It has been 5 weeks since I started weaning Penny according to the chart provided by the EAT Study team. She started with fromage frais / cow's milk yoghurt on week 1, then peanut butter & cod on week 2, tahini & egg on week 3 and weetabix on week 4 as part of the early introduction group. So far so good as Penny isn't showing any signs of aversion or allergies.
As the weeks progressed and I'm obliged to give Penny more and more food in order to keep up with the chart, I find that I'm struggling to balance milk & solids. Although I'm weaning Penny early, I'm a firm believer that breast milk is best for babies and is sufficient to give Penny all the nutrients she needs. If I believe that, why am I weaning so early? If you've checked out the EAT Study, you'll know that I'm weaning early in hopes that it helps prevent Penny from developing allergies later in life.
I've moved on to feeding Penny 3 times a day this week to ensure that she eats the required weekly amount. Apart from the cow's milk yoghurt/fromage frais & cod, I have to mix the rest with something else as it isn't suitable to be given "neat". Imagine giving Penny 3 teaspoon of pure peanut butter or tahini. Yuck. Doubt Penny can chew & swallow hard boiled egg without gagging especially when she still haven't got a single tooth!
As I was saying, I am struggling with maintaining the balance between milk & solids. Making sure Penny eats the required amount of food or making sure Penny drinks more milk? With 3 meals a day, Penny isn't drinking as much milk during the last feed and waking up in the middle of the night! On top of that, my milk supply is dwindling as Penny hasn't been drinking as much milk as her little belly is full of yummy food! What a dilemma!
After some thoughts, I've decided to give Penny more milk than solids, trying to achieve at least a 65% milk, 35% solids ratio. Don't ask me where or how I came up with this ratio, I just made it up as I think it seems appropriate. I'll gradually move it to 50% milk & 50% solid when Penny turn 6 months and continue to tweak the ratio the older Penny gets.
As for the dwindling milk supply and my worries that I'd dry up from feeding Penny too much solids and not enough milk, that is where the fenugreek capsules comes in. We went into Holland & Barratts yesterday while we were in town and picked up a bottle of 610mg fenugreek capsules. I took one last night and I'm happy to report that I started leaking this afternoon! I'm happy that my milk supply is improving as my breast has never felt so full / heavy in the past 2 weeks!
How sad is that? LOL.
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