Confused about when to give solids & bottle

[monique]

I am completely confused about when to give my 4-month-old his solids & bottle. "Baby Love" and the Great Ormond Street Hospital childcare book say to give the solids first and then follow straight away with a bottle. This makes sense to me as he can have his solid food and then as much bottle as he wants until he's full. They also suggest that what we should be aiming for is bottle upon waking and before going to bed and then breakfast lunch and dinner in between.

From reading the other posts on this site it looks like what most other people are doing is giving solids in between bottles/breastfeeds. Doesn't this mean that you're then feeding 7-8 times a day? It must take up nearly the entire day. Do the babies eventually take less milk or drop a couple of their bottles/breastfeeds?

My son is sleeping from 8:30/9:00 until about 7/7:30am, with 5 bottles. I want to start him on solids but have had so much conflicting advice I don't know what to do! Is anyone else doing the solids first then bottle? Did you try it and it didn't work? Any advice anyone can give will be greatly appreciated. My mother can't remember back the 32 years to when I was a baby and I don't have anyone else to ask.

[Maxs_MumMy]

Hi Monique,

When i started giving Max solids at 4months my rountine was this: 250ml Bottle at 7isham though would stop once he reached 100mls and would then give him banana baby rice ceral 1/2 cup and then the rest of his bottle to finish. Then at 11isham same thing though his solid then is sum puree fruit,like apple, pear etc.Then his 3ish feed it would just be a 250ml bottle and for his last feed for the day at 7ishpm would be his bottle and vegetables same as i was giving in the morning.
Then after his last feed its bath time and bed and thats max down till 7ish next morning.
Hope this helps...i wasnt clear how, when, or what way to do it, so i thought to myself when i eat i like a drink before and after my food so i just did that for Max.

In between meals i give him water and his teeting rusk.

GoodLuck! :D

[HoopDeeDoo]

Hi Monique,

They do eventually cut down thier bottles/feeds, but don't try to cut them down for your 4 month old just yet :p Because they only eat really small amounts to begin with solids are more for a taste or something different, and to get them used to eating. But most of the nutrients and essential things they need are in thier breast milk or formula. So it's more important that they drink all thier milk. So if your little one isn't drinking and then eating he may not be ready for solids, or you might want to wait a bit longer after the milk feed. I used to give a morning bottle, then wait an hour or so, and give a bit of rice cereal mixed with water and fruit puree. And went from one solid feed a day, to two, and then eventually three. But just make sure he's ready for it and don't try and give too much all at once. There are some good tips on the hienz baby food web site www.forbaby.com.au
Hope this helps, :)

Emma

[Chickadee]

When initially starting solids the idea is to just introduce them and fit the timing around bub's usual bottle times. You shouldn't need to add bottles.

Most bubs start with solids being timed after a regular bottle. As others have said, its really just a taste and supplement.

As they take more and more solids and move towards 3 regular "meals" then the order tends to switch to having solids first and then bottle after as top up.

I found this switch to be gradual and natural, and didn't really think about it. Bottle and meal times just gradually adjusted over a period of 2 or 3 months as DD grew and her apetite for solids increased. The more flexible you can be the better sometimes since bub's routines are never the same for very long!

[Aprilsmum]

We started by introducing one solid a day for one week (breakfast). My DD is BF so she got one side then solid then the other side. Every two weeks I introduced a new solid (lunch - for 2 weeks & then dinner) until 6 weeks later she was taking 3 solids a day with "a boob" either side. For morning tea and afternoon tea she just gets a BF and no solids. Once she was on 3 solids a day, I started to offer solids first and then BF to fill her up.

This is what worked a treat for us. Hope you find something that works for you too.

[mimi]

Hi guys

Here in Australia the national recommendations [according to our National Health and Medical Research Council 2002-3] say
- solids at 6 months
- milk before solids until at least 9 months [as milk is the main source of nutrition until 12 months]

Solids in that second 6 months of life are only meant to be a taste and texture experiment for them anyway ... so if you don't want to be bothered with all hat extra fuss, just give it a miss until 6 months I say!!

Good luck!

:)

[jamb]

When we first started, bout 4.5months I did food then bottles.

Like others said, it really is only taste testing, well it was for my bub- he really was not that interested in a meal so to speak. More interested in the texture/feel/process. So he would literally have about 1 to 2 teaspoons then just a bottle.

It was a very gradual process, not half as quick as i thought. I expected him to dive into cereal for breakfast, fruit for lunch and veges for dinner. That just did not happen. Now at 8 months we are sort of somewhere there, and he is more interested in actually eating- grunts/groans/squeals etc.

Sometimes i think we start food becaused we want to rather than bub needing it. Yes bub was watching like a hawk but i'm starting to think he was (and still is ) watching everything, its how they learn. Even no its the bottle that gets him really really excited!

Just have fun and enjoy the stinky poops!