milk feeds and weaning

[rubysmum2]

Hi there
 i have read loads of info about weaning and feel confident enough to start with my little girl who is now 18 weeks and sooo ready for solids as she now weighs 18lb .
my question is when and how do i start to drop milk feeds ? obviously i know i wont need to do this for a while but just wanted a bit of advice for when i do. below is our typical daily routine:

7am

[rubysmum2]

hi
sorry about the first topic think i hit the wrong button !!!!

what you have put in your reply is what i was looking for really just wanted to know if i should leave it upto her as to how much milk she wants to take on each feed if i continue to offer all her normal milk feeds. my daily routine is as follows

7am wake 5oz milk

10am  4-5oz milk

2pm  5-6oz milk

6pm  5-6oz milk

6.45pm bath/massage

7.15pm 4-5oz milk then straight down for the night

10.30pm 4oz dreamfeed


she is very happy with this routine and seems to be thriving on it. but over the last two weeks or so she has been waking at night, but not demanding a feed just fussing a bit, been watching every mouthful of our food and trying to grab at it and pull to her mouth. i work as a childminder and the other day one of the minded children thought she might like to nibble on garlic bread !!!!  i couldnt beleive it nut she sat in her bouncer absolutely loving it. (yes i do agree garlic bread is not a very good first food !!!!!!)

Considering my 10year old boy has been to dieticians for the last couple years with food phobias ( i cant get him to eat a cooked meal all he eats is bread and yogurts !!) i havent taken the descision lightly to introduce solids. when i gave her her first taste of rice the other day i was astounded at how well she took it. perhaps because i have been giving her spoons to play and suck on she has got used to the feel of a spoon and isnt too worried about it.

thanks for any advice and replies

rubysmum2

[tylersmommy]

Like Stacy said, formula or breastmilk need to be her main sources of nutrition for several more months. Her formula intake should remain around 32 oz until at least 6 mo, then it can drop a bit to 26-32 oz. As for dropping feeds, it's up to you and her how many feeds she gets, as long as she's still getting enough formula. When we started Tyler on solids, he was on a 4 hr routine at 6 mo, so he got 4 feeds during the day, a dreamfeed, and was still waking at night. We weaned the night feeds first (not an issue in your case) then the dreamfeed, and he stayed on 4 feeds a day until he turned 1 and we introduced whole milk.

Hope that answers your questions!

[*Natasha*]

I notice you are still doing a 3hr EASY i recommend you try and move to 4hr EASY and increase each bottle before starting solids. I think it would be quiet hard to do solids on 3hr EASY as you usually give solids 1hr after a bottle/breasfeed.