Babies starting to wean- what's your routine?

[lau86]

I was struggling before with routines and now I have to fit in meals I feel very overwhelmed. I mostly breastfeed, she has a bottle of formula sometime in the evening between 8 and 9 ish and then goes down. The good thing is she usually sleeps overnight till around 6/7. Other than that she has no nap time routines, she doesn't sleep much during the day.
I've just started her on breakfast as I thought that would be easiest. I feel like starting evening meal (which I plan to do next), will maybe make her not want her bottle? I'm actually trying to make her bottle a bit earlier so I can put her to bed and do something myself. I'm curious what everyone else does

 

[jessmke]

If you're finding it overwhelming have you considered doing baby led weaning? Basically you just give them whatever you are eating in appropriately sized pieces. We just started with my daughter, in the morning I usually have oatmeal with yogurt/cut up banana/almonds and a hard boiled egg. I give DD some large chunks of banana to suck on. Eventually I will give her some yogurt, oatmeal, and egg to experiment with as well. I don't have to make anything special for her, and she just sits with me when I eat my meal and eats (ie. plays) with her meal. At dinner we have been giving her large chunks of vegetables while we are preparing our dinner, mostly sweet bell peppers as those are her favourites, but we've also given her large chunks of tomato and cucumber. For dinner we usually have a meat, cooked vegetable, and a salad so eventually she will get some cooked veggies, raw veggies, and chunks of cooked meat. Again we don't have to make anything special for her and we just push her up to the kitchen island with us as we are preparing/eating dinner. She doesn't actually consume anything at this point, it is mostly just play, but that is ok since breastmilk is still giving her all the nutrients/calories she needs at the moment. I find BLW completely no stress because it requires no additional planning, no extra time, and I don't have to worry about her actually eating any of the food because I am still breastfeeding. She will learn to eat the food in her own time, until then it is just fun for her to play with it.

 

[lau86]

Yes I did blw with ds2 and it was brilliant, but I've always given a mushed breakfast (weetabix or something). I think you're right, no spoon feeding would be better for all meals

 

[loeylo]

My LO is 7 months and we do a mix of traditional and baby lead.

When she wakes, she usually takes a bottle then she goes in her jumperoo for 5 minutes while I sort my breakfast and some toast for her. I cut it into fingers and she eats hers herself (and throws it at the dog and laughs at him eating it - this is why we aren't exclusively baby lead, our dog has a sensitive stomach lol) which lets me eat my breakfast. She probably eats about half a slice, which is spread with her special spread due to her being dairy free. Breakfast usually takes her at least 30 minutes but a lot of that time is inspecting her toast/playing with it/smearing butter everywhere.

We get her cleaned up and ready for the day, then she usually has a short nap (which she is now fighting and I think she will drop soon)

She has her second bottle a few hours later, and usually about half a banana which we did start letting her eat herself but it was impossible to get it out her clothes so we hold it and she chews. She loves it!

Her next bottle is usually just before our dinner, she doesn't take much at this feed (3oz?) because she gets spoon fed something soon after, usually a mashed version of our dinner but sometimes a naughty jar since we love spice, and since she is dairy free. While we have dinner she has some vegetable fingers (from our dinner) and maybe a few homemade chips or bits of potato, pasta, bread etc - anything to keep her amused! When we are finished ours she gets her proper food and she eats loads. We then play for a few hours and she has a 7oz bottle at bed.

In short:
First thing- 7oz milk, 1/2 slice toast (self fed)
Lunch- 5-8oz milk, 1/2 banana (mix of who feeds)
Dinner -3oz milk, finger foods then spoon fed
Supper- 7-8oz milk.

Sometimes she has snacks through the day if we are out, things like the baby wafers, rice cakes or a bit of what we are having.

 

[MindUtopia]

I would offer her food when you sit down and have your meals. Start with whatever meal of the day it's more realistic to do that. We found starting with lunch worked better as I had a bit more time in the morning to actually make something for our lunch. Then we sat down together and ate. I'd keep her milk feeds the same and just have a meal about an hour or two after, which gives you time to get something together while she plays or has a sleep. I found it overwhelming to start as well, so we started really slowly, just one meal a day (lunch) for the first month. When she was 7 months, I started to add in breakfast and by maybe 7.5 months, we also did dinner most days. At that age, her dinner was early (we didn't eat together, but I would try to sit and have a cup of tea with her or at least be starting on dinner at the counter and have her sitting next to me). I offered leftovers from our dinner the night before (with substitutions as appropriate), so I always had something already prepared to save on having to make two dinners. I can be a lot to start because you're basically feeding them constantly, between milk feeds and solid food, but easing into it helped. I also really appreciated getting to actually sit and eat a meal again!

 

[Twinmum87]

I still breast feed on demand but he does tend to feed at similar times every day but sometimes with the heat he gets a bit thirsty and he wants a teeny bit in between. First I started with lunch. He wasn't always hungry at 12 so some days ate more than others but I just kept offering at the same time every day and he has regulated his feeding pattern to expect food at the same times each day. After a week I added in dinner at 4:30/5pm. I was only giving very small amounts so after another week I increased portion sizes a little. I will be adding in breakfast from friday. I tend to do finger foods for lunch and mashed food off a spoon for dinner. Breakfast will just be what ever, weetabix, toast, eggs etc. Probably add in a morning snack at about 9 months old and a second snack in the afternoon at 12 months as he naturally reduces his milk intake.

 

[lau86]

Yes it's a good idea to switch to lunch first I think, it's very different from last time, life is just soooo busy!

 

[Twinmum87]

Yeah I did lunch as so much easier to let him play, explore and eat without distraction when others are at school. Plus now he is much faster at working food to the back of his mouth so will not take a lot of time to feed him breakfast now as it would have done had it been his first meal. Just wouldn't have the time with getting the others ready and to school lol!