Lazy baby and weaning

[lou121087]

Hello. My daughter is 6 months and we've been weaning now for 2wks. She hated it at first but now getting use to it and actually opens her mouth for food. I don't know when my baby should be having 2 or 3 meals a day. She's currently having 1-2 a day if I'm lucky. She has 4 bottles of 7oz or 6oz if she's eaten a meal a day every 4-5hrs. But most mornings she's not getting up until 8-9:30am! But she then doesn't go to sleep until 10-11pm! So if she gets up at 8 she'll get porridge around 10 and normally gets a warm dinner in the afternoon but is it too late to give her food in the evening like after 6pm? Or should I start to wake my baby early as I've always been told to leave her to sleep. She'll have 2 naps during the day which could be 20mins to 2hrs,so trying to get food In doesn't always happen so that's when she might just have 1 meal added, I'm not doing a great job with weaning yet but it's all new to me. Also what other foods can she have as we just have puree and porridge. She had the odd rusk but she tries to take big chunks out of it. Any help would be great x

[Lovefood1984]

We started with just one meal for a few weeks and then moved to two (so don’t stress and we didn’t manage two everyday like you say because of naps etc), we moved to 3 when her lunchtime and tea time bottles got small (couple of oz but she was never a massive milk drinker 4-5oz for most bottles) so I dropped them and gave food at lunch and then a bottle half way between that and tea as I figured that could then be replaced as a ‘snack’ later. I’ve kept the morning bottle an hour before breakfast (we’re 11 months) as she goes to nursery and they feed her breakfast when she gets there and it’s too long to go after we get her up and sorted etc. A friend of mine started giving it after breakfast as that was better for the school run and having an older child and has now dropped that one as not much milk was being taken. She’s also kept the afternoon bottle as she dropped the bedtime bottle (I know, weird child! I was hoping to do it the other way around so she now gets bedtime snack as she started waking early due to hunger 🤦🏼‍♀️)

Really what I’m trying to say is every baby is different and as long as they are getting enough calories per day then that’s what they need at this age, just be led by her as to when things might need a change or a tweak. I’d only worry if by 1 she was still having loads of milk and very little food, it’s just a gradual process.

In terms of food ideas I gave Kiddylicious wafers a lot when she was younger alongside purée so she could get used to the finger food idea and went from there onto bananas and soft stuff, I just kept trying different foods to see if she had learnt the chew skills to process them yet and for her to get used to flavours and textures. My friends daughter was quite early to eat crumpets and toast but my daughter has only just properly got the hang of that sort of food. I still find I’m giving her the same stuff day in day out as she prefers finger food now but it needs to be stuff that has some structure and doesn’t easily fall apart but is chewable (nightmare!)

I don’t know about her sleep times but perhaps you might want to consider gradually moving her sleep times earlier? When my daughter was 9 weeks she wanted to sleep almost that late too but I made the decision she had to be up at 8 which then eventually meant I was putting her down at 8 which works really well for us. If she’s not going to bed until 10-11ish then I don’t see a problem with tea around 6-7 as for another child who goes to bed earlier they might be having theirs at 5 for a 7pm bedtime so only 2hrs before bed 🤷‍♀️

All the best with weaning x

[destiny121]

Sounds like you’re doing a great job to be honest and it’s all learning.... new to baba and new to us mums. My lb is 7 months on Thursday so have been weaning him for the past month. His routine seems very similar to yours however he does go bed around 9pm sometimes later if he’s having a bad day teething etc or when he’s napped too much during the day. With my lb I lie him on the floor and play and let him roll over etc until he’s tired and then he’ll want a bottle and sleep. You maybe doing this already I’m not sure.... but try to make baba tired when they seem to energetic in the evening and she may drift off sooner .... it’s worked wonders for me lol.... on the food front as long as they’re getting fruit and veg that should be ok for now so try lots of those...have you got any books at all.... I brought one on amazon called ‘ 100 baby recipes’ by Annabelle and it’s really useful with lots of recipes.... good luck!! And if you’ve got any useful tips for this weaning please let me know 😊😊

[lou121087]

Thank you for your replies. I'm sure we'll get into a routine of feeding. We're also going to be putting her into her own room in the next month as my partner disturbs her a lot when he gets ready for work so hopefully once we start our nightly routine she might wake up a bit earlier lol. But she's always been a sleepy baby and that's why I don't wake her. I do have recipe books which I need to start reading. At the moment she has puree from jars. But she's also very lazy so doesn't use a lot of energy, she hates being on the floor shes more interested in eating anything she can get her hands on. She doesn't try to roll unless she's on the sofa as it slants down slightly so it's no effort lol. She's also a tad chunky. I'll hopefully get her weighed next week and see what they have to suggest x

[Hidden]

Food is for fun until they are one! Let your baby touch the food, know what it feels like, learn and experience different textures and sensations. I did Baby led weaning and let my children take the lead, read Baby Led Weaning by Gill Rapley if you want to find out more, it’s great for so many reasons... including some very funny photos!

[MissEd]

I never agree with the food for fun until one. My lb has been devouring food since 6 months, it deffo isnt for fun for him he loves eating it and is down on his milk hugely.

Every child is different, some dont take to food, some love it. So for some it is for fun, but not all.

I did 1 week of one meal, 1 week of 2 meals and 1 week of 3 meals. Purely because my little one was ready.

As above we used wafers and other finger food. Banana is a good one, you can start by mashing it for her to taste it before giving her fingers of it.