3 meals a day???!

[tonyswife]

Hi alll.....we've been weaning LO for about 5 weeks now...we've pretty much tried every fruit and veg there is, except for cauliflower which he hates for some reason. Anyway, he has the equivalent of 1/2 jar after his milk at 11am and 3pm but I've heard lots of other mums talking about their LO's being on 3 meals a day...including a pudding!! He currently has 28oz of formula a day.

My question is....how long do I carry on as we are? He is *slightly* underweight for his age as he had a D&V bug about 7 weeks ago and lost a lot of weight....but my Health Visitor hasn't really been much help at all really. He seems to love his food and would eat and eat if I let him! Like me, he doesn't know when to stop 

He sleeps from about 7:30pm to 7am and has done for about 2.5 months and is generally a happy baby, except for his ezcema.

Thanks in advance for any contributions!

Jo

[* Paula *]

Hi Jo,


We weaned our lo early and I think by 5 months he was on 3 meals a day.  From what I can remember our routien looked something like this:-

7:30- 8 oz Formula - 5Tsp of cereal and 2 tsp of fruit

11:30 - 6oz Formula - 1/2 Jar of Food and 1/2 Jar of Fruit

2:30 - 6oz Formula

4:30 - 1/2 Jar Foods and 1/2 Jar Pudding

7:00 - 8oz Formula

Hope this helps.

Paula

[LŠuren]

hi again Jo

I started weaning at 4 months then built up gradually so that by 6months I was ready to start 3 meals. This has been our routine since, with lots of chnages on the way 


7.00am wake up
7.30am milk feed 7oz
followed by breakfast (1.5 tablespoon of readybreak and 2 small icecubes of fruit)
12.00 milk feed 6oz
followed by lunch (either 2 large or 3 small ice cubes of veggies and pasta/rice/chicken) + 1/2 to a full petite filous or jelly
4.30pm milk feed 6oz
followed by tea (same as lunch with no dessert)
6.00 I have started giving him a snack when DH and I eat our tea; either small sandwich, small rusk or organix rice cake.
7.15 - 7.30 pm milk feed 10oz
No dreamfeed or night waking for feed.

Don't feel rushed into doing anything quickly, just follow your LO hungry cues and increase gradually.

I know what you mean about HV, its hit or miss whether you get a good one, although I have to say mine is good  She was wanting me to add a breakfast a few weeks before I was willing to do it (I had it in my head h was not going to 3 meals until he turned 6 mnths) as long as they have 20oz (pint in the UK) she was happy.

[* Paula *]

Lauren,

When you say 20oz - can that include yoghurts?

The reason I ask is cause my lo is only drinking about 18oz these days - He has not been well and has gone off his milk, but I do make it up with yoghurts - is that ok?

[LŠuren]

thats just 20oz (pint) milk,
yes, the rest is made up in yogurt, cheese, etc

Calum did go pretty low (22oz) for a while, but I started to increase his bottles by 1oz and he started taking them again (now on between 26 -29 per day) - I don't think I would like to stay so low again until he is older.

Just realised I am answering you on 2 posts here 

Has milk intake been low for a while, what was it before illness? What has he done to his leg? Have been been away for a while, haven't seen you posting.

[* Paula *]

Lauren,

He has never been much of a milk drinker - basically taken what he needed at that was it - even before we introduced solids.

Well he has not been very lucky this year at all - Started off in the beginning of the year he was hospitalised with Constipation, then 2 days after he was discharged he came down with Croup.  He had a cold after that

A couple of weeks ago he came down with Croup again, and got over it. 

The week after he got over Croup he went into hospital for surgery on his leg.  He was born with unilateral talipes (club foot) and has been having physio and casts to correct his foot.  He had his first op at around 12 weeks and now again just before Easter.  He will be in this cast until next week and then will have to wear a boot and brace to keep his foot corrected.  After a month or so he will be able to have the boot and brace off for a couple of hours a day and then only have to wear it at night until he is 2.

After his general anasetic (spel?) he came down with an ear infection.

On top of all that he has been teething, so things have been quite rough for him.  But at least he is not refusing his bottles point blank like he was  about a month ago.

Anyway, that is our story....

I have been around, just have not been posting on the boards, I have been chatting on the Childbirth boards - they have been keeping me very busy so have not had much time to look around - slowly but surely getting back into reading all the posts.

Sorry to have hijacked your post Jo   

[LŠuren]

OMG 
You have all been through an awful time of it. Such as shame for Lo's to have to go through surgery at this age  hope he gets better soon.

I remember the refusing bottle episode as well 

[LŠuren]

Jo
Let us know how you get on and if you need any more info just shout 

Have you tried cauliflower with cheese sauce. Or cauliflower, peas, carrots (or any veg) and cheese sauce?

[* Paula *]

Thanks for your kind words.

It is strange at how resilient they are though - He is such a happy baby even though he has gone through so much and I would not change him for the world.

[tonyswife]

Thanks Calums Mum - that's really helpful

Tom Toms Mum - I hope you LO feels better soon!

Jo x