Feeding routine for 6-9months

[AGILL]

Hello,

My 8.5mo DS is on four milk feeds and three solid feeds per day. I'm beginning to think that it might be time to phase out one of the milk  feeds and change our routine around a bit because it seems like I'm trying to cram too much in at the end of the day (this is because his pm nap is fairly late). I also think that the milk feeds might be hindering him taking more solids, but it's so hard to really know how much solids he should be taking. Anyway, here's more or less our routine at the moment:

7:00 Milk (last BF was this morning, and now will go to formula, so don't know how much he takes yet, although I'd guess around 6-7oz)
8:00 Breakfast
11:00 Milk 4oz
1:00 Lunch
4:30 Milk 4oz
6:00 Dinner
7:00 Milk 4oz

I thought of eliminating the 11am milk feed and pulling lunch up to 12:00, then giving a slightly bigger bottle before he goes down for his afternoon nap at around 2pm. Then dinner could be a little earlier, and he could take a little more milk in before bedtime.

Could you let me know if I'm in the ballpark here, or if I should stick to the current routine? I don't know if my thinking is correct or not.

Thanks for your help,
Alison

[BabyBsMommy]

Alison - I think that when I dropped from 4 to 3 milk feeds with DS, it was the late afternoon one that I dropped first.  I believe that I kept the 11am feed where it was for a while with his lunch of solids about and hour after that.  Later, I switched things up so he was having lunch a bit earlier and milk shortly before his PM nap.  Someone mentioned a few posts earlier that schedules/feeding routines vary a lot from lo to lo so keep in mind this is just what worked for us.

newmama12 - I agree with Ax that usually los are introduced to solids in the morning.  I ran into a problem with DS, though, when he started refusing his milk several hours later after having cereal in the morning.  I moved his cereal to lunch and the same thing started happening with his afternoon milk.  I then moved it to dinner time and he would take his cereal and still accept his milk before bed so this is what worked best for us in the end.  I did make sure that any new foods that were introduced were done so in the AM, though, so that I could watch for allergic reactions.  I just didn't give him too much in the morning so as not to interfere with his milk consumption which is still the most important thing that early on (he was bf, too, btw.)
HTH

[Freya'sMum]

Fellow Alison at 8.5 months, if your lo's eat schedule seems too full, you still want to prioritise milk over solid foods - until at least 12 months babies must have a minimum of 20oz babymilk in 24 hours, and until 9, even 10 months, they should really still be having their pre-solids quantity of babymilk because it is this that provides them with most of their nutrition. After 9/10 months, the quantities of solid foods and milk even out, and then the quantity of solid foods overtake that of milk until milk becomes a snack/drink rather than a main food. Babies still require between 12 and 20oz of milk until 24 months.

So, I wouldn't advise you to drop a milk feed just yet, because ds is currently only getting 18 or 19oz babymilk daily (unless he has a significant amount of dairy solids?) which is under the minimum recommended amount for his age - to me your schedule looks ok, and if it works for you that's great! As long as ds is getting all the milk he should be having, and is gaining weight steadily at each check up, don't worry about the amount of solid foods he eats. At this young age, solid foods are for practice still, to learn what food is and what to do with it in preparation for when he does need them as an older baby!

HTH a bit?

Ax

[BabyBsMommy]

Or, you can see if your lo will take more milk at those three feeds.  DS was taking about 7-8oz at each of the three feeds which was over the 20oz mark.  If your lo won't take that much at a time then you will probably have to keep at 4 smaller feeds or add lots of other dairy like cheese, cottage cheese (unsalted) and yogurt.  Sorry, should have looked more closely at the amount of milk you listed at each of those feeds!

[AGILL]

Thanks for the advice ladies. I kind of got a bit ahead of myself and tried the three bottle thing yesterday and, in fact, it seemed to work out pretty well. I realised that I was actually limiting his milk intake on his 11am and 4pm feeds in order to get him to be more interested in solids (naughty mama!! ) So I stopped doing that and he ended up taking 8.5oz upon waking, 6.5oz at 2pm before his nap, and another 6.5oz before bedtime. Plus he gets 1-2oz with his cereal in the morning, and at least one lot of dairy during the day (yoghurt, cheese, etc.) This means he's getting his milk quota, and I can tell you that he was a lot more interested in his solids too. So it looks like we should be okay.

BTW, Alison the moderator, I don't know if you remember me posting quite a few weeks ago about my LO not eating his veggies and me having to cheat and mix them heavily with fruit to get him to eat them?... Well, we both got horrendous headcolds about two weeks ago and, lo and behold, when Finlay recovered, he'd turned a new leaf and is now into all sorts of savoury delights!! Thanks for all your help and support.

Alison

[BabyBsMommy]

Way to go, Alison!  I hope that this continues to work well for you!!!!

[Freya'sMum]

Agill, I do remember - Eryn has yet another cold and is off her solid foods again too but she always makes up for it later! Glad that you have resolved both issues with relatively little effort!

