timing of feeds for 7 month old

[sashwee]

Interval between feeds for a 7 month old.

Having just read the third book I’m working on spacing out the feeds for my 7-month-old.  I’d been feeding her every 2 and 1/2 to 3 hours.  She’s on her fourth week of introducing solids and it’s going well.  She’s also been staying awake longer, so its only the feeding pattern that was wrong (with the resulting night time problems).

My question is about the interval between feeds.  She’s never been on a 4-hour routine, but at her age and for solids, the third book recommends a routine with liquid snacks and meals with solids that has her eating with the following intervals:
Morning milk
      4 hours (A and S)
Snack milk
     2 hours (A)
Solids
     3 hours (A and S)
Snack milk
     1.5-2 hours (A)
Solids
     1-1.5 hours (A)
Bedtime milk

I notice that this differs from the information posted here in the FAQs, where solids follow an hour after milk.
Does anybody know the reasoning behind a) having the milk snack before the solids meal, b) the spacing between the snack and the meal and c) the frequency of feeding near the end of the day.  If I go directly to this routine from a 2 and ½ to 3 hour feeding schedule, without doing a four hour routine, will my baby’s body learn to store energy properly? 

[Scrapbooker]

I'm new at solids too, but to answer "a", I think she said it was to get them used to the solids being at "meal" times like the adults so they were getting into a routine that would continue once the milk snacks went away, etc.

HTH, Laura

[AnnaBenwell]

My 7 month old had milk then solids! His feeds look like this! 7am 8oz bottle, 8am breakfast, 12pm 8oz bottle, lunch, 5pm 8oz bottle, dinner, 7pm 8oz bottle! HLH. Anna

[waffler]

Not sure of exact reasons but my guess would be :

a) having the milk snack before the solids meal,
At 7m milk should still be the main part of a babies nutrition. So giving milk first will ensure that baby is hungry enough to drink the milk

b) the spacing between the snack and the meal
Normally an hour after milk baby will be ready for a meal of solids

and c) the frequency of feeding near the end of the day.
From my own experience, I started with 2 meal of breakfast and lunch, and slowly added dinner increasing the volume oz by oz. I was just too afraid of her being so full she'd get turned off her bedtime milk which may make her wake at night hungry!

I'm sorry but I don't quite follow your routine but I hope someone else can help!

[¤ Efka ¤]

At 7 months her main nutrition should come from milk and so thats why milk comes before solids.

As for your last question about your baby, I think you should see first how your baby responds to this. You said she is having solids now, how many times in a day? I think it is not too good idea to turn all upside down for her but you change it gradually.
Could you post your feeding routine about what times she is eating what (BM or solids) , so it may be little clearer.

[sashwee]

Thanks for the replies.  It's sort of coming together.  The gradual transition from a milk only diet to a food diet:  at first solids supplement the milk, then gradually milk becomes the snack and the drink, before it is phased out at some point.  It seems to me that the timing works like this.  The closer the solids follow on the milk the less solids the baby will take, and the more time there is before the next breast feed, so the more milk she'll take then.  Plus as she stays awake longer the feeds can be spaced out a little more too. 

At the moment her schedule looks something like this. 
5:30 milk
7:30 nap
9:30 milk
11:30 solids
12:30 nap
2:30 milk
4:00 solids
4:30 catnap
5:30 milk
6:00 bed
9:00 dream feed
I'm still working on tweaking it.  I've just cut out the night feeds, and waiting to see how that will affect her sleep.  I also need to extend her naps.  Some days when she sleeps a little later and takes good naps we don't need the catnap.  I tried giving her a breakfast of solids before her morning nap, but she refused the evening solids that day, so I'll wait with that and try again later.

I found something I'd overlooked in the chapter on the liquid diet that suggests having solids 1.5 hours after milk.  I think, I'll try that for a while, because I'll be needing to get more milk into her, especially when we start trying to cut out the dream feed.

[¤ Efka ¤]

Looks good, let us know how it goes.