The Weaning Thread

implausible

Rose35 wrote: »

The milupa feeds are for the creche for afternoon snack. So i gave him one on saturday to see if he would like it, still not keen on giving cows milk to a 6 month old though, will use formula milk i think when making up my own.

Cow's milk on its own is not nutritious enough for small babies and it's a common enough allergy to have, that is why it's recommended not to give it to a baby under 6 months. Unless there is a family history of an allergy to them, it is perfectly safe to start introducing dairy products at 6 months.

My two started off solids on Ready Brek, they loved it and it's more natural and cheaper than heavily processed stuff like Milupa.

Pebbles81

Hi all,
I'm looking for some advice re formula.
My little girl is coming up to 6 months and up untill now I've been ebf.
In addition to starting her on solids I'm going to switch to formula.
So what I'm wondering is do I give her just the normal formula or a follow on milk?
Am quite confused, feels like I'm starting all over again!!!!
Thanks in advance

liliq

When you're starting to switch from breast milk to formula I believe it is advised to use first stage formula.

Pebbles81

liliq wrote: »

When you're starting to switch from breast milk to formula I believe it is advised to use first stage formula.

Thanks liliq, that's what I have. Was supposed to start the process on Monday but I've chickened out so far! Will start this evening....first feed I'm going to cut out is her last one before sleep tonight .

Sligo1

Hi all, this is prob the best thread for my question! Started our little one on baby rice last week. And gave him some purée veg last night. He loves it! My question is: how many teaspoons would you give a 4 month old? My fella is a big lad and he'd keep eating if I let him! I've only been giving him about 3-4 teaspoons. Can I start giving him a bit more? He takes it fine. But last night after the veg was farting like a trooper! I don't want him to get tummy aches if I give him too much? Thanks :-)

dublinlady

Sligo1 wrote: »

Hi all, this is prob the best thread for my question! Started our little one on baby rice last week. And gave him some purée veg last night. He loves it! My question is: how many teaspoons would you give a 4 month old? My fella is a big lad and he'd keep eating if I let him! I've only been giving him about 3-4 teaspoons. Can I start giving him a bit more? He takes it fine. But last night after the veg was farting like a trooper! I don't want him to get tummy aches if I give him too much? Thanks :-)

I know I was saying before about avoiding baby rice but because of his age I would still use it and maybe go 50:50 with baby rice and veg/fruit purée just so his little gut doesn't get too big a shock!! You could give him another couple of spoons that way so satisfying his appetite but not irritating his tummy! I know some pp, are very anti the rice but it is useful as a gentle filler I think when just starting to introduce the foods - I just wouldn't stick with plain rice - I'd try something new every 3 days or so and then mix them a bit so he doesn't get bored!
My girl didn't eat too much until 6 months so it was diff but even then too much of a change in diet really affected her wind wise etc so thats why I'd recommend the baby rice!

Neyite

When the baby is under 6 months, then I'd up the rice instead of the fruit and stick to the gentler fruits. Rice is gentler on the younger tummy.

skit490

Just wondering what everyone's take is on gluten where previous history of hay fever asthma etc in family. Just starting weaning. Want to avoid baby rice, attempting blw but she's not really interested.

emer_b

Sorry skit no advice for you on that, I'm new to this too!

Started spoonfeeding my 6 month old 12 days ago. For the first few days she took about 4 tiny spoons of rice mixed with expressed milk but is now refusing carrot and sweet potato for the past week (I'm making it very runny, mixed with expressed milk).
I know it's still early days but should I persevere with the veg, try it twice a day, switch to pear purée?

How Strange

skit490 I think the main thing with blw is to let the baby lead. It can be a very slow process starting off but you're doing something which has 'food is fun until 1' as one of its main ideas. Breast milk or formula should still be the main source of nutrition and the good is for exploring taste and texture.

On the topic of gluten I thought the current advice was to introduce it before 8 months to reduce the likelihood of intolerances or allergies. I don't know apart from that. We used to have toast as part of blw from the start at 6 months.

Rose35

How Strange wrote: »

skit490 I think the main thing with blw is to let the baby lead. It can be a very slow process starting off but you're doing something which has 'food is fun until 1' as one of its main ideas. Breast milk or formula should still be the main source of nutrition and the good is for exploring taste and texture.

On the topic of gluten I thought the current advice was to introduce it before 8 months to reduce the likelihood of intolerances or allergies. I don't know apart from that. We used to have toast as part of blw from the start at 6 months.

i don't understand this- toast ??? at 6 months? i couldn't imagine - my heart would be in my mouth!!!!

How Strange

Lol!! Mine was Rose but that's the thing about blw. I got a great tip here I think about sitting on your hands and counting to ten before intervening. Thankfully I've only ever had to intervene once. There's lots of gagging noises, bulging eyes etc with blw that is terrifying at the start. But you've got to deal with the gagging and the bulging eyes at some stage when you move from purées to textures and finger foods.

