Squeezing in all the milk and food!

[rooroo]

Hi there,

My son is 5 1/2 months and we have just started weaning, pears and baby rice seem to be going down very well!

 We have been feeding ( milk) every four hours and I've been told not to reduce this just yet. The thing I'm confused about is how to fit in all the meals and milk, he's never really been a big eater and it can be an effort to get through a bottle so how will he still get his calories from his milk if we're having more food? Plus traditional meal times (12 and 5) seem to fall when he's asleep!

Any advice would be really helpful

Thanks
Sarah

[Aly Mac]

Hi Sarah - It is confusing isnt' it?  One way to think of the solid food, is to think of it as A time, not E time.  My routine, which has been like this since around 7months is this.

6.30 bf
8.00 solids
9-10 sleep
10.30 bf
11.30 solids
1.30-300 (if I'm lucky...)
3 bf (or when she wakes up.  if nap is later, then I often top up bf before nap)
4.30 solids
6 bf
6.30 bed

This is just an eg to help you see where the food fits in.  You will find that as they grow they use  and need more calories, so the bf stays the same and you add in solids. your lo is still young so remember that  milk (bf/ff) is the most improtant source of sustanance until 1yr, so fill up on milk before solids. some people go down to 3bf by about 9months, but there are no rules on this. You have a way to go. Just follow your lo, and since is still only 5.5 months, take it slow.

hth

[Schwalby]

My daughter is 5 1/2 months also.  She only eats once a day or her interest in her bottle dwindles -- 2 tbsp. in morning.  We have been on solid foods since four months.  I explained her schedule to her pediatrician in detail, and this is what we worked out for now:

7:30 awake and bottle
8:30 solids in this order changing every week:  rice, oats, orange vegetables, other vegetables, fruits
9:30 nap
11:30  awake and bottle
12:30 would be next solid foods, but my daughter isn't ready yet (I try every few weeks to give her more, but for now she's not ready, and pediatrician said that was fine)
1:30 nap
3:30 awake and bottle
4:30 would be dinner if ready for it
5:00 catnap
6:00 awake
6:45 bottle
7:00 bed

Hope that helps.  Remember you're just introducing foods and teaching her about them. 

[RachelC]

Keep in mind that the formula is way more important at this stage than the solids

https://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=68458.0

[rooroo]

Thanks for all your replies, very helpful.

I feel much clearer on the timings now, just a bit puzzled on the quantity, if I'm not dropping any milk feeds but aiming to add 3 'solid' meals eventually will that be too much? Or is it because they're getting more active and needing more calories? When, if at alll, should I start reducing how much milk I make up?

Thanks again
sarah

[Freya'sMum]

You want to aim to maintain ds's milk intake until at least 9-10 months, and it happens exactly as you said, as they get bigger and more active they need more calories and so eat more solid foods, and then as they get to about a year the amount of solid foods overtakes the amount of milk eaten.

Here's a link to a Bottlefeeding thread about dropping daytime milk feeds:

https://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=67398.0

HTH?

Ax

[sophieschoice]

Hi,

 My DD is 6.5 months old. I started solids at 5.5 months age, with fruits, then rice , carrots, oatmeal, peas. Now she eats at least 2 solid meals per day, but I have the same problem: how to squeeze in all the meals and what should be reduced first, if she cannot/doesn't want to take that much food in one day? I try to fit in the breakfast @ about 8.30 AM, but often she is not hungry yet, after her morning bottle, but sleepy -ready for her morning nap.
Also, after the nap she is not too hungry for her 11 AM bottle, but if I give her solids instead: she is more interested.
And she is the most interested in her dinner : cereals w/ fruit or veggies.

So, her ROUTINE looks like this (but it is varying these days, with the 3 solids meals being introduced and her activity / interest in the world level growing every day):

between 6-7 Am - wake up (she is an early morning bird, ME - not, so we let her happily play and sing in her crib until 7 AM)

7-7.20 AM- formula bottle : 6-8 oz (180- 240 ml)

8-8.30 AM- solids b/fast attempt (1- 2 Tbsp cereals "mud"  with some fruit to make it more attractive 
 
8.40- 9 AM morning nap till about 10 AM but sometimes till 10.40 (it used to be a 1,5 - 2h  nap, but becomes shorter, recently - I hope it is a normal change at her  age?)

11.AM- formula bottle (if she had solids breakfast, she may take as little as 2 oz! ( 60ml), and I do not force her to drink more

12AM- solids lunch :new foods being introduced then, veggies, fruits ( up to 1 jar= 2 oz)

12.30 - 2 PM-  2nd nap, sometimes even earlier: she's tired if her first nap was short and if she woke up early

3PM- formula bottle (4-8 oz)

4PM or later- 3rd nap, if she needs it, often she takes it in her stroller during her walk.

