Feeding routine for 6-9months

[Nadia's Mom]

My DL is just at 6 1/2 months and has alway been a good eater. I'm beginning to wonder if she may be eating to much but on her last doctor's visit (7/31/06) she was 15lb 13oz and was 26 1/4 tall so it seems to even itself out.

  7:00 - Wake and BF
  8:30 - 5 tbsp of rice cereal & 2.5 oz of fruit or vegetable
11:00 - BF
  3:00 - BF
  5:30 - 7 tbsp of rice cereal & 2.5 oz of fruit or vegetable
  6:45 - BF
  7:00 - Bedtime

By the end of the month I'll be adding a lunch to her routine and giving her some finger foods for snacks(ie...Cheerios, teething biscuits)

[hynoki]

Milan is 6.5 months old and we started solids last week. Before we began solids, he wanted (breast)feeding every 3  hours, with a 6 hr interval at night. This was exhausting so i'm glad its time for solids, but now reading all your posts has me worried  that he's eating too much (and sleeping too little) and i'd appreciate your opinions.

His schedule is approx:

7.15am   bf
8-10am   sleep (or sometimes not)
11am     1 whole mashed banana
12-12.30pm sleep, if lucky
1pm      bf
3pm      half a small pot baby veggies (about 60 gram). He would eat a whole pot if i let him
5-6pm   sleep
6pm      bf (plus 1-3 baby rice crackers if he still looks hungry whihc is almost always)
9pm      180ml formula with 3 scoops rice cereal
9-12midnight sleep (really -refuses- to sleep before 9pm)
midnight bf
sleeps till 7.15am


When not eating or sleeping Milan is really active, refuses the playpen, wants to explore on the floor and smile and "chat" all day. As long as he gets his way he's pretty angelic, but can scream mightily with big tears if forced to stay in bed.

So, is he eating too much (considering we began a week ago) and sleeping too little?
 

[nicolanorway]

hynoki, i was looking at your routine and it looks a bit wonky. you breastfeed at 7am and not again until 1pm? try the morning Bf followed by cereal at about 8am, then for lunch you can either give him lunch then Bf at 11am or Bf and lunch (upto you, many different methods here). do a hot dinner like you are with maybe a little fruit as desert at 3pm plus a BF either before or after. you could also just Bf at 3pm and give him some dinner or cereal at 5ish. this is all up to you but it seem that he isn't getting enough food. you have to take it slow with the solids things and seems that you have drastically cut down his milk intake, you do this all very gradually. are you having more problems with him being unsettled with this routine? i know it all seems rather confusing at times and there is so much different information out there. in the BWSAYP it states that when solids are established (3x day) you should offer milk after eating, you could also offer milk/water in a sippy cup at meal times. i all post in the jan/feb birth club thread (found under EASY forum), you could try going on there, it is very helpful to see what the other mum's are up to with their LO's. i live in norway and they reccomend 4Xmeals a day, i will write out christian routine for you and also i have done PU/PD with him and he sleeps a lot better now- just a thought
christians routine
7am a little BF followed by 3/4 tbsp cereal followed by more Bfding
11am 3 ice cubes of veg and 2 of fruit followed by BF
3pm 3 ice cubes fruit and 2fruit or banana etc followed by BF
6.45pm 3/4 tbsp cereal followed by BF

i have just started BFding after meals and including the 4th meal, i am not sure i will stay with this routine, just experementing at the mo. he did sleep through last night so maybe??

[nicolanorway]

stacey, i got the advice from my Hv here in norway, i wasn't quite sure what to do about, before i had been giving solids 3x a day after Bfding. i also check in the BWSAYP and in the solids chapter it states to give solids first once you have established them. i also write in the jan/feb birth club thread and it seems everybody is also giving the milk first. what's going on??? i understand advice differs from country to country but if we are supposed to be baby whisperer's then why aren't we all following tracy's advice. also it stated that solids become a lot more important after 6 mths and they only b\get app.50% of their nutrition from milk. help me clarify thing's, please

[nicolanorway]

thanks stacey, i think i will continue Bfding after solids for a few more day's and see how it goes. i must admit i didn't like the thought of him getting full up on solids but maybe that's the way it's suppsed to be?? he did sleep through last night, which he has only done a few times before. i suppose i can go weigh him next week and see if he has gained. if he hasn't then i will switch back to our old routine.
thanks again, nicola

[becky1969]

I feel like such a grown up mommy being able to post our feeding schedule WITH solids! Woohoo!

