Author Topic: bottle and solids schedule help  (Read 7744 times)

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Offline haleytreat

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bottle and solids schedule help
« on: January 05, 2016, 03:30:40 am »
I just started on solids (rice and oatmeal cereal) on dec 24th. She eats 3 times a day of 4 tbsp a time. She has a bottle an hour before her cereal but it is a fight to get her to drink more than 3-4 ounces. Can someone tell me what the routine should look like for a 6.5 month old with solids - i am not sure i am feeding at the right times??? Also, i read somewhere about dropping a bottle. So how would that work into the EASY routine? The routine looks something like this…its kind of different each day as she does better when I let her wake on own

today went as is:
745 - wake and eat 4 oz
830 - 4 tbsp ceral
1130 - 4 oz
1215 - 4.5 tbsp
330 - 5 oz
430 - 3 tbsp (only offered 3 to see if she would drink more later)
650 - 6 oz - but it was a fight to get her to eat this
will do a dream feed at 10 - always drinks 8 oz but i think its because she is sleeping:)

should i wean out the dream feed and then look at doing 3 bottles a day? How do i wean the dream feed? I will also add that she isn't starving in the morning. I mean she is hungry but then will want to be done after 3-4 oz of formula. I would think after 10 hours of not eating she would be starving.

Thank you!
« Last Edit: January 05, 2016, 03:33:54 am by haleytreat »

Offline MasynSpencerElliotte

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Re: bottle and solids schedule help
« Reply #1 on: January 05, 2016, 05:16:09 am »
At 6.5 months I would not be looking to drop a bottle yet...I am wondering if perhaps cutting back on the solids a bit might help get the daytime intake up so you could start to eliminate the df. It took us quite some time to build up to 3 meals a day (2 months or more) so being at 3 meals only a couple of weeks in might be a bit much, solids just aren't as filling as bm or formula at this age.
Heidi




Offline haleytreat

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Re: bottle and solids schedule help
« Reply #2 on: January 05, 2016, 05:48:53 am »
ok I will try that. Thank you. Regarding the schedule of the solids. what should that look like? Meaning when should I be feeding her solids? An hour after the bottle?

Offline haleytreat

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Re: bottle and solids schedule help
« Reply #3 on: January 05, 2016, 21:00:18 pm »
after doing a little more reading I realized I think I am feeding her too much solids right now! :o
I will cut back on the amount and times for awhile. I guess I am just a little confused at how to proceed with solids and milk intake. Not sure why ;)

So should routine stay the exact same way as far as milk feedings go with just adding a little solids an hour or two after the milk feed? How do I know when to increase the amount of solids and when to increase the times solids are given?

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Re: bottle and solids schedule help
« Reply #4 on: January 05, 2016, 22:31:34 pm »
I would think after 10 hours of not eating she would be starving.
At roughly this age many LOs start taking most or all their calories during the day, this is more so for formula feed LOs.  Whilst it's not unheard of for the DF to continue a little longer now is also a great time to gently wean it.  There are FAQs on the bottle feed board for weaning the DF and guidance on milk intake at various ages, I can help you find them if you have trouble.

Your milk times are fine.
Your solids times are also fine (1hr after milk as a guide) although as pp has said 3 meals per day right off is quite a lot.  Some LOs will enthusiastically ask for 3 meals (or for food any time they see you eat) so for some 3 meals do come quite early but they are usually very small.
In general you'd look at around 8 months old to increase to 3 meals.

Portion size, as you have discovered, is on the large side, 2 or 3 tea spoons would be enough for a solids meal at this age. Again all LOs are different, mine wouldn't have been happy with such a small meal but his milk intake never dropped so I didn't need to cut back his solids.  As a guide you would be looking for the milk feeds to stay basically the same as they were and for the solids to be in addition to the milk feeds, not instead of.

Several months from now (maybe around 10 months but again they are all different) you might see some reluctance on one or more of the milk feeds and at that point you could switch 1 of milk feeds to a solids snack, the times stay the same but instead of milk you give a small snack with a cup of water.  Later you might switch another.  Routine wise it is easy to stick to the same times, keep the WU and BT milk feeds and switch first one then the other of the mid morning and mid afternoon milk feeds to a snack. Hope this makes sense... we will still be here for you to ask when the time comes :)

The WU and BT milk feeds continue beyond 12 months, you might then switch from bottle to cup or straw, or you might be happy to continue with the bottle a while.  At 12 months solid food becomes the primary food source. Obviously this doesn't happen over night so over the next 6 months you will see a gradual increase of solids and LO joining in with family meals.

With regards to the EASY routine: all E times milk or solids may need to move to fit around naps as the nap routine changes with age.  This is fine.  Milk feeds might extend to 5 hrs apart if LO is sleeping but because there is a little solids meal between the milk feeds this means she hasn't really been 5hrs without food.

Do remember to offer water with solids too.

