2 Questions for You Mamas

I believe he still needs more formula, 24 onces really isn't enough for his age. I would try an afternoon bottle also. Try feeding 3 meals and a snack in the afternoon.

Completely normal to grind teeth, you can't stop it he is just seeing what his teeth do. He should out grow it, my 10 month old does it still.

I'm really a big fan of draining a can of soup and giving them all of the squishy veggies/meat that's left. I would heat it up a bit for DS and that was his dinner a lot of the time.

Egg yolks were a huge hit with my little guy! Around 9 months, we cut up pancakes very small and he devoured that. My son also loved mashed potatoes, avocadoes diced and the little Gerber snacks.

Remember that until age 1, the majority of their nutrients come from formula/breastmilk, so don't hesitate to maintain that intake! I had asked my pediatrician about the balance b/w solids and formula and his thoughts were essentially that primary nutrition until age 1 should come in the liquid form. Solids should be for sensory exploration (touch, smell, taste).

I agree with Julia- at his age you should not be limiting his bottles. He still should get most of his nutrients from breastmilk or formula, and limiting his intake will affect his growth spurts, fat storage (which he needs) and brain function.
Please feed him by demand, not schedule. Babies stop themselves when they're full- there's no need to measure their amount. :)

The current policy statement from the American Academy of Pediatrics is that the only restrictions on foods are those that are known family food allergens and those that pose a choking hazard.

At 8 months, our kids were eating yogurt, thinly sliced deli meat, cooked vegetables, soft fruits, White American cheese slices (also from the deli), etc.

Here's a sample menu for kids his age from AAP's parenting website:
http://www.healthychildren.org/English/ages-stages/baby/f...

my son really enjoys mashed potato and about half a jar of stage 3 chicken noodle dinner or chicken an stars, its kinda like gravy for his potato. Beech Nut foods are chunkier than gerber. But i think boys are hungry. Unless he is getting really over weight don't limit his food and milk. feed him more if he's hungry.

I believe at 8 months babies should have at least 32 ounces of formula or breast milk. Egg yolk is a great addition to their diet. I just started my 9 month old on it and she loves it. I put it in a frying pan and flip it like an omelet, cut it up and she eats it right up. I also give her 1/2 a piece of Ezekial bread, toasted. You don't have to give eggs just at breakfast time, that could be his dinner. Try fish too. Halibut, swai or basa are all mild white fishes and they are flaky. They melt in their mouth and are really easy to eat. By 9 months you can add ground turkey and chicken.

I've heard of babies grinding their teeth, neither of mine have done it so I don't have any advice on that, sorry

I was wondering why you cut back on his bottles?
Just curious.. because per our Pediatrician, she said that for the 1st year of life, breastmilk/Formula is a baby's PRIMARY source of nutrition... not solids and not other liquids.
The 1st year, is a building block time.. .and breastmilk/Formula provides nutritional/caloric intake, needed.

But I know, there are varied thoughts on it.

My kids, had ginormous appetites as babies, I nursed on-demand, 24/7 for their 1st year and until they weaned. And they were/are big kids. Always in the 95th percentiles for height and 50-60th for weight. Still are.

At 8 months they can eat a a lot of things with texture- try cheeses, cereal bars, cheerios, Mac-n-cheese, small crackers.

Also, the teeth grinding is normal0 usually starts when the 2 top teeth come in and last for a couple of weeks.

Updated

At 8 months they can eat a a lot of things with texture- try cheeses, cereal bars, cheerios, Mac-n-cheese, small crackers.

Also, the teeth grinding is normal0 usually starts when the 2 top teeth come in and last for a couple of weeks.

You haven't mentioned meat, fish, or beans (chick peas [homemade hummous, without salt], lentils). I usually give my son (also 8 months, and my third baby) something more filling than fruits and veggies in the evening. I make my own baby food and really love "Top 100 Baby Purees" and "Superfoods" by Anabel Karmel. In case you think this will be too time consuming, let me say that I thought that for the first year of my oldest son's life, and I really wish I'd tried it sooner. Making my own purees introduced my son to a much more varied diet and provided such good nutrition, and if I double batches and freeze it in ice-cube trays (then store the cubes in freezer bags), it only takes one cooking session to have food for months.

Someone mentioned avocado. I recently tried 1/2 avocado, 1/2 banana, and a couple Tbs whole-milk yogurt. Yum! It doesn't keep well, but you might want to eat whatever your baby doesn't finish!

But I also agree with others that there's no need to limit bottles.

I have no idea about teeth grinding. Maybe he's just interested in them, but if it doesn't stop in a couple of weeks, you could ask your pediatrician.

To me, 8 months is still a bit young to branch off from the various baby cereals, veggies, fruit, yogurt. Have you introduced all the cereals, besides rice? Have you tried avocado yet? I

When my daughter was 8 months, I think I was targeting 32 oz (4 bottles) plus nursing morning and evening (she self weened at 9/10 months). If I can remember right, I think she went to 24 oz when she was 11/12 months and 16 oz when she was around 18 months. At 4 years, she still drinks 16 oz of diary each day.

