Re: 7m solids/how much/how often?

[T.L.E.]

Hi! It's my first time here and I have a question related to the same issue: 7-month old LO who started with pureed solids exactly 5 weeks ago. I don't know whether I should start another topic, but this one was so similar to mine that I decided to ask it here, hope it's ok 

Tracy says that we should always give solid food first, then milk feed. Here in the forum, however, it seems to be common sense that the feed milk comes first (in this case in a 4-hour routine) and then we should offer (pureed) solids 1 hour later. I live and Germany and I don't know whether it's cultural or whether there is a reason for it, but here food comes first in the meal we're trying to substitute and milk is only given after these meals if the LO is still hungry. In this case, adapting the German customs to a 4-hour routine, I would BF at 7 a.m., no other meal until 11 a.m., when pureed food is served as lunch (with the intention of substituting this meal, so that milk is only given in case the child seems to be hungry after eating). At 3 p.m. I would BF again and at around 6 p.m. milk and cereals would be the dinner. At around 7:30 p.m.  I would BF her again right before going to bed (she does not fall asleep on the breast though ). She still wakes for DF.

I have a lot of questions    Please help me 

1) I personally find BF at 7 a.m., 11 a.m., 3 p.m. and 7 p.m. more practical for routine's sake, in which case I would offer pureed food at noon (after BF) and at 6 p.m. (before BF). Is there any difference for LO if I BF her at 11 a.m. before her "lunch" at noon? I mean in terms of amount of food, learning to substitute milk for solids, etc.?

2) If I BF at 11 a.m. and give food at noon, the real A time is too short, actually only between 11:15-noon and 12:45-1:15 p.m., depending on how long it takes her to eat lunch. Isn’t it too short?

3) In case I go for Tracy's suggestion and give (pureed) solids before BF, how can I structure the BF routine? I would not like to produce less from one moment to the other, and stretching the intervals could lead to it, couldn't it? For example if I BF at 7 a.m. and give her food at 11 a.m., then BF again as a snack at around 12/ 1 p.m., then BF again at 3 p.m.  (Germans would probably start giving fruit and cereals for this meal by now), milk and cereal for dinner at 6 p.m. and BF at 7 p.m., would this be too unstructured? What about leaving out the snack BF at 12/1 p.m. and only BF again with a 4-hour interval from the last meal (food at lunch), at 3 p.m.? The problem I see here is that if I go for this plan, soon I would be offering a meal instead of the BF at 15:00 and I would end up BF her only at 7 a.m. and at 7 p.m. Another problem is that I'm not sure whether it's correct to continue with the goodnight feed at 7 p.m., because when she is too tired she ends up sleeping on the breast.

4) I don't wish to wean LO yet, but I wouldn't like to BF her forever. By increasing the amount of food she eats as well as offering food at more times of the day during other times in which she would normally BF (for example when she is 9 months), would it work more or less as a baby-led weaning?

  I know it’s a lot to ask, I hope you can help me

[*Ali*]

When tracy said to offer solid food first and then milk what she meant is to offer a top up BF or drink of milk after each solids meal. The LO would still have a main milk feed about an hour before the solid foods which can be seen more easily if you check out the sample routines. Many people offer water at meal times instead just to help wash food down and quench thirst. Most LOs cannot go 4hrs between feeds if they are on 3hr A times. This can either be made up of milk, then solids an hour later with either water or with the top up of milk immediately after the solids.

Right now I would just be adding solids between your usual milk feeds rather than dropping actual milk feeds if you are already on 4 day time feeds. Most EBF babies will need 4 milk feeds until 10-12mo and then after 12mo you can either do 2-3 milk feeds plus 3 meals or you can replace the BFs with either a cup of cows milk or a snack (or both) on top of the usual 3 meals.

Check out the samples
Routines for Solids and Bottles/BF's 6-12months

My LO is a similar age and has the following solids routine most days
7 WU BF (sometimes 6)
8 solid breakfast and water
9.15 top up BF
12.30 BF
1.30 solid lunch and water
4 BF
5.30 solid dinner and water
7 BF

We are doing baby led weaning so she isn't taking in much solid food at each sitting hence why we are already offering 3 times a day. she sometimes has a NF around 4-5am too.

[T.L.E.]

Hi Ali!

I read your reply as soon as you wrote it to me and I actually sent you an answer, but now I came here to check what you wrote again and I noticed my reply to you is not here  I wrote it from my cell phone, I probably made a mistake 

Anyways, thank you so very much for writing to me! I'm so glad someone with a kind of similar routine and a LO the same age wrote to me 

Thanks a lot!

[*Ali*]

Sometimes that happens to me when I press post it loses connection or something and I get an error message but don't always notice if I put the phone down after!

Thanks for coming back. I hope things are working out for you guys.