I feel like I've been given really bad advice.....

[BriocheBriocheBrioche]

Hi all,

As the title suggests I feel like I've been given bad advice with regards to weaning. We live in France (if that matters) and I have a feeling this will be long so Tia!

My DD is just 6 months old and weighs 6.4kgs (14lbs1) last month she only put on 200g and has now slipped below the bottom line on the chart.

At her 5 month pediatric appointment the Dr told us to start offering a little bit of fruit or veg here and there to get her used to different tastes, textures etc. I felt wary as I know you should wait til 6 months but I guess I was a little a excited so I did as the dr suggested.

At her appointment yesterday the Dr was a little concerned that she hadn't put much weight on so told us she was going to change her regime to help her put on weight.
Up until now she was having 4 bottles of 210ml + 7 scoops of formula plus a little bit of banana or purée here an there, although we often had to force feed her the last 30-60mls of most of her bottles.

The pediatre has suggested this:

Morning - bottle of 180 + 6 scoops
Lunch - 200g of vegetable plus 30g of fish or meat, plus dessert (half banana, little yoghurt etc.)
16.00 - bottle of 180 + 6
Dinner - 200g of semolina or tapioca with 3 teaspoons of grated cheese and a knob of butter.

[curlew]

Before I say anything else- why is she being seen by a paediatrician?

[CreatureRetorts]

How very prescribed.

Unless there are health issues I would take the baby's lead at this age!

[Wheresmycaffeinedrip]

That's a lot of food surely another bottle will be better?

[Wheresmycaffeinedrip]

To much food in fact. Quantity wise per meal. My two year old would leave half of that sometimes.

[ShowOfHands]

If you're having to force the last bits of the formula and you're only giving 4 feeds a day, have you considered giving a smaller amount of formula but more regularly? Their stomachs aren't too big at that age after all. What happens if you feed to demand?


At 6 months, milk should be the absolute main source of calories and nutrition with food being introduced for fun, flavour and as a complement to the milk.

Of course this all assumes your baby is healthy and you aren't seeing the paediatrician for any underlying health issues.

[Beatrixpotty]

I've weaned 2 babies and what worked for us was introducing food at 1 meal per day for 1 week(I did lunchtime as more time). I gave them food to play with/suck as well as spoon feeding them.The next week I introduced food at another meal too and was on 3 meals a day at 3 weeks.Babies can only eat a certain amount of food.If they are enjoying the food,carry on feeding them until they stop.Their milk intake will drop down gradually as they get more nutrition from the food.I offered water as a lunchtime drink and then topped them up with milk when they had lost interest in the food.
There is no way you can make your baby eat exactly what the paediatrician has suggested so use it as a guide.
I found the Annabel Karmel books quite helpful the first time around

[BriocheBriocheBrioche]

curlew all babies is France are seen by pediatricians rather than health visitors/gp's, there are no underlying health conditions.

show of hands we have tried giving less more often but she doesn't seem interested. She just seems to have a really weak appetite, or maybe she's just lazy as feeding her whilst asleep is the most effective way of getting milk into her.

She seems really keen on eating the food and can actually feed herself with a spoon it more the volume of it she's expected to eat and the lack of milk that concerns me.
I think I will let her eat as much as she wants of the food and top her up after with a bottle?

Thanks for the replies.

[Dumdeedumdeedum]

At 6 months my DS was still having 6-8 feeds a day and was having a few mouthfuls of food maybe once a day (mashed banana mostly) we both found the food bit stressful. He did not like the spoon at all. I got the Baby Lead Weaning book and we didn't look back. Maybe you should get a copy and have a read. I also second what was said above about having feeds more often.

[Dumdeedumdeedum]

The other thing to remember is children do not starve themselves to death! She will eat as much as she needs to.

[Wheresmycaffeinedrip]

The food that he has told you to give features very little in fat and protein which is what would fill them up. The meat would provide some but is low in fat as are the veg and the semolina is nutritionally worthless so would fill her up with no nutritional benefit at all. If you we're to do cheese sauce with the fish served with a small amount of mashed potato and squash and finger veg. Followed by banana and yogurt, that would give more nutrition in a smaller meal. He really is just filling her up but not providing the calories.

[FannyFifer]

What's the saying, "food till one is just for fun".

I would just continue with what you are doing.

[curlew]

Well in that case, I would completely ignore him! Give her what she wants to eat at meals, then milk. As she gets older, she will eat more food and drink less milk. But at this age, it's milk she needs not solids,

[BriocheBriocheBrioche]

Thanks for all the replies.

We are going to ignore and possibly change our Dr (I don't agree with her treatment of my daughters eczema either!) and go with what we feel is best for our baby.

I'll keep her on her four bottles and slowly up the amount of food we give her, doing a mixture of baby led weaning and purées - just like I wanted to in the first place.

Thanks again

Brioche.

[Wheresmycaffeinedrip]

Sounds like a good plan :) as long as she's growing, producing wet and dirty nappies and developing normally I really wouldn't worry about one blip. I'm sure if there was a problem you would notice.

[Dumdeedumdeedum]

incidentally on of DS fave foods was croissants early on!

[TalkativeJim]

This does sound very odd.

Firstly, milk should be the main dietary component until a year. Not least as it very calorific - far more so than vegetables or meat! Dropping milk feeds and replacing them with veg = far fewer calories. That's why 'wean' as a solution to weight loss/plateauing is fairly illogical.

Secondly, far fewer of these fewer calories will go in anyway when they're in food form - you can get far more milk into a baby this age than you can get them to eat in solid form. Again, 'food's for fun until they're one'. Your baby is hugely unlikely to actually eat the volume prescribed... unless of course you want to embark on a course of cajoling, persuading, obsessing over getting them to eat... which of course runs the risk of putting them off entirely. For now, getting used to tastes and textures and the mechanics of eating is what food should be for. Milk should be the nutrition.

Finally, the diet outlined here seems very odd for a baby if calories are the aim. High calorie, good baby weaning foods... I'd go for bananas, other vegetables in cheese sauce, avocados, eggy puddings, greek yoghurts. Not particularly meat, and not nutrition-free fillers like semolina!

If I were you (and again assuming that there are no other health issues that the paed is trying to address) I'd:

• keep milk as the main diet component
  
• keep food FUN and not stress about getting solids in as the last thing you want to do is make her reluctant to eat
  
• keep an eye on weight but try not to get too hung up on it, perhaps get a second opinion?
  
• stick to tasty high calorie solids with lots of good fats in them
  

Good luck!