Solids Introduction Driving Me Nuts

mushi

mushi

Registered User
hi, i have a 6 -month old baby and i have recently started introducing solids to him. i give him breastmilk at 3 hour intervals. now with these solids to be given too, i am confused as to the schedule to be followed for them.
--should i give solids just before or after milk? if i give before he has lesser milk if after he overeats and then throws up later
-- if i give him solids say after an hour of giving milk then i end up sitting with him every hour/hour an half with either milk or food which is quite tiring

also his bowels are getting quick thick and constipated and he insists on passing them just after the meal failing which he gets quite irritable and cranky....all this is making me crazy....

i am a stay-at-home mum but have quite a few engagements during the day and since i take my baby along everywhere i need to know what time to give what so taht i can carry my stuff along.....also any tips on what kind of food boxes/bottles are best o carry pureed food / crereal/water?

PLS. HELP
 
hi Mushi.. I'm feeling the same frustration. My baby just turned 7 months and I started solids last month, previously with 4 hour intervals of formula milk. Now I find that he doesn't want milk anymore but enjoying his solids.. but then like you, it becomes really confusing.. I don't really know when he is hungry and wanting a bottle or not?? Anyone care to share any tips?

I'm still experimenting with the schedule.. and so far trying all the different types of puree from the supermarkets..

For constipation, give more water or more food with fibre. e.g brocoli, banana, apple puree...
 
at 6 months, i'd think that you should be able to extend the time between bf? every 3 hours seems to be a little much at that age.

when you spread them out a little more, it makes it easier to start the feeds

when you start you only want your little one to get a taste of the solids, so only one or two teaspoons is enough.

we just started off by introducing the solid at the "regular" time for lunch or dinner. i preferred lunch so that you had the rest of the day to see if there was a reaction.

we continued on that schedule trying different foods until about 7-8 months. then we gradually introduced another feed at the proper dinner time. again, it was just a small amount.

after a month or so of this, then we introduced breakfast. by this time, your baby should have tried most kinds of food.

by the time they get to 11 months or so, they should be eating at the same time as proper breakfast, lunch and dinner.

some books say do bf before, some say after. we always chose to feed solids first and then waited for about 30 minutes before feeding milk (this held true for when i bf as well as when we switched to bottle).

what i liked about the way we did it was that there was no need to adjust feeding schedules again later as the baby takes less milk. the feeds were already at the right time.

when we went out, we either ordered something that the baby could eat or would take home-made prepared food. we also used jar-ed food. this got the baby accustomed to both, making travel etc easier. when we were out longer than we thought, we could just pop into a watson's, mannings or park'n'shop to get a small jar of food.

as for constipation... someone once recommended that we mix the rice cereal with a little prune juice instead of other liquids. this was GREAT advice and neither of my kids ever suffered constipation.

but i think that the MOST important piece of advice that i coudl offer would be this:

RELAX! you're doing great!
 
Hi at 7mths my son was like this:

* 9am Breakfast 1cube oats (or rice cereal or pasta) + 140 milk
* 1pm Lunch 2cube 'oats', 2cube veggie1, 2cube veggie2, 1cube fruit + 30-50ml milk
* 4pm Snack 100-120ml milk
* 645pm Dinner 3cubes 'oats, 2cube veggie1, 2cube veggie2, 1cube fruit + 60-90ml milk
* He falls asleep between 730pm-830pm and is up at 9pm or 930pm for milk 120-140ml and then is ok until breakfast.
* Each cube should be around 25ml so i just poured some water i measured out into the cube to see where i need to fill it to (approx. only)
* I mix the 'oats' with formula and mix into the veggies to make sure he's getting the nourishment from the milk so that adds 25-50ml of milk to each meal.
* I also let him have 100-120ml of water every day (spread out throughout the day,usually after he's been playing for a while). he's teething so losing lots of fluids from his saliva. If i try to replace the water with milk, he won't drink it...
 
