Starting solids: when do you find time to feed them??

rubber_chicken · November 2012

Sorry, this is long!

So LO is 5 months, and we're expecting to get the go ahead to start solids at her 6 month appointment. I want to do Baby Led Weaning, but I think I'd have this question anyway if we were doing purees: WHEN in the day do you feed your baby solids?

LO wakes up at 6:30, we just have enough time to give her a bottle and get her dressed before getting out the door at 7:20. My husband and I both eat breakfast at work. (I WFH two days, so obviously I eat at home then, but always after they've left)

LO gets home from daycare at 6pm and is asleep by 7pm. Sometimes she falls asleep on the bottle and we have to wake her up to get her cleaned up and changed and ready for bed. We eat dinner after she's gone to bed.

So, my question is, when the hell are we supposed to feed baby solids? I can't see changing her schedule at all - this is already the minimum amount of sleep she needs cuz she barely naps at daycare. Should we just scrap BLWing and send purees to daycare? Or just do solids on the weekends? How do other WMs handle this?

katieh1017 · November 2012

We do purees. I try a new one on the weekends. And if she doesn't have a reaction (which she has had to some) then I send it to dc and they feed her. We are only feeding her once a day right now because of the stomach issues she has had. This week she is eating pears & oatmeal mixed. They give it to her around 9am, about an 1.5 hours after she had her morning bottle at home. It works out good.

mexicolombiana · November 2012

Hm I think you're over thinking it. Just send mashed food for baby for daycare, and try feeding her dinner as soon as you get home. When they start solids it's just a little bit of food for fun, so I would say whenever you're with the baby just try out some solids. You don't have to stick to a rigid schedule.

In our house we feed the baby whenever we eat! ie- breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks, and the nanny keeps this same schedule.

Good luck!

And you said you WFH 2 days so just take a break from working a few times and feed her some food.

IdigDirt · November 2012

We had a similar schedule when I was commuting a long way to work. I sent purees for about 2 months if that and did solids and purees at home. I got home a bit earlier though and did dinner around 6:307 and bed at 7:30. Then at around 8 months I started sending solids for lunch until maybr 9 months and at 10 months for breakfast and lunch. LO is a big eater so he liked getting 3 meals a day early but if you don't have a big eater then you may get away with just lunch at DC for a while.

jlaOK · November 2012

Our schedule was similar to yours where we didn't get home until 6 pm. We would feed him right when we got home and start on a Friday to have 3 days of any new food. If he was too tired in a Friday to eat a solid then we'd just feed him on the weekends.

KathrynMD · November 2012

We started on the weekends and just did it late morning after a good bottle, at leasat an hour before the next one. Don't worry about it too much - try to do something in the evenings - just a few tastes of whatever you have around and that your LO is interested in. It shouldn't take more than 10-15 minutes right now. After you've done that for a week or two and your LO seems interested and is getting the hang of it, start sending foods to daycare and ask them to try to do it too and use their judgement about when is a good time or they may want to work on getting your LO on the same feeding/meal schedule as the older babies/toddlers.

Netty_3 · November 2012

We started solids at 6 months. LO was the same way for a little while, his schedule has changed though.

Honestly, until they're 12 months, they should still be getting most of their nutrition from a bottle, and solids should be more about learning about food, their textures, and how to navigate it to their mouths. So I wouldn't worry if you're unable to fit in a solid dinner on occasion...we started out just offering breakfast, then added in dinner, then lunch...now he has three meals and three snacks a day. Everyone can ease in that way.

LO has always eaten with us. We began eating at the table for every meal, and making sure dinner doesn't begin too late. Now he eats a lot more solids for nourishment, and we're trying to get him to not only eat from a pre-loaded spoon, but to figure out how to load it himself...he refuses as of now.

Maybe try to plan your dinners in advance, so that if anything needs defrosting, it's in the fridge already. That way, it's one less thing to worry about. Sometiems we'd have fruit that there's no way we'd be able to eat all of it before spoiling, and I'd blend it and freeze it in ice cube trays, then transfer to a freezer bag. That helped so that we could just toss an ice cube in his oatmeal...or send it to school.

rubber_chicken · November 2012

mexicolombiana:
!
And you said you WFH 2 days so just take a break from working a few times and feed her some food.

