Solid food and milk feeds
However you decide to wean, keep up with your regular breast milk or formula feeds – they provide most of the nutrients your baby needs. As the amount of food your baby eats increases, the amount of milk they take will decrease.
Cues from your baby are the best guide to reducing milk feeds. Once they’re eating more than a few tablespoons of food, they’ll refuse or take less milk, with the number of feeds dropping off naturally.
Milk feeds aren’t just about nutrition: they give your baby feelings of safety and security, too. When you drop a feed, try to offer other forms of comfort instead, such as lots of hugs and reassurance.
Breast milk
Every baby – and how much milk they need while breastfeeding – is different. Keep breastfeeding on demand, and let baby decide when they don’t need any more. Weaning is also a gradual process for mothers: reducing feeds slowly helps your body adapt to producing less milk.
Infant formula
From 6–12 months baby needs around 500–600ml of milk per day while weaning.
Solid food and milk for your baby
We recommend the NHS Choices’ article, which looks at what your baby or toddler should be drinking, and how you transition from formula and breastfeeding:
