I'd like to know how much and what other moms feed their babies around 9 months old. I breastfed my daughter for 8 months and now she has formula. In addition to that she gets 4 T. of cereal in the morning mixed with half a container of stage 2 fruit. In the evening she gets another 4 T. of cereal mixed with half of a container of veggies. The rest of the time she gets milk when she is hungry. Her sitter has noticed in the afternoon that she is only going about 2 hours between her last two bottles when she is with her and we're thinking we need to add more solids. I'm just curious about what other moms do around this stage.
UPDATE: Let me clarify....I know not to give a 9 month old regular milk. When I say milk, I mean formula. I actually said that in the second sentence that she is now on formula. After breastfeeding "milk" for 8 months, it all becomes "milk" in my mind. I'm asking does she need more formula or more milk. Hope this clarifies things.
I have a 7 month old and 8 month old. they have the same eating schedule/pattern. Only 20 - 22 oz. of formula a day and the rest is baby food or table food.
Here is a link you can use as a reference if you are using mostly babyfood, but it has some table food tips too.
http://hostingservices.epsilon.com/Beechnut/9123/images/p...
For the 1st year of life.... Breastmilk/Formula is a baby's PRIMARY source of nutrition... NOT solids and NOT other liquids.
And to feed a baby, on-demand, 24/7, day and night.
This is per our Pediatrician as well.
ALSO, 9 months old is a Growth-Spurt period... and so babies naturally INCREASE in intake and in feeding frequency. It is normal.
Do not... substitute or replace... nursings/her bottle... with solids.
At that age, my kids as babies fed (I breastfed) every 3 hours... on-demand... and more frequently, during growth-spurts.
They were, at 9 months old on solids... BUT.... they still nursed every 3 hours at least.... still, or less than that, when on growth-spurts.
Try... giving your baby... a bottle... but with more ounces in it.
Maybe you will find... that she can drink more ounces.... now, per her age.
My son just turned 9 months and happened to have his checkup yesterday. The ped gave us a handout that said at this age, he should be eating 3 solid meals and 2-3 snacks a day.
We've been good about the meals - feeding him cereal at breakfast (though I'm not sure exactly how much; it's our third baby, so we just mix up what looks right) and a container of stage 2 or 3 baby food or Yobaby yogurt for lunch and dinner, plus nibbles of whatever we're eating - but I hadn't been doing snacks (unless I needed to contain him in his high chair while I was cooking dinner, in which case he got puffs or Cheerios). So now I'll try to add in a couple of snacks each day.
Besides baby food, he likes avocados, bananas, cheese, pancakes ...actually, I can't think of anything he's tried from our plate that he hasn't enjoyed. When we're in a restaurant, sometimes he just eats with us and we don't even open the baby food.
Hope that helps!
I wouldn't suggest regular milk to supplement during the day. It really sounds like she needs more solid food. I would feed her 3 meals a day and possibly 1-2 snacks.
My 9 month old twin girls (almost 10 months old) get 3 solid meals a day in addition to 3 bottles and one nursing. They also get a solid snack in the late afternoon - usually Cheerios or pieces of cheese (but that's b/c their big sister is getting a snack and they want one too.)
In the morning they get 3T of cereal mixed with 3T of formula each, plus a half of banana or other fruit (sometimes a cup of Dole peaches b/c they're in 100% juice not sugar water). At lunch they get some whole milk plain yogurt (Greek style) and a vegetable - usually avocado, some kind of winter squash (butternut, etc...) or sweet potato. For dinner they either get cereal and a veggie or Stage 3 food depending on how well I've planned getting dinner ready. Sometimes I even feed them what we're eating. They like cauliflower, salmon and ravioli. We're not doing too much baby food anymore, b/c I want them to get to eating what we're eating.
I think Babycenter.com and/or Gerber.com has some guidelines for how much to feed a baby at each age. However, a great website, wholesomebabyfood.com suggests you should just feed when hungry b/c each child is different. As the mother of twins, I can vouch for that. One eats a lot more solids, the other prefers more formula.... However at one - I cut off the bottle so they have to get used to real food sometime!
