Do I feed my lo enough?

[CattyPads]

Hello
I am a bit lost regarding my 8mo baby, as I think what my pediatrician recommended is not enough, and I see other mums here do i quite different from what I do...
Here is what I feed him:
Breakfast: 240ml formula with 3 scoops of cereal.
Mid morning. baby biscuit
Lunch: 250grams of pure (potato, carrot etc with chicken or beef) and a little yogurt after.
Mid noon: 250/300ml blended fruits.
Dinner: 240ml formula with 3 scoops of cereal.
The doctor actually told me to give him just 150ml of pure/fruit which I really dont think is enough.
I see other mums give their lo milk and solids for brekkie etc. Am I feeding him enough? He never complains (sometimes whines when the milk is over) so I am not sure!
Any comments would be appreciated, thanks!

[<Catherine>]

Hi

What milk feeds is he having in 24hrs?

[CattyPads]

Hi Catherine,
Thanks, just the two 240ml bottles, sometimes after the fruit I give him 60 or 90ml if I think he is still hungry. 

[<Catherine>]

Then no, I dont think he's having enough milk.

There is some info here:-
Sample Routines for Bottle Feeding (based on number of feeds per day)

My LO is 9mos this week and his current routine is:-

WU 7am
8am Bottle approx 7oz
9.30am (ish) solids (1/4 banana, or 5-10 tsp cereal)
10.45am Nap
12.30/1pm Bottle approx 5-7oz
2pm (ish) solids (5-10tsp)
4.30pm Bottle approx 5-7oz
5.30pm (ish) solids (5-10tsp, but often not wanted)
7.30pm bottle 7oz
BT 8pm
NF 1.30am bottle 7oz

So he's having a lot, but I intend to remove the late afternoon bottle soon.

Remember that milk is still the most important for him at the moment, so he should be having that before solids.

[CattyPads]

Do you think I should reduce the amount of solids and substitute with milk then?
For example 150 solids and 120 milk? Sorry I can't work out ounces!
My doctor says the opposite (reduce milk, increase solids) but I am not too sure hence my post here.
When he sees us eating he usually cries and wants what we are having so I wonder if he is hungry, curious or just a bit greedy 

[<Catherine>]

When he sees us eating he usually cries and wants what we are having so I wonder if he is hungry, curious or just a bit greedy 

Mine is exactly the same. And yes, greedy too

I think 240ml is approx 8oz. So I'd say he's getting 2 thirds of the minimum amount of milk recommended at this age.

So, yes, you really want to be offering solids an as extra to the milk, not in place of, at this age.

Could you introduce an extra milk feed at lunch time, then his solid lunch an hour or so later?

[CattyPads]

So you think it's just greediness? Because that's what started this worrying about feeding him enough!

That's a good idea, I will give him a little milk an hour before lunch and then reduce his lunch amount a little as lunch is usually 200ish ml. Thanks for your help!

[Buttonbobs]

I don't think it's greediness. LOs can self regulate very well at this age, but you do need to ensure that the bulk of his intake is from milk. Solids are just not so calorie or nutrient dense and they need all that goodness to grow. Your instinct is clearly that he is still hungry and I'd say go with it.

At 8 months my DD was having 4 bottles of 240mls in the daytime and a 5th one of the same amount as a DF. She was weaned onto solids using finger foods only so needed a bit more milk than some at that age, but I donMf think you'd be anywhere near over feeding to add in one or two more bottles.

[weaver]

The usual motto is 'Food is fun until one', so, brilliant that he's having so much from solids, but milk is the mainstay.

[Lolly]

I agree with others in regard to milk, most bottle fed babies are on 4 bottles a day at 8 months and then drop down to 3 bottles around 9/10 months.

When you say "240ml of formula with 3 scoops of cereal" are you putting the cereal in the bottle?

Laura

[CattyPads]

Thank you all.
 In answer to your question yes I add the cereal to the bottle. 
His other meals are puréed vegetables and meat for lunch and puréed fruits mid afternoon.
What kind of solids do you feed your 8month olds? And do you do it at the same time as the milk or you wait a while in between?

[Lolly]

Is the cereal in the bottle on medical advice? If it's not, you should know that adding cereals to a bottle is a choking hazard. Cereal doesn't thicken evenly and they don't know if they are dealing with a solid or a liquid, UK (and other countries) advice is never to add anything to a bottle. It's much better to offer cereal in a bowl with a spoon and milk in a bottle

The BW way is to offer milk first and then solids about an hour after a milk feed. At 8 months my DD was doing something like

6.30/7 Wake up - bottle of milk (240ml)

8 am - solids breakfast usually cereal with milk and fruit puree

11am - milk (180ml)

12/12.30 lunch - usually finger sandwiches, cucumber sticks, yoghurt, soft fruit in wedges. Sippy of water

3.30/4pm Milk (180ml)

5pm - dinner - something like potato/meat/veg combo or pasta in cheese or tomato or meat based sauce. But mashed not puree now. Fruit or yog after. Sippy of water

7pm bedtime milk feed (210/240ml)

It does feel like they are eating all day at this age, but the bottle drop to 3 in a month or so and things move apart a bit. The solids sounds like a lot but she didn't eat a lot but the times and variety fitted in with what we did as a family.

Laura

[Me.and.my.two.boys]

I completely agree with Laura. It's not recommended to add cereal to a bottle. It's beneficial for him to learn to have the cereal from a spoon or to have solids as finger foods instead of from a bottle anyway

[CattyPads]

Thanks. We live in Spain so I follow the pediatrician advice here which seems quite different from the UK/USA! 

The cereal I add, I think its called cereal (its called papilla here, comes in cardboard boxes by cow and gate, nestle etc), its cereal in powder form and I only add 2/3 scoops to his 240ml bottle so it hardly thickens it.
Sometimes I mix it with milk and make a puree with it and I spoon feed him.

She insisted I shouldn't give him milk apart from the breakfast and dinner bottles! But I still do sometimes anyway, and reading the advice here I feel more comfortable doing so.

me and my two boys, do you mean you mash the pasta with a fork? isn't that thick for chocking hazard, as he cant chew yet? (not questioning you of course!  just learning!!)
thanks!!

[Me.and.my.two.boys]

That was lolly I think? What I think she meant was that any foods she have would have more lumps and not completely puréed.

At 8mo I would give my DS pasta in a sauce and let him eat it as it is, he could chew and gummed it soft anyway? Have you tried any finger foods?

I can't believe your paed recommends milk only at morning and night for an 8mo? That's definitely not enough in a 24 hour day?! Im glad you feel ok to give more

With the cereal, that's the same as here, it's like a powder and mixes with milk - it think the reason they don't recommend it here is because you can't guarantee it's mixed properly and if he swallows a lump it may be a choking hazard whereas if you spoon fed it, you can see what's going on the spoon, kwim?