Author Topic: Do I start introducing a 3rd meal?  (Read 2805 times)

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Offline centrestage88

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Do I start introducing a 3rd meal?
« on: February 21, 2016, 12:19:34 pm »
Hi all
You all have been such a great help! Can't believe LO is turning one in a week's time!

He's currently on 5  latched on milk feeds ( well, i think he could manage with 4, but I offer him the boob 5 times just in case), and 2 solid feeds. No snacks most of the time. 
His solids are an hour after his milk feed.

He's STTN on most days. =)

When do I start introducing a third solid meal? Do I still keep to giving him his solid meal after milk?

He's currently:
8am: milk
845am: milk ( cos sometimes he doesnt drink much at 8am)
930am: breakfast
1130am: milk
nap
230: milk
330:lunch/dinner
530:milk
730:milk and then sleep

He seems happy with the current situation. When do I start introducing a third solid meal? Do I still keep to giving him his solid meal after milk?

Thanks! =)

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Re: Do I start introducing a 3rd meal?
« Reply #1 on: February 21, 2016, 18:48:24 pm »
Can't believe LO is turning one in a week's time!
No Way!  Where has that time gone CS?? Wow!
If you post again next week I'll have to move you over to Eating for Toddlers! what a mile stone :)

OK. So at 1yo many LOs will be taking 3 solids meals and 2 snacks.  Milk is still great of course and it is totally up to you how long you continue to BF.  You could count mid morning (your 11.30) and mid afternoon (your 2.30) E times as snacks, so these are the places which are easiest to switch to a solids snack with a drink of water or a BF top up.  Currently you have a lunch.dinner at 3.30pm, I'd suggest moving this a little later more like 4.30 to allow you to add in a noon-ish lunch. With a noon-ish lunch the 2.30 milk could likely move to 3/3.30 too.
Not sure exactly what time or for how long the nap is these days.  I'd look at putting lunch either just before or just after the nap.
So, you might see a routine somethign like:
8 milk
8.45 milk (or you could just switch this to breakfast)
9.30 breakfast
11/11.30 milk or snack
12/12.30 lunch or 2pm lunch depending what time nap is
3/3.30 milk or snack
4.30 dinner
7 milk
7.30 BT

What do you think?

PS have you looked at the birthday cake recipe thread? Lots of ideas for baby's first cake there, although many people also just get regular cake for the first birthday too.


Offline Buntybear

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Re: Do I start introducing a 3rd meal?
« Reply #2 on: February 21, 2016, 19:30:05 pm »
hi, i would definitely be adding in a third meal with snacks. he needs to be getting a good variety of foods now to get his nutrients in. Does he have any vitamin supplements too? If I remember correctly babies don't have great stores of Iron and Vit D after 6 months so I would def be adding in a bit more meat and of course a nice range of dairy, fruit and veg, as I am sure you are already  :)
« Last Edit: February 22, 2016, 11:05:38 am by Buntybear »

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Re: Do I start introducing a 3rd meal?
« Reply #3 on: February 21, 2016, 19:39:47 pm »
Does he have any vitamin supplements too?
That's a good point. Here LOs are advised to have vitamins from 6 months to 5 yo.
WRT iron levels though, breast milk offers iron in a form readily absorbed by LO.


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Re: Do I start introducing a 3rd meal?
« Reply #4 on: February 22, 2016, 09:36:16 am »
Just stopping by with this link regarding iron levels for BF babies as I know you like to have access to  information Centrestage
http://kellymom.com/nutrition/vitamins/iron/

I do agree with BB about offering a variety of foods for nutrition now.  At 1yo the focus for nutrition/calorie intake is solids rather than milk, I'm sure you'll be able to switch a couple of those milk feeds for solids meals/snacks pretty easily without too much disruption to your routine :)
xx


Offline centrestage88

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Re: Do I start introducing a 3rd meal?
« Reply #5 on: February 25, 2016, 08:39:27 am »
Thanks for the advice ladies.:) lo hasn't started on any vitamin supplements. I better bring it up with his paediatrician next week. I hope he's doing well re iron. Thks for the link creations. Lo has beef on alternate days.he also enjoys egg yolks, beans, seaweed and sweet potatoes. :)

I haven't given him any sugar and salt other than those naturally occuring in foods. So,he isn't going to get any of his celebratory birthday cake. Will make him a little one for him and his little friends.

