Feeding Schedule for My 11 Month Old

Hi Melissa- You may want transition to 3 meals a day with snacks in between. It sounds like you are feeding him enough. I will tell you about my experiences so you can avoid the same trap I fell into. Both of my kids were very late teethers. For my first child, I believed that she had to have teeth before I could give her table food. What a mistake that was. At 4 yrs old she will still only eat pizza and pancakes. With my second child, I learned that teeth are not necessary for most table food. Those gums are powerful and they can successfully gum lots of foods. And there is a window between 8 and 14 months when you can successfully introduce new foods before they get very picky and won't try anything new. When my son was 6 months old and no teeth I started table foods. I started with crackers, peas, sweat potatoes and soft pastas and pizza cut into small pieces. I was amazed when at 10 months and no teeth he swiped his sister's chicken nugget and successfully gummed half of it down. Just a suggestion you may want to try.

Hi Melissa:

I have a 10 1/2 month boy who is eating very well. I will say when we last visited our doctor i was told a few things...
2-3 fruit servings a day; 3-4 veggies a day; 3-4 grains (cereal, noodles, toast, crackers) a day; 3-4 bottles/breastfeeds a day; and 2-3 proteins (i.e. cheese, whole milk yogurt, beans and meat (there are pureed meats in the baby section (Nature's Best has a few soups that are great. . .they have the veggies and meats to boot and are pureed with only small bits of veggies that are incredibly soft).
While you are obviously giving a balanced diet, I think it could include more and you might want to introduce meats and other forms of protein to add a variety to your sons diet. I hope that helps. . .let me know if you have additional questions.

Good luck. . .I know it isn't easy. But you are further ahead than you think.

11 months old and still on breastmilk AND eating pureed foods and water sounds like a great diet to me. I'm 29 also, work full time and, gradually, have started feeding my son whatever it looks like he WANTS to eat that's not too harsh, still within the guidelines of his pediatrician's recommendations though (i.e., not nuts, no cows milk, fish or spices until after a year, etc). My son is 11 months old as well. As far as solids, its quite easy. I'd just boil some great fruits and veggies, cut them into bite-sized pieces and let him go for it. Since the food has been boiled, his gums are strong enough to mash the food. You can even try things like cottage cheese and yogurt, foods they can pretty much just swallow. Even cheerios are great, one or two at a time. Anything that will easily dissolve in water, I think, ultimately is great for your baby. As far as how much, I let my son decide. He'll usually push the spoon away or become lathargic when he's full. Go with your instincts. At this age, I wouldn't worry about over-feeding little boys...they can surely eat. Chicken and protein, puree it in a food processor and give your little one a couple of bites just to see how he likes it. Babies learn quickly and can handle a lot. And remember, they're human (just like us :-)...we eat three times a day, so there's no reason why 11-month olds can't eat three times a day as well. Throw in a couple of snacks and three breastfeedings or bottles, and they're good to go!

It sounds to me like the amount of food you're giving him is great! I would try to consolidate his meals to 3 times a day with small snacks in between. He doesn't NEED to eat every 3 hours and it will make your day much easier. I was shocked at how much our life changed when we moved to 3 meals a day!

Maybe right after the morning breastfeeding session offer the fruit w/ cereal or oatmeal, then around noon offer the vegs and fruit w/ cereal, then at 5 or 6 offer more fruit and vegs w/ cereal or one of the Gerber dinners with meat, then your usual bedtime breastfeeding session. Does he like the Gerber Puffs? If so, they would make a great snack.

I also agree with the mom who suggested eggs (for protein), very cooked squash and sweet potatoes as table foods. Knowing he doesn't have any teeth yet makes it hard to know what to feed him!

Hi Melissa,
I am a mother of four, grandmother of four.
Although things have changed a lot since my youngest was small, it looks like your doing a good job with lots of vegetables and fruits. One of the things I used to introduce mine to solid foods was fish sticks, which are soft, and macaroni dishes, like mac and cheese, or spaghetti (messy fun!) Hamburger or turkey burgers can be broken up into small pieces, which don't require a lot of chewing. As I'm sure you know, it's best to introduce only one new food at a time, in case of any adverse reactions. Hope this is helpful to you.