Egg noodles and whole wheat noodles will also provide more protein than regular white flour pasta. In fact anything that you can give him that is whole wheat will give him more nutrition than items made with white flour.

One of the things I made for my daughter was to give her cheesy egg yolk balls. And this suggestion totally depends on whether you have any egg allergies in your family history, because if you do, then you'd want to avoid giving eggs until later.

I would take 1 egg yolk (you have to separate it from the egg white. Don't use the egg white because it has more food allergens), scramble it up with a little dash of formula, add some mild grated cheese, microwave it for 15-ish seconds, mix it up (decide whether you think it needs a few more seconds in the microwave), them take little spoonfuls and roll into a dime size balls. My daughter loved these... I'd even spread some on *no salt* tortilla chips and she'd gnaw on them. (Speaking of no salt tortilla chips, I'd also make some chicken salad with only canned chicken and a bit of mayo, and spread that on the chip also... but again, mayo is made with egg yolk, so you need to do some research on egg allergies and if you do introduce eggs, do it *slowly*.)

By the way, this website (http://www.wholesomebabyfood.com/eggsbabyfoodrecipes.html) says "Most pediatric resources agree that egg yolks are fine for <the non-allergenic> baby to eat when baby is around 8 months old. Please keep in mind that the egg whites should not be fed to baby before 1 year old." It also has some recipe ideas of what you can mix with egg yolk for your baby.

You can do a little bit of egg now...have you tried him on mashed potatos? You have to watch introducing too many foods to him now because his little body is still adjusting and his little digestive system isn't prepared to keep up yet. Something my kids all loved were rice crispies. They're small enough for them to handle, yet big enough for them to learn to chew with...and when they were floating in the milk long enough, they would just slide right down with no problem.

Yes, the tooth grinding is normal. He's discovering them now...it will pass in a bit.

My son is an outlier (as far as how much he ate is concerned... but he was 10lb 23 inches at birth, and at 7yo is pushing 5 feet tall)... so take this with a grain of salt.

At 9 months he was drinking apx 20oz of milk every 2 hours (essentially 6 times a day and twice at night),

At 10 months he was drinking 64 oz of formula a day. (2 premixed cans per day... we used small bottles and just fed him on demand... sometimes having one bottle... sometimes having 2-3 in one sitting.

At a year, when we introduced table foods he was drinking 32oz of formula a day and eating 3-4 small meals (the volume about the size of an orange for each meal).

At 18mo when we cut off formula entirely he was eating 5-8 small meals a day and drinking a 1/2 gallon of cows milk per day.

He is consistently in the 60th percentile for weight and 98-100th for height.

When my daughter was around 8 months old she wanted more of what we had than her own food. Her favorites were grilled cheese, yogurt, crackers, black beans, ground turkey, watermelon and pasta. She also really liked hummus sandwiches!

Around 8 months she naturally cut herself back to 3 8oz bottles as well. She had an early morning one, breakfast, lunch, bottle, snack, dinner and then bottle at bedtime.

My 10-month-old son is on 3 bottles a day as well (started around 8 months). However, they aren't as large. His morning and mid day bottle are only 5 Oz. each. Then his evening bottle is 6 Oz. He does get formula mixed in with his cereal in the morning but only 1 Oz. I asked his pediatrician if his formula intake was okay and she said it was completely fine. She said not to strive to reach a daily "quota" as some would have you believe. But as long as he is drinking the formula he does get and eating and growing well then he is fine. And I will say mine is growing like a weed ... 21.5 lbs at his 9 month checkup lol. If your son can eat cut up noodles I would try cut up fruits. I buy mine cans of "no sugar added" peaches, pears, mandarin oranges (he loves those!), pineapple, etc. Any fruit that is soft and they can gum. I also give him canned fruit with no added salt such as carrots, peas, beans, etc. Then he eats cut up grilled cheese (just recently started that though), cut up ravioli, pasta, rice, ground beef, etc. As long as the pieces are small and he can gum it, then it should be fine. How many solid food meals does your son get a day?? Mine gets three so that makes three bottles and three solid meals and he usually seems to do fine. Sometimes he is hungry between mid day bottle and dinner and I just throw in a little extra snack of yogurt & fruit or puffs or something.

As far as the grinding of teeth goes mine has just started to do that as well. The sound is horrible and it drives me nuts but I don't think there is anything we can do about it. I think they are just exploring those new little "toys" in their mouths and hopefully they will get over it soon.

Good luck!

If he still seems hungry during the after noon I would give him another bottle of formula. My babies dr. and my baby books all say that until they are 1 years old most of their nutrition should come from formula or breast milk. At this age they still need all the vitamins and fat that come from those liquids. Yes it is good for them to have baby food and to start them on some table food so they can get used to eating from a spoon, with their hands or to just try new taste and textures. So I would just stick with more formula because it sounds like he is already getting plenty of baby food too.

My daughter can't get enough meatballs she loves them. Also meatloaf, grill cheese and yogurt. You can start introducing anything that you eat the can be cut up into small soft pieces. My daughter will be 1 on the first and would rather have finger food then anything else.