Meals for an 8 Month Old

L.,
From my standpoint as a mom and a holistic practitioner; I say keep nursing as much as you and your son like. Don't let anyone tell you to nurse less than you and your son desire.
I believe that it's best to use as much raw food as possible.
That keeps all of the enzymes available to your child.
That goes for most veggies as well.
I wont go into the finger foods, will let others tackle that one. I do like the book Super Baby Foods.
I will say, variety. Lots of green foods. Use as much organic produce as you can. My Organic Market in Rockville or College Park has great prices and is locally owned.
Hope that helps.
L.

first of all kudos on self prep on the baby's food. with all the biproducts in our food today and the cost of organics, home prep is best. I fed all my boys as they needed. I would ask you pediatric doctor to be sure, but little man just may be needing more nutriants. Did you know that boiling food takes out all the nutriants? Steam it, if possible. This maintains the nutrients and softens the food so he will not choke. Does he have teeth yet? that will make a difference on what he can eat also. I used to freeze peaches and soft fruit that would mush upon nibbling. With teeth you can try things like carrots and apples, but be careful to watch him to insure he understands the chewing concepts. Cherrios are a great starter for this also as they melt in your mouth with sucking and as teeth develop they can experiment with chewing. I still think you pediatric doc can advise you better than anyone as they see him and know his current condition and digestive capabilities. He is currently developing his eating habits for life, be proud for teaching him home cooking is the best for growing children. My boys are stronger for it and yours will be too. It is proven that the chemicals and preservitives we are eating each day are breaking down our bodies natural immune systems and making us sick. IE: Fiber Mialgia, ADHD, ADD, Migraines and many more illnesses. Organic is the healthy way and all I can say is your a great mom for taking the time to give your child the best.. food from the heart. Take care and God Bless.

Since he's under a year old, nursing will be his primary nourishment and three meals a day sounds just plenty. My son ate Cheerios non-stop too so I wouldn't say it's an issue--it's just more of a phase. You could try providing something like muffins, banana bread, or a very soft banana if you wanted to offer him something other than the food you've already prepared.

Hello my son is 10 months around 7 months i gave him 3 meals and 2 small snacks he drank less milk and he slept better also being full. Right now i make him grilled cheese sandwiches and cut them in very small pieces he loves them, i also freeze some breakfast items i make pancakes but i add a little cinnomon to them for a flavor he goes though 1 large pancake with no problem. Dinner time i have found that mac n cheese is a real hit with him, when i make mac n cheese i take a vegie and chopp it up as little as i can and mix it in with the mac n cheese he dosnt even notice. I think right no you should try and make for him what makes you comfortable, children cook books are great but they dont know you child only you do so do what feels right for you.

Until they are a year old, their primary nurishment should come from nursing or formula. other than that, 3 small meals a day and snacks sound good. What it comes down to is that you are the mother and you can read your baby's cues better than a book can. Trust you instincts and it'll all work out in the end.

In my experience (I have a four year old and am starting again with a 5 month old), older toddlers get to about 5 small meals a day: breakfast, lunch, dinner, and then 2 snacks - so I would say that is the goal you are working toward. But healthier kids are grazers, so definatly let him eat when he is hungry and focus on stopping when he is full so he learns this sensation.

Don't let him just eat Cheerios certainly, but all kids do sort of go through this. Start experimenting with other cereals. Try shredded cheese. Try very soft bits of boiled carrots and potatoes and cooked apples. Basically look at the processed stuff on the shelves for that age and then try making it fresh at home. Once he gets over the hump of finger food learning, you can offer cheese and crispier veggies. You can't really go wrong, as long as it is soft enough.

Also, let him use a spoon - if he makes a mess that is okay. The sooner he masters the spoon, the more variety you can put in front of him. He doens't need a lot of finger foods - the purees are still okay - its not like he won't learn to eat if cheerios is his only finger food right now.

Have fun, I think it is great you are making your own food - I did about 50-50% homemade and Earth's Best for my daughter. It was great fun.

PS - Actually, I forget when you can introduce dairy like cheese and yogurt - is it before a year? So be careful when giving cheese.

