[**jessie**]

I'm still a bit confused over all this solids stuff. I guess I am just concerned that he is getting proper nutrition.

So, I know milk/formula is meant to be the main source of nutrition for 12 mo, but does that mean there can be zero drop in milk intake after beginning solids?

Jaxon now gets 3 'meals' per day. I always offer the bottle before and after. He LOVES his solids. I probably give him approx 1/4 cup each 'meal'. He gobbles it up in under 5 minutes and would most definitely eat more and often gets mad when I tell him no more. Not sure if I should feed him until he is full or keep cutting him off? He has dropped his milk intake a bit. Maybe by 4 oz per day... I wouldn't even notice that if I was bf'ing.

I try to make solids as nutritionally balanced as possible. He gets fruit/rice cereal in the AM, a vegetable with a starch for lunch, and a veg/starch/meat for dinner. He also gets a small piece of zweiback toast in the afternoon. He is growing great, so no probs there and he now STTN!!!! Never had a single reaction to any food. I make some of his food and buy others (organic, no preservatives, sugars or salts added). My kid is a bottomless pit!

[Nami]

I'm not sure but when Chris was 6months he was mostly eating solids and drinking water, he only had milk at night before going to bed and once or twice at night. Our baby nurse didn't say anything about it and she knew so I'm guessing it's ok?

[**jessie**]

Thanks Nami. I have a friend who lives in the UK and her 7 mo daughter was only taking 3 nursing sessions per day and all the rest was solids and water. And that was what her doctor/nurse recommended. I haven't attempted to give Jax water yet. Did you use a sippy cup? I just know around JM's it seems like people freak out if babies take in a lot of solids before 1 yr. It's probably not a big deal as long as baby is getting its proper nutrition and I'm probably making things difficult by over thinking everything, lol.

[Trannyfromtheuk]

When I was weaning Mia i used to offer her milk 1st then let her rest an hour then give her some food. If after she had eaten her meal and she wanted more id give her a pudding, normally a yoghurt as that has calcium in it, If i remember I think i was told she needed at least 18oz of milk a day and that could be made up from formula, cheese, yoghurts etc.

If it helps, Mia is a dinky thing weighing in at 28lb at 2.5 & when she 1st started it felt like she was a bottomless bit too

Nami - I didnt realise you was in the UK - where abouts are you from?

[**jessie**]

So did you just let Mia eat her solids until she was full or did you measure out a certain amount? She is a little dinky thing! I'm guessing Jaxon is 17-18 lbs now at 6 months.

I know I should be asking my pedi these things. We went in for his 2nd vaccines about a week ago. Before that I had not seen him in 3 months. The pedi was in SUCH a bad mood (don't know why). Basically he came in, listened to his heart/thorax, gave him his injections and said come back in 4 wks for his exam and 3rd set vaccines. Literally it was a 3 min appt. He didn't even weigh or measure him, let alone give us a chance to ask questions.

[Trannyfromtheuk]

Id let her eat till she was full. Obviously id portion her some up and then if she ate that id offer a pudding, one of the dinky pots of yoghurts

[Oriyan]

J.J get's 4 formula bottles a day (5am, 12pm, 7pm, 10pm) and then gets 2 jars of fruit at 9, 2 jars of meat at 3, and 2 jars of veggies at 5.

once baby is on 3 solid offerings per day, the recommend milk intake (in UK anyway) is 20oz (1 pint). Once you're at 3 meals, the next step is to increase the amount of food you offer. Is it was me, I'd offer more food but i know you'll use common sense and not offer a bucket load simply because he kept eating, kwim?Add an extra couple of (his size) spoonfuls to each sitting, then wait a couple of days and if he's happy to take more, increase again. If you find he drops his milk drastically, you can try cutting back slightly on food to keep up the milk intake.

[LuvsPecanPie]

Not a mom yet, but I did work in an infant day care room for a few years, and once the babies started on solids their milk intake would def. drop. The solids just fill them up a lot more than the liquid does.

[**jessie**]

Thanks everyone!!!

Fi, that makes me feel better. He drinks at least 25 oz milk per day, so I won't worry about it anymore. I'm going to start to increase his meal size now because he is really keen to have more.

Sam, no wonder JJ is such a big growing boy! He has a great appetite. How much formula is he drinking daily?

Does everyone offer water in the inbetween times?