Oh, she goes to daycare those days - I couldn't wfh if she was here!

rubber_chicken · November 2012

hocus:
I'd also consider looking at your nipples she should be able to finish a bottle and get dressed faster than 50 mins.

She's on size 2 - we tried going up a size but she just dribbles all the milk out. She's a slow and distracted eater.

Our getting dressed routine (both for the day and for pjs at night) takes so long because she has REALLY bad eczema. We have to cover her head to toe in aquafor and check her all over for breakouts and areas she might need cortizone. She also needs her hair combed twice a day because she gets knots - if I dont get them early her hair gets really matted and nasty.

Breezy8407 · November 2012

We are trying to figure this out right now. Ours are exhausted when they get home from DC, too. We have time for baths and bottles, but they are usually so crabby and tired they fall asleep during the bottle. It's been so hard to be consistent during the week.

Right now they are eating rice cereal at daycare around lunchtime, then eating a bottle after that.

Our goal next week is to also give them solids right when we get home at night - so cereal and a veggie - then do baths, then do a bedtime bottle an hour or so later. We're hoping to drop a bottle soon since we still have 6 bottles a day.

KathrynMD · November 2012

Breezy8407:
We are trying to figure this out right now. Ours are exhausted when they get home from DC, too. We have time for baths and bottles, but they are usually so crabby and tired they fall asleep during the bottle. It's been so hard to be consistent during the week.
Right now they are eating rice cereal at daycare around lunchtime, then eating a bottle after that.
Our goal next week is to also give them solids right when we get home at night - so cereal and a veggie - then do baths, then do a bedtime bottle an hour or so later. We're hoping to drop a bottle soon since we still have 6 bottles a day.

Its been a while, but have you tried giving bigger bottles?

mexicolombiana · November 2012

rubber_chicken:
mexicolombiana:
!
And you said you WFH 2 days so just take a break from working a few times and feed her some food.
Oh, she goes to daycare those days - I couldn't wfh if she was here!

Oh duh. yes ok.

rubber_chicken · November 2012

Breezy8407:
We are trying to figure this out right now. Ours are exhausted when they get home from DC, too. We have time for baths and bottles, but they are usually so crabby and tired they fall asleep during the bottle. It's been so hard to be consistent during the week.
Right now they are eating rice cereal at daycare around lunchtime, then eating a bottle after that.
Our goal next week is to also give them solids right when we get home at night - so cereal and a veggie - then do baths, then do a bedtime bottle an hour or so later. We're hoping to drop a bottle soon since we still have 6 bottles a day.

I think we're in the same situation! Baby girl still takes 5-6 bottles a day - we've tried giving her bigger bottles but 5oz is the most she'll eat at a sitting, and at least one or two of those bottles she won't even finish. Maybe because it's all expressed milk (I exclusively pump) instead of formula, I don't know.

I could try giving solids right when we get home, but we usually give a bottle then, and the BLW book says not to give solids in place of a feeding.

Maybe I am overthinking it, or maybe I'm stressed from trying to fit in baths and nail clipping and hair brushing and story time and cuddle time into two freaking hours a day. I just really wish she'd sleep more at daycare and less at home - who would've thought that having a GOOD sleeper would be stressful!

Breezy8407 · November 2012

KathrynMD:
Breezy8407:
We are trying to figure this out right now. Ours are exhausted when they get home from DC, too. We have time for baths and bottles, but they are usually so crabby and tired they fall asleep during the bottle. It's been so hard to be consistent during the week.
Right now they are eating rice cereal at daycare around lunchtime, then eating a bottle after that.
Our goal next week is to also give them solids right when we get home at night - so cereal and a veggie - then do baths, then do a bedtime bottle an hour or so later. We're hoping to drop a bottle soon since we still have 6 bottles a day.
Its been a while, but have you tried giving bigger bottles?

My son will take a bigger bottle. But like OP, my girl is a distracted eater. She often won't finish her 6oz bottles. With twins, we can't function with two separate schedules, so she is holding him (us) back from moving up. But, we are making a lot of changes in the next couple weeks, so I think it's time to drop a bottle for them and she will have to adjust.

