Hints and tips for weaning (merged)

milliebear00001

"...as opposed to the composition changing up to 2 years - because i'm aware of that"
- Oh, I had thought you previously stated that the composition of breastmilk ceased to adapt and change once 'mature' at three months?

All the studies are in in depth investigation of the changing nutritional content of breastmilk throughout the first two years. They cover the specifics of the relationship between supply and demand, which I suspect is the information you are interested in.

onlyroz

An "interesting" debate going on here, but I think a few people need to calm down a bit.

For people who want some good advice on baby weaning I can recommend Annabel Karmel's book "Feeding your baby and toddler". She says, as many people have stated, that a baby doesn't need anything but milk for 6 months, but if feeding is started sooner then it's important not to decrease the milk intake.

The advice I was given was to wait until as close to 6 months as possible. I started weaning my boy at 5.5 months, and it took him a while to get really interested in food. I started off on pureed carrot, sweet potato, butternut squash, apple, banana, pear, avocado, and then began mixing two types of puree together. Another good early food is weetabix, although probably not a "first" food. I never bothered with baby rice because it seemed to be watery and tasteless - and I wanted my son's first food to provide him with an actual taste and texture experience. I started giving him the low sugar rusks once he'd got to grips with the purees.

Some excellent advice is to freeze puree in ice-cube trays. Initially you'll find that only a cube or two is needed but as they get hungrier you can mix and match different cubes to make up a varied meal.

Once they can handle the smooth puree you can try just mashing roughly with a fork.

The hardest part with my son was getting him to feed himself. When I tried to persuade him to hold his own spoon he'd give me such contemptuous looks and then open his gob with a "you do it" sort of expression. But he's now 3 and is on the whole a good eater. We've never given him a choice at dinner time - if he turned down a meal then he wouldn't get another one. And persistence has paid off - he'll even now eat salad and green veg, which he was always reluctant to touch before.

jellyhead

Spendless wrote: »

what about moving onto lumpier food from 7 months? Has that been changed too? Both my HV said the lumpier food was to help develop speech by exercising muscles in the tongue I think they said.

When I weaned mine at 4 months, there seemed plenty of time to get them used to eating from a spoon, trying different tastes, increasing amounts of solids before moving onto lumpier food 3 months later. Are you still told to do this?

mine wouldn't eat lumpy or mashed food - he stayed on puree for a couple of months, so i was told off at the 7 month check, then went onto eating our food. he started to steal blackberries and raspberries from his dad so we just gave him ordinary food cut into smaller pieces.

his speech was delayed but at the 2 year check he could tell the hv what she was pointing to in books - he just didn't make any conversational speech. so he wasn't referred for speech therapy, just a hearing test because he's ignorant. he's turned 3 now and it's still difficult to work out what he says, the other children at nursery don't understand him. my eldest wasn't weaned until almost a year old really, and he didn't speak at all until age 3.5.

frasersmum123

The advice changed between when I had my two boys, it was 4 months when I had DS1 and 6 months by the time I had DS2. DS1 wasnt really interested in food and we waited until he was nearly 6 months. DS2 was 10 weeks - but this was on advice from a Paediatrician as he had severe reflux and wasnt gaining weight.

mum1plus1

Hi there I agree with onlyroz Annabel Karmel has some good receipies and advice but as to how and when I think only Mum (or stay at home Dad!) will know. My son was is now 13 and already 5'8'' and he was weaned at 16 weeks mainly on rice and rusks (as per advice of the day) however my DD who is now 20wks didnt show any interest in food till week 17 and only now has actually got the hang of swallowing. I think if it feels right for you both then go for it.

marywooyeah

my gorgeous little boy is 19 weeks and last saturday we started him on solids. i was ill and couldnt eat solids myself for 3 days and it was obvious breastmilk wasnt enough for him so i went to the cornershop to get some food. his first meal was egg custard as that was all that they had! he looked a little confused when i first put the food in his mouth but then he yummed it up! he has been eating creamy rice pudding and a variety of fruity dishes since then - he was never even sick or anything! the only thing he doesnt like is vegetable dishes, he turns his nose up and pulls a funny face.
i am not weaning him as such as he still is exclusively breastfed - he has never had formula - but i am delighted at how well this is going!

he has breakfast at 11am and dinner at 7-8pm, however i have noticed that when he wakes for his nighttime feed between 2 and 3am he seems quite active and wants to sit up, is this related to his solid food?
i would appreciate it if anyone could tell me thanks!

mum1plus1

It could be. Im having the same problem withmy little girl. She used to sleep solid from 10pm to 5am but since having solids is awake at 2 and then 3 (and again 4am this morning hence early posting). Im going to try and move her feed timings to earlier and go back to just milk feeds before bed to see if this makes a difference. Hopefully as just got used to more than 3 hours sleep in a row!

daphne_descends

The night waking is probably related to a developmental milestone - as you say, sitting up. Nothing to do with solid food.

Sorry you have been poorly but I can assure you that your breastmilk quality and supply is NOT affected by diet, that is a myth, usually brought up by health visitors telling people to eat junk :rolleyes: I barely ate for two weeks after giving birth, couldn't stomach anything, but fed day and night.

Weaning refers to the introduction of solid food, not formula milk. Health risks-wise it is better to give formula than wean early.

Welshlassie

marywooyeah wrote: »

the only thing he doesnt like is vegetable dishes, he turns his nose up and pulls a funny face.

You might find he doesn't like vegtable dishes because they are not as sweet as the other dishes you have been feeding him.

Try him with some pureed carrot, sweetpotato or other root vegtables as these are traditionally sweeter. When I started weaning DS at 15 weeks my HV recommended I started with vegtables and then when he had the hang of those slowly introduce fruits and other sweeter options. He is now brilliant at eating almost anything (except egg), although he's not eating very much of anything at the moment as he's not been well.

onlyroz

Haven't got time to read the whole thread - but I can recommend using ice-cube trays to freeze small amounts of puree. Then, to make up a "meal" just defrost a variety of different cubes.