[misse10]

at the suggestion of tresillian i've moved my 6 1/2 mo bub to a 'toddler routine' with BFs after solids at breakfast, lunch & dinner (plus one overnight feed). but I do BF first for breakfast...with 1/2 hour gap between them. my concern is that he loves his solids so much that he has really reduced the amount of milk he takes for the morning & lunchtime feeds.

he's gaining weight really well so i know he's probably getting what he needs, but i was shocked at how quickly he's reduced his milk intake. he takes a good 3/4-1 cup of solids at each meal.

i guess bubba's can regulate what they need themselves..but when did your bub start cutting down on their BF amounts in favour of solids?

[deejie]

i guess bubba's can regulate what they need themselves..but when did your bub start cutting down on their BF amounts in favour of solids?

Personally, I don't believe babies can regulate their solid in take if they are being spoon fed. If you are following a baby lead weaning (BLW) approach where you are utilising finger food only and what the baby gets in is what they get, then yes, they are truly self regulating.

There are some babies who LOVE solids and will eat and eat. Then they won't eat BM/formula because their tummies are full of solids. At 6.5 months, your baby's primary source of nutrients should still be milk. I really don't know why they are suggesting solids before milk at 6.5 months.

If you are concerned at the drop in milk, can you revert back to milk before solids for the time being? Both my boys didn't start dropping BFs of their own accord until 10+ months.

[chookpea]

DS2 is 9 months and I still BF him before solids. He loves his food and has yet to turn his head away to tell me he's full.

I haven't dropped any feeds yet, and I don't intend to unless he starts to push me away for a particular feed. I figure even if he manages to swallow a handful of times, at least he's getting some milk!

If you are concerned about his milk intake, I think you should go back to BFs first before solids. I think 6.5 months is still a bit young.

[Winterdanceparty]

Breastmilk is the main source of nutrition for your baby at this age and solids are just to get the many tastes of different foods, but do not supply what he needs as far as nutrition goes. It is better to give him the breastfeed first and then let him have solids if he wants them, but they are just fun at this age.

[Natttmumm]

Sounds ok to me if he's happy with that and still having some feeds.

[lucky 2]

According to the WHO Complementary Feeding Guidelines for breast fed babies, they suggest building to 2-3 meals a day from 6-8 months, then up to 3-4 meals from 9-11 months and then up to 5 from 12 months onwards.\
The link below is to a pinned topic in the Feeding your baby forum about the introduction of solids-
http://www.essentialbaby.com.au/forums/ind...howtopic=262349
If you think your baby is having too much food and displacing too much milk too quickly (as could be if you look at the WHO guidelines) then you either drop the quantities of the meals, you drop the number of meals or you do both.
The toddler routine might be more suitable for a toddler (1 yr+) rather than a 6 month old starting solids.
As pp has mentioned, blw is self feeding and this is a pretty good way of letting the baby can self regulate feeding like they do with breast feeding.
With bfing they control attaching, intake etc and this continues with blw.
It doesn't mean you have to do blw or stop spoon feeding but it might be something to look at and ? combine the 2.
Personally the food intake of your young baby does sound large to me but whether it is a problem or not I couldn't say.
Breast milk is a complete food, early foods usually are not, ie lots of carbs, some protein and minimal fat so if a lot less milk is taken then you'd want the foods to be as equally or more nutritious than breast milk, and that might be hard to do with a very young baby.
But it wont take long, they grow so quick, in 6 months your baby will be one and on a full family diet.
Until then I think it is appropriate to be wary.
Can you call Tresillian and ask them or your chn?
All the best.