Doing this in the right way??

[bumphope]

I'm just looking for a bit of reassurance I think, and thoughts if I'm doing things wrong! We've started weaning this week (23 weeks) and are doing:

7am - wake, bottle (150ml)
7.30am - some sort of puree veg, about 2-3 mouthfuls. Remainder of bottle, about 150ml
9.30am - nap 30 mins
10am - bottle (100ml)
11.30am / 12pm - veg purée, another 2-3 mouthfuls, then bottle, about 100ml
12.30pm - nap 2 hours
2.30pm - bottle (150ml)
4.30pm - veg purée, 2-3 mouthfuls, then about 150ml bottle
6.30pm - bottle 150ml, sometimes a little more

I know I'm feeding her more than most people seem to, but she's not into huge bottles, she's done after about 100ml usually, won't take any more, even if I try to stretch her longer between feeds - even after sleeping 12 hours she's had enough after 150 in the morning...

Am I doing things right?! Is she having enough solid food?

X

 

[noon_child]

As long as her milk intake is similar to what she took pre-weaning, she won't need the calories from food till about 9-10 months. Till then food is about introducing LO to flavour, texture, chewing, moving food around the mouth, picking things up and getting them to the mouth and eventually swallowing. it can also add a few vitamins and minerals but as some babies aren't readt to eat any food till 7 or even 8 months old this is in no way essential.

If your LO shows all the readiness signs you can start finger food too so that she can get to grips with self feeding before she NEEDs the food to fill her up.

 

[Sarah lo]

Sounds good to me

As PP suggested, there's nothing to stop you giving a few finger foods to play with after her purees as well, you'll probably find very little of it goes in just yet but its good for her to practice hand to mouth coordination, chewing etc

 

[MindUtopia]

As long as her milk intake isn't decreasing as a result of weaning, then I'd say that looks fine. There's no rush at all to do 3 meals a day. We didn't until about 7.5 months and even then it wasn't always every day. But if her milk intake is staying the same and you're happy to do it, then I'd say that's perfectly fine. I would just be mindful of how much milk she's having as you say it's never been very much. Milk is more important than food until 1, so if it starts to drop before about 8 or 9 months, I'd hold off on offering too much food until she's a little older. It's also recommended to offer a vitamin supplement when they drop under 500 mls on a regular basis, but you should have a while before that happens, I think. But yep, looks perfectly fine. Like others said, by 6 months, you can also start to offer finger foods as well or switch entirely to finger food if you wish.

 

[pineapple91]

sounds like my schedule however with my sons puree its blended with breast milk so he is still getting all the nutrients he needs.

 

[bumphope]

Thanks ladies. It's so hard to know so I really appreciate your help.

So it's ok she's only having a small taste then..... I was wondering when I could whizz her up a 'proper meal' (just so it's more interesting rather than for nutrition) but all the books seem to say not until the plain purées are going down well?

X

 

[noon_child]

If you follow the readiness signs (loss of tongue thrust, sitting - with a little support - for the duration of a meal, reaching and grabbing etc., which usually all happens between about 5 and 7 months) then you can ignore "rules" about what to give her and when. She can eat anything except raw/runny egg, honey, whole nuts and salt. If her milk intake is low then you don't want her to fill up on low calorie foods like broccoli puree so I'd have thought a mixed diet would be more beneficial. It is up to you whether you blend stuff together or do finger food. I love the finger food route because they are learning a skill while still being hungry enough to take lots of milk. By the time they are hungry for more than just milk (9 months ish) they are capable of chewing and swallowing lots of different sizes and textures and you can be lazy and just make one big meal for the whole family and plonk it down in front of them (in fact because we did BLW I took this lazy route from 6months!)

 

[bumphope]

Great, thank you. That makes sense, although, even though she doesn't drink much milk in each sitting, she is still gaining weight exactly on the 50th percentile.

I feel happier to try just whizzing up more interesting things for her, but obviously don't want to do too much too soon if it's going to over load / upset her system.

We've just shared some red pepper hummus for lunch which went down a treat! Not sure if it was because she was having it straight off my cracker though!

Thank you.

X