Oh also off topic but maybe helpful to your situation (silver lining?), since your baby is pooing at predictable times (my baby did this too, sometimes during the meal and is still like that now at 21mths), you could try taking him to the toilet and letting him poop in the toilet!! It really works!! I started doing this when my son was 6mths, he is now 21mths and poos in the toilet since then so we didn't have to toilet train him to poo. I haven't started to toilet train pee yet tho. good luck and hang in there!
 
my son is 9 months old and we started weaning at 5.5 months. It's hard to get a schedule at the start when they are just learning about solids and practicing throwing the food back with their tongues. if your baby does not take it the first meal, try again the 2nd meal. I always gave milk at each feed and if they didn't eat breakfast, i would give less milk so he would be hungrier. a sample schedule was:
7am: breakfast, i always give a little milk (@ 20 ML from 150 ML bottle) to take the edge off and he would be easier to feed and not so frantic, then food, then the rest of his milk feed at the end.
10:30/11am: milk snack (120 ML)
2:00pm: lunch + 150 ML of milk
3:30/4: water
6:30pm: dinner + 150-180 ML of milk

Months 5 - 7 were all about trying new foods. By 7 months, my son was eating 3 meals a day..with a small snack between each. If your son tends to overeat, try starting the feeding him over a longer period of time and not in just one sitting....much like they do for when your baby has a cold or for reflux babies. He will be eating the same, just over an extended period of time.

Remember, there is no right way of weaning your child as every baby is so different. Eventually, your child will tell you what works best for him/her.
 
What one must not forget is that breastmilk or formula is still the primary source of nurition for the baby till 1 year of age. And a 6 month old baby needs 600mls of breastmilk everyday. Cutting down on breastmilk or formula just to make it easier for the baby to eat solids is not a good idea. I think you are getting too stressed for no reason. Don't sit for an hour or more trying to force feed your baby, if he is hungry he will eat, or else he will like you said throw up. Constipation can mean that he is not being given enough liquid either water, juice or breastmilk. I would say you are putting too much pressure on his delicate digestive system, he is only 6 months old.
 
Last edited:
when we first started solids, we mixed breastmilk w/ the cereal (we used organix). both babies loved it and bc we used breastmilk, it was less confusing and had that mommy milk taste they loved. after about a month of this, then we tried introducing jar stuff and homemade stuff.

don't worry, you're doing fine. my babies only ate a lil bit when we first introduced solids. once they started enjoying it and getting the hang of swallowing, they started to eat more. and if they preferred milk sometimes, i just gave it to them. i just told myself that it wasn't forever... they won't be doing this when they're 30. haha.
 
I agree with Geomum,milk is the most important nutrient source. When I started to give solids to my son, I started only with 2 or 3 spoons of liquidish rice cereal, and I stopped during a week when he got constipated. Then I started again, and added prune juice.
Be careful with fibres, it's irritating for babies intestines.
 
dear everyone, thanks so much for all your helpful tips......it would have taken u quite some time and effort to type all this in so i really appreciate this..i am getting more organised at this now///carang, your advice is invaluable and i am going to do just that....i follow http://www.wholesomebabyfood.com/ for advice on what solids to introduce ...hope that would be enough....any idea where i can get baby rice (not rice cereal)?
 
where do i get prune juice from? is it safe to start it at 6 months? i.e. mixing it with food/cereal?
 
At 6mths I would still use formula or breastmilk to mix with foods. That way you can make sure they are getting enough to eat.

We didn't and still don't offer juice on a regular basis to our 21mth old son. If he is really constipated, try WATER!! It really works!!
 
when you mix prune juice you use a minute amount...like a teaspoon or so...

you can buy it at any supermarket.
 
We also used prune juice very occasionnally, diluted in water, and small amount. We used to take the baby fruit juice, or the one you can find in the adult juices (advice from my mid-wife). So now... was it because of the water, or because of the prune juice, we don't know, but it worked ! ;)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top