[Trannyfromtheuk]

Mia used to drink weak juice (sugar free diluted squash) with her meals and id keep her cup out and offer it every so often

[Resi]

It sounds like he is doing great to me! Your lucky he is a good eater!

[Oriyan]

Originally Posted by **jessie**

Thanks everyone!!!

Sam, no wonder JJ is such a big growing boy! He has a great appetite. How much formula is he drinking daily?

Does everyone offer water in the inbetween times?

He never drinks all of what we offer. We offer him 28oz per day. (3, 8oz bottles and he still needs his 4oz bottle at 7 to help him get to sleep). I'd say he drinks between 18-22oz per day.

We'll give water in his sippy cup at meal time but he has not figured out the whole how to suck a sippy cup yet, so he really is not getting any.

[Nami]

We did use a sippy cup and we would offer water between meals, he loved his water and still does.

Originally Posted by *ETanny*

Nami - I didnt realise you was in the UK - where abouts are you from?

I'm not from the UK, I'm actually in Sweden.

[Trannyfromtheuk]

Oooh, I got all excited when I thought you lived in the Uk. Sweden is a little far for me

I weaned Kirsty from breast to bottle at 6.5m and at that point she was on 4 bottles per day. I found it quite hard to fit bottles & food into her day, so I took out one daytime bottle and substituted that milk into the other 3 bottles. What I did was:

Breakfast: Milk & solids
Nap (you could use a bottle here)
Lunch: Water & solids
Nap: milk to get her off to sleep
Dinner: water & solids
bedtime: biggest bottle of the day

She had always been a baby who associated milk with naptime as well as "meals" so this worked well for her. Even now, she has between 7 & 9oz milk with her breakfast (somedays cereal, others is toast), then 9oz at bedtime. Plus her dairy intake of cheese, yogurts etc brings her over the recommended "milk" intake, but judge it by Jaxon, if he takes a bit more or less, it's not a bad thing. A lot of babies in my PR stopped all daytime milk when they began solids, others were slow to take to solids and were taking 32oz or more per day.

Baby is the best lead to follow. I've learnt that the hard way over the last 14months!

[Mars]

There's not much that I can add but he seems to be doing great with his meals and milk.

[soImarriedAnerd]

It weird how different advice you get from one provider to the next! LOL Just shows you should just go with your gut. With that said here is what I was told-
our Dr says no more than 1-2 oz of water until after 1 yrs old (because BM or formula has enough water in it and he says more than that is just a filler with no nutrition, the only reason for water is to practice with the cup, and no juice til 2yrs if not longer-I think thats a sugar issue with my Dr).
He told me to nurse, then wait 20 min (time it takes the tummy to signal the brain its full-same for adults) and then let him have solids till he is full (but this is with a child that feds himself so he picks his own speed so I don't have to worry about over feeding). So pretty much I'm to act like BM is the meal and then the solids is just a dessert!
Our typical day for london (8.5 months) is nursing every 4hrs (which is his on demand "schedule") and having some solids 1-2 times a day (if that).
Since we do baby-led feeding he just eats what we eat and at his own pace, which for me takes all the stress out of it since if he is full he stops, if he is hungry he eats! LOL

[~* Helen *~]

Chloe since 6/7 months has had 3 meals a day and 3 bottles a day ...

Typical day for her is

Wake at 7am
Breakfast (wheatabix or ready brek)

half 9 or 10 am 7 oz milk and nap for an hour

12 lunch ... normally a sandwich or something quick that cooks .. veggies and cheese or ham and cheese cube followed by a yogurt or dried fruits

half 1 7ox milk and a hours nap

half 4 a cooked meal normally fish or meat and veggies

7 am 9 oz milk and bed

Obviously it was more or less the same at 6/7 months just pureed .. now shes a year its chopped pieces

She has always had very weak juice in between meals sicne 9 months and water before that .. she'll drink about a cup a day and has done so since 7 months-ish

[ScottishBrit]

WOW, I wish Cambria would have eaten like that! You are lucky! Cambria would not TOUCH solid's till she was a little after 1 and even then It didn't last long. It drove me CRAZY!!! Seriously, she'd lock her mouth SHUT! She's still a very picky eater ( Like Mr. Oliver! I think they would be besties If we lived close by, Probably laughing at their mommy's who force food into them! ) and Im lucky yot get regualr food into her!