When can I introduce to him cheese and bread? Is it okay to give him foods with added salt and sugar now? Mozzarella and ricotta cheese have lower levels of sodium. Can I give him those?

Been looking at the breads in stores. All have sugar added but there are some with very little added sugar. Can babies have low sugar bread?

Lo's one nap of the day is at 1130am when he falls asleep on the boob ( but I wake him up before putting him down). He is up anytime from 130pm to 230pm. Is 11am lunch to close to naptime at 1130am? Would it give him indigestion sleeping right after a solid meal?
Does you think a routine like this is alright: replacing his 530pm milk with dinner.
8am: milk
845am: milk
930: breakfast
1130: milk and nap
2/230: lunch
530: dinner
730: milk and sleep

Will start adding snacks in soon. He does nibble on some of my food though.


Offline centrestage88

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Re: Do I start introducing a 3rd meal?
« Reply #6 on: February 25, 2016, 08:51:27 am »
How long before a nap can lo have a solid meal or snack? His naptime is 11130am currently
 Can he have a snack at 11am? And breastfeed at 1130am to nap? ( I do wake him up the breast before putting him into his cot... But I'm afraid of stopping the1130am breastfeed only to discover that he needs to breast to zzz)

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Re: Do I start introducing a 3rd meal?
« Reply #7 on: February 25, 2016, 09:35:37 am »
When can I introduce to him cheese and bread? Is it okay to give him foods with added salt and sugar now? Mozzarella and ricotta cheese have lower levels of sodium. Can I give him those?
Cheese and bread are fine.  They do contain salt but the levels should be low enough for you not to worry about it.  In the UK the shop shelf bread is higher in salt than in most other countries and for that reason I did a quick calculation for my DS and worked out something like half a slice of bread per day would be his max, this left a bit of allowance for other foods with salt such as cheese etc, I also occasionally used canned tuna (in spring water or oil, not brine) and canned baked beans, I didn't give these often due to the salt but a small portion now and then is ok.  If you use mainly fresh produce and don't add salt when cooking then there isn't too much calculation to do to know how much of a food is in the safe limit.
You don't need to limit to mozzerella and ricotta, any cheese is ok really although yes some are much higher in salt than others, we are big cheese fans so I didn't limit the variety and would let DS taste anything but I wouldn't have given huge portions of the saltier cheeses.  Again it depends what else LO is having in the day, I wouldn't for instance have given salty cheese plus baked beans plus tuna plus bread all in one day, but a bit of something across the week/month is fine.

Been looking at the breads in stores. All have sugar added but there are some with very little added sugar. Can babies have low sugar bread?
I hunted our shelves for bread without sugar added.  I did find one without added sugar. I probably wouldn't buy a special loaf just for LO as they are not going to get through much, but if you are happy to switch to a low sugar loaf for the family then that's great as you'd have less to think about on a daily basis WRT preparing meals.

Is 11am lunch to close to naptime at 1130am?
Mine used to spend so long eating it ran right up to his nap time anyway. I wouldn't worry unless it shows itself as a problem.  If you switch the 11 milk to a snack though you will likely see if he would like to eat lots (ie early lunch) or not so much (ie snack) at this time.  2pm seems like a good lunch time right now but as the nap moves later (as it likely will) you could then shift the lunch to pre-nap rather than post nap.  Some do a 'split lunch' when the nap falls right over lunch time so half before nap and half after, it's fine.

