Amount of solid food at 8 months?

My boys are 8.5 months and eating solids 3 times a day. I know breastmilk/formula is the main source of nutrition right now, but wondering if there's an amount of baby food they should be eating. I totally just wing it but here's basically what I do...

Breakfast: Yogurt (probably 4 T. each) and fruit (either a half banana each or half jar each)
Lunch & Dinner: 5 T. of cereal with 2 cubes of vegetables each

We are starting to experiment more with finger foods at dinner but I always make sure they get their cereal and vegetables as we've had weight gain issues in the past and solids have really helped.

Just wondering if anyone has gotten a chart of food amounts or any info from their paediatrician... we see my family doctor. Thanks!

 

There isn't really any "should" -- just let them have as much as they want. If you feel like they are eager for more, I'd start working on variety rather than just increasing the quantity.

The guidelines we got from our ped were very boilerplate and often didn't work for us. They were always pushing more solids, fewer feedings, etc. at ages that I thought were too young. They are also not written for parents of twins, with all the scheduling issues we needed to juggle! We just did what made sense and tried not to stress about it.

 

As long as they are getting within the range of formula they need (which I think is 24-32 oz. for that age), I would let them eat the solids they want. If I remember right, I think our pedi gave us these maximums for solids around that age:
4 oz. fruit
4 oz. veggies
2 servings of cereal (2-4 tbsp each serving)
2-3 oz. of protein

Our boys were big eaters at that age at big for their age (75th and 90th percentile), so we pretty much maxed out the solids and the formula both.

 

I was still breastfeeding more or less on demand (maybe 3-4 times a day and once or twice per night) and had added 2 snacks/meals of solids a day at that age. My pedis said that they can get all their nutrition from (breast)milk at that age and that solids are still more of a learning game, tastes, textures, etc. My pedis are very supportive of breastfeeding and do not give any advice regarding the amounts of solids to nursing mothers as a matter of principle. As long as they stay on their curves and get enough milk I would not worry too much.

I think my LOs usually shared a smallish jar of veggies or veggies and meat for lunch and had 2 large tablespoons of cereal with half a jar of fruit each in the late afternoon, and usually they needed milk to top that up. My babies did not really enjoy solids before they started self-feeding, i.e. fingerfoods and cereal with their own spoons.

 

Since we are discussing 8-month-old twins, my twins just threw me for a loop.

On Day 2 of being 8 months old, their schedule just got completely messed up. After sleeping about 11 hours through the night, they wake up at about 6 am. They get a bottle of 6 oz (she normally eats 4 oz--he eats 6 oz). Normally they play for about an hour and half and then it's feeding time. Cereal mixed with formaula and fruit on the side. They play after that and then take a morning nap. Wake up after 2 hours. Bottle, then veggies, then finger foods or food in mess holders, play, nap (1 - 2 hours). Wake, bottle, play, maybe a late afternoon nap, dinner at 6 PM of cereal and veggies. Play (maybe a bath) and then bed between 7 & 8 PM. Suddenly, the last 2 mornings I've been having to feed them cereal and fruit by 7:30 and it's an unbelievable struggle. They haven't finished their breakfasts b/c they are rubbing theirs eyes, crying and whining. Off to bed for nap. What's going on here? How should I switch it up? And for the last 2 months, she only eats 17 oz of forumla/day and he eats between 20 -24 oz. She would rather eat solids then have a bottle.

 

My girls did this but around 7 months of age. They were going to bed at 8pm and waking up at 6am on the dot. I dont think they were "ready" to be up yet, same as you i would give them bottles right when they got up and then feed them breafast around 8 then nap right after that. Well they would rub their eyes like they were super tired. So I started not getting them out of cribs at 6 when they would cry. I would let them sleep longer, or cry it out or just play quietly after a couple nights of doing this they started sleeping til 7, and now they dont go down for a nap til 930 or 10 and we make it through breafast and mroning playtime alot better.

sounds to me like they are up to early! but thats my opinion. i mean 11 hours is great night of sleep but still i would shot for 630 or 7 of getting up and they might do better in the mornings!then possibly you could do two naps during the day or three if they still need it! also a set bedtime rather than between 7 and 8
our shcedule at that age and which is still our schedule now
7-730 wake up bottle
830 Breakfast
10-Nap
1130 - (or whenever they wake up from nap) sippy cup with milk (we started this here when i dropped their morning bottle and wanted them to
practice milk out of sippy cup)
1230- lunch
230- bottle
245 Nap
after nap they get yogurt
530-dinner
730 bath
8 bottle and bed

As for your little girl only eating 17 oz, i say thats ok, i mean i offer 24 oz a day to my two girls and they dont drink it all the time. they get 3 8 oz bottles of expressed breastmilk and they sometimes will only drink 4 out of 8 or 6 out of 8 never ever finish. i used to stress about it, but made it worse.
17 oz is not bad between 8 and 12 months they say between 16 -24 oz a day.
since my girls dont always get all the milk they need i make sure they get a yougurt every single day

goooood luck!

 

Thanks for the information and feedback. I do feel a little better. I never thought about letting lay in bed for a while when they wake, especailly since they just slept 11 hours. I'll try that and also, I'm going to move their cereal to their lunch time with the veggies. For breakfast, post bottle, I'll just give them the fruit and the yogurt and see how that goes. Thanks, again, and I'll keep you updated regarding their (and my) progress.

 

That's what I do in the morning... yogurt and fruit. Cereal is with lunch and dinner, along with veg. We also practice finger foods at dinner. We leave our boys in their cribs until 7am no matter what. Good luck!

 

Wow. I feel like I have been "babying" my babies by getting them up when they wake. I have to admit that I am shocked people let them stay/hang in the cribs. I will do it from now on, but I just thought that since they slept 11 hours, they were ready to get up. I'll give it a whirl and see what happens. (BTW: we do give them finger foods and sippy cup, too.)

 

Unless our boys cry like they are hurt, I do not get them out of their cribs before 6:45 (which is when DH gets up for work). They usually are up between 6 and 6:30, but will talk and play until time to get up.