Breezy8407 · November 2012

rubber_chicken:
Breezy8407:
We are trying to figure this out right now. Ours are exhausted when they get home from DC, too. We have time for baths and bottles, but they are usually so crabby and tired they fall asleep during the bottle. It's been so hard to be consistent during the week.
Right now they are eating rice cereal at daycare around lunchtime, then eating a bottle after that.
Our goal next week is to also give them solids right when we get home at night - so cereal and a veggie - then do baths, then do a bedtime bottle an hour or so later. We're hoping to drop a bottle soon since we still have 6 bottles a day.

I think we're in the same situation! Baby girl still takes 5-6 bottles a day - we've tried giving her bigger bottles but 5oz is the most she'll eat at a sitting, and at least one or two of those bottles she won't even finish. Maybe because it's all expressed milk (I exclusively pump) instead of formula, I don't know.
I could try giving solids right when we get home, but we usually give a bottle then, and the BLW book says not to give solids in place of a feeding.
Maybe I am overthinking it, or maybe I'm stressed from trying to fit in baths and nail clipping and hair brushing and story time and cuddle time into two freaking hours a day. I just really wish she'd sleep more at daycare and less at home - who would've thought that having a GOOD sleeper would be stressful!

We're not doing BLW, but it has stressed me out, too. It seems silly...because it should be simple right?

mexicolombiana · November 2012

I am sort of doing BLW but my baby still gags on stuff and it freaks me out a little. I chop things into tiny pieces.

KathrynMD · November 2012

Eating really should be fun for you and your LO. Skip the bath/nail clipping some days and just think if BLW as fun time/play time for you and your LO. Grab a chair and a piece of bread or some crackers and a glass of water (or wine) for yourself and you nibble a few and give your LO the same thing to eat. Talk with her while you eat and she can eat it or not. The next day - do the same crackers and a piece of cheese, split a banana one day, etc.. If you skip one day or 4, no big deal. If both you and your DH can sit, great, if not and the other one is doing dishes or straightening up, no biggie. This should be easy and fun.

Leap08 · November 2012

KathrynMD:
Eating really should be fun for you and your LO. Skip the bath/nail clipping some days and just think if BLW as fun time/play time for you and your LO. Grab a chair and a piece of bread or some crackers and a glass of water (or wine) for yourself and you nibble a few and give your LO the same thing to eat. Talk with her while you eat and she can eat it or not. The next day - do the same crackers and a piece of cheese, split a banana one day, etc.. If you skip one day or 4, no big deal. If both you and your DH can sit, great, if not and the other one is doing dishes or straightening up, no biggie. This should be easy and fun.

I agree with this! It should be fun and it doesn't have to be a big deal. Make it something you both look forward to at the end of the day. Can you send finger foods to daycare? I did this when my daughter was first starting to eat. I'd usually send some fruit (banana, peaches, berries) and cheerios or bits of waffle for breakfast. I'd also send some steamed or roasted veggies for them to try at lunch (potatoes, sweet potatoes, carrots, squash, etc..). After a month or so she just started eating part of whatever they were serving the older kids. The great thing about BLW is that the baby is feeding herself and no special food is required. This should be easier and less time consuming than purees, and it really should be fun.

shellybird101 · November 2012

I say have her have her morning feeding between her 6:30 bottle and her 9:30ish bottle and lunch (if doing right away) at around11:30-12 and have the DC give her dinner around 4:30-5 if they can.

I'm not sure if that made sense. I guess babies don't eat alot of soild food at first and when they do start eating more they may start weening off a bottle or two.

GL

cltk12 · November 2012

DH and I were just having this exact same conversation. When is there time to actually fit this in?!? We are going to start solids in a week and are trying to figure out when we can do this. There's not time in the morning before work because as soon as ds wakes, we change him, nurse and out the door. At night, we have some time where we have some time, but I read some posts yesterday that you're not supposed to start at night because of possible tummy troubles.

I don't think you're over thinking it....just trying to figure out when to do it.

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