7 mo - how much to give??

[Buntybear]

Hi,

We are on 3 meals a day now but the last 4 nights DS has woken once for a feed. I am thinking that I need to up his solids intake but wondering how much roughly I should be giving?? I tend to make my own meals and freeze in little foods trays (bit bigger than ice cube trays). I weighed his beef casserole yesterday lunch and it was about 40g (1 cube).

Also do you keep feeding till they refuse any more? I worry if I do this he will start to refuse milk.

Thanks

PS We still DF though I am SLOWLY bringing this forward. Not so much now as I am thinking he is getting the extra at his NF which is defeating the object surely! 

[georgeo]

Hi Buntybear,

Our DS ate like a horse.  We asked the health nurse if we could feed him too much and she said that at that age babies only eat until they are full, they don't eat more than they need like adults.  So we fed him as much as he wanted and then gave him milk afterwards.  What ended up happening was he started to not drink enough milk, or what we thought was enough milk.  We ended up switching and giving him the milk first and then the solids.  He still ended up eating a ton of solid food but that way we knew he was still getting enough milk.  

I think that if they are not keen about eating solids you can offer the solids first.  If it's established and they eat solids well then you can offer the milk first.  Having said that our DS ate a huge amount of solids-we were using jars and he would easily eat two full jars.  He still eats so much food I just don't know where he puts it:)

I know I have read posts from others that said once they started feeding their LOs until they refused they started extending their naps and STTN.  I think the health nurse was right that they don't eat more than they need but in our case he needed milk first.      

[anna*]

I agree with Georgeo. Give milk first, then an hour later give solids and up the quantity. They still need most of their nutrition from milk, that's the reasoning behind giving it first. If he does start to refuse his milk you can always scale back a bit but if you are on a 4 hour EASY there will be 3hrs between solids and next milk feed, so he should still be hungry for milk.

[~inbalance~]

Chiming in in agreement here as well.    Liquids are still the most important, so you don't want his milk intake to drop in favour of solids.  So just as suggested, give milk feeds first and then follow with solids about an hour later.  I would start offering more.  Offer two cubes and let him have as much as he wants.  If he eats it all, offer a bit more next time.  You'll figure out quickly how much to offer if you offer say three and he doesn't eat all of it, then you know to stick to two, so you shouldn't be wasting much at all.  I think T always took 2 or 3 cubes at a meal. 

A good way to look at it is to keep your milk feeds as the E part of your 4hr EASY, and the solids as part of the A time.  So milk every 4hrs or so, and solids about an hour afterwards 3 times a day (or whenever you decide to do meals).

[zebstiredmum]

Hi Bunty Bear

Good advice from the others - don't think I can really add to it but the eating part of our EASY since weaning looks like this:

7am BF (this morning had EBM in a bottle - took 230 ml)
8.30am solids - how much he has varies but usually around 80ml of cereal in whole milk (I use plastic pots with measurements on the side so I know how much he's eating) ( I know - a bit OCD of me! - I'm still keeping a log at 8 months old!!), plus soft fruit pieces (nectarine is favourite) - I always offer more than I think he'll eat so on hungry days it's there if he wants it (I use weetabix, oatibix or rice pops smashed up)
11.30am BF - just a quick snack I think
12.30pm lunch - finger foods - how much he eats varies a lot but on a good day he'll finish 1 small slice of wholemeal bread with philadelphia cream cheese on it, a couple of cherry tomatoes, some soft fruit (maybe a plum) plus about 40ml plain yogurt (2 heaped dessert spoonfuls)
15.30 Bottle FF or EBM - varies from 60ml (2 oz) to 100ml I guess depending on how much lunch he ate ( I don't offer more than 100ml anymore as it was going to waste)
17:00 if he lets me spoon feed he will usually have about 90ml of puree (eg chicken casserole, spag bol etc) plus finger foods of soft cooked carrots/courgette and fruit. 

I did read somewhere that you shouldn't get too hung up on what they eat day to day, but look at their intake over a week, as some days they will want lots of solids, and other days maybe not.  That's definitely the case with my LO - yesterday he didn't eat much solid - about 50% of his usual intake, and I thought I'd have a hungry NW or EW for sure - but no- he STTN!

I definitely think you need to offer him more - move up to 2 ice cubes and if he finishes that offer more after a couple of days; food might get wasted, but in the process of weaning wastage is a given - especially when like my DS they have a preference for finger feeding!  The current guidelines re milk intake are that they need a minimum of 20oz/600ml once on 3 meals a day, which includes milk in cooking.  If your LO takes a big milk feed am & pm, a couple of smaller feeds in the day plus the DF I'm sure he'll be getting plenty.

Good luck

[Buntybear]

Brilliant - thanks for your replies everyone 

Yes, after a shaky start we are now on a routine of E after S and then solids about an hour later as part of A.

Shall def start upping the amounts I give then and will keep offering until he is full. On 5th night of NWs for a feed so this has got to help  . May help us drop the DF too.