I can see you are concerned about the BF prior to nap. I would do snack at 11 followed by a top up BF if you are worried but really at this age LO needs his solids meals and snacks so really now is the time to be looking at solids as his main source of food. It would only take a few days of changing up the habit if he is reliant on the BF to get  him used to napping without, try not to worry (most of the things I worried about with routine changes my DS took in his stride, all the worry was for nothing!).  Whilst there are benefits to extended BF there are also benefits of taking solids meals and snacks well: for calorie intake, for vitamins, and for motor and language development.

Does you think a routine like this is alright: replacing his 530pm milk with dinner.
5.30pm is often too late for many LOs to take a decent dinner but it's fine to try :)  If he doesn't eat much you might consider the 4.30pm dinner (in the sample routine I posted) instead and then at 5.30 (if that's our family dinner) let him join you at the table and have a few nibbles if he is interested.

hope this helps x


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Re: Do I start introducing a 3rd meal?
« Reply #8 on: February 25, 2016, 10:28:31 am »
Sorry I intended to post this for you, had the link open and then forgot!

Quote (selected)
The maximum recommended amount of salt for babies and children is:

    up to 12 months – less than 1g of salt a day (less than 0.4g sodium)
    1 to 3 years – 2g of salt a day (0.8g sodium)
    4 to 6 years – 3g of salt a day (1.2g sodium)
    7 to 10 years – 5g of salt a day (2g sodium)
    11 years and over – 6g of salt a day (2.4g sodium)

http://www.nhs.uk/chq/Pages/824.aspx?CategoryID=51

As I said above though, best to just look at the things you are likely to offer, decide what a reasonable portion is and then stick with that - you do not want to be stressing over salt levels every time you cook, just have a rough idea in your head.
There has been a problem in the UK with babies having way too much salt, it's mainly due to being fed lots of processed food which contains lots of salt, the less processed the better really (and less for you to worry about!), and the easiest way to include LO in family meals is just don't add salt when cooking, herbs and spices are fine though so meals do not need to be bland.  Things like gravy I used to put a teaspoon on DS's plate so he had a bit of a dip rather than lots of gravy all over his meal.  I made some home made pate as DS seemed to love pate but it has lots of salt so I just cooked my own (surprisingly easy) without any salt and froze it in tubs.  I tried and totally failed to make a salt free humus, he loved the shop bought stuff so I let him have that, but not every day, yk, a balance.
 :-*


Offline centrestage88

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Re: Do I start introducing a 3rd meal?
« Reply #9 on: March 01, 2016, 13:12:20 pm »
Dear all
Thank you for your helpful replies. I'm not in a very good place right now so I haven't been back at the site for a while. Feeling a bit too overwhelmed to read right now. I'm hanging in there though.

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Re: Do I start introducing a 3rd meal?
« Reply #10 on: March 01, 2016, 18:28:29 pm »
Here when ever you need us xx


Offline centrestage88

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Re: Do I start introducing a 3rd meal?
« Reply #11 on: March 09, 2016, 14:34:07 pm »
Dear all
I'm back =). Went through a rough patch but I'm picking myself up!
Ive started lo on multivitamins. Its not compulsary over here but the paediatrician understood my concerns and told me to go ahead with the multivits.

Lo just started on bread and he loves it. Our family is making a switch to no sugar bread as there's way too much leftover as creations mentioned.
Lo loves pure tahini too! ( Ive tried it and ewww its so bitter)

Decided to try no breastfeeding to nap a few days ago. BF is 15 minutes before naptime instead. It's been hit and miss, but I think that lo is getting used to the idea of no boobies to nap. Hopefully he will be okay with it soon.

Mornings are extremely busy, so I cant give him lunch at noon. Tried the 530pm dinner and thankfully he likes it.

Thanks ladies! =)

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Re: Do I start introducing a 3rd meal?
« Reply #12 on: March 09, 2016, 19:46:15 pm »
Glad to hear things are going well with LO and that you are feeling better xx