Rose35

How Strange wrote: »

Lol!! Mine was Rose but that's the thing about blw. I got a great tip here I think about sitting on your hands and counting to ten before intervening. Thankfully I've only ever had to intervene once. There's lots of gagging noises, bulging eyes etc with blw that is terrifying at the start. But you've got to deal with the gagging and the bulging eyes at some stage when you move from purées to textures and finger foods.

I just don't get it, J is my first baby so maybe im just overprotective, i just could not do blw.

implausible

Rose35 wrote: »

I just don't get it, J is my first baby so maybe im just overprotective, i just could not do blw.

It can be scary. You have to remember that swallowing and chewing is, like everything else, a skill that needs to be learned - just as when they learn to walk, they'll fall down at times, they will gag the odd time as they get used to it.

skit490

implausible wrote: »

It can be scary. You have to remember that swallowing and chewing is, like everything else, a skill that needs to be learned - just as when they learn to walk, they'll fall down at times, they will gag the odd time as they get used to it.

I've been doing some purees too. Fruit at lunch n its funny that is only time thought she was gonna choke cos she sucked it back fast off d spoon. Wen she picks things up herself she does better. Amazing to see her trying to chew. Only done steamed veg so far though. Might give her toast soon. But might have to change from d nutty wholegrain loaf usually get.

Buyingcar2012

We are first time parents and our 6 month old has been on solids for about 3/4 weeks now. We are wondering how much milk(bottles) he should be getting in light of that?

We are giving him 4 x 8oz's which is the same as before he got solids. He has been difficult to feed since he was 3 mths as he likes to fight the bottle so we would welcome being able to give a lower amount! Should we give any water to supplement the reduction?

He is being fed food at lunchtime and around 6pm. Bottles at 7.30, 1pm, 6pm and dream feed around 10.30. This can vary slightly but he has a good routine and always sleeps the night.

Also wondering how much puréed food you would give a 6 mth old? We are following Annabel Karmels book but it can be hard to quantify as vegetables eg carrots can vary so much in size?

Rose35

My 8 month old is still drinking between 4 and 5 8oz bottles as well as solids, at a recent visit to the hospital the doctor said he should still be drinking that amount, at least 32oz in a 24 hr period, now saying that, he does have a breakfast and dinner but sometimes will eat a liga or rusk in eve, he was recently diagnosed as lactose intolerant so his formula was changed and he has developed a gagging habit when given solids as he is so used to having reflux since a newborn, but it is important they still have their formula up until 12 months at least and it shouldnt be substituted with water.
Give your baby as much pureed food as he will take, he will develop a taste for it and you can up the amounts gradually as you go on, every baby is different. Good luck with it, it was all new to me as well as J is our first.

Buyingcar2012

Rose35 wrote: »

My 8 month old is still drinking between 4 and 5 8oz bottles as well as solids, at a recent visit to the hospital the doctor said he should still be drinking that amount, at least 32oz in a 24 hr period, now saying that, he does have a breakfast and dinner but sometimes will eat a liga or rusk in eve, he was recently diagnosed as lactose intolerant so his formula was changed and he has developed a gagging habit when given solids as he is so used to having reflux since a newborn, but it is important they still have their formula up until 12 months at least and it shouldnt be substituted with water.
Give your baby as much pureed food as he will take, he will develop a taste for it and you can up the amounts gradually as you go on, every baby is different. Good luck with it, it was all new to me as well as J is our first.

Thanks for your response. One confusing thing that I should have mentioned is that the Aptamil container (no1) says to reduce it to 3x7oz after 7 months?

Does everyone use Aptamil 1 until 12 months or do you use follow on milk once weaning starts?

Rose35

Buyingcar2012 wrote: »

Thanks for your response. One confusing thing that I should have mentioned is that the Aptamil container (no1) says to reduce it to 3x7oz after 7 months?

Does everyone use Aptamil 1 until 12 months or do you use follow on milk once weaning starts?

Yes I also thought at this stage J should be on about 3 bottles but was told different at the hospital. Formula is important in their diet as it contains key nutrition that they need that solids may not give (so iv been told), It is not necessary to change to follow on milk, keep baby on formula that he was on from start, it does say 0-12 months.

Suucee

So A wil be 1 in just over 2 weeks. She is a brilliant eater and eats everything i give her except fruit. I used to puree her fruit and that was fine but when i went back t. Work at 6 months i started buying the cow and gate fruit pots and gave her 1 for afternoon snack. She loves them but will not eat fruit in its proper form not even a banana. She will eat raisins though. So ive gone back to puree in the fruit myself and storing it in pots in freezer but should i keep at her to eat it in its whole form. Nothing else is pureed. She eats pasta, chicken , veg, even bacon etc and has no problems. As i said she is brilliant eater and loves the fruit purees wheather its mine or cow and gate she devours it.

