Am I feeding my 9.5 month old enough?

[lane0413]

My 9.5 month old just doesn't seem to eat as much as the other babies I was reading about on the 10-12  month old eating forum..Her daily schedule is something like below--sometimes we have to give her breaks during her bottle and sometimes she will go back and drink the rest and sometimes she fights it.. We really haven't ventured out much food wise..She eats the biscuits sometimes.. I tried to get her to eat the Yo Baby yogurt but she acted like she was going to puke... Sometimes I try to give her macaroni and cheese but she doesn't grasp with her fingers well and most of it ends up on the floor... What else should I offer her?

7:30--4-6 oz bottle
9:30 --jar of fruit
12:20-- 3 to 6 oz bottle
2- jar of veggie
4:30---4 to 6 oz. bottle
6:45---pretty big bowl of oatmeal cereal
8:00-- 5 to 6 oz bottle

[~*Nicole*~]

Has she always only taken 4-6 oz in her bottles? Just curious b/c I know DD took about 8 and then dropped her intake until we dropped to 3 bottles a day rather than 4. You said she doesn't grasp food well, will she refuse food if offered on a spoon by you? DD went through that phase, and we went to a lot of finger foods, but she lets me feed her again now at 12 months. You can offer a ton of finger foods....any of the veggies you offer in jar form, can be offered soft/cooked in small pieces that she can feed herself. Cheerios, pieces of bread, pancakes, other pastas with tomato based sauces (if you don't put a lot on they are less slippery and easier to grab--same goes with mac n' cheese, if you make homemade with flour and cheese etc you can make it a bit drier and it's easier to grab), you can use any soft fruits or cook the harder fruits like apples/pears and offer them in small pieces as well. Anything that comes in a jar can usually be prepared in a finger food way. Around this age, DD started eating a lot of what DH and I were eating, excluding allergy prone foods and choking hazard foods.

The biggest things are....are you and your lo comfortable with introducing these foods? How is her weight gain? If her weight is fine I wouldn't worry much. Food is still not a main source of nutrients until 1 year. BUT if you don't introduce more finger foods your lo may not take to them at age 1 and then you may end up concerned about food intake etc. You might want to check out the threads/FAQ pages about baby led weaning for ideas so that this transition goes smoothly for you.

HTH.

[lane0413]

She rarely finishes a 6 oz. bottle.. If she does and we think she's still hungry we will fix 2 more oz. but she rarely eats it.. She has always eaten pretty good when I feed her with a spoon.. She's getting better at feeding herself finger foods.. Just this past week her fingers have learned to pinch things better...

Am I doing right offering her bottle first? I offer it first b/c if I offer her jars of food first, she doesn't want much bottle.. but i guess by now the food should be more important than the formula???

The doctor has never said that she needs to gain more weight. She will be 10 months on the 9/14 and weighs 18 pounds 13 oz right now... I was a small baby and I guess she will be too..

[~*Nicole*~]

I know others whose los are only hitting 19 lbs at 1 yr. so don't worry about weight...she is fine there. I think you are right to offer the bottle first. Only around 1 yr is food becoming more important for nutrition esp. with the switch to cow's milk etc. So still for a couple more months you can do bottle first or even think about switching to sippy cups so it'll go easier later when you'll want her to drink from a cup (1 yr +).

If you are offering food and she is eating what she wants then that's all you need to do. If you want to try offering another jar or 1/2 or more finger foods each feed to see if she is interested, you can. She won't eat what she can't handle. And since she is in the mid-range for weight ( I am assuming mid--as DD is a bit bigger and I know some smaller ) she may not want much more, you know? You're probably following her cues and that is what you're supposed to do!

HTH