Don't know how to start

[Syl]

Hello Ladies,
I posted this to the weaning forum hours ago but nobody seems to reply, so let me try it here as I REALLY need some advice....
"Hello Ladies,
My LO will be 6 months next week and it's time for weaning I guess. But I have no idea how to start I mean I do have ideas what food to start with but don't know how... She's been EBF on demand so we don't have any 'meal time routine' at all!!! I assume when I start introducing solids we should go into a sort of routine, right? But how do I start it? Do I set up say 5 meal times a day and after BF her should I offer her some solids? And after a while (how long is a while???) she can have only solids 3 times a day, and solids + breast milk in the morning and in the evening? What if she sleeps through a 'meal time'? I have to go back to work at the end of January so it'd be nice to be sorted by then so we have good 2 months. Anyone has been in similar situation, how did you manage to wean a little boobie monster ?
Any advice is appreciated.
Thank you "

 

[Natsku]

I would pick a time of the time that she is happy and relaxed, and about half an hour to an hour after a bf during that happy time, try her with a little solids then. You only have to try once a day to begin with and see how it goes. It could be quite a while before she drops milk feeds, Maria hasn't dropped any yet and she's been weaning for 4 months

 

[kanga]

I went to a weaning workshop at my local childrens centre today - give yours a call and try and get on a course (they are free of charge). Otherwise the nct run them for about £20.

Basically, weaning is different for everyone and everyone has their own idea about it. I would just google 'traditional weaning' and 'baby led weaning' as a starting point to getting an idea about what you would like to do. You probably didn't get any replies as its really too much to type to tell you everything about weaning. You need to read up on it really

Some basics:

- Baby will drop feeds by themselves.
- Offer milk before food so they are not fracious when being offered the food.
- You can either mash/puree or not. Depends how you feel about it
- Offer baby a small version of what you are eating
- Don't pressure baby to eat a certain amount. Let them guide what they take in
- Milk will be their main source of nutrition until age 1
- Babies can have full fat cows milk on cereal/in cooking from 6m
- Offer water with meals in a sippy cup or similar vessel

That's about all I have time to type, sorry. Hopefully some other people will reply too!!

 

[Syl]

Thanks very much for the answers, very useful indeed. I've been reading about it for a while but have not found a proper, sort of day-by-day guideline, at least for the first couple of weeks or so. I'll keep looking/reading and well eventually I'll have to start it next week so I'll see how it goes

 

[Mrshoffie]

We were advised to:

Week one
Introduce one meal a day
( I started with baby rice& banana for breakfast)

Week two
Introduce two meals a day

Week three
Introduce three meals a day

I found it worked best to give solids halfway between milk feeds. So breakfast about an hour after morning milk etc for each meal.

The first few days were hit and miss, with lo only having a couple of spoonfuls but we built it up slowly. By week three she was looking for more food so we introduced puddings and she started to reduce milk feeds.

Hopefully this helps. Have you decided on tw or blw? We are combining both.

 

[Syl]

We were advised to:

Week one
Introduce one meal a day
( I started with baby rice& banana for breakfast)

Week two
Introduce two meals a day

Week three
Introduce three meals a day

I found it worked best to give solids halfway between milk feeds. So breakfast about an hour after morning milk etc for each meal.

The first few days were hit and miss, with lo only having a couple of spoonfuls but we built it up slowly. By week three she was looking for more food so we introduced puddings and she started to reduce milk feeds.

Hopefully this helps. Have you decided on tw or blw? We are combining both.

Thanks very much
I think I'll start with TW at least for a couple of weeks but I don't want to blend her food to completely pureeish, I want the food to have a bit of texture instead of too pureeish if it makes sense. Soon (hopefully) when she's comfortable with the new food and flavors I'll start giving her finger food so sort of mix TW and BLW.

 

[Ozzieshunni]

Keep in mind that not all babies are ready to be weaned at bang on six months. If you try food and LO spits it out, give it a couple days and try again. We're going to BLW so I look for signs like, accurate hand to mouth coordination (putting things in his mouth fairly accurately), sitting up with little or no support, and not pushing his tongue forward when things are in his mouth

 

[pinkie77]

My daughter was (still is lol) a boobie monster. I just sat her at the table when we had a meal and gave her some food lol, it worked for us. She's still bf on demand and eats meals when the rest of the family does. She's quite effective at letting me know when she wants a snack rather than milk now too!

 

[stepmum]

If you go on to Hipp Organic website or Cow and Gate they have some good guides that you can follow i.e how much/how often/foods to start with. this is what I have used as a guide loosely.

 

[sam1984]

my lo would not eat solids until 7 and half months so it could take time.
if you ask at your next baby clinic they may have a poster 'menu'
they hand them out at mine and it is a really basic visual for week to week