when to offer solids before milk?

[*Kara*]

DD is 9.5 months now and can be a bit of a challenge with solids... she was doing great until she had a terrible bout with constipation that ended in the ER.  But that was a month ago and she is on Miralax now... the hope is that once she gets mobile, things will "move" a little better for her

Right now, she is on 3 (sometimes 4 bottles a day).  The fourth is offered when she refuses breakfast of any sort.  It's a small top up to get her through her AM nap.

Can I switch her to solids first, then milk an hour or so later at this age to encourage more solid intake?  I know that formula should be her main source of nutrition until 1 year, but at this rate, she will be drinking formula until she is 4

[Katchloe]

I do solids first. My theory is it helps with her reflux but she takes three 8-9 oz bottles a day so I dont see the reasoning as to doing bottle first and getting more puke

[ZacsMumme]

Following along Kara...Z loves his milk but I suspect he is filling up too much on it and eating less solids.
I am still on 4 feeds and I know I should be down to 3 

[*Kara*]

Sara - you should be down to three and headed for 2

[ZacsMumme]

I know .... but he just loves to BF 'sigh' I think I love it too. Anyway getting off topic. I am going to move to 3 over the weekend now he seems better

[Hedgehog17]

I think you can be flexible at this stage (up to 12mo) in terms of offering milk or solids first 

You also need to see what times your child is hungriest for solids - is it at breakfast, lunch or dinner?

DS gets half his morning milk first thing (mainly to get the probiotic drops into him  ) then he gets his breakfast solids, then the other half of his milk. Lunchtime it's solids first, then milk, dinnertime it's just solids then he gets his bedtime bottle.

He's having to get this much formula still as he's MPI so I can't give him any yoghurt / cheese / cow's milk in cooking yet.

His solids intake is slowly increasing now, so I'm not worried that he'll get there eventually, it might just take a little longer than 'average' 

The other day I was running late with him so he had his lunchtime milk before his solids, and it didn't make any difference to what he ate!

So by all means try offering solids first for one meal, see how you go, and then you can increase it. DS held out for milk at first and didn't eat much, but he got there in the end 

[Buntybear]

Kara - sorry your LO ended up in hospital, poor little mite  glad she is doing better now    I think as long as you keep an eye on her milk intake then try swapping round some of the meals to solids first and see how she does

http://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=57483.0

Going OT again here but felt I had to comment! Sara - i think it is fine to be doing 4 BFs a day at 10 months. I know I only dropped a day feed then, then the other one at 11 months but that was only as I was going back to work. Olly would have happily kept BFing longer (didn't fully stop till 14 months). Of course it depends on your view of BFing, your situation and how long you want to BF for but there aren't any time limits on dropping BFs IMHO. x

[Shiv52]

I am still on 4 feeds and I know I should be down to 3

Actually 4 BFs at 10 months is ok.  Definately not 2 until at 1YO.  We were down to 3 BFs most days at 10 months but still 4 some days too. 

Posted same time as PP. 

[Shiv52]

Kara, how many oz of milk is your LO taking in a day at the minute?

[*Kara*]

Shiv - she averages 26 ozs a day, sometimes a bit less, sometimes a bit more.  Days that are higher are generally because of sore gums with teething and she refuses solids and just wants a bottle for comfort... Then she generally has 4 bottles at 8 ozs each as opposed to 3 at 8-9 ozs each.

[Shiv52]

I's say if she's having a good amount of milk (which she is) then it would be totally fine to star offering solids first some of the time..  Or offer half the bottle then solids a while later and then offer rest of the bottle if she wants it.  I would probably keep milk first thing in the mornung but certainly vary whether you do lunch first etc.  Then just keep an eye on the milk intake.  If it starts to drop too much then re-evaluate. 

[*Kara*]

It's only the morning that we have an issue with food refusal... This is her current schedule:

6am bottle 7 ozs generally, but I have dropped as low as 5 to see if she would eat more... no effect at all.
915am top up before nap as she isn't eating much for breakkie - 3 ozs (down from 5 originally)
noon - lunch of solids/water in sippy
230pm bottle 8 ozs (nap at 245)
530pm dinner of solids/water
745pm bottle of 8.5 ozs and BT 8pm.

It's just the morning that she is a pill about her food... I was thinking of doing solids when she wakes, then her bottle before her AM nap?  Really, I guess the only way to know is to try it for a few days...   And if she still refuses the solids, I could just offer the bottle instead.

[Shiv52]

I personally wouldn't worry about it.  My DD1 was never a big breakfast person at that age and I would have waited ages to give her breakfast.  DH doesn't like eating first thing so assumed she was like him!!  She eats better if its yogurt/fruit and then I used to give cereal at snack time.  If she's taking a good amount of solids at lunch and dinner I wouldn't stress abotu breakfast.  My DD also would have been too hungry after her night sleep to wait and enjoy a solid breakfast and really did need her milk first thing. 

[*Kara*]

Thanks Shiv... that's really my gut feeling too.. I'm not a big brekkie person either... and I am sure that her top two center teeth are not helping matters right now!  I can just about feel a corner of the first one... I anticipate a few rough nights this week when they cut

[cuckoochick]

C is also a poor eater at breakfast time, Kara. She hardly eats anything much except fruit. I keep trying different things but it just seems like she's not hungry but she does take a BIG BF when she wakes. I am starting to offer her a snack now at about 10:30am before she goes down for her morning nap just to make sure she is not hungry. We've also just moved to 3 BFs so I am now giving her lunch after her wake-up from her morning nap and then a milk feed at about 2-2:30pm. This has definitely helped with the amount of lunch she will eat and she has always been a good eater at dinner time.

Oh and we're getting the top teeth too! (and we thought they were going to be toothless teenagers!!! )