Just Starting My 6 Month Out on Food

hi C.,
my daughter never had problems with food/formula (and still doesn't), but my 9 week old son has been having issues with the formula latley...anyways, my daughter was on her "baba" till she was 18 months. which some may say is "too long" but we had some seperation issues with it. However, wait until he is at least 12 months to get rid of it all together! he needs the formula, as well as the food...don't replace the formula with the food. not yet. not until he's ready and better established on the food! and yes, after he's done eating his "meal" offer the bottle. That's what I did and will do again for my 2....Good Luck, and you'll get through it! ~C.

Hi C., I'm sure you have heard from lots of Moms, but I'll add my opinions too! We started with breakfast (ceral and/or yogurt or fruit). Then added a real lunch, (ceral and a veggie or two) then added dinner (also ceral and a veggie or two and a fruit). My girls never liked any of the baby food meats and frankly they really don't need them. As they eat more they should cut back on their bottles naturally, I always feed first, then give a bottle. The last two bottles that went for my girls were the morning and the night time ones. Just try making the "day" bottles an after thought...like don't offer them and see if he notices after he is all filled up with food. Hopes this helps! Best wishes.

Hi C.,

You shouldn't be replacing your bottles with food. The food should be in addition to the bottle. Your baby will have formula or breastmilk as his primary source of nutrition until he is 12 months old. Prior to that, foods are really only given for new experiences and are not required for their nutritiional value. Always nurse or give your baby formula prior to feeding foods and do not replace any of the feedings with food. Add the food as additional to the bottles/breastfeeding.

J.

Hi C.

My kids are ages 3 1/2, 18 months, and 10 weeks. When my older 2 were ready to start solids, I started with a single grain cereal. Your baby already has a pretty set eating pattern with his bottles, so, what I would do is before his "dinner" bottle, whatever you decide to introduce give a small amount of that and then as much of his normal bottle as you want. Once my babies got better at eating I would start giving them "food" before their breakfast, lunch and dinner bottles. I didn't emiminate any of the bottle feedings until the were older and started to take less on their own. Even when they are old enough to be on a solids only diet, they still eat about 5 times a day with snacks so it really works itself out anyway - you will eventually substitute a solid food item for formula. Just follow his cues for how much he wants and make sure you don't give him so much food that his formula intake falls below what your pediatrician recommends.

Sorry if this was too long or confusing.
S.

I would not be trying to cut out the bottle just yet. Your son is still getting most of his nutrition through the formula. Feed him his solids and allow him to take as much formula as desired. I am just starting my 6 month old on solids also, and I have 2 older children as well. The feeding schedule I used with my older two, and plan to adopt as soon as we get through all of the foods is,

9:00 Nursed
12:00 Cereal mixed with fruit, top off nursing
3:00 Nursed
6:00 veggies, and when they got older I added fruit to this feeding, top off with Nursing
9:00 Nursed and bedtime

Hope this helps :)

C.,
It's an intimidating thought at this age that the bottles get to be "less" of the meal, I know.
My son always wanted his "bubby" when he woke up. After that I would offer cereal. For lunch, fruit & veggie and for dinner veggie & meat. He always still wanted a bottle before bedtime too. If he is having a full bottle (6-8 oz) in the morning and before bed, that still leaves you about 8 oz. to divvy up at lunchtime & dinnertime. Yu will see a gradual decrease in the formula intake as he eats more food. My son still like his nighttime bottle for a long time and it was his last bottle to go!
I agree with the mom who suggested some water in a sippy with meals.
Good luck!

With all 4 of my kids, I started rice cereal first, usually at night, before his last bottle. Go a week with that. I would then give them some applesauce in the morning with or without some cereal, then the am bottle. Wait a good week to start a new fruit/veggie in place of the first one. After you have tried them all, you can mix match them any way you want. Dinner would eventually consist of cereal with veggie(half jar), lunch was cereal with fruit (half jar) same as breakfast. Email me if you need more.

Good Luck.

