quick routine question please FF and Starting Purees

[madmissy]

Hi so many books give conflicting advice, so I just wanted to know what the average of you do?

I have started weaning and always do bottle first and then offer some solids however much DS wants.

Also how often do your LO's feed? And how much?

DS is refusing point blank at the 7am feed.

But normal routine is along these lines..

7am bottle about 4-5 oz (today only 1oz!So had 3oz mixed up with HIPP breakfast never normally does so as want to stick to only 2 solids offered still)

11am bottle 5 oz and this is when normally offer solids

2.30ish Bottle 5-6oz

5ish offer some solids

6ish after bedtime routine bottle 5-6oz

10.30pm 5-6oz

sometimes wakes in night if so then another 5-6oz

Weaning earlier and HV is aware and ok with the reasons.
DS is big boy, 20 weeks and was 18lb 7oz on Monday.

I am looking for advice please and not to be told that DS should not have to wait until he reaches 6 months.

Thanks in advance!

Your milk and solids routine looks great - well done.

Are the 5-6 oz the maximum he will take at each feed or is this what you have decided to give him? Perhaps if he would have more milk when you feed him during the day at 2.30pm, 6pm and 10.30pm he may not need to wake at night for a feed?

Re: refusing the 7am feed - could this because he has woken and had a feed in the night and is simply not hungry? Could you perhaps try offering him a few less oz in the night so he is not as full in the morning?

Also, bear in mind that fruit/veg puree is not as substantial and calorific as milk so if he is cutting back on milk this may also make him hungry at night.

Personally, I would keep offering porridge (mixed with milk for the calories) maybe at 8am ish. At other meals you could offer other calorific foods such as banana, avocado, pureed veg/lentils, cream, potato etc. Also, over the next few weeks, you could start to introduce protein (e.g. chicken, turkey) into the puree as protein is not only important but also sustains hunger better than fruit/veg!

HTH

Thankyou thats really helpful.

He slept through last night and had less milk than he would if he had fed in night! think he is testing me! Sometimes he wakes and sometimes not.

With regards to how much he drinks he point blank refuses to have more! ie screams if I try! I have juist changed bottle to the CTN ones so will see if that helps at all. He is not a windy baby or colic etc but may help that I don't have to release bottle to let air out/in.

He does have cereal mixed with some puree occasionally. This is our second week so was thinking introduce the protien bits fairly soon.

He absolutely loves his food though and has say 15 teaspoon equivalent..

I would say on average he still has approx 20-25oz milk now in 24 hr period.

Sorry another question...

Do you think I should stick to the normal routine? ie the 11am and 5pm ish for solids? Or adjust it slightly so he has breakfast after the small 7am feed with the extra milk in the porridge and then do the eve feed?

Can I roll my eyes too! trial and error i guess

Refused anymore than 2oz today. I tried but he screams and I can't force feed him. So I guess its another 3oz milk cereal mix.

My LO has been slow to wean. She's now just over 7 months and we have been trying to wean her for about 5 weeks.

Our routine is
6.30am- 4-5oz bottle
8.15am - Porridge (if I offer any earlier she'll refuse)
10.00am - Snack (banana and water)
12.00pm - Lunch (half jar of butternut squash and half jar of rice pudding)
2.30pm - 5oz bottle
5.00pm Dinner (half jar of some chicken thing and then maybe a petit filous)
6.30pm - 6oz-7oz bottle

She is a smaller baby and has never been great with eating. Was making batches of Annabel Karmel's stuff but it was generally refused. Saw a brilliant HV earlier this week who said if a baby is struggling to eat, try offering food about an hour to an hour and a half after their bottle, plus use jars - ie take the pressure off - if they don't eat it, it's no big deal. I've also got to say until the last week, would only eat things which had a milky taste to them ie porridge, baby rice, rice pudding. It's taken a while for her to get into the swing of things and by the sounds of it your LO is too. But things do change quickly, and no doubt in a couple of weeks time, your LO will be eating lots more than they do now (and cross fingers be dropping that night feed). Hope that helps.

Its not the solids i'm struggling with. He loves it. Its him dropping the 7ish feed that worries me. Seeing hv later myself.
You wouldn't think he was my third child! Little monkey

I seem to remember my LO going through a very fussy milk stage at the time of weaning. He became very distracted and didn't like being held anymore. I ended up feeding him milk whilst he lay in his rocker chair (and in the evening, when he was lying in his bed). I used to have to give him a random object to play with/explore and then he would drain the bottle.

At this age my DS was having:

7am: milk
8am: Porridge mixed with milk and fruit puree
11.30am: solids (I eliminated the milk feed quite quickly so it was just solids, but offered yoghurts, cheese, butter, cream etc in foods). If my LO ate poorly, I would give him a 2-3oz milk top up before he went to sleep at about 12.15pm
2.15/2.30pm: milk
4pm: solids (always with a carb e.g. potato/banana. i.e. not just fruit/veg!)
6.30pm: milk

10.30pm milk

The total milk would be approx 30oz, if you include that mixed into the solids.

Could you water down the night feed or offer just water so that he is hungry at 7am?

Or, maybe wait to give him his milk at about 7.30/7.45am?

Another great reply thankyou!

Sorry for slow reply!

Still trying to get into a routine and get milk intake up in morning. If DH is home and he feeds him his milk he will have 4-5oz in morning! With me its more like 2oz although he had 4oz the other day.

He loves porridge still though so he gets his milk through that i guess!

I have started making his foods more meal like ie like you say with chicken or pots etc

Today so far he had

7ish 4.5 oz dh gave him no solids grr
11ish 5 oz
12pm solids with milk in
This then mucked up his milk and was only able to give him 2oz at 3.30!
5pm cauliflower cheese and apple and pear pot
6.30pm 4oz milk

I was out this morning so hopefully back on routine tomorrow!

As for water at night tried that and it made no difference still refused milk at 7am which made me feel worse as he woke in night!
Even if he sleeps through he will sometimes still only have 2oz.

Tbh not sure if he is starting to teeth looks bit sore in there.