Ax

[trekkiesara]

questions on feeding schedule:

my girl is on a pretty strict wake up and sleep schedule, since she goes to day care and we have to get up at a certain time every day. We generally do this:

6:00am wake up and 8oz of formula
8-9 or 9:30 nap
10- 2 oz of formula in oatmeal with 3 tbsp fruit then 4 oz bottle
12-2ish nap
2ish: 2 oz of formula in oatmeal or other cereal with 3 tbsp veggie then 4 oz bottle
5:30ish jar of baby meat or meat and pasta, 3 tbsp of fruit or veggie and baby cereals she can pick up and eat herself
6-6:30ish 8 oz bottle
7-7:30 bedtime

My question is should I start to transition her more to eating right after her bottle in the morning and get her closer to our schedule of breakfast and lunch supplement with snacks? She sometimes drinks out of a sippy cup, but we dont want to give her too much juice or water so she doesnt want her bottles.  I'm nervous when it comes to anything that will disrupt her schedule, although her day care lady is very awesome and does a great job of keeping her on a good one.

Any help would be appreciated!

[Freya'sMum]

trekkiesara,

how old is your lo? nearer 6 or 9 months?

Ax

[trekkiesara]

I suppose you dont just automatically know because I do. :-) She's a little over 9 months.

[Freya'sMum]

Well, I always post by saying that a schedule is very individual and meets the needs of your family, so it's difficult to comment whether something is right or wrong...

Transition times are always a bit tricky, whether it's a timing change for naps or feeds, lengthening activity time or whatever, it takes a little while for you all to adapt to it, but as long as you're consistent, and prepared for a few rocky days/weeks, the new routine becomes 'normal' quite quickly, just avoid introducing too many new things at once!

I guess what you are aiming for is for your lo to eat with you as a family, at as many mealtimes as possible - this becomes easier as your lo eats fewer purees and more finger foods because it means you can eat your meals simultaneously, rather than yours going cold whilst you spoonfeed dd . From about 10.5 months dd2's eating schedule looked like this:

6.30 bf
7.30 solid breakfast
10.30 EBM
nap
12.30 solid lunch
2.30 EBM
nap
4.30 solid tea
6.30 bf

and it hasn't changed much now. We all eat breakfast together at 7.30, and whoever is childminding has lunch with the girls at 12.30, and we try to have tea together at 4.30 too (although I don't always get home from work in time ). Perhaps the first thing to do would be to work out what you ultimately want her routine to look like and then make one change at a time? Just make sure that whatever you do doesn't significantly affect her milk intake, because it's still really, really important for her to have at least 20oz until 12 months!

Sorry this is a bit vague?

Ax

[trekkiesara]

That makes sense. Her doctor said as long as she gets 16-18 oz at least of formula she's good. Of course, she weighs 23 1/2 pounds, so she's a big girl. Although she's tall, so she doesnt look chunky, she's just healthy. :-)

We were going to try transitioning her over the weekend but we have a guest staying with us so I'm afraid that might be too much change for her. We'll have to see how it goes.

Thanks for the advise!

[newmama12]

Hi! DD is 7 months now and I have some questions about solids and her schedule. I'll give you a sch first!

7am: bf & ff 3 oz
8:30: 2-3 Tbsp cereal (oatmeal or barley) and one container of Stage 1 fruit
9-10: nap
11: bf & ff 4-5 oz
12:30: Stage 1 veggie (if I give her lunch, most days I do not)
1-2: nap
3:00: bf & ff 4-5 oz
4-4:45: nap
5:00: Dinner Stage 2 veggie and one container of Stage 1 fruit
6:30: 5 oz bottle
7:00: bed

First of all, is she eating the right amount of solids or is it too much/not enough? I have been limiting her intake, but she could definetly eat more if I let her. Do I? I've noticed a few things since adding solids. She takes her milk very very slowly now and sometimes won't finish the whole bottle. I bf and ff since my supply is low. Should she be eating something different at any of the meals? I notice that some people don't do fruit with dinner. I have no idea!
She is still waking at night (3am) and will bf and take 4 oz of formula. I did an experiment the other night and fed her a LOT during the day and she made it all night long! She got 3 full solid meals and plenty of milk.

BTW: she's not a big baby. Weighted just over 14lbs at her 6 month checkup. I'm guessing she's close to 15 by now. Our pedi wanted me to up her calories during the day with more milk and 3 solid feedings. I don't do 3 all the time cause I feel it's too much some days.

[Freya'sMum]

Newmama12,

I think your query has been answered by myself and tylersmommy on your other thread here so won't repeat what it says

Ax

[kohnheads]

Hello -

My twin boys just made the 3 to 2 nap switch and now I'm having problems fitting in all their bottles.  I used to do a bottle upon waking plus a dreamfeed, which amounted to 5 bottles a day (approx. 34oz total).  I also feed them solids in the morning and evening after their bottles.  But now that we have lost a nap, I'm not sure if I should also drop a bottle?  They seem to be taking in less milk and wanting more solids.  Here is what we did today:
8am formula (8oz)
10am solids (approx. 1oz oatmeal and 2oz peaches)
12pm formula (8oz)
4pm formula (8oz but only drank about 5 each)
5:30pm solids (approx. 1oz rice cereal, 2oz sweet potatoes and 1oz applesauce)
6:15pm formula (8oz but only drank about 4 each)
10pm DF formula (4oz)

I'm trying to wean them off the dreamfeed by dropping an ounce every 5 days or so.  We started at 7oz so we're making progress with no night wakings so far.  They used to easily finish 4-8oz bottles when they were on 3 naps but they weren't taking in as much solids at that point.  They are big boys.  They're 6.5 mos old and at their 6 mos visit they were 19 and 20lbs.  I'm wondering if I should drop the 4pm bottle, move the solids up to 4pm and then give them a full bottle before bedtime (6:30pm).  I could also add in a third meal of solids at about 2pm.  Can you give me some direction on this?

Thanks,
Lindsay