Your schedule looks great!
I have a nine year old and a five year old.
Once you get accustomed to seeing him eat day after day, you will begin to feel more comfortable and confident. Just keep the kinds of baby-foods you buy varied, but make sure you get him the ones that turn out to be his favorites too!

My main suggestion, and my reason for writing is to suggest that you switch to Earth's Best. The fruits and vegetables are certified organic. The last thing you want to be doing at this tender age is allowing trace amounts of herbicides, pesticides and fungicides into your son's system. It's s bit more expensive, but I believe it's worth it! You can usually get a discount if you buy them by the case at your local health food store.

One other thing that my kids LOVED & is easy to make is mashed banana! You can buy a bunch of organic bananas and you cut one in half and peel it and put it in a microwave safe bowl and put it in the microwave for about a minute. When you take it out you can mash it with a fork. It gets soft and sweet cause the starches start to break down into sugars. (So it could be like a 'dessert'). Just test it yourself to make sure it's not too warm before feeding.

Lastly - making your own green pea or red lentil mush is soooo easy. You just add extra water and keep cooking them on the stove until you can mash them up. This is one thing you would want to make sure to give him water to drink with. Lubrication = good :-)

Best Wishes - You're doing great! - Peace - K.

Hi Melissa,

It's really hard to say if your son is getting enough since all kids are different in their food quantity needs. It's probably best to let your son tell you what he needs. If he's anything like mine, he'll let you know if he's hungry! This is what my son, who turned one on 01/19, eats in a typical day. Of course, keep in mind that he is a big eater, despite him only being in the 25th percentile for height and weight!

7am - 1/2 cup cereal with 4 oz. of soymilk and an entire #2 Gerber fruit
11am - 6 oz. bottle of milk
1-2pm - whole jar #3 Gerber orange veggie and #2 Gerber fruit
4-5pm - #3 Gerber green veggie, #2 Gerber meat jar, and #2 Gerber fruit
8pm - 6 oz. bottle

Unfortunately, he still usually gets up during the night for more milk, usually about 4 oz.

Hope this helps!
K.

Melissa,

The feeding schedule is fine except your little boy is not getting enough milk. If you don't want to bottle feed, which I wouldn't suggest that you do, I would put some formula in a cup with his feedings. Perhaps 4 ounces. When he turns 1, you can put whole milk into his cup. I am a Pediatric Nurse Practitioner just so you know that it is valid advise.

Blessings to you,
D. H

Hi Melissa,
My little guy doesn't have any teeth either at 11 months! We have very good luck with table food - in fact my son prefers that to jar food. Have you tried baking anything and then running it through a food processor until it is the same consistency or a little chunkier as the jar food? Some foods can be mashed up like sweet potatoes, well cooked beans, roasted squash. My son also really likes scrambled eggs. I know that eggs can be a little controversial in terms of allergies and the like but if you feel comfortable, you could give eggs a try. I'm not a nutrition expert in any way, but I'm a vegetarian so I'm always really conscious about protein intake. If you aren't giving your little one any meat, you might consider adding some beans to his diet. My husband feeds my son chicken that he cooks and then runs through the food processor so you could try that too. I hope that helps! Good luck!

