Food and bottles

[nellynel]

I was hoping someone would share their experience please

I will be weaning soon but I'm a little confused when to offer food and bottles. He currently has bottles at 8/12/4/8. If he has his bottles then I'm not sure he'll want food but if I give food to try then how will I know when he is due his bottle? Thanks for your help. Maybe I'm making it more complicated. ..

[Princess09]

Hi,it is very complicated.i think with my son I 1st started offering him pureed fruit or veg at lunch time.i would offer it before his bottle of then if he doesnt take it he can still have his bottle.then gradually introduce breakfast after a few wks of sooner if he takes 2 his food.its a long time since I weaned,my sons nearly 6 but ive got a 17 day old baby so when he comes 2 wean it ll be like doing it for the 1st time!good luck.xx

[Hidden in reply to Princess09]

It's not complicated, advice has changed since you did it the first time. Check out Baby Led Weaning by Gill Rapley, your second baby will fit into the family and feel part of the family, it's really amazing to watch and so much easier than mushing food.

[Hidden]

Food is fun until you are one! Babies get all their nutrients from their milk until they are a year old. Food is to play with for textures and tastes, to learn about hot and cold and generally explore it. So don't worry about baby eating food. I waited until my babies could sit up independents and take food to their mouths themselves. So around six months old. I put it off as long as possible second time around to enjoy changing milk only poo nappies as once they have food they are really revolting! Baby Led Weaning by Gill Rapley is a great book to help with weaningy, lot of children's centres have them to borrow or you could borrow it from the library. I did the NCT weaning course too, which was excellent in reassuring me about what to do. They recommend giving baby a bottle before offering them food and just putting a selection of food in front of baby to play with. You'll know when they've eaten something as you will find it in their nappy. Babies digestive system is still developing so their first foods won't be digested at all and you'll be able to see what they ate. My little girl managed to bite some red pepper with her gums after about a week or so of playing with food and that was the first thing I found in her nappy! Baby led weaning is great for ensuring your baby learns to have a healthy relationship with food and is it less likely your child will become obese in the future as they learn to recognise when they are full rather than having spoonfuls of food put into their mouths. Also it means you can eat at the same time as them and only have to prepare one meal - meaning you eat more healthily too as you need to cook low salt meals. Enjoy, I loved watching my children explore food and they both eat well now for their age, they try new things and ask for more if their hungry or let me know when they are full (my 18 month old uses signs while my 3 1/2 year old can tell me). Have lots of fun and cover any soft furnishings it can get messy!

[Princess09 in reply to Hidden]

I was lead by my baby,he was 2 hungry 4 just milk and weaned at 5 and a half months.each baby is different,some can last longer,some need it earlier.i didnt pick up 1 book or do it by the letter,I went with my instinct+years of working with babies and my son eats everything.i think guidelines+conflicting advice makes mums nervous.i loved preparing his fruit+veg myself and building him up gradually.every mum is different.x

[Hidden in reply to Princess09]

Sorry if you felt I was criticising, I didn't mean to. You are right every baby is different and your second decide he doesn't want to be spoon fed and since you respond so well to your baby's needs you will follow his lead and do what works for you and him. To be completely honest, my first was sitting up well from 5 1/2 months and we started weaning then, but I let her feed herself. I still had to prepare my babies food from scratch, just I didn't need to blend it or mash it and they fed themselves, helping them to feel in control. I also had a lot of experience with babies, having seen spoon feeding in action I decided to try a different way with my own. I didn't read any parenting books apart from Baby Led Weaning, so followed my instinct and my babies. Sounds like we have a lot in common. Have a great day. 😄

[Steffi_27]

I used the baby led technique with all three of mine (9yrs, 8yrs & 10m: they all have healthy appetites and enjoy a variety of foods) although at the time it didn't have a name and there where no books, it was on the advice of my mother-in-law, who is a health visitor. I like this method cos we didn't have to worry what baby was going to have or rush making purées, baby had what we had, albeit cut up baby finger tip size. This time round we where recommended to wait till baby was grabbing food from our plates, but not before 26 wks as their digestive system is unable to cope. just start with one meal a day. We started with cucumber, after a few day we introduced soft carrots and added a new food every three days or so (to make sure he didn't have an intolerance to any foods we gave him). Don't change baby's milk feeds yet, this is still the most important source of nutrition for baby. HV recommend to offer food after milk but that didn't work with our routine so we gave it between feeds. Listen to your instincts, You'll know what is right for you and baby when the time comes.

[nellynel]

Thanks everyone .I think i am planning to go down the tradition led weaning route starting with puree fruit/veg and building it up as he takes to it. I guess when he needs food and bottles will become clear when we start. I didn't think blw was accepted as the advice yet but I can see the rationale behind letting them explore etc. I would think when they get onto finger foods they do that any way

[hough]

Agree nellynel with the others & it sounds like you have it sussed to me. My son will be 6 months Thurs, so am hoping to start weaning Sat so his Dad can join the fun; have Gill Rapkey blw book (quite a lot of NCT / HV advice aimed at this approach these days) & the Annabel Karmel puree recipe / meal planner book. Planning a combi approach in beginning.

Did the NCT solids course - really good & useful tips on what to avoid, eg honey, cows milk, etc. Recommend it.

I can't wait to start, he's been grabbing at food, plates, cups for weeks now

[nellynel]

Hi hough. Are you bottle or breastfeeding? We are using bottles. Not sure how to do it around his bottles. If i give bottle first he probably won't be hungry. Are you going to start with puree or even baby rice?