I worked in a day care center.
For afternoon snacks we would give the kids canned green beans - right out of the can. They LOVED them. We also gave them canned corn and canned carrots. They were soft, easily gummed, and healthy. We just put a pile on each tray.

I know.. it sounds totally gross, but it was great!!

YMMV

Hi, L..

Good for you for making and freezing your son's food! I can tell you're committed to his health and well-being, and that's such a huge part of being a great parent.

Babies and toddlers go through all kinds of cycles, and it's completely normal. Some doctors are more freakish about it than others, pressing you to shove food into the child so they gain weight along the chartlines. 8.5 months is a little young for all those solids--yes, the doctors and pretty much everything out there says to start by 6mos, but there's a whole school of thought about slowing down that whole solid-food introduction. Check out Attachment Parenting International, La Leche League and Dr. William Sears' websites for more info and details about how to handle this.

Just keep an eye on him for signs of hunger, and then feed him what he'll eat. If you force-feed, they can grow up with food issues or not know that it's ok to stop eating when you're full.

Both of my kids (13 and 3) go through the eat/not-eat cycles, so we just adjust what we're feeding them. I think they just live on air at that point, while their bodies focus on developing something else. The baby's gone back to a baby-food/nursing-only diet for now, which is a little frustrating--who wants to feed a 3-yo baby jars when you know she'll eat our dinner?--but she refuses our food to the point of not eating at all, so we just give her the jars (and I nurse) to be sure she's getting the nutrients she needs, and trust that she won't be eating baby jars in college. :-) She tells me she'll still be b-feeding in college, though. Ha. I am not a supporter of parent-led weaning, but I WILL wean before that. ;-) She still nurses many times a day (I don't bother tracking it anymore), mostly before/after nap/bedtime, but also as comfort or boredom breaker--that's when I try to distract her with juice or snacks or a meal, but I don't force that if she's insistent on b-feeding.

Soft-cooked peas can be a good finger food, especially if you make fun of chasing the balls around the plate. Itty-bitty bites of toast. Raisins (one at a time, because suddenly they're a choking hazard--they weren't when my 13-yo was a toddler, and everyone let their kids suck down baby handfuls of them). Cheerios. Babies R Us has a ring with a mesh attachment. You put soft/cooked fruits/vegs in the mesh, and the kid can gnaw on it and get the juice and mooshy pieces through the mesh, ensuring the nutrients get into them, without the danger of choking. This was a big fave of my now 2-yo.

Good luck!

Hi L.,

Here is a link to an age-by-age guide for what kids should be eating which should help your question about how many meals vs snacks, etc.

http://www.babycenter.com/0_age-by-age-guide-to-feeding-y...

To answer your question about the cheerios - all kids up until even age 2-3 years will go through phases of pure obsession with one thing. Its perfectly normal. He will move onto a new obsession eventually. The key with healthy eating is to make sure over the span of a week, your son is getting the right amount of each food groups. I know with my daughter I used to get paranoid that she didn't get enough veggies for a couple of days or too much dairy on one day, etc. But if you look it week by week then it was easier to manage - if she ate boatloads of cheese one day then we stayed away from it for the next few...

Ideas for snacks for your little guy:
-cheese cubes
-whole grain crackers served with hummus
-plain yogurt
-smoothies
-fruits that are soft you can serve raw;
-fruits that are not soft (like apples) you should cook
-A great idea for when he is teething is to hand him a whole bagel so he can chew on it - just watch him if already has teeth to make sure he doesn't bite off a massive chunk.
-cooked peas (my daughter LOVES peas)
-steamed veggies like sweet potato cubes, carrots, etc. (now's a great time to get them introduced to veggies)

Good luck!

Hi L.,
We are in the same boat. I have an 8 mo old daughter who started eating solids at 6 months. When did your son start? I too give her 3 meals a day and nurse her after each one and 2-3 times in between each meal. I actually just started on finger foods and I do give her a little snack in between the nursing and her meals. Just something real small so she won't ruin her appetite. I usually give her Gerber puffs or cut up some peaches, pears, or bananas and I just found out that she loves cheese, so I'll be giving her some cut up cubed cheese. Good luck!

