas or do u think i should perservere with the 2nd routine?

oops left this out:
twin2 eats and drinks well and sleeps through the night well till 7am, and she is fine on both routines exept when she over eats!

Hi, I don't know if this will help you but there it goes. DD 8 months now, we started weaning at 24 weeks as adviced by HV. I think she was also ready as she was always trying to grab things from my plate anyway.

At first I only introduced one meal (lunch) and I used BLW. She loved playing with the food and putting it in her mouth. She wouldn't eat a lot but it didn't worried me beause I was always BFing her before each meal so I was sure she was getting everything she needed.

After 3 weeks I introduced another meal (dinner). In this case I always spoon feed her as I found it easier and takes less time (naughty mummy ). Two weeks after this routine I tryed to introduce breakfast but she was not interested at all so I just kept trying every now and then till she showed interest on it.

Bit by bit I started to move breastfeeding her to after her meals so she could get used to to the idea that meals are for eating and makes you feel full. Now at 8 months she wakes up between 6:30 - 7:30 and I breasfeed her and put her back to bed where she stays till around 8:30am. She then has breakfast just before 9pm and she eats the whole breakfast which is spoon feed at the moment (cereals with fruit). She goes for her morning nap at around 10ish depending at which time she has got up. I always put her to bed two hours after she has waken up in the morning (it works for us). She then has lunch at around 12:30pm, always finger food which she loves. Once she shows signs that she doesn't want anymore I offer her pudding (fruit mainly) and she will eat it very happyly. I always breastfeed her before she goes to bed for her afternoon nap which works fine for us (I know she can sleep without being BF so it does not worry me). She usually sleeps around two hours. She will have dinner at 6pm, always purees as she needs less time to eat it and makes my life much easier and after it I will give her pudding usually iogurt with fruit. At 7pm she has a bath and at 7:30pm has another breastmilk and goes to bed till the next morning. At the moment I am thinking on introducing a snack in the afternoon once she wakes up from her nap as I think she is starting to be ready for it, I think she shows signs of being a bit hungry at the moment at this time.

With this routine she seems find and is gaining weight. To be honest it has taken me a while to discover this routine. So the only thing I can advise you is to test and try till you find what best suits you and your children. It can be a bit stressful but don't you worry because you will get there. The funny thing is that once you have gotten used to any outine things change and you need to adapt again and find the new routine which can be crazy. At least it is how I feel about it .

Good luck

I wouldn't worry - she is only 7 months. Food is about exploration rather than nutrition until about a year anyway. I would just let her go at her own pace. DS (18mo) still sometimes only has 2 meals a day if he has his nap late or doesn't want anything for lunch.

Mareta does that mean that your LO has nothing between 12.30 and 6?

Also how do you find giving breakfast within 1hr30 min of morning bottle. I haven't tried this, I just presume she would reject because she has a 'small' appetite!?

Reluctant to drop 5 pm bottle because of thenfood is for fun thingy but also feel I could get third meal in if I did

I normally gave solids an hour or so after milk e.g.

7am - milk
8am - breakfast
11am - milk
12pm - lunch
2.30/3pm - milk
5pm - dinner
7.15pm - milk
in the night till 8 months - 1 milk feed

At first the solid feeds were tiny but they soon increased in size and in time the milk decreased too.

Hi Forevermore,

DD starts having lunch at around 12:30pm but she always has a breastfeed before afternoon nap which it is just before 2pm. As I do BLW for lunch it takes her a good while to eat so really it is only 4 hours since she has breastmilk till she has her dinner.

She is fine having breakfast after a while of having had a breastmilk and she has a big bowl of cereals with aprox 3-4 oz of milk.

I think you should see what your child wants test it and try it. I know that my DD didn't wanted breakfast for a while but suddenly she changed her mind.

Hope this helps and good luck