Freddie Mercurys Bolero

Do keep trying with the fruit, maybe eat some fruit yourself and offer some. try different stuff, particularly wit summer coming there's loads of yummy things around. DS loves mango, pineapple. straberries, peaches and pears. they will eventually come round to it if you keep offering and don't make a fuss about it. if they don't want it then just say 'ok' and eat it yourself:)

movingsucks

I'm going around in circles with my crittur.
She's well able to pick anything up and chew it (even though she has no teeth!) But most of the time she spits it out or even worse stores it in her mouth and spits it out later.
Had a traumatic incident where a piece of food got stuck to the roof of her mouth and she couldn't drink her bottle and went crazy with rage.

I puree fruits and vegetables for her and 30% of the time she eats the other times you have to sing and make a big fuss to get her to eat anything at all.
If she had her way she'd just eat yoghurt and ice cream!
She's happy to offer her food and try and feed it to me.

She won't drink anything but SMA either. She'll take a few sips of juice or water then remember she hates it and throws the cup away. Or plays watering can with it.
We have two good days and then five crap ones.
Keep saying she'll get there in her own time but its not good for her digestive system all this messing around

dublinlady

movingsucks wrote: »

I'm going around in circles with my crittur.
She's well able to pick anything up and chew it (even though she has no teeth!) But most of the time she spits it out or even worse stores it in her mouth and spits it out later.
Had a traumatic incident where a piece of food got stuck to the roof of her mouth and she couldn't drink her bottle and went crazy with rage.

I puree fruits and vegetables for her and 30% of the time she eats the other times you have to sing and make a big fuss to get her to eat anything at all.
If she had her way she'd just eat yoghurt and ice cream!
She's happy to offer her food and try and feed it to me.

She won't drink anything but SMA either. She'll take a few sips of juice or water then remember she hates it and throws the cup away. Or plays watering can with it.
We have two good days and then five crap ones.
Keep saying she'll get there in her own time but its not good for her digestive system all this messing around

What age is she? My little one was exactly like this for a while - ill tell ya what we did depending on her age as at different times different approaches are better!

movingsucks

She's 11 months Dublinlady, it's gets better for a while and then we're back to square one again.

dublinlady

You ciuld be talking about my girl when she was 11 months! She's 14 months now and soooo much improved!
Basically - she was always a challenge to feed - we tried everything & it was hit & miss! We tried 9 sippy cups.... Still can't believe that!!
We found the free flow avent one the best in the end even tho it's messy as she topples it - when she starts messing we just take it off her and leave it on table beside her and she will reach for it again if she wants it!
She only started drinking & eating properly about 6-8 weeks ago when we reduced her formula! We were afraid to reduce the formula as she wasn't eating but it was a vicious cycle!! So I would wait til 12 months just giving her one option of a meal each time - if she refuses it don't stress - if she's hungry she will eat it. Don't give her too many options as they soon learn to demand their favourites! We usually offer a small but of something she likes like bread or yoghurt if she's had nothing but that's it. Then we reduced her bottles from 3 x 8 oz bottles to
Am - 5 scoops in 7 oz water
Pm - 4 scoops in 6 oz
Night - 8 in 8 oz
This by the way is totally not recommended and ppl will prob give out to me for suggesting dilution but it was the only way we could get the fluids into her without filling her up on formula so she wouldn't eat!
Now at 14 months she eats her 3 meals really well and drinks half a cup f water a day and
Am - 2 scoops in 5 oz water
Pm - the same but if she does well with the cup we don't give it at all (5o% of time)
Night - 8oz in 8 oz

She gets about 2 -3 oz cows milk in her porridge.

If we can get her to improve the sippy cup we will try her on some cows milk in the morn from her cup but right now she won't touch it in the morn!

She also eats a banana or some such snack in the morn and half a liga in the afternoon! We have dinner time between 5-6 depending on how her day has gone so if we know she won't be hungry til later we put it off so she won't refuse it!

Basically we learnt she wasn't hungry as the formula was filling her up - this was also the prob with thirst!

Hope that helps - but they are all different and you can only do what u think is best!

movingsucks

Thanks so much for taking the time to write all that!
It's good to hear it got better for you and I'm not alone!
I'm on my fifth sippy cup so I can definitely see how you got to nine, it's so hard to know with her if she actually likes the contents or if she just can't drink from the cup!
I was giving her a bottle of water at one point but the she decided she wasn't having that any more!!!
She still has four bottles some days but I've reduced the amounts in them so it's not so bad.

iguana

Can not believe that I'm here already but Sam will be 6 months in a few days and I've started a bit of baby led weaning with him. He had a few sweet potato fries today. I say a few but most of the food actually ended up on the floor but I think a little of it made it's way into his digestive system.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kgnqerjx5p4

Neyite

Iguana, is it six months already?? where does the time go?

Nicky987

Hi everyone, just a bit of advice please...

Gonna start weaning my little girl shortly and have found pots that can be sterlised but what about spoons and also are there any cutlery holders that can be sterlised? Or do I not have to sterlise spoons etc?? Little one is 4 months!

Ms2011

I sterilised plastic spoons but never sterilised bowls or pots. TBH I only sterilised the spoon cos they fitted in the steriliser otherwise I would have just cleaned with hot soapy water.