please explain - solids/wcm/bfing past a year

kmm2150

I am pretty much overwhelmed by this and feel like we're not working hard enough to get DD (7.5 months) to start transitioning to eating more, using a sippy, etc., so please walk me through what you did/tell me if what I'm doing/planning on doing sounds right.

I work full time, so DD is in daycare 8-ish hours a day M-F. I send bottles of BM and just in the last month started sending one portion of pureed baby food with her, as well as a sippy cup for water. How much she's actually USING the sippy cup at daycare, I'm not sure. At home, we are doing table foods for "dinner," as well as a sippy cup of water. I plan to add "breakfast" in another month or so, either at home or at daycare (have to see how that goes with our mornings). She nurses whenever she's with me, and the amount she nurses doesn't seem to have changed much since we got past the cluster-feed marathon around 6-8 weeks old. At a year, I would like to retire the pump, but follow her lead on weaning from nursing, assuming my supply holds when I'm not pumping anymore.

I am very thankful that DD has been a pretty flexible baby - she had no problem with bottles, seems to kind of get the idea of the sippy cup, and likes food. But I'm having a hard time envisioning making a transition from where we are now to her eating more solids, taking wcm in a cup, and I guess I just feel like we've been winging it and playing around with food and sippys but maybe need to be more structured about it? If anyone could give me a play-by-play of how you transitioned LO from just nursing to regularly eating solid foods, I would really appreciate it!

tokenhoser

We didn't really have structure. We did baby-led weaning (so only table food). My son just isn't a big solids eater, so while I offered 2-3 x a day from 6 months on, he didn't really eat much until I took my boobs to work with me at 12 months. Then he started eating a bit more, but mostly still nursed. And now... he still nurses a lot when we're together. He drinks a bit of cow milk when I'm at work, but it's only 2-4 oz in a day. We offer solids at home and daycare and he eats what he wants to.

Really... just let your baby decide. Offer good choices, and accept that it's up to her to decide how much and if she wants to eat.

pepomntpat

I basically offered DD a bit of what I was eating whenever I ate. Sometimes she ate it and sometimes she didn't. She did not slow down on her nursing until 11 months and she still nurses at least 3 times a day and often 5 or 6 times. 

The sippy I also just offered with water with her meals. I don't really remember when she figured that out, but she did much better with a straw cup early on.

Unless your daycare has certain rules I wouldn't worry too much about it. 

jlsimon56

My LO also only got table food (no purees) so she was slow to start.  We followed the whole "food before 1 is just for fun".  About 10mo, she started eating more food.  She did better with a straw cup first but now can do a sippy cup - I think was helped most was her moving to the next classroom at daycare.  They don't hold their bottles for them, so if she wanted her bottle, she had to hold it herself.  

She's now 13.5mo and she nurses or gets bottles (yes, bottles - haven't started weaning her off them at all yet!) about 6 times a day.  Her bottles are 3oz each.  She eats b-fast, lunch, and dinner, and 1-2 snacks.  She still isnt' EATING as much as other babies her age (IMO) so I am actually still pumping at work to make sure I can provide her with BM.  Maybe I'm crazy, who knows.  Pumping is no big deal and my work is flexible so I just do it.