Confused by weaning

MrsC10

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Hi everyone.

My LO is still a bit young to be weaned, but I'm reading up on it now so I at least have an idea of what I'm doing!

So I plan to start introducing food at lunchtime each day to start with after offering some milk first.
These first few steps Im Ok with. What I have no idea about is when do you replace a bottle with food entirely?

Reading up, a lot of websites say that you offer the bottle (usual amount that baby takes) with every meal. Is this right? Is it offered before or after food? I can't see when I should stop a bottle completely. Should I gradually reduced the amount of milk offered?

Anyone have any tips in general for weaning?

Thanks in advance.
 
I personally didn't aim to replace a bottle with milk or to offer food along with milk (I think to some extent, that's outdated advice from when there was a push to wean babies earlier and cut out milk earlier, which isn't really the recommendation now). For us, milk feeds were milk feeds and they still happened whenever she wanted them, which was pretty much the same times as they always had for the first maybe 3-4 months of weaning. We started at 6 months and she dropped her nighttime feed at 9 months and then the daytime ones moved around a bit at about 10 months because she just wasn't hungry for the mid-morning one anymore, so I moved it to after lunch when she was hungry. Otherwise, all that stayed exactly the same for pretty much 4 months. What changed is I added in solid food about 1-2 hours after a milk feed, which was at roughly regular meal times. She already had milk when she woke up at about 6-7am, 10am, 4pm, and 7pm for bedtime. So I kept those as always until she lost interest in them, and added in lunch at around 12-1pm, then eventually breakfast at 8am and dinner at about 5pm.

So they didn't really compete with each other at all (but it does mean you spend a lot of your day feeding something, whether it's milk or food, which doesn't actually change as they get older, between meals and snacks my toddler still eats every 2-3 hours). When my daughter stopped being interested in the morning milk feed (the one at 10am), I moved it to about 1-2pm after lunch and before her afternoon nap, then when she woke, she'd either have a bit more milk (as she was used to having milk at around 4pm before dinner) or eventually that feed got replaced by a snack. So by 11 months, it looked more like milk feeds at 7am, 2pm, and 7pm, then breakfast, lunch, afternoon snack around 4, followed by dinner. Basically, she lost interest in the milk on her own or after a year, it would fill her up so much she had no interest in eating her meal. This happened with the early morning milk feed. By about 13 months, she wouldn't eat breakfast after she'd had that milk. She still had milk in the afternoon and evening and generally ate well, so I cut that feed out and went straight to breakfast. I wouldn't do that with a younger baby unless they are having loads and loads of milk, but I was comfortable with it once she was a bit older.

So I don't know if that made sense, but basically, I'd keep your milk feeds on demand, same as they've always been. They probably have a fairly reliable pattern to them at this point. And then aim to slot in solid food meals around those. We started with lunch too for the first month, then added in dinner by 7 months and breakfast by 7.5 months. In time, things will change and your LO will take in more solids and be less interested in milk. I just followed that lead.
 
Thanks so much for your reply. You've basically said what I was planning to do. It all makes a bit more sense now ☺️
 
So I don't know if that made sense, but basically, I'd keep your milk feeds on demand, same as they've always been. They probably have a fairly reliable pattern to them at this point. And then aim to slot in solid food meals around those. We started with lunch too for the first month, then added in dinner by 7 months and breakfast by 7.5 months. In time, things will change and your LO will take in more solids and be less interested in milk. I just followed that lead.

This is pretty much what I would recommend as well. My DS was not interested in food until almost 9 months. And even then ate very little. So he had quite a bit of milk during the day. When he turned a year he was eating a bit more, 2-3 meals a day and a bit for a snack. But was still mostly on formula. I actually formula fed him until he was 16 months because he is a terrible eater. Even now at 18 months he will sit for three meals and snacks through the day. But eats a few bits and is telling me all done. I figure he will eat when he is hungry. He is now on milk at nap time, bed time, and nighttime wake ups. I try hard to get him to eat solids. But again he is older. Just remember they go at their own pace.
 
4 months i weaned my daughter onto baby rice. She had all her bottles still.

At 5 months my daughter had a tiny bit of pureed vegetables or jars or Pureed fruit for lunch.

At six months i introduced her to the above at tea time too.

At seven months she stopped wanting her lunch time bottle so she started having a jar and sippy cup of water. She had toast, scrambled eggs with cheese, vegetables mashed up, vegetables with cheese mashed up. Tiny sticks of soft carrots. Mashed up strawberrys. Tiny bits of grapes. Yoghurts of all flavours. Mashed potato. Jacket potato, cucumber etc. organix carrot sticks and baby wafers also.

At 8 months she started having food chopped rather than mashed as shes a great eater. By 8 months she was having feeds in the morning and bedtime and one dreamfeed at 11pm. She was eating spaghetti bolonaise and mashed up vegetables with potatos and tiny bits of gravy made with the weaning stock cubes, she started on baked beans and cheese spread sandwhiches.

By 9 months she was eating all the above but i introduced fish fingers, rice, vegitarian foods like cauliflower grills or vegetable fingers. The odd potato waffle. Tiny bits of sausage. Soup with toast and bread. She likes crumpets broken up etc. malt loaf. Raisons etc.

She is now in 2 feeds a day at ten months and im currently putting her feeds in beakers to get her off the bottles. Then i will gradually wean her onto cows milk between now and her birthday next month. Ive been advised each week to take out an oz of formula and add cows milk until you replace the formula completley.

Good luck
 
I am a huge proponent on self weening. Letting things happen naturally I have found is the best way for an enjoyable and nurturing experience for you both. When I started solids with my children, about 6 months of age, I would let them eat their baby food and then nurse them afterwards so they could eat if they weren't full. Self weening starts the second you start baby food anyway, so I wouldn't stress about it.
 
We do small portion of baby food and then breast milk, I believ this way she doesn't over eat and gets enough fluid!
 
Thanks. This is an old post now and my LO is almost one. Lol

Weaning was a lot simpler than I had thought it would be.
 

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