Getting baby to EAT the foods

[Adelheid]

I've mentioned before that my 8.5mo LO isn't thrilled about eating the foods I put in front of him. Generally, he will just mash it up and throw it on the ground, and shake his head. I have gotten some excellent ideas on WHAT to serve him, so I think I do offer him a wide variety. (He will eat anything hard like crackers, rolls, cherrios, etc. with out a problem)

Anyway, it occured to me that perhaps I was trying to get him to eat too soon after he's had milk?
I recently went from EBF to FF as we were traveling and my LO decided he was NOT interested in BFing. Since I didn't have a pump with me, I had to make the switch. Until then, I would BF him and then about an hour later offer solids.
With Formula, do I stick to the same routine? He doesnt seem very hungry and will only eat a little bit. He drinks full 8oz nearly every time.

I have been giving him a snack before nap time (yogurt usually) which he gobbles down no problem.

Should I offer solids later and drop the snack? 

[MasynSpencerElliotte]

Formula takes a lot longer to digest than bm so for sure he may not be hungry an hour later after 8 oz. We usually spread things out by 2 hrs (was mixed fed at that age) as it seemed to work best for us!

[Adelheid]

What about in the evenings? How do you space the food then?
Lets say:
WU from last nap 5/5:30
Formula 5/5:30
Dinner 6:30/7?
Formual & BT by 8pm

[MasynSpencerElliotte]

At 8.5 months we were not on 3 meals yet and we just did finger food but had high A times so only on one nap!

[creations]

I always gave solids an hour after milk (or a bit more if naps were in the way) and mine was FF.
You may be over thinking or over worrying about his solids intake, lots of LOs are not that interested at this age but begin to gain interest far more in a month or two.

[weaver]

Mess is really normal and part of LOs learning about textures and so on by mushing things and seeing what happens.

[Adelheid]

Ah ok. I think I'm worrying too much. He just seemed to eat a lot more when he was EBF and it was mush on a spoon.
He has 4 hr A time with still two naps, though the second one is usually 45min and he wakes up grumpy.

If I stick with the finger foods one hour after milk, then I should probably give him a snack before nap, right? That way, if he doesnt eat much he will still get a snack in and won't go to bed hungry. ( I have not found his snacks to interfere with his Milk intake).

Also, if he only eats like two or three bites, does that count as a meal? If I feed him baby-mush on a spoon, he'll take in a lot more.

[creations]

Could you post your EAS times please, and what meals/snacks you're giving. It may help to answer your question about snacks before nap time.
Also is there a reason you don't want to offer puree/mush on a spoon?

[Adelheid]

WU         7am
E            7am (BM)
Soldids   8am (bowl of baby cereal)
Snack   10am (a small bowl of yogurt)
S          11-12:30/1 (I will wake him if he's still asleep at the 2hr mark)
E          12:30pm (7-8oz Formula)
Solids   1:30pm (bowl of baby mush, offering some finger foods)
Snack   4pm (squeezy packet of fruit)
S          4:30-5:15/ 5:30 (S is rarely more than 45 min)
E          5:30pm  (7-8oz Formula)
Solids    7:00pm (mostly finger foods with family at the dinner table. Will assist him with a spoon so he actually eats some of it)
E          7:45pm (7-8oz Formula)
S          8pm


He generally has 4hrs A time.

[creations]

What strikes me in your EASY is that there are quite a lot of E times. Whilst this isn't necessarily 'wrong' it may be leading to a couple of things:
- more times in the day that you are stressing over how much he eats
- he may be eating more than you realise as he is having snacks in addition to meals and milk
- he may not be able to eat more at solid meal times because he is also snacking

He is taking in plenty of milk and some solids so his needs are being met. TBH it doesn't look like he could fit more in.

Some notes which may help:
- many LOs at this age are only just beginning (or not yet taking) 3 solid meals
- LOs this age do not ordinarily have snacks in addition to solid meals, many wouldn't have a snack until 10-12 months when 1 or 2 milk feeds are switched to a snack
- a toddler portion of vegetables is 1-2 tblsp, at this age your LO isn't quite a toddler,  still a baby so the 2 or 3 bites you mention in previous post may well be equal to a couple of teaspoons of food, and be a suitable size 'portion'
- some portions may be bigger than you realise. How much cereal fits in a small baby bowl? How much yogurt is in a small bowl? How much fruit in a fruit pouch (sorry I have never used them, but pouches I've seen in shops look pretty big to me)
- most LOs eat more solids in the earlier hours, toddlers and young kids too have a tendency to eat larger meals earlier in the day.  I would say anything past 5.30pm is too late for solids really, they lose interest (many need to eat around 4 or 4.30 to get a decent meal in) so really do not expect more than a taste of something at a 7pm family meal. If he enjoys joining in and learning about the social occasion of meeting together at a table for food and conversation then great, but food-wise I'd expect nothing to go in (even when mine was 2.5yo with 8pm BT I wouldn't feed him beyond 5.30/6pm. These days at 3.5yo we have dinner at 4.30pm and BT 7pm, if I serve dinner later he eats less)

