Solids Help

[newmama12]

My dd is 7 months and I have some solids questions. She's a great eater and loves everything she's had so far (which is just about all of the Gerber Stage 1 foods).

So, here's some questions I have:

1.How much solids should she be eating at each meal?
Currently:
Breakfast: 3 tbsp cereal & one container of Stage 1 Fruit
Lunch: One container of Stage 1 veggie
Dinner: One container of Stage 2 veggie & one container of Stage 1 Fruit

2.How many meals should she have?

3.What type of solids at each meal? (Currently, breakfast: cereal & fruit, lunch (when she gets it): veggie, dinner: veggie & fruit). I've noticed a lot of people only do a veggie or meat/veggie or vegg/cereal at dinner and wondering why not a fruit too?

4.Do you feed snacks of frozen fruits/veggs inbetween meals?

5.Do I let her eat as much pureed solids as she wants at each meal or should I limit the amount? I've been limiting them and most times I feel as if she could eat more, but I don't let her. Should i?

[carly-g]

Marking my place--- I have the same questions!

[tylersmommy]

The big thing you want to keep an eye on is her formula/bf intake. Those need to be her main sources of nutrition until closer to her 1st birthday. It can take some experimenting to find the right balance, but the "right" amount of solids varies a LOT for different babies. You can increase her solids if you'd like, just make sure she's getting enough formula or breastmilk.

3 meals a day is pretty common. Snacks aren't really necessary until you start dropping bottles/bfs.

I've never been one to care about what food gets eaten when. The important thing is to make sure you don't intro a new food at dinner in case she has a reaction to it or it makes her gassy. That's not fun in the middle of the night. I tend to give my kids veggies with their breakfasts, since they're not big veggie eaters and they tend to be hungrier and more open to it at breakfast. I really don't think it matters much.

We only started doing snacks in between meals once my kids got closer to 1 yr old and we were dropping bottles/bfs. It depends on your routine. If you do bottle/bf and solids all at once, then do the same 4 hrs later, you might need to put a snack in there since babies have such small tummies. But if the bottles/bfs and solids are spaced out, then there's really no need for snacks.

I'd say limit solids only if you see bottle/bf intake dropping.

[Freya'sMum]

I agree with tylersmommy, you need to prioritise milk over solid foods for a good while yet - one way to help this is to get dd to maintain her pre-solids quantity of milk until 9-10 months old, offering foods only as tastes, something to explore and experiment with (an Activity) rather than something to Eat - I often suggest that you keep milk as Eat and solid foods as an Activity in the EASY schedule, this helps milk to be given first, and solid foods shortly answer as an activity, still leaving enough time between that dd will be hungry for her next milk feed, which is what you want!

Milk contains absolutely everything that dd needs for healthy growth and development, so whether she actually swallows much solid food or not doesn't matter too much, as long as she gets to practice with it. It is easier for los to maintain their milk supply with a self-feeding approach, but as you are having success with spoon-feeding, I would just keep a close eye on dd's 'finished' cues, so that she doesn't swallow more than she wants/needs and not want her next milkfeed!

HTH a bit?

Ax

[awazo]

Please allow me to jump in.
I basically had same questions as newmama12.  Thank you for great info tylersmommy & Freya'sMum! 

My son is 6 month old now and he's eating solid 3 times a day.  I give him bf first as E and solid during A time before the nap.

The problem is that he drinks bf for only 5 min or so and he refuses to take more!  I know he's still hungry cuz he eats solid well.

Any suggestions???