I have an 8 month old girl. She loves fingerfood, and we just started with 3 meals a day from 2. I also make my own food. In the morning she gets a puree still because I have to give her a probiotic, so this is what her day looks like:

Wake-up: Nurse

Breakfast: (about 30 min later) a mixture of 2 cubes of pear, 1 cube of prune (she's prone to constipation) and a "veggie cube" of mixed sweetpotato/butternutsquash/kale. Add the probiotic and some baby oatmeal for texture.

Before nap 1: Nurse

Lunch: Diced fruit and diced veggie. So, watermelon and broccoli. Or cooked carrots and banana. Or Green beans and cooked pears. Blueberries (quartered) and peas (Squished). Etc.

Before nap 2: Nurse

Before dinner: Puffed Kamut (a plain cereal, no sugar or salt or anything added) while I'm cooking dinner to keep her busy ;)

Dinner: A veggie or a fruit and a protein or fat, so: Broccoli and tofu, Watermelon and kidney beans (mashed). Avocado and carrots.

I haven't introduced meat, egg yolks, or dairy yet, but that may be soon. I don't believe a ton of cheese is good for kids--my husband had a lot of ear infections as a kid, so if my daughter takes after him, we're definitely not going to do the dairy thing much.

Before bed: Nurse

Once in the wee hours (4-5am): Nurse

I've made all of my sons food and he is now 13 months old. at around 8 months old he only wanted to feed himself so I quit pureeing veggies and friuts and instead cooked them and cut them into bite sized pieces. Tofu also makes a great finger food. I love the website http://www.wholesomebabyfood.com/ they have a whole section on finger food. Also I think around this time I was nursing about 4 times a day and not at all at night. I didn't really do snacks unless he was acting hungry until he started nursing less. Hope this helps.

Dear L.,

Most babys love cheerios - its just thier thing. Its a food that is a little sweet and they feel independent. I solved this problem by hiding the cheerios and feeding them last

For now 3 meals a day is fine. My Dr. had me add one snack in the afternoon at 9 months and another snack in the morning at 12 months. However, for us snacks have always been milk first and solids later(snacks are completely optional - I don't get upset if they eat nothing) while the three meals are solids first milk later. I don't know if this is the "right" way to do it, but it really worked for us to help balance the milk to food ratio.

I would start with cooked fruits for finger food, and then when you are sure they are comfortable you can move to uncooked. Since you make your own baby food you can do the following: After cooking food for baby take half and puree as usual, take the other half and cut up into small dices. The dices can be frozen in ice cube trays or if its a small amount I like to fill a freezer bag and lay it flat. It freezes in a thin sheet for easy storage and you can break off the amount of dices you need. My Dr. said by 12 months all raw fruit was fine as long as my twins wouldn't choke on it (apples were still a little hard, but peaches and pears were fine)

I started finger foods with the same items I had been making in pureed form. Then I added:

- Mac and Cheese
- Bread
- Scrambled Eggs (cooked with a green veggie puree - they still have no idea veggies aren't usually in scrambled eggs)
- Cut up low sodium lunchmeat
- Cheese dices
- Pasta whole wheat and otherwise (da vinci makes these awesome baby sized raviolis at some stores - in the dry pasta isle also barilla is making lots of mini shapes now)
- Chicken dices (easy to chew or gum)
- Eggo waffles topped with fruit and cut up
- Spagetti Os
- French toast
- Adult Oatmeal (good for spoon or self feeding depending how you do it)
- Pasta pickups and varoius gerber items
- Sandwiches prepared just like for adults, but cut up in 1cm cubes (my kids love pesto for something green - watch the pine nuts though if you are worried about allergies)
- low sodium soups (I use these when I need something portable or quick - I drain all the broth which is where most of the salt is and then feed the very soft goodies inside)
- LEFTOVERS cut up small. Its great to five him the foods that you really eat at home, even better if you are eating them at the same time.