By the way: where do you guys squeeze in daily walks ? I still have not decided: is it better  4 her to nap in the stroller and get fresh air or to have a healthy sleep in the crib? I usually go 4 a walk, depending on how good the first 2 naps were, but on some days let her take a good 3rd nap in her crib, to because then she's  rested the best and can go to bed later (= 7.30-8PM)

5-6 PM, depending on the 3rd nap/ stroll development: solids dinner

about 7 PM: bedtime and formula bottle: 8 oz usually, but sometimes less

10.30 PM: dream feed bottle: 6 oz


I would like to eliminate the DFeed soon, but when DD reduces  her milk intake during the day, I am afraid it works against it. I know BW's  "procedure"  for getting her off the DF, but how to increase DD's  food intake during the day? I do not believe in  tricking/forcing a child to eat.

With such a "floating" routine, DD is a happy, very healthy  child, as long as she is rested enough:  know I have to protect her sleep and structure in life (boy, have I heard from the family about being a nap freak who would make the child sleep all day!)

OK, sorry,if my post is too long or not on  the right board, but it is my first one - I am indeed "new and learning the ropes" . But I have been visting the website for a while now, it helped me a lot, (as the BW  book did first), I am a huge supporter of the BW philosophy  and this forum and ready to share my experience with others now;-)

Iwona

[Freya'sMum]

Hello and Welcome Iwona,

You have posted in the right place, however rather than rewrite a lengthy explanation (is my bedtime), can I for now simply refer you to Aly Mac's reply at the top of this thread.

She writes that milk is more important than solid food, and to think of solid food as an Activity (in the EASY routine) rather than part of Eat - these 2 factors are really the answer to your questions, as well as suggesting that at 6.5 months, with 1 months solid food experience, your dd is still right at the beginning of her journey to explore what food is and what you do with it. There really is no rush for her to eat vast quantities of solid food, she has all the time in the world!

The example schedule Aly Mac has posted (obviously with individual tweaking for your own family) is a really good start point. Try to maintain dd's milk intake at her pre-solids quantity, topping her up with solid food if she needs it rather than any other reason - this fits well within the bw philosophy of following los' cues! And offer her solids at Activity time (can still only be once a day if you have other things to fit in in her other Activity times - many babies don't even start to try solid foods until after 7 months , as a learning/playing experience, with no pressure on you or her to actually swallow anything much, just to practice!

On the topic of dreamfeeds, I would rush to drop it, some babies continue to need a planned or unplanned nightfeed for many months yet - again follow her cues about how much milk she needs (it is this that helps her grow and develop at her age, not the solid foods), and if you offer too much solid food and not enough milk it can increase nightwakings !

On the topic of strolls, they don't have to be long if dd's Activity time is limited at present, a 15 minute walk will give you both a bit of exercise and fresh air.

Hope this makes sense, and feel free to post again if you need any more clarification or support,

Ax

[Aly Mac]

Welcome Iwona!  Freya's mum is the great solid food guru , and I learnt from her.  I guess as you are ff, you know precisely how much milk, where I bf, so L just takes what she needs.

my dd wasn't on 3 solids a day until about 8months I think. try not to worry, as Alison said, just follow Sophie (who is a cutie btw).  even now, L sometimes has 3 big meals, others hardly anything, and her state of tiredness usually contributes.  I know how you feel about the nap thing - I am home now, early from a lunch celebration next door, as DD is tired and needs her nap.  You are her mummy, and mummy knows best, so  to them! sophie sounds like my Lilly, she needs her rest (like her mum and dad)

hth.

[zed]

I am sorry but I didn't read everyones posts.  I should have crawled into bed almost an hour ago.

For me I didn't worry about feeding solids so often at 6 months.  I offered solids one time per day until around 8.5 months then I offered two.  At or around 10 months I started with 3 meals of solids a day.  It wasn't until 11 months did I start to offer an am snack.  At 12 months I offered a pm snack and then at 12.5 months I offered a bed time snack.

I started my 2 sons on dairy between 10.5 and 11 months.  I started that quite slowly as well and by the time my sons were 12 or 12.5 months they were almost completely on dairy.  I only nursed first thing in the morning and last thing at night at the very end.  I completely stopped nursing around 13.5 months. 

hope your feel more comfortable with this confusing time,  Going to bed now, night night

[sophieschoice]

Hi,
Thank you all for your warm welcoming me here and for your advice. It was  heplful and reassuring. Needless to say Sophie is my first and only child and I need some experience sharing and reassurance. 

I definitely am against the Baby Olympics, too.  In the US , where I live now, there is a practice and a pressure (producers of baby foods in the first place) of putting babies on solids from 4 months, so I had to resist, but Sophie was more and more interested in what we, adults were eating, so once I gave her a pear to try and that's how it started;-) Now I spend my evenings  studying the organic food for babies available here;-)

as to her milk intake, on an average day she takes about 30-34 oz , she used to take even more,never forced to do so, she is almost 17 lbs now ( 5,5 lb at birth!), so I even worry if this is not too much, but again, every baby is different and apparently abbies know how much they need, right?

Thanx for the Dream Feed advice- I defnitely prefer the DF to nightwakings;-)

Good night everyone,
I.