Solid Feeding with an 8 Month Old

If you would like to get 3 meals a day this is how you would do it. 8am Cereal w/fruit the whole jar and then a bottle. Lunch 11am whole jar of vegetable and meat and then at 1130 or 1200 give a bottle and then a nap. 3pm snack jar of fruit with 4oz juice. Dinner- 5 or 6pm jar of vegetable and meat. then at 7 bottle and then bed.

works great.

B.

K.,

I have 10 month old triplets (all boys) and when they were your son's age, I started the following schedule:

7a.m. breastmilk bottle (6oz)
8:30a.m. 1/4 cup cereal with 1/3 jar of fruit
9:30 until around 11 - nap
11 (or when they wake up) - 7oz breastmilk bottle
12:30 - lunch (at this point it was 1/2 jar veggie and 1/2 fruit)
1:30/2 - nap
4/4:30p.m. - 6oz breastmilk bottle (or when they woke up)
6:30 - dinner (at this point 2T cereal mixed with 1/2 veggie, and then 1/2 fruit after) - and sippy cups w/water to drink
8p.m. 6 oz FORMULA bottle (i don't quite make enough to completely feed 3)

Hope this helps.

Hi K.,
Try checking out www.wholesomebabyfood.com. It has a chart that shows the amounts that different age babies usually comsume, and gives ideas of what types of foods they can eat by age - also has recipes for making some of it if you want.
Hope that helps!
J.

I have a 7 1/2 month old boy..here is our schedule.

6AM - 4 to 6 oz
8AM - oatmeal with 2 oz of fruit
10AM - 6 oz of milk
12PM - 2 oz of veggie and 2 oz of fruit
2PM - 6 oz of milk
4PM - snack such as puffs or cheerios with water (sippy cup)
6PM - 2 oz veggie and 2 oz meat (or 4oz dinner type such as chicken noodle, sweet pot/turkey)
7PM - 6 oz milk

At 8 months you can be doing some table food such as shredded chicken, starting to add dairy such as yogurt and soft cheeses too. We do not do juice as it is not needed and empty calories.

hope this helps! email if you have any questions!

Hi K.! Why are you trying to make him eat more solids? Breastmilk is best for baby until 1 year old. I would continue with your current plan and after he is 1 then give him foods when you guys are eating, like a few pieces of whatever you are eating. Start with simple things like white rice, noodles, and grilled/roasted meats. Babies do regulate what the eat, don't force him to eat, but get him familiar with the schedule and trying out new foods. If he is sleeping 12 hours at night he is getting plenty of nutrients! Don't rush him out of being a baby... it all goes too fast as it is! :-)
God bless you and your baby!

M.

There is an excellent book about nutrition for the entire family and includes a wonderful section on infants, Nourishing Traditions. It gives very specific recommendations for exactly what you're looking for.

Also, please keep him on his tummy every waking moment. He needs to be crawling (medical term is creeping) and he needs to do a LOT of it. Don't go to him, let him come to you just to help him rack up more distance and also to teach him to move to meet his needs.

You're in a wonderful and amazing stage of life. Enjoy!!

D.
Mom to 8 (yep, all my own)
Neurodevelopmental Therapist

My little girl will turn 9 months in 1 week. For the last 2 months she has eaten 3 meals a day.

She can go about 4 hours between meals - but I basically feed her on demand.

When she drank mainly formula, she drank 28-32 ounces per day. Now that its supplemented with food, its less. Its less than 20 a day.

She eats level 2 fruit for breakfast, a whole package, followed by formula. I give her as much as she will eat - on demand - which is usually 4-6 ounces.

For lunch she eats level 2 veggie - followed by formula in the same style.

For dinner she eats a level 2 meat/dinner - followed by formula in the same manner.

All of these meals are about 4 hours apart - starting when she gets up which is about 9 am.

In between meals I give her the biter biscuits, the banana cookies, and cereal mixed with fruit juice. I give her about 4 tablespoons of cereal. Not too much. Or I make her an egg. Different "snacks" each day.

Then before bed she has a bottle - up to 7 ounces is the most she will take.

Its been working - she is about to move up to the level 3s in a month or so - and the formula will remain the same or go down - on her terms.

Be sure to give him the solid food first and follow it with milk. Otherwise he will fill up on milk and wont want to try the other foods.

My son is 10 months old and he get 4 to 5 meals a day of solids. I would recommend more. Maybe the meal without the juice you can feed him cheerios (get an off brand since it dissolves much better than Cheerios brand), that also helps with fine motor skills. Put out a banana for him. I feed my son the entire #2 fruits and veggie in one feeding then breastfeed. Babies at this age start to eat more solids and drink less liquids. But I breastfeed my son after every feeding.

