New to Full-time bottle.... what do i do?

[Adelheid]

My 8mo just switched from BM to Formula.... not what I was planning, but he just won't nurse!
Anyway, I'm wondering what his daily schedule/ feeding should look like?

Until now, he would get BM 4x a day. I had switched the last BM to formula a long time ago at which point he would drink 8oz.
Should he be drinking 8oz at every feeding? He doesnt always do that. Anywhere between 5-8oz.

Also, after his second nap, I give him a bottle, an hour later a bowl of porridge (the kind that is fortified with formula) and then before bed a bottle.

I would like to have him join our evening meal now with finger foods/ baby food instead of the porridge. How important is it that he gets that bowl of mush? I was under the impression that a baby should have at least one meal of fortified cereal to help increase the amount of "Milk" they get. But is this necessary if he is only drinking formula?

[Lolly]

Sounds like he is doing fine! You want him to be on 4 bottle feeds a day at this age and babies don't take exactly the same amount at each feed so keep offering 8oz bottles and let him take what he wants, he needs to be taking at least 24oz really, anything more is a bonus.

Mush is not necessary at all, people who follow baby led weaning do no much as all and their babies do just as well as mush fed babies .

When my two were 8 months their routine was like this (but not sure on timings now!). I did puree for a short while and gave finger foods from 6 months so we moved to mashed rather than puree very quickly.

Wake up and bottle
1 hour later solids - this was cereal, sometimes toast fingers
Nap
Bottle
Solids lunch - a "meal" so carb/ veg/ protein based with fruit and/ or yoghurt
Nap
Bottle
Evening meal solids - again carb/ protein/veg and fruit/ yoghurt
Bed time routine, bottle, sleep

I only gave cereal at breakfast time as I wanted them to have similar meals to us and we only eat cereal in the mornings! Don't forget that milk in foods counts towards their daily intake but milk needs to be the main part of their diet until they are 1.

HTH!

Laura

[Adelheid]

Thank you! I swapped things around and give him cereal for breakfast now too. Actually, this is great because unless my coffee has kicked in, I'm too befuddled to come up with an array of things to give him for breakfast.

I also put him to bed later- around 8pm which has allowed for a family meal time and an even slightly later wake up in the mornings! Hurray! Now he's waking up around 7/7:30am (vs 6/6:30)

Lolly, I wanted to ask you about suggestions on finger foods, but I will start a new conversation for this (in the proper folder).
Thanks for your input!

[Lolly]

Sounds like you are both doing great! Well done!

Laura