Feeding solids - when?

When do you feed solids? Do you feed them after the bottle? I've got a huge spitter (Morgan). Right now, it seems like he's holding down his food when we give him solids right after his bottle. Just seems counter-intuitive since he's getting a whopping 8 oz in a bottle and then food on top of that. I feel like I'm cramming in the food when I do this. Is that okay? He definitely wants the food. Cries for every single bite. Hates to wait on his brother to get his bite. I just don't want to be creating bad eating habits (over-eating).

When are you feeding solids? Also, if the goal is to get to a breakfast, lunch and dinner type schedule, how are you doing that? We're waking at 6am, then feeding at 10am, 2pm, and 6pm. Then it's bedtime. I was spacing their solids to hit 8am, 12pm, and 5pm. But started to wonder if I should try to get both the bottle and solids at the same time.

Confusing!!! Shannon

 

Hey Shannon,

If it's working and they will take it right after the bottle, then great! Mine won't eat their solids immediately following the bottle, so we wait about an hour. The solids might help to keep the bottle down.

 

We do solids twice per day right now, once on the weekends because we're out more.

We do it about 1/2 hour after a bottle in the morning and in the afternoon. I've seen others post that that's when they do it so I tried it and it seems to work for us. If they're too hungry mine get frustrated so if they've had a bottle they can concentrate more on learning how to eat.

 

Our schedule is:
6am bottle only
9am fruit snack & some type of finger food (i.e. cheerios)
12pm bottle followed by cereal
3pm bottle only
6pm bottle followed by cereal and some type of protein and vegetable

I've found that it's nice having a bottle only at 3pm because it give us a little more flexibility if we have to go somewhere. It's easy to take the bottles with us as opposed to bottles and solids.

 

Shannon

I tried to find my 6mos schedule I had written down but I can't

I think at 5mos I was feeding one solid meal a day as practice and switched to 2 meals at 6mos, 3 meals at 8.5mos.

I always did the bottles first b/c I knew it was more important for them to have the formula. I would do the formula about 30mins to 1hr before the solids.

At 8.5mos when I switched to 3 meals we dropped a bottle. Went from 5 bottles to 4. If you need more detail I still have my 8 mos schedule I can e-mail it to you.

 

Thanks ladies!

Today we are trying this schedule at daycare.

6am - wake and eat 8 oz bottle
10am - eat 8 oz bottle and cereal/sweet potatoes mixed together
2pm - eat 8 oz bottle and cereal/peas mixed together
6pm - eat 8 oz bottle and possibly peas

That sounds like a lot doesn't it? I'm not giving them much solids at a time. Just a few teaspoons of potatoes or peas mixed with a tablespoon of oatmeal.

I swear my guys are pigs! They eat everything!! We'll see if Morgan can manage to keep his food down today, then I guess I'll have my answer. Yesterday with the peas, he seemed like he kept the bottle down if he had them after his bottle. Please let this be the answer to his spit-up!

Shannon

 

Hello,

Here's our schedule:

7:30 7oz bottle
8:30 oatmeal and fruit (sometimes yogurt)
11:30 6oz bottle
3:30 6oz bottle
5:00 cereal and vegetable or fruit
7:30 6oz bottle

All of the times are give or take 15 minutes. Mine are not big drinkers/eaters. My DD often doesn't finish her bottles. Hope this helps.

 

Yeah, well...Morgan puked alot at school today. Oh well, I'll try moving things around again tomorrow. I think if I can get daycare to feed them about an hour after their bottles that might also help them stay awake longer. Right now they are eating their bottles and falling asleep (according to the notes I get each day).

Thanks everyone!! Shannon

 

I did 3 solids per day at 5 months.

When they woke: Bottle
Mid Morning: Fruits
Afternoon: Bottle
Late Afternoon:Bottle
Early Evening: Veggies
Evening: Bottle
Before Bedtime: Cereal