This is also the age it is recommended to begin to introduce finger foods and for LO to self feed.  This could be instead of puree or it could be at a different meal time, either is fine. Again it is not about eating a lot but about learning how to manipulate food in her mouth, and about the smells, flavours and textures of different foods.  It can be as simple as offering a wedge of vegetable from your own meal.

I think/hope I answered most of your questions, hopefully this gives you a bit of an overview of how the coming months might be.  Do ask if you have any other questions :)


Offline haleytreat

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Re: bottle and solids schedule help
« Reply #5 on: January 05, 2016, 23:34:44 pm »
Thank you! I guess I just thought that amount was ok because she was even wanting more after 4 tbsp! :o But then she wasn't drinking as much during the day. I will cut back and see how things go! Thank you!

Offline haleytreat

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Re: bottle and solids schedule help
« Reply #6 on: January 06, 2016, 03:35:35 am »
I looked at the pamphlet i got at her 6 month checkup again and sure enough I read how much to give her wrong. It said work up to 3 tablespoons A DAY and I thought it said 3 tbsp EACH FEED! Too funny to not share! ha! I guess the good news is I have a baby who isn't afraid to eat solids considering she was eating that much with no problems! lol!

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Re: bottle and solids schedule help
« Reply #7 on: January 06, 2016, 18:20:07 pm »
Yes it looks like she'll be a foodie :)


Offline MasynSpencerElliotte

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Re: bottle and solids schedule help
« Reply #8 on: January 06, 2016, 19:00:54 pm »
She does sound like a foodie! My DD1 & DD3 were the same way.
Heidi




Offline haleytreat

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Re: bottle and solids schedule help
« Reply #9 on: February 25, 2016, 02:21:38 am »
My daughter is now 8.5 months old now and has an A time of 3 hours. I am confused how you get in solids and the last bottle with this current A time. here is the typical routine.

WU & E  7 (bottle)
E - 9 (solids)
S - 10 -1130
E - 1130 (bottle)
E - 130 (solids)
S - 230 - 330/4
E - 330/4 (bottle)
E - 5/530 (solids)
E - 630 (bottle)
S - 630/7

I keep bed at 630/7. I am confused because I feel the end of the day gets messy with her napping later so it pushing back the eating times and solids and I feel like she is getting A LOT of food in a short amount of time. What do others do with longer A times and feeding solids and bottle??

Hope I make sense on what I am asking! HA!

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Re: bottle and solids schedule help
« Reply #10 on: February 25, 2016, 02:50:07 am »
How many oz are the bottles? I think we may have been down to 3 at this stage (8oz each) so the late afternoon would have been a small snack not a bottle or an early supper.
Heidi




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Re: bottle and solids schedule help
« Reply #11 on: February 25, 2016, 02:51:42 am »
anywhere from 6-8 ounces. Mostly 8 ounces. So with 3 bottles. what would the EASY schedule look like?

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Re: bottle and solids schedule help
« Reply #12 on: February 25, 2016, 05:21:00 am »
Tbh I don't rememer specifics (DD1 & DD2 were on bottles at this age, DD3 was still partly bf)..I did do their solids at my meal times so bottles were fit around that.
Heidi




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Re: bottle and solids schedule help
« Reply #13 on: February 25, 2016, 09:54:09 am »
Your routine looks great!! :)

TBH I would say it's a touch early to be dropping bottles and switching to a snack just yet, around 10 or 11 months would be more common to switch a milk feed or two to snacks.  I know the evening is a bit of a rush for you to fit in all those feeds but maybe view it like a tanking up before BT.  If LO is taking the bottles fine and still enjoying her meals then all is well.  What you might do, to give you a bit more time, is move the dinner a bit earlier, say 4.30/5 but if she's fine as she is then there is no need to change anything (other than you might feel you have a little bit more time to get ready for the BT routine as I can see it's a bit of a rush for you at the end of the day).

So with 3 bottles. what would the EASY schedule look like?
As I say, I wouldn't switch right now, but looking ahead, it would usually be one of the milk which comes mid morning or mid afternoon which you would switch to a solids snack with a cup of water (so she still gets to eat at the same time she is used to eating and for you it is easy to keep the times you are used to), for you this would be either the 11.30 or 3.30 bottle you would switch...then later switch the other to a snack too.  This leaves 2 good milk feeds at WU and BT.  The guidance is to drop all bottles at 12 months but many people choose to hang on to 1 or 2 of them and if LO is just taking the bottle of milk swiftly (not walking around sipping from a bottle all day) there is no harm in keeping 1 or 2 bottle feeds a bit longer - the important aspect at 12 months really is to bring the BT milk earlier so that teeth are brushed before BT rather than going to bed with milky teeth.

Just one other thing I wanted to mention, I know you didn't ask this but... if you are still feeding purees now would be a great time to switch to finger foods.


Offline haleytreat

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Re: bottle and solids schedule help
« Reply #14 on: February 25, 2016, 13:43:35 pm »
Thank you so much! Yeah I just realized I need to do more finger foods. Seems like I just want her to stay my little baby :)