Owen is 7.5 months. We started solids at 6 months (he can't tolerate cereals, so ped OK'd no cereal in his diet)

7 wake
7:30 Bottle - 8 oz.
8:30 solids : 2-3 Tbs veggie, 1 Tbs fruit, 1 tsp of new food for the week; offer sippy of water (hasn't figured out how to drink from it yet, tho!)
10-11:30 nap

12:00 bottle (the last few days this has only been 4 oz.)
1:00 solids : 2-3 Tbs veggie, 1.5 Tbs fruit, offer sippy
2:30-4:00 nap

4:15 bottle (8 oz)
5:00 solids: 2-3 Tbs veggie 1.5 Tbs fruit, offer sippy
6:00 bath
6:30 bottle (6-8 oz)
bedtime routine
7:30 bed

...and no more dream feed! We've now had 1 week of successful dream feed elimination

[BabyBsMommy]

Here is Brenden's current feeding routine at 7.5 months.  As many of you seem to be wondering, I am also always worried as to whether I am giving him too much or too little solids!
7am bf
8am solids - 2-3 tbsp cereal, 2 cubes (equal to 1 tbsp per cube) of fruit
11am bf (sometimes a tad later based on naps)
12pm solids - 2-3 cubes veggies, 2 cubes fruit
3:30pm (sometimes as late as 4 based on naps now that A times are longer) bf
5:15pm - solids - 1-2 cubes veggies, 2-3 tbsp cereal, 1 cube fruit
7pm bf
10:15 df - 7 oz (we are currently on day 2 of dropping the df, so I should mention I am adding 1 oz ebm to his 8am cereal right now)  His df  bottle was 8 oz that were 1/2 ebm and 1/2 formula.  At 7 oz, it is 3 oz ebm and 4 oz formula.

[hynoki]

For comparison, here is a solids, bfing seperate routine.  Your baby is napping far too late in the daytimie to be expected to go bed earllier. The later bedtime is also likely having some restless nights. 

Stacy and Nicolanorway, THANKYOU for your insights!
I've been adapting his schedule to match Stacy's suggestions and Milan is sleeping more predictably during the day, as well as sleeping more reliably during the night. We still have some early waking issues though and
I'm still trying ot fig out over how to get him to accept dinner and bedtime by 7.00 instead of 8.30...
 
He currently does the following:
7.00 BF (he often wakes between 5-6.30 but i dont feed him until 7)
8.30 breakfast (solids)
10-11.30 sleep (sometimes less)
11.30 or 12.00 bottle (i'm switching from bf to bottle)
1pm lunch solids
2.30-4 sleep
4pm BF
6pm dinner solids (refuses to eat any earlier)
8.30pm bottle with porridge (and asleep shortly after)
11pm dreamfeed porridge-bottle (he does not wake to ask for this so we havnt been giving it to him, but last weekend the babysitter decided to wake him and he finished 200ml and slept through till 8 am, instead of his usual 6.30am, so wondering if we should reintroduce it!)

On the plus side, we never have to do pu/pd with this routine. He falls asleep himself within a few mins of being put into bed.   
But how to get him to bed earlier? (and does he need to?)  Is it ok to continue the dreamfeed? I did so love the 8am start!

[BabyBsMommy]

He may need to go to bed a little earlier, this may be why he is waking up so early in the morning.  My ds used to go to bed around 8:30.  We changed it very slowly by putting him to bed 5-10  min earlier for 3 days in a row until we got to the bedtime that seemed to work best for him and got him sleeping until 7am.  this just happened to be 7:30 for us.  As for the df, I can't remember how old you said Milan was in earlier posts.  My ds is 7.5 months and we just started to wean the df this past week (about 5 days in).  He too, takes a lot - 8 oz - but now we are down to 6 oz and we have added the 2 oz we have taken away to his cereal at 8am (1 oz) and his veggies and fruit at lunchtime (the second oz).  So, if he isn't closer to 8 mos or so, I don't think it's bad to still have the df going but I think between 7-8 months in the book, Tracy says that the df can start to interfere with the amounts of solids they should be eating through the day.
HTH! 

[OneMagicMummyv2]

this is today for my 9 and half month old. i am implementing a new routine today this is it.
5am BF
6am got up breakfast a banana and a lemon curd sandwitch and some tiger bread
7.30 small cup of juice
8am BF
9am nap
10.30 snack probably fruit a banana and some mango and some water/juice
12noon BF and lunch not sure what to have for lunch
1pm nap
2.30 snack with water/juice
4pm BF
5PM Tea
6PM Bath
6.30 in bed and hopefully asleep by 7

he is used to a bf at 9-10pm and overnight sometimes but i wotn be giving theses from today
Kiz

[Cassie]

Palmer is 9 mos.  He is also milk/soy protein intolerant so he can't do must cereal (has a hard time digesting it).

4am - BF
8am - BF
9am - 1T cereal made with juice, 4oz pears/peaches/applesauce (I am introducing Oatios as a finger food but he can't quite get them in his mouth yet)  rice milk in sippy (maybe 1-2oz)
10-11:30 Nap
12 - BF
1 (sometimes 1:30) - 4oz fruit/ 1/4 avocado or other veggie  rice milk or water in sippy
2:30-4:30 Nap
4:30 BF (very short)
5:30-6 - 4oz fruit/2oz veggie  water in sippy
8 - BF (very short)
to sleep by 8:30

Any suggestions on cutting out the night feeding??  This is actually the best feeding of the day.  He empties both breast.  I feel like my supply is really low the last 2 feedings of the day, so I am wondering if that is why he is waking up at night.  If I could give him formula I would try supplementing at night, but since he is soy and milk protein intolerant there really isn't a formula I can give him.  I can't pump anything it seems so EBM isn't really an option either.  I am considering dropping the 4:30 feeding and just giving him rice milk and some Oatios so that I might have more milk at the 8pm feeding.