My comments are right in line with the others. My 9 month old (and has been for the past two months) is on a regular-three meal a day schedule with an afternoon snack. Here is her schedule. Wake at 8:00. Nurse right away. 8:30-9:00 breakfast (options-mixed grain cereal w/ 1/2 jar fruit and sometimes cut up fruit with it or jar breakfast #3's the ones with fruit and cereal (we were on #2's from 6-8 mos.) or yo baby fruit and cereal yogurt (when you are ready to introduce it) with pieces of whole wheat blueberry bread-just some variety for you). Play then morning nap b/t 10:45-11:00. Wake and then lunch. She usually sleeps an hour or an hour and a half. Lunch consists of small pieces of what ever I eat or whole jar of #2 or 1/2 jar of #3 dinner with 1/2 jar of fruit or real fruit pieces and juice/water from sippy cup (we have cut out that lunch time nursing so far). Play time then snack around 3:30 after we pick up my daughter from school (they love to snack together :-). This usually consists of nursing then variety of Gerber snacks like (puffs, wagon wheels...) or organic applesauce-the adult version-and Graham cracker sticks broken up and a little juice or water to wash it all down. Play then nap again from about 4:30-5:30. Wake then dinner at 6:30 with the family. Usually the same concept as lunch and I don't nurse her here either. Bath, play, then nurse at 8:00 for bed. I don't bottle feed so I am not sure how much breast milk she actually gets but there are, I am sure, plenty of web sites that can guide you in that direction. Good luck.

K.
at 8mos he should be eatting more table foods by now the texture is going to be a problem if you don't start him on something other than second foods he needs to be eatting different textured foods or you'll have a picky eater or full jars of third foods not just half seconds. all my kids were on table and baby food by 6mos, table food was mash potatoes, green beans, mushy things easy for them to chew. Do you give him any finger foods like cheerios? toast? I would increase the food and cut the milk back to 4oz bottles, he still gets all he needs from both he should be eatting more food now, not just milk, what has your Dr. said? now adays everyone of them is different. My kids did fine and are 16 and 27yrs. plus that's how I did my daycare kiddos with moms ok. just my two cents.

I think you have a dream baby, because he sounds perfect. i would definately start feeding him more, and i would cut out the juice bottle unless it is necessary for constipation. i would add in some more food in place of the juice. is he taking the breast milk because he likes it? i don't understand why he isn't eating the whole jar of food? he should begin to get more calories from food, and not seem to be drinking so much breast milk.
i don't think people measure the oz. of b.m. just what seems right. it should come out in about the same amt that goes in. if he eats alot, then he should have alot, or several small. if he eats for 2-3 days and has none than you have a problem. food in, waste out. in about the same proportions. and at a good pace.
keep using the sippy cup. he will get used to it.
sounds like you are doing everything great. now would be a good time to slack back on the breast milk just a bit by maybe a few ounces a week. by that time, he will be crawling. and he will definately need more calories for more activity. and you can beging feeding more of his calories in the form of food instead of liquids.
good luck,
L.

I think that 3 meals a day sounds like a lot of food for an 8-month old. Remember, they should be getting the majority of their calories from breastmilk until at least age 1. I would just feed him some finger foods or pureed table foods whenever you sit down to have adult meals, and then as much breastmilk as he wants whenever he is hungry between meals. Babies vary so much, there is no specific amount that he "should" be eating at this stage, as long as he is growing!

As far as other liquids, just give him a sippy cup of water at meals and let him "play" with it; eventually he will start imitating you by drinking out of it. You can also give him sips out of your water cup. There is no need to give juice at his age.

I want to say this in a very kind way; as a mom of 3 kids, I can tell you that your life will be much simpler if you stop keeping track of how much your child eats and just let him eat as much as he wants whenever he seems hungry.

At that age My baby was having her solid meals with us- if I was eating breakfast, so was she- same with lunch and dinner. She starting eating mostly what we ate by 9 months (only I pureed it or chopped into teeny tiny pieces, avoiding foods that babies shouldn't have at this age. By 10 months she was having 3 meals and 2 snacks (or more depending on her hunger) a day. Breastmilk should be at about 20 oz a day, but it's the best thing for him, so I wouldn't cut back much if he's happy until he is closer to 1. I guess some of this depends on his chewing ability too, my daughter got teeth at 4 months so she was ready pretty young.