This is our schedule and my baby just turned 9 months.
between 5-6AM wake up for a 6 ounce bottle. goes back to sleep. wakes up around 7 or 7:30.
8:30 cereal and a stage 2 veggie. followed up with bottle (probably 4 ounces left after we used some to make cereal) around 9 or 9:30.
11:30 stage 2 fruit. followed up with 6 ounce bottle around 12 or 12:30
4:00 a 7 ounce bottle (or whenever baby wakes up from afternoon nap)
6:00 dinner and that's more cereal and a stage 2 dinner.
7 or 7:30 a 4 ounce bottle for bed.
Hope that helps!
Milk... like regular milk? or do you mean formula. I think you mean formula. She should not be having milk instead of formula or breast milk. She should be getting most of her nutrients from breast milk or formula.
However you would like to know if you should feed her more. The thing to do would be give a bottle with 6 or 8 oz and then give the solids. At this age she can have almost anything you want to give her except nuts and honey. So you could be giving her some slices of pear with the cereal at breakfast. At lunch you could give toast, cheese cubes, banana, soft cooked noodles, steamed sweet potato chunks. Same at dinner. I think you could definitely add more solids if you want. Just make sure she is getting plenty of formula 24-32 oz per day.
Check out this website there are some sample menus for babies this age... http://www.wholesomebabyfood.com
My son just turned 10 months and around 8 1/2 months is when we added in his 3rd meal. Here is his current schedule:
6:30am - 4-5 oz bottle, 1 stage 3 breakfast (or similar)
11:00am - 4-5 oz bottle, 1 stage 2 tub (sometimes I mix cereal with this sometimes not, sometimes he gets more if he seems hungry - will give a yogurt or fruit)
3:00pm - 7 oz bottle
5:00pm - 2 stage 2 tubs (1 veggie/1 fruit), water in a sippy cup
7:00pm - 7 oz bottle
I am by no means an expert, but this is our current schedule. Some of the best advice I was given was feed him if he seems hungry! Sounds easy, but I was holding back because I didn't know what I was supposed to do or if I would over feed him. He is a happy boy!! Hope this helps.
Sorry, I disagree with the advice to NOT supplement formula with solids. And this is coming from my pediatrician as well who emphasizes that after 6-9 months babies are ready for more nutrition than formula or breastmilk offers. Both my boys breastfed 2-3 times a day at this point, but ate mostly solids. Breakfast was rice cereal or oatmeal and a babyfood jar of fruit or applesauce. Lunch was jar of food (fruit or veggie, maybe one of each) or even tablefood if what I was eating was soft enough. Dinner was usually the vegetable we were eating for dinner and maybe even the main course if it was soft (spaghetti, pasta, soup, or even some casseroles). My son did not get any teeth until he was almost 10months old and he was eating almost entirely table food already. It's really amazing what they can mash up with their little gums. Especially cheese chunks, crackers (once they learn to chew a little), soft fruits like banana, chunks of pear, etc., and veggies (green beans, peas, carrots, etc.), even a sandwich in small pieces. All these foods are very healthy and easy for a little one to munch on and eat. If you're really that concerned, just call your pediatrician and go by what they recommend. My boys started solids 6-7 months of age and I still supplemented breastfeeding, they are very healthy and it made the transition to "real" table food SOOO much easier because babies don't start the pickiness and rejection of foods usually until after a year of age and if table food is not even offered until then, the transition is much more difficult.
My 8 1/2 month DD's schedule...
8-9 am. Wakeup, nurse.
1hr. later=breakfast (container of fruit, or container's worth of fruit mixed with cereal.)
12-1 pm. Nurse, nap (usually 1.5-2 hrs) when she wakes up she gets her 'snack'... usually baby puffs or cut up fruits and veggies... any type of finger food. She gets as much as she will sit and munch on. Her snack is mostly just to practice feeding herself, most of it actually goes to the dogs. lol.
4-5 pm. nurse, nap (usually only 30-45 min) When she wakes up again, she gets dinner. Usually, about half of a container of veggies, along with small pieces of whatever we are having for dinner.
8 pm. Nurse, then bedtime routine and bed.
She usually nurses twice at night too...