I first want to start off that it doesn't matter if they have teeth or not. They can still eat solids. My daughter just turned 1 and has been on table food since around 9 or 10 months. She was on baby food around 4 months. Her schedule now(which she's been on for a couple months)is average. She's down to one bottle a day which is bed time. When she wakes up she gets her sippy cup w/ 1/2 water, 1/2 juice. She doesn't drip it all, just a few sips. I keep it out so she can drink whenever she wants. About and hour after waking up I feed her. My DD has teeth but still uses her tongue for a majority of her eating. I have a variety of things for breakfast(waffles, pancakes, cinnamon toast, eggs, yougurt). So one example for breakfast is 4 waffles(their mini)and a container of yougurt. After she eats that I give her some crackers if she wants them. She goes down for a nap 3 hrs after waking up w/ no bottle. Same thing when she wakes up again. For lunch and dinner she has an assortment of foods that i use too(chicken nuggets, chicken fingers, fish sticks, french fries, grilled cheese, fruit cups, apple sauce, cheese, nutragrain bar, ravioli, meatloaf, stuffing, mashed potatoes, green beans, ground geef....almost anything). Somethimes she picky and won't eat and then the next day gobbles it up. So lunch I'll do a nutra grain bar and some chicken nuggets and then if she wants I give her some fillers(crackers,graduate cheese puffs, gold fish, teddy grams). She has milk w/ lunch then she goes down for her nap. For dinner she may have a grilled cheese w/ some fruit and then her fillers. Some times she eats it all and some times she hardly touches it. My DD doesnt' eat what I'd consider a lot and she's in the 50% in weight so I'd assume the eats average. At 8 months when she was on just baby food she would eat 2 tubs at each feeding and she had the normal 3 feedings a day. So I would think that your son should/could be eating a lot more. When I fed DD baby food I would do the fruits and vegi for breakfast, fruit and the vegi/meat for lunch, and then the vegi/meat and dessert for dinner. The only thing to watch out w/ the vegi and the vegi/meat ones is that they have mostly carrots. Looking back it pictures my DD nose is orange. At the Dr she told me to try not to give her to many of them because she could just look at my DD and see that. So that's when I started doing more table food. if you got through all this rambling and want to talk more one on one feel free to email me.
Thanks-A.

Hi Melissa if it works for you and he is not hungry stick with it. I have a 31/2 year old and a 8 month old. Their eating routine are different from each other because my 8 month old eats 1/4 c cereal mixed with 2-4 T pureed fruit and 2 oz liquid mixed plus 2-4 oz between 6:30-7:30 am of milk and goes down for a nap at 9ish with a 4-6 oz of milk. He then eats lunch at noon 1 3 1/2 oz jar of fruit and 1 3 1/2 oz jar of an entree with 4oz bottle then 4-6oz before 2 pm nap and then dinner at 5ish 1 entree 6 oz and 1 4 oz pureed fruit mixed with brown rice and milk. He is sleeping through night but wakes up at 4ish for a 6 oz until his breakfast. I hope that helps. You may want to try cereal and fruit before breatfeeding to see if that works which will eliminate the snack but also get him into eating the larger meal at breakfast . Good luck. A. W

Do not worry about feeding him too much or too little. Babies go though times where they eat alot and a little. Just pay attention to his body language. When he starts to loose interest, just stop the feeding. When they are young, what I was told by my doctor that you cannot really feed them too much. As long as you are feeding them healthy foods (ex fruits and vegetables), you are doing great. You can also try some yogurt, some finger foods (like puffs from gerber or some soft veggies) to mix it up a little.

You sound like you are doing great! Don't worry, you are his mom and you know what he needs! :)

Hi...I am a mother of three and my middle child didn't get his first tooth until he was 15 months. Having him get the proper nutrition was tricky , but we did it. We found that putting any of the food that we were having (for dinner or other meals) into a blender or food processor worked great! I loved that he was getting the protein and "different tastes" and he loved being involved. You can have the food be different consistencies...not just pureed. You can even do this in advance and freeze the food in icecube trays. We did this alot with chicken so that he would get his protein. It worked out well, because now (he has a beautiful set of teeth) and will eat anything I serve for dinner. I hope this helps!

Absolutely he will be fine and thrive with that diet. Are you at all able to purchase frozen organic baby foods? The jarred food is fairly bland, which is fine because babies don't need spices and things, but if you can either make a couple of his feedings a week, or purchase the Plum frozen organic's or Happy Baby both sold at Ukrop's they better help prepare you baby for real food, because they have actual taste.
Our first son was raised on jarred food (organic, but still bland) and it was so hard to get him to eat fresh vegetables because they have a stonger taste than they did in the jar and also a different texture. However with our second son (and boy do I wish we had with our first) my husband either makes his food, but we also buy the frozen organic foods (its like making it ourselves only easier - but more expensive) and now my second son just loves vegetables and all fresh fruit. It really does make a difference.
I know that is way more than you asked for, so again to answer your question - you son is fine with what you are doing - don't worry and you will know when he is ready for 3rd stage.
Also I don't limit my sons food intake, if after you finish a jar he still seems hungry either breastfeed him or open another jar and see if he will eat that.
At one point my son was eating 2 jars (during a growth spurt). He will know when he is full follow his lead.

