Hellobee Boards Topic: How do you make the transition to more food and less milk?

Hellobee Boards Topic: How do you make the transition to more food and less milk? https://boards.hellobee.com/ Pregnancy, Baby and Parenting blog, by Hellobee en Fri, 24 Apr 2026 10:45:10 +0000 T.H.O.U. on "How do you make the transition to more food and less milk?" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-do-you-make-the-transition-to-more-food-and-less-milk#post-265530 Tue, 21 Aug 2012 10:51:14 +0000 T.H.O.U. 265530@https://boards.hellobee.com/ I think it kinda just magically happens. You think at 6 months, there is no way I will get 3 meals in, and then by 9 months you laugh at trying to get 2 tsps in per day! Keep up the practice and offer lots of options frequently and they will get it! rachiecakes on "How do you make the transition to more food and less milk?" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-do-you-make-the-transition-to-more-food-and-less-milk#post-265512 Tue, 21 Aug 2012 10:35:43 +0000 rachiecakes 265512@https://boards.hellobee.com/ my LO is the opposite - at 8 months it's a struggle to get him to drink a bottle or nurse but he could eat solids all day if I let him. He's 60th for height and 45th for weight, so he's doing well, it's just frustrating for me, haha red_seattle on "How do you make the transition to more food and less milk?" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-do-you-make-the-transition-to-more-food-and-less-milk#post-265509 Tue, 21 Aug 2012 10:33:35 +0000 red_seattle 265509@https://boards.hellobee.com/ @irene: About the iron thing--there are mixed thoughts on that it seems: Here's more from KellyMom: <a href="http://kellymom.com/nutrition/vitamins/iron/" rel="nofollow">http://kellymom.com/nutrition/vitamins/iron/</a> And from AAP: <a href="http://www.healthychildren.org/English/ages-stages/baby/feeding-nutrition/Pages/Vitamin-Iron-Supplements.aspx?nfstatus=401&nftoken=00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000&nfstatusdescription=ERROR%3a+No+local+token" rel="nofollow">http://www.healthychildren.org/English/ages-stages/baby/feeding-nutrition/Pages/Vitamin-Iron-Supplements.aspx?nfstatus=401&nftoken=00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000&nfstatusdescription=ERROR%3a+No+local+token</a> So there's a CHANCE that your baby MIGHT be low in iron if exclusively breastfed past 6 months. KellyMom says don't worry about it. But if you're concerned, the AAP recommends that around 6 months, you introduce foods that contain iron. Cereal, yes, but also beef, spinach, and other things are fine too. As a supplement, not replacement to breastmilk. They still recommend that you breastfeed until a year, and longer if you and baby still want to. Mrsbells on "How do you make the transition to more food and less milk?" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-do-you-make-the-transition-to-more-food-and-less-milk#post-265431 Tue, 21 Aug 2012 09:27:10 +0000 Mrsbells 265431@https://boards.hellobee.com/ @irene: I havent heard about babies needing iron if they are breast. I was only told about vitamin D, so we give my baby vitamin D drops. Definitely ask your pediatrician about it though. irene on "How do you make the transition to more food and less milk?" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-do-you-make-the-transition-to-more-food-and-less-milk#post-265369 Tue, 21 Aug 2012 08:21:54 +0000 irene 265369@https://boards.hellobee.com/ Thanks all! This is good information and good to know what everyone else is doing - @red_seattle: @Mrsbells: @Mrs. Superhero: @artbee: That's what I was told too that food before 1 is just for fun. However I also read that after 6 months, babies need iron because their "reserve" is used up, and breastmilk doesn't provide enough iron for their needs. That's why we have to give them iron-fortified cereal, or they'll have anemia. Is that true? Or just advertising from cereal companies? But thinking back, our ancestors don't give babies "iron-fortified" food anyway and we all turned up well. I don't know. looch on "How do you make the transition to more food and less milk?" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-do-you-make-the-transition-to-more-food-and-less-milk#post-265276 Tue, 21 Aug 2012 03:24:08 +0000 looch 265276@https://boards.hellobee.com/ We did food before milk, my son loved solid food though. We did purees at first because I wasn't sure what kind of allergies he would have and I didn't really feel comfortable giving him eggs or wheat before 1 year. red_seattle on "How do you make the transition to more food and less milk?" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-do-you-make-the-transition-to-more-food-and-less-milk#post-265261 Tue, 21 Aug 2012 01:50:27 +0000 red_seattle 265261@https://boards.hellobee.com/ We're in the "food is just for fun before 1" camp. At 9 months, Baby X still nurses or gets a bottle of breast milk an hour or less before he gets food. He is naturally cutting back though-- he nurses 6-7 times a day now (which translates to every 2.5-4 hours), and eats a ton. We are off the purees, he just does finger foods. (We kind of did a hybrid of purees and baby-led weaning.) I don't pay attention to how much or how often he eats, I just plop him in his high chair a few times a day, put food on his tray and when he gets fussy or starts feeding the dog his food (both signs that he's done), I stop giving him food and we end the meal. mrstilly on "How do you make the transition to more food and less milk?" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-do-you-make-the-transition-to-more-food-and-less-milk#post-265124 Mon, 20 Aug 2012 20:16:26 +0000 mrstilly 265124@https://boards.hellobee.com/ what I heard was "food before one is just for fun". My pediatrician basically agreed with this, though did advise us to gradually start reducing milk from about 11 months onward as we got ready to transition from formula to cows milk, and solid foods transitioned to be the main source of nutrition. I think 6.5 months is way too young to start cutting back on milk. My son didn't start solids until 6 months and we didn't cut back on formula until we was about 11.5 months old. We just let him play with the textures and flavors. Mrsbells on "How do you make the transition to more food and less milk?" