Feeding FAQ: 4-6 months – Weaning

I am not sure if my 5mth baby needs solids three times a day or to go onto formula to prevent her night feeds

My daughter still needs feeding at 10pm and 3am. I don’t know whether to go onto 3 solid meals a day [breakfast, lunch and tea] or whether the time has come to convert over to formula. Which should I do first anyway? With regard to formula feeding at which feeding should I bring this in? I have a feeling my baby will reject this initially. How do I deal with that? I do need to do something as my daughter still needs feeding every three hours and I realise I need to make the time between feeds longer.

At present she is fully breast fed at the following times: 6.30am, 9.30am 12.30pm, 3.30pm, 6.00pm, 10pm and 3am. She takes 3-4 tablespoons of vegetables or cereal with fruit at 10am and 3-4 tablespoons of baby rice with fruit at 4pm.

She weighs 16lbs.

My daughter naps at 8.30-9.30am, 11.30-12.30pm and 2.30-3.30pm. She settles at 6pm.

Until a baby is well established on solids it is better to keep the10pm feed in place. A fully breast fed baby may need to keep this feed in place for longer than a bottle-fed baby and may also need an early morning feed until she is taking in enough solid food during the day.

Looking through your notes, I see you are offering solids at 10am and 4pm. If you look in The Contented Baby Book or The Contented Book of Weaning you will see that solids are given at 11am/11.30am and 6pm. The reason in structuring the feeds in this way is to help your baby sleep well at night. By giving her solids at 10am your daughter may cut back on her next feed. This will make her hungrier at the afternoon feed. If she is given solids at 4pm she may not feed so well at 6pm and so need a feed in the night.

At present, milk is still the most important part of your daughter’s diet so she needs to be offered solids after a milk feed, rather than between feeds which may cause her to cut back on her next milk feed.

Giving solids at 11am makes it easier to push this feed to nearer 12 midday and become “lunch” so your daughter can then have breakfast between 7am and 8am. If you feed her at 10.00am it will be hard to push this on to 11am or beyond and she will begin increasing her next milk feed instead of decreasing it as she has more solid food. Having solids at 4pm is too early to help her sleep well at night. Until she is having three full meals a day, with protein at lunchtime, her solids presently given at 4pm need to be given at 6pm, after her bedtime feed.

To help you structure her feeds and solids better you will need to make some adjustments to your day. Introduce these slowly so your daughter is not too disrupted. When she wakes at 6.30am offer her a full breast feed. To keep her a little more on track give her a top up feed around 7.30am so she is able to get to 11am before her next feed. Her morning nap needs to fall between 9am and 10am. If your daughter is tired by 8.30am move the nap forward slowly by 5-10mins every few days, so she is going down nearer to 9am, and then wake her around 9.45am.

Providing she is able to wait to nearer 11am don’t offer her a feed at 10am. If she finds it hard to wait this long offer her one side at 10am/10.30am and then the second at 11am/11.15am. Then give her the solids. This should be made from a carbohydrate rich vegetable, such as sweet potato, with another vegetable added such as green bean or carrot. Use more of the carbohydrate vegetable to fill up your daughter and help her sleep well at her next nap. Her long nap of the day should fall between 12.15-2/2.15pm. Once she has woken after this nap, offer her a full breast feed. If your daughter has slept well at lunchtime she should get through the afternoon with just a short 15-20 minute catnap and be ready to have her bath at 5.30pm.

At 6pm offer your daughter a full feed then the baby rice and fruit. If she is very tired by this time, then split this feed by offering her one breast at 5.30pm followed by the rice and fruit. Delay bathing until 6.30pm and then give her the second breast before settling her. Another way to do this feed if your daughter is tired is to give half her rice and fruit at 5pm, a bath at 6pm then a full milk feed followed by the rest of the rice and fruit before bedtime.

Once you have set the solids in place in this way you may find your daughter cuts down on the amount of milk she takes at 10pm. Keep this feed going, however small, until you have eliminated the feed at 3am. If you notice she is less interested in feeding at 6.30am then cut back on how much you feed her at 3am. Once you feel she no longer really needs the night feed then try to settle her with a drink of cool boiled water should she wake. A fully breast fed baby may still need a feed at 6am/6.30am, rather than 7am, until fully weaned.

You will know when your daughter is ready to have breakfast once you have moved her next solids to 11am/11.30am. If she shows signs of hunger well before 11am then begin to give her a small amount of cereal at 7.30am/8am. Use a gluten free cereal until she is six months old.

If you decide to move your daughter onto formula take a look at the plan for this in The Contented Baby Book, page 56. As she has not yet had formula at the 10pm feed introduce it at a daytime feed first. Make sure it is a feed for which she is really hungry and begin by giving her a small breast feed. Warm the formula first as breast fed babies are used to warm milk. If your daughter has not used a bottle at all it may take a while for her to adjust to it. It may help her if you first offer her expressed breast milk in the bottle, rather than formula, until she becomes used to sucking from a teat rather than a nipple. Be prepared for some resistance but use an encouraging tone of voice rather than thinking she will reject it. Your daughter needs to learn a new skill and will do so if given time and encouragement.

Some mothers find using the NUK teat and bottle rather than Avent helps a baby to make the change between breast and bottle easier. Make sure there is a steady flow from the teat so she is rewarded with milk as soon as the teat is in her mouth. If your daughter does start to cry when the teat is put into her mouth, don’t be put off and take it out. Keeping it in her mouth is the way you will get her to suck on it. If you keep taking the teat out she will just get very cross and not realise that there is milk in the bottle for her to enjoy.

It might help if someone else gives your daughter the bottle at first, as she will associate you with breast feeding. Once used to taking bottles she will accept you giving them to her as well. Providing she accepts a bottle happily you can change her onto formula by giving her a mixture of breast milk and formula, gradually decreasing the breast milk and increasing the formula.

If there is no rush for you to go onto formula take things slowly and drop feeds one by one to keep yourself comfortable and your daughter content.