If you wanted to change your routine around I'd look at cutting those snacks out and focusing on 4 milk feeds plus 2 or 3 solids meals. Based on nap times it might look something like:
WU 7
E milk 7
E solids breakfast 8
E milk 10.30/10.45 (would be 11 but bring forward to allow for nap, keep 2 mins A time before S)
S 11 - 12.30/1.00
E solids lunch 1.00
E milk 3
S 4.30 - 5.15/5.30
E solids dinner 5.30 (this is still quite late for a LO to eat much but as it is the third meal of the day it's just tastes)
E BT milk 7.45
S 8

That's just an example of how your day might look if you wanted to switch things around. It might reduce your worry over how much he is eating. Hope something here helps

[Adelheid]

Interesting! I hadn't thought of switching things around.
I see that I am probably over feeding him. He does get 4 x milk every day (first one is BM), and when he drinks his bottles, he pretty much will gulp full 8oz every time. Gosh, this is so hard to know. I feel sorta guilty now thinking about how much I give him..... I let him have 2 (!!!) squeeze packets today at snack time. gulp. Bad idea. And just this evening someone commented on how chubby he's gotten. Oh dear,  am I making him fat?

So, I guess I don't have a fussy eater, just a baby who's always full. Oh man oh man. I'm gonna scale back.

Do you know of any guidelines online, that give suggestions for portion sizes? I got zero advice from his doctor.

[creations]

Oh dear,  am I making him fat?

No.  Please don't go from thinking he eats nothing to thinking he eats too much. Your LO is likely to be self regulating just like other LOs. So long as the meals you offer him have a range of food groups and you follow his cues on when he is full then there will be no problem.

Fruit pouches are probably very tasty, fruit is naturally sweet so I am not surprised he likes these. Maybe just look at the overall balance across a week - each meal does not need to contain all the food groups, doesn't even need to be every day but over several days it can balance out more easily.

Portion size really depends on the individual LO, this is a video from the UK for toddlers, I'm not sure you will find one for babies, most sites I've looked at are for toddler portions from 1yo, even then individuals vary a lot, some are smaller, some bigger, more or less active etc.
http://www.nhs.uk/video/Pages/whats-the-right-portion-size-for-my-toddler.aspx?searchtype=Audio&

It sounds like you are finding the weaning process quite stressful or worrying. Are you concerned about your LOs health?  Is he gaining weight as expected?

[Adelheid]

I tried switching up his schedule these last two days and I think it will work well! I am extending his morning A time to get a longer nap. Now its very similar to what you suggested!
Today it went like this:
WU+ BM 7:30
E Solids 8:30
E Formula 11:30
S 11:55-1:30 ( including re-settling )
E Solids 1:30
S 4:40-5:10
E Formula 5:10
E Solids 6:30 (finger foods w family meal)
E Formula 7:45
BT 8:15

So, in the morning I'm giving him 4.5h A time and doing his second Milk before he goes to sleep.
Thank you for your advice. I'm not as stressed any more about how much he eats. He's begun to eat more finger foods so that's a plus.
He's a fairly big baby (25lbs last time I weighed him) so I know he eats enough. I think I freaked out because I thought I may be turning him into a chunker. All healthy baby chunkyness for now.

[creations]

Great to see that you are more at ease with how much he is eating now

I notice you have a sleep thread, whilst this isn't the thread for sleep advice I'll just mention the afternoon evening feeding routine could be tweaked which may help. There's isn't anything 'wrong' with the E routine you posted so don't panic. Only you might find he is more comfortable to sleep if his last solids meal comes earlier in the day. You could move his third milk to pre nap and bring the evening meal earlier, for instance:

E milk 3.30pm/4pm (so 4 hrs to 4.5 from last milk)
S 4.40-5.10 (clearly naps may move whilst you are getting sleep advice)
E solids 5.30 (an hour earlier than currently)
E BT milk 7.30/8 (may move with changing BT)

Just thought I'd mention in case you wanted to try. Often LOs are more comfortable with an early dinner and a nice big BT milk. I've always aimed for 2 to 2.5hrs from solids dinner to BT.

[Adelheid]

Would I change up the meals to get him to drink more milk? He always finishes his bottles, which at this point are 8oz. Should he be drinking more milk?