8 Month Old Menu Schedule Question 2 - Auburn,PA

Hi Jason1!
It's nice to know I wasn't the first parent to worry about these things. When my son turned 9 months old we started him on 3 solid meals per day and he seemed ready. I agree with the others about formula being great the first year (sounds like that's what your baby is on) because it has many great nutrients. I also agree about the juice...my son has water in a sippy cup with meals and seems to like it well enough. Here's our schedule if it helps...though I'm not sure if it's ideal or simply individual to our son.

7am - 7:30am. 5-6oz formula with vitamin D added
8am - 8:30am. Cereal with 1 jar of fruit or greek yogurt mixed in/water in sippy cup
9:30 - 10:30am (god willing!) Nap
11am 3-4oz formula depending on if he even wants it at all! With banana & cheerio's
12:30pm 1 jar of veggie's & chicken, 1/2 jar fruit
1:30. 3-5 oz formula depending on if he wants it
2pm - 3pm (god willing!) Nap
3:30 - 4pm fruit and water in sippy
5:30pm 1 jar of veggies & protein, rest of fruit from lunch with water in sippy
6:45-7pm bath
7pm - 7:30 6-7oz formula with storytime
7:30 - 7:45pm snuggle and rock to sleep

Our son rarely wakes up in the middle of the night but we still give him 5oz of formula if he does even though I read we aren't supposed to! I worried he wasn't getting enough formula but the doctor likes this schedule and my son's growth progress so I think it's ok. My son doesn't seem to want as much formula as we offer and we don't force it, just make it available for 30 minutes after he turns it down.

When he was 8 months old he drank a bit more formula but when he started to drink less on his own I started the lunch meal so he could get good nutrients and because it was time:)

Hope this helps some! Again, every baby is different and has different needs so I'm sure your little one will let you know in one way or another! Just keep up the excellent work of attunement and thoughtfulness and I know you'll have a schedule right for your little one and a relief to your concerns soon enough!

If your pediatrician wants your 8 month old to have more solids than his primary source of nutrition-in your son's case-formula then you need to find a new doctor. Breastmilk or formula is *primary* not solids, not water, not juice for the entire first year. My 2nd wouldn't even take solids till she was 9 months old. Wonder what your doc would have told me to do with her? Kinda scary.

You can always try to adjust baby's schedule so that his bottle times aren't so close together.

This page might help. http://www.wholesomebabyfood.com/babymenub.htm
Formula or breast milk should be the main source of nutrition until 12 months. I am not suggesting you go against you pediatrician. Just want to give you a different perspective.

I agree with other posters that formula is primary nutrition at this age. But if I read your schedule correctly, your infant is getting five 7-oz bottles per day (35 oz total) - that is a lot, and you could probably gradually decrease the amount in the 5pm bottle, and eventually cut it out. You child would still be getting 28 oz per day, which is a very healthy amount.

Most toddlers will have an afternoon snack. So why not start a small snack around 4PM with some cheerios, veggies, puffs, or something like that. If schedule it before he's ready for the 5pm bottle, then hopefully he won't be so hungry for the 5PM bottle and you could decrease the amount int it, or gradually cut it out. I wouldn't substitute juice though, I'd put in a healthy solid-food snack.

There is far more sugar and juice, then in formula. Does your son self feed, at all? If so, you could give him little pieces of soft veggies, fruit, and water in between 3 and 5. It's better to give an actual fruit, rather then juice. He will not get anything nutritional, from the juice. The bottle should be the main form of nutrition, until 12 months. If you give him a small snack, that requires him to use energy to eat (self feeding), then that will be plenty sufficient between 3 and 5. I worry, that your Dr. is telling you to give him more food, then formula. I'm not suggesting you abandon all your Doctor's advice, but you might do your own reading about this. Just about every pediatric group, that I've ever heard of recommends formula, or breast-milk being the main source until 12 months. And, non of them recommend juice.