I would check with your doctor to see if that is enough calories for him. I take it he's getting formula during his feedings when you're not nursing? My son didn't have teeth til he was one, but he could gum up a lot of stuff. we gave him cereal mixed with yogurt, a tofu scramble i made with maple syrup which he could feed himself, and baby food in a jar with meat so he could get protein. He liked the Hispanic recipes more than the generic meat recipes! Go figure.

Hi Melissa,
I recently went to an infant nutrition class and here is the info. I received for how much an 8-12 mo. old should be eating (or at least offered).

Milk: (Breast or Formula) 3-4 servings (serving = 6-8oz)

Grain: Baby cereal 2-3 serv. (serving = 2-4 Tbsp)

Bread 2-3 serv. (1/2 slice)
Bagel (1/4)
Crackers (2 crackers)
Pasta (1/4 cup)

Fruit: Fruit 2 serv. (serving = 3-4 Tbsp)
Fruit Juice 1 serv. (3oz. from a cup)

Veg: Vegetables 2-3 Serv. (serving = 3-4 Tbsp)

Other Additions you can start at this age:
MILK GROUP: Cheese, plain yogurt, cottage cheese
MEAT GROUP: Chicken, beef, pork (strained or finely chopped). Cooked dried beans (mashed), egg yolks.

My daughter is 8mo. and she's not eating this much yet but it gives me something to go on. Also, for tasty baby food recipes, if you're interested in making your own baby food, the book "Superfoods for Babies and Children" by Annabel Karmel is great! Especially for meat dishes (they are delicious) because jarred baby food meat is gross. :-)

Your pediatrician may have some information he/she can give you too if you give them a call. Hope this info helps. Best of luck!

N.

Hi Melissa, this can be tough. I have a five year old boy and one that's 4 1/2 months. I nursed my older son for 2 1/2 years and he was taking substantial solids by the end of his first year, but we never really used prepared baby food. Here is my advice.

Try giving him some more interesting foods that are solid but can be gummed into submission by your little boy (since baby's don't have molars yet, they don't really use their teeth for chewing anyways, so no teeth doesn't mean he's not ready for finger foods). My suggestions are small pieces of dry toast (peanut butter can be added when he's two, but no nuts before then, they're very allergenic), real banana slices, plain cheerios, quartered green grapes (seedless of course), soft cooked carrot slices, canned green beans (they're soft enough, but remove the seeds), small cubes or slices of mild cheese (added benefit of cleaning the mouth, naturally antibacterial), soft scrambled egg and gerber graduate meat sticks (they're very soft and manageable). He may not have teeth but all of these foods can be handled without teeth especially by a drooly baby. :) The cheese, egg and meat have extra protein that he's going to need and the fruits, veggies and grains are also necessary. I also gave my son diluted (1/2 juice, 1/2 water) white grape juice from the time he was 5 months on for another way to work in a serving of fruit. They love it and the sugars in white grape juice are more easily digested than apple and won't cause stomach discomfort. Of course with all of these finger foods, the trick is to provide only a little at a time and closely supervise him until you're sure he's got the mechanics of eating down and isn't at risk of choking on any of his food. Usually the first month or two. You'll know when he's got the hang of it.

As to your question about nutrition, a baby's primary form of nutrition in the first year of life is breastmilk or formula. Actually babies in highly allergenic families are routinely sustained on little else until after their first birthday and remain perfectly healthy. Please don't worry that your baby isn't getting adequate nutrition, he's getting everything he needs from your milk. However if you are trying to wean him he does need to be starting on finger foods like I mentioned above and after his first birthday he should start taking whole fat cows milk too. Doctor's recommend whole fat milk until they're two.

I hope this helps. You sounds like a great mom..keep up the good work.