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-do-you-make-the-transition-to-more-food-and-less-milk#post-265120 Mon, 20 Aug 2012 20:13:35 +0000 Mrsbells 265120@https://boards.hellobee.com/ My LO is only 4 months old and has started solids yet but I was told "under one is just for fun" so until they are 12 months old breast milk or formula should be their main source of nutrition mrs. wagon on "How do you make the transition to more food and less milk?" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-do-you-make-the-transition-to-more-food-and-less-milk#post-265111 Mon, 20 Aug 2012 20:07:32 +0000 mrs. wagon 265111@https://boards.hellobee.com/ We always started out with solids then finished the meal with milk. Also, we switched to straw cups, and offered milk only at meals. sandy on "How do you make the transition to more food and less milk?" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-do-you-make-the-transition-to-more-food-and-less-milk#post-265107 Mon, 20 Aug 2012 19:59:15 +0000 sandy 265107@https://boards.hellobee.com/ @irene: I worried about this too when I started LO on solids at 6 months - she didn't eat much and didn't seem interested in food. I started with just one feeding of solids a day at 6 months and when she started taking more over several weeks I added another feeding of solids...I think this was at 7 months. Then she was eating pretty consistently 3-4 oz at each feeding so I added a third feeding at 8 months...and around this time she transitioned from 3 naps to 2 naps so it worked well for her feedings. I nursed her when she woke up and about an hour later she had her solids. Around 8.5 months she started showing a stronger interest in finger foods (not just Cheerios and puffs) and refused her purées and would want bits of our food. I nursed her 4 times a day (at each waking and before bed). Now she is 9 months and eats 3 full meals (3-4 oz of purées plus a ton of finger foods - pasta, chicken breast, steamed veggies like green beans and broccoli, cheese, toast, egg yolk, etc. just take it slow and it will happen. I never thought it would but very slowly she started eating more and more and somedays I have no idea how she eats so much lollipop on "How do you make the transition to more food and less milk?" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-do-you-make-the-transition-to-more-food-and-less-milk#post-265096 Mon, 20 Aug 2012 19:47:33 +0000 lollipop 265096@https://boards.hellobee.com/ When we first started ger on solids, i would give her a bottle first then 1-2tbsp of cereal an hr later. Now at 7 months, her schedule looks like this. 7:30 7oz bottle, 30 min later cereal with fruit (2tbsp), nap, 11:30 lunch (3-5 tbsp), 1 hr later 4 oz bottle, nap 2, 3oz bottle, 5:30 ish dinner (3-5tbsp), 6:30 bedtime with 7 oz bottle. At her 6 months visit, the ped said to try the b/l/d routine and aim for 3 6oz bottle a day and try to push solids. I thought this was a little strange since my LO is on the smaller side (3rd percentile for wt). The b/l/d routine seems to work but with the staggering, i feel like i'm feeding her around the clock! heffalump on "How do you make the transition to more food and less milk?" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-do-you-make-the-transition-to-more-food-and-less-milk#post-265078 Mon, 20 Aug 2012 19:28:04 +0000 heffalump 265078@https://boards.hellobee.com/ My doctor said food before 12 months wasn't really for nutrition, it was more to get the baby used to eating and they still get their nutrition from bottle /breastmilk. My lo has always been a good eater so luckily I didn't have to worry, she ate plenty of each. But I always gave solids and then an hour or so later gave milk. Like I said.... she would always eat both. Mrs. Superhero on "How do you make the transition to more food and less milk?" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-do-you-make-the-transition-to-more-food-and-less-milk#post-264993 Mon, 20 Aug 2012 17:49:28 +0000 Mrs. Superhero 264993@https://boards.hellobee.com/ We baby led wean, so to start with, I don't stress about it too much before a year. I nurse her whenever she wakes up plus a couple extra times still (maybe 5-6 times a day) and I fed her solids when she's awake for a meal time, so 2-3 times a day. When I did this with Toddler Girl, she just starting dropping feeds on her own when her solid intake increased. If she was super fussy/uninterested in a feed for a week, I would just stop feeding her at that time. By 11 months she was down to two feeds (waking up in the morning and waking up at naptime), down to one feed by 14 months and then she self weaned at 17 months. So I guess I'm saying that I feed Wonder Baby (who is also 6.5 months) milk at milk time and food at food time and she will eat what she needs to eat. BabyBoecksMom on "How do you make the transition to more food and less milk?" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-do-you-make-the-transition-to-more-food-and-less-milk#post-264938 Mon, 20 Aug 2012 16:50:11 +0000 BabyBoecksMom 264938@https://boards.hellobee.com/ I was just about to ask the same thing so I'll be following this post. irene on "How do you make the transition to more food and less milk?" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-do-you-make-the-transition-to-more-food-and-less-milk#post-264931 Mon, 20 Aug 2012 16:34:53 +0000 irene 264931@https://boards.hellobee.com/ LO is 6.5 months now and we started solids 2-3 weeks ago. He is not eating much because we've been giving him milk first before food. However, I read + heard that by 9 months they supposed to eat 3 times a day and get milk 3 times a day, and they suppose to eat a lot more (4 tbs cereal + 1/2 cup veggies and fruit or something @ meal). With the way he eats I just don't see how that would happen. My question is when do you do solids first before milk? And how do you make that transition to more food and less milk?