Purées/weaning etc

Dont replace bottles. Offer food before their bottles

From nhs website Start offering them food before their usual milk feed as they might not be interested if they're full, but do not wait until your baby is too hungry.

I feel like I was just asking for advice not to be shouted at for replacing bottles which I have not done. I’m just asking what everyone else did, no wonder everyone hates these forums.

I haven’t started weaning yet but my health visitor gave me a booklet about it to prep. You could ask them for advice or there’s a bunch of info here https://www.nhs.uk/start-for-life/baby/weaning/

I’m going to be starting soon. With my first baby, I was ebf so I always milk feed first because that’s still their main source of nutrition. Start with introducing once a day, say morning or lunch. Then slowly you increase as you go along. Go with the flow.

They say food before 1 is just for fun xx so main source of nutrition is milk until then, I’ve been told to give a bottle, then an hour later try food out because then they won’t be too full before their next bottle x

@Megan it's ok, it can seem overwhelming but it doesn't have to be. 💜 Start by offering one feed per day during a time when baby is likely to be alert and interested - whenever their most alert wake window generally is. You want to give them food when they are hungry, but not so hungry they melt down. It may help to offer a bit of milk / formula beside the meal - we did this in the hope that my girl would start to associate food with satiety and it seemed to work well. Offering about 2 oz if you are doing puree is normal at first, although they will likely push some of it out or take only a spoonful or two. It will get messy. Messy is good, it helps babies learn and become comfortable with the texture of foods. You can either feed them yourself or let them try - it's up to you. Either way just make it fun and don't push it. After 6 months you can offer water with food. Tap water is fine and perfectly safe as long as your town / city water is safe.

We offered the odd finger food alongside purees, 2 foods to a meal after a few weeks, 2 meals a day around 8 months, then 3 meals a day at 10ish months. It worked pretty well. Expect regressions and food throwing - it will happen even if they seem to take well to food at first. Introduce new foods one at a time to watch for allergic reactions, and for common allergens you should be ok to introduce them at home unless you have a concern due to family history (even then, we introduced fish at home despite family history, and it went fine). Some foods, especially acidic foods, may cause oral or digestive sensitivities - just be aware of them but don't jump the gun to allergens, you may not see the same reaction a second time. Just keep track of which foods cause a reaction and bring them up with your doctor if you have a concern.

The official advice is to offer food after a feed when they are not too hungry. Food becomes important for breast fed babies as they can't get all the nutrients they need from breast milk over time e.g. iron

@Megan It's not as bad as you think it will be I promise. We started weaning at 4 months with purees (reflux before anyone jumps down my throat). We did lots of green veg, then moved onto the sweeter veg & fruit. I also have the ready made purees for days when things are a bit rushed. I started by giving a tbsp of puree an hour before his next bottle was due around lunchtime & over a few weeks gradually increased the amount of puree and moved it back to anywhere between 4 and 5.30 (depending on his nap finishing). He now has porridge for breakfast and a puree for dinner (think full pouch of puree size). Remember to do allergens for 3 days consecutively. I've just started introducing 1oz of cooled boiled water in the sippy cup thing to cleanse his pallet when he has eaten. Our day roughly looks like this 5.30 - up & bottle 6.30/7 - porridge 7.30-8.30/9 - nap 9 - bottle 11-12.30 - nap 12.30 - bottle 2-3.30 nap 3.30 - bottle 4.30/5 - dinner 5-5.30 - nap 7 - bottle and bed Hope that helps 🩵