Hi! I would not consider cutting out a bottle yet, at least not until the food is better established. My son is 7mos., he does not have any allergies, and his day goes like this:
7am- 9oz. bottle
9am- veggie and fruit if he wants
11am- 9oz bottle
1pm- veggie or fruit
3pm- 9oz bottle
5 or 5:30pm- 3tbl cereal and 1 container fruit
7pm- 9oz bottle

He usually finishes at least 1 container of food at each sitting, and usually between 6-8 oz of each bottle. Some days it's more, sometimes it's less. If I were you, I would try not to worry too much about the amount of formula. Food is supposed to be for learning more than anything until they are 1, and like yours, my son still LOVES his bottle more than anything! :) And when he is ready and eating more, I would not "cut out" a bottle right away. I bet gradually he will just start eating less of it, so maybe lessen the amounts offered slowly rather than take it away entirely? I hope this helps, I know how confusing it can be sometimes trying to figure stuff out! You should also always try and go with what YOU think is right!! Good luck! :)

C.,

Number one, don't stress about it, it will all work out. Number two, I know alot of us were served drinks with our meals as we were growing up but you are actually suppose to drink before your meal, not during or right after. Technically, they even say to drink 30 minutes before but who thinks of that.

Anyway, does your son drink much water, I would try to replace some of the bottles with water, and then eventually not at all, it's easier to take them off of water, but of course he should have water anyway, just eventually go to a sippy cup.

Well, not a doctor here and just some suggestions, good luck with it all and just remember to relax.

M.

A great book that tells you how to introduce foods, when and how much as they eat a bit more each month is The Super Baby Food Book by Ruth Yaron. I've used it with three kids and it's a great resource.

I have 3 and I've always tried to follow the lead of the baby when it came to food. There were a few patterns I followed though for feeding...

1 - I typically offered water in a sippy cup with meals from the time they started eating. They wouldn't drink much, but it was more for getting familiar with the sippy cup and learning to use it. They aren't supposed to have a lot of water still at that age, but the few sips they get is fine.

2 - I would usually end up nursing in between meals instead of at meals.

3 - Once they allergy tested more foods, I typically offered a fruit and cereal for breakfast, fruit and veggie for lunch and veggie and cereal for dinner. We're vegetarian so we didn't incorporate meats. Since I only nursed, cereal was important for iron after 6 months so we always tried to do that 2 times a day. Plus it's filling.

4 - As their meals increase, you should notice a natural decrease in the bottles. He simply shouldn't be as hungry. Once they got onto enough foods to do the above eating pattern, I'd still nurse in the am and nap and bedtime. The other times fell first for us as they were less emotionally attached to them and just weren't as hungry. If they weren't feeling well or got hurt they might want to have an extra nursing session, but in general it fell to basically 3 times a day. Try to watch him closely you might see that he's giving you subtle clues about being more or less hungry. Kids are really good at knowing how much they need to eat. If we follow their lead, it helps them to keep that sense and reduce the chance of them developing eating problems later in life. Some days he might be more or less hungry than others and that is ok. It all evens out and activity level will influence it too.

Hi C.,

My daughter (now 14 mo) was also diagnosed with a milk-soy intolerance so I know how slowly you need to proceed with foods, but it is well worth it. One thing I would like to mention is to make sure you very carefully check the ingredients of the foods you buy for your baby. Most commercially made cereals and meals have either soy or milk ingredients included and could cause additional difficulties. As far as introducing foods, we started with Earth's Best organic baby foods (NOT the cereal as it has soy and milk by products--I made my own cereal from scratch to avoid the unwanted ingredients). We started with single ingredient foods e.g., carrots, peas, pear, banana and moved on from there. At Whole Foods you can also find finger foods that he can have once he is a bit older. I started with the same food once a day initially and once my daughter had more than one "approved" food I moved on to additional meals during the day. I would suggest introducing the food 15 to 30 minutes before scheduled nursing/bottle times since that way he will not be overly hungry and upset he is not getting a bottle, but still hungry enough to accept the food. You should still offer a bottle after "meals" as his formula should be his main source of nutrition. The amount of formula he currently takes might go down once you introduce other foods more frequently during the day, but continue to offer the bottle. Even after he stops taking bottles you will likely offer milk (whether regular, soy, or formula) with meals to round out his calories and nutrition. Lastly, try to offer new foods early in the day, that way you will have the rest of the day to see if he is having any reaction to the newly introduced menu item. It's a long process, but it will get easier with time. Good luck!