[Hannah's Mom]

Wow.  I've decided my baby doesn't eat a thing compared to every one else's kids, yet she's over 18lb and not even 7 mo. yet!  How does that work out?  Is my milk totally cream?  My babe's way off her routine right now due to the craziness of life, but this is kinda what she is doing now--or at least probably would do if I wasn't dragging her all over town all this past week!

4:30 - bf    (*Will this disappear if I attempt to get more solids in her, say by adding a lunchtime?*)
  sleeps
6:15/6:45/7 - bf
8/9 - breakfast - a tsp of cereal mixed w/ whatever I'm trying to introduce her to, 3 tsp if I'm lucky
10/11ish - 12/1ish nap
12/1ish nurse
2-4 nap
4 - bf
5-5:45ish catnap
6:30/7/7:30 - dinner - 1 to maybe 3 Tbsp rice mixed w/ whatever
8/8:30 - "bedtime" (or could be called her pre-bedtime nap!)

Then, anywhere between 9:15 and 11 - wakes and stays up until I put her back down for the night with a feed around 11/12. 
(If she's not tired I let her stay up, if she is I put her right back to bed.)

she also wakes at 1:30am but usually goes back down with her paci.

I'd prefer it now if she stayed asleep from 8pm-7am, but she's done this get-up-and-hang-out-with-the-parents thing since she was probably at least 3 months.  I haven't minded it too much in the past since it gives her time to play with her daddy.  However, I'm now anxious to get some real sleep for us both!  (These past few weeks have been so crazy we've both been going back to sleep until 8 or 9 after that breakfast nursing.)  When is it time to wean her from the dream feed?  How can I get her out of the  wake-up habits?  This coming week is the perfect time to get her back on track, and I'm very eager to do so!!!

[xfionax]

7am -     250ml bottle 2 fruit cubes
9:30am - nap
11am -   250ml bottle
1pm -     2 fruit cubes + water (most down front of clothes)
1:30pm - nap
3pm -     250ml bottle
5pm -     2 fruit cubes + water (most shaken up into a rain shower from cup)
5:30pm - catnap
7pm -     250ml bottle
7:30pm - bed

LO is just 6 months (8.5kgs) and has only been on solids for a week but has taken to this routine really well and is naturally a very predictable, textbook baby.

I have a few questions...

Does milk intake generally drop off quite soon?

What does anyone suggest other than fruit as a good first food? I don't want to give baby rice because what is available here (Thailand) seems to be full of sugar.

How often do you brush teeth?

[Mum2Connor]

Hi there

My DS is 1 wk shy of 6mths and weighs 6.9kg.  We offer 240ml formula which at times he finishes but have noticed it's dropping back as we move into the start of wk 3 of solids this weekend.  Could you please check our routine?

Here's a typical day (the waking and talking before E happens more often than not  ) )

wakes b/w 6am & 7am talking
7am E bottle 170-200ml; nappy change, then A. Tired cues b/w 8.15/8.30am wind-down for 5-10mins. Lay down to S.
Wakes usually 10/10.30am babbles till 11am

11am E bottle b/w 180-220, nappy change, then A
11.50am E solids lunch: pumpkin, then more A
12.15/12.30 winddown as above. S till 2/2.30pm babbles till 3pm

3pm E bottle b/w 180-200ml, nappy change and A as above.
4.15/4.30pm start winddown as above.  Offer nap.  However, has been dropping this nap on and off for 2 weeks e.g. napped till 5.10pm today, but dropped it previous 4 days. I always offer the nap in any case. If he doesn't nap I get him up when his mantra cry or babbling changes to crying out for me which has still been approx. 5pm. 

5.10pm E Solids: dinner rice cereal (5 tsps of rice cereal powder) 
5.20pm A - watches baby Einstein while Mum gets bath ready
5.30pm bath
6pm E bottle b/w 200-240 ml
6.30pm S bed - on the days he has dropped the cat nap he is virtually falling asleep drinking the bottle.
DF bottle 180-200ml b/w 9.30pm & 10.30pm.  Last 3 nights has woken b/w 8.30/9pm crying hard so have given DF earlier.

Will be introducing a new vegetable tomorrow at lunch, so I guess we'll move cereal to the morning e.g. 7.50am and he will have them 3 times a day.
I also suspect that Connor's teeth are moving - no swollen gums but grizzling a bit during A times, sometimes waking from nap and evening sleep crying hard, and had a runny poo today.  These same things occurred about a month ago and CHN said it was probably teeth related but no teeth as yet. 

[nicolanorway]

hey there mum to connor,

your routine look's pretty good, although i have to ask why are you giving him a bottle at 6pm? does he sleep through regardless? sounds as though his milk intake is pretty good but ofcourse it will decrease when you offer more solids. have read the ingredients on the cereal packet? if you make it up with water then it normally contains formula in it.

those pesky teeth can take ages and effect them for month's before they come, so just go with the flow.

i wish you luck and happiness with your LO.
nicola