Some of my favorite meals:
- Maccaroni and Cheese with Whole Peas and Diced Ham or bacon
- Baked Chicken (I baked it with peaches and butternut squash - cubed everything and froze it that way all together so it is a ready made meal)
- Pasta, cut up lunch meat, and veggie dices with cheese melted over them in the microvawe

Relax and enjoy this phase. It is still not really about nutrition at this point. If he is breastfeeding he is getting the best stuff ever anyway. It is normal for children to go on a food jag and just want one thing all the time and then they move on to something else. Keep trying new fun stuff but don't worry so much about how much of it he eats. It is more about the fun at this point. It is more critical for formula feeders to get kids on solids because formula is so vastly inferior to breastmilk.

Hi, L..

Your son's eating habits sound very similar to mine when he was that age... he would not eat if we tried to feed him, but he would pick up anything if it was within reach.

I gave him soft foods... if you can mash it gently between your thumb and forefinger, then it is probay easy for him to mash/chew with him gums.

My son loved fish (fresh cooked and smoked) broken into small pieces, and had eggs almost every morning for breakfast. Fresh ripe fruit (so that it is soft) - I cut into small pieces. Veggies: I would cook and usually cut up. One hit with him was sauteed fresh spinach with a little olive oil, salt, pepper and dash of lemon or white wine... the spinach would shrink down and he loved picking it up and slurping it... rice balls with fish are also good. Have fun with it!

As for the breastfeeding frequency, that is whatever you want it to be! You can feed him on-demand, no limits... or try to only nurse him at set times... do whatever works for you and the little guy.

L. - at about that same age my son wasn't refusing the food - he was already exercising his independence from me. He wanted to feed himself (Cheerios are easy and fun to pick up). Something he took from a spoon a day or 2 earlier he didn't want if I offered it. I had to figure out things he could feed himself real quick. He loved cubed ripe avocados, fresh tomato and all kinds of fresh fruit. I even devised a recipe we call "Potato Balls" If you want the recipe e-mail me directly. We put all kinds of leftovers in the recipe and mashed up vitamin rich food. When feeding solids we followed the Peds. advice and did vegetable, then meat, then fruits. As once they get that taste for sweet it's harder to get them to eat other things. So my tip - feed him things he can pick up and feed himself. The kitchen scissors were my best friend as I would make him grilled cheese with minced vegies in it and cut the sandwich into baby-bite sized pieces he could pick -up and chew. EVERYTHING got cut up with those scissors. He's almost 3 and he does finally have fork skills - so don't worry about that. I hope that helps - S.

hi, my 9 month son is kind of the same. I make most of his food and freeze it, plus the Cheerios. He definitely prefers Cheerios and other finger foods to anything else. But thankfully he still eats from the spoon. By the way, have you tried letting HIM take the spoon and put it in his mouth? That may help him fulfill the instinct that he has to feed himself right now. I put some food on the spoon for my son Ian and then give him the spoon and guide it to his mouth. He likes to do that.
Other finger foods that we use (I always steam veggies for our own meals, so I'll just give him a bit of what the adults are eating): small tips of steamed broccoli/cauliflour, diced peaches since they're in season this time of year(raw or baked), diced baked sweet potato (still holds its form, not soft enough to mash completely with his fingers before he gets it to his mouth!) peeled diced grapes, diced banana, completely cooked lentils that still have their form, etc! here's a link that I really like as it has recipes for babies through the age spectrum, tips and ideas for homemade baby food.
www.wholesomebabyfood.com

He still eats everything, thank goodness! But Boy does he love his Cheerios the most. :)

Ian weaned himself from nursing already, so he's on formula now. Sorry I can't answer the nursing question. I wish I could.

Oh wow, um it shouldnt be this hard, lol.
Um, If he eats a little table food 3x a day and is BF'ing 6x a day as well then he may not need snacks. Or you can space out the Bf'ing to act as a snack a couple times a day if you think he's hungry for some reason.
You could quit the cheerios cold turkey if you want. Or just continue to offer other foods. Bananas, peaches, pears, mandarin oranges (all fruit cut up), cheese, mini ritz, soft cooked veggies (carrots, beans...).... Pretty much anything is a go as long as its small and not sticky like peanut butter or overly spicy....