Food for an Almost 8 Month Old

Hi, M. B!

I know it will sound wacky, but my pediatrician told me when my elder son was about 5 months old to give him table food. Anything and everything we ate. He had been exclusively breast-fed but clearly wanted more food. So I fed him pizza that first day, and from then on everything, including about half a pint of strawberries the first time he tried them and couldn't get enough! Now I look back and think, yikes, food allergy potential! But he was fine and has never been truly sick a day in his life (except high-school mono) and he's 23 now, super-healthy and so is his brother (20), who did suffer from asthma but I fed him everything, too. No food allergies and they both eat anything. I feel, from the perspective of a mom of grown-up kids, that we are too protective and can loosen up a little. Enjoy that little darling!
Good luck,
M. S.

Breast milk is all your princess needs! If you choose to feed jar food of course, you can. With my daughter, I prepared fresh fruits and veggies for her at home. Have you tried your pediatrician yet? If she is eating right, that is all you baby needs.SEE YOUR PEDIATRICIAN BEFORE YOU DO ANYTHING ELSE...

I think she is getting plenty of fluids. You also have to remember that by giving fruits and veggies she is also getting liquids from those too. (that what my ped. told me). As far as other foods... try pasta in little pieces. Its really just trail and error. You can give her some of your lunch or dinner (if you think she can eat it.) My daughter is almost 1 (the 29th) and she eats everything... I MEAN EVERYTHING! She even eats meat with out a problem. I think it is scary to start giving food at first but after a while you will be very surprised at how much she can eat! Good luck!

YOU are doing a fabulous job of balancing all! Keep up the good work and the nursing...This takes me back to when I nursed my 3 who are now young adults and all degreed and doing fine...One is even very $$$$ from his brain and creative ideas...Use whatever you have for dinner for finger foods and look for a crank type masher to make your own baby food if you do not have one...But I suspect that you already do use one...Stay away from empty calorie treats and how about incorportating yogurt?
Cograts on your fine mothering and your grad degree...I did it the same way and it really paid off! Hugs & smiles, D.

Hi!
I have a 7 and 1/2 month old girl myself with two bottom teeth. Best book I read and swear by is Super Baby Food by Ruth Yaron. Tells you what foods to introduce, why, how to make them yourself (cooking instructions), etc. Tells you how much water, breastmilk, and amount of foods should eat at each month of life (at 6mo, 7mo, etc and into Toddler years).

At 8 months, the books says that your little girl should nurse 5 times a day, drink anywhere between 4 and 8 ounces of water (higher on hotter days where she is exposed to the heat), and then eat three meals (a mid morning breakfast after 1st nap, a lunch after second nap, then a dinner meal sometime before she goes off to sleep). Most foods are ok (there is a list to introduce at each month) except egg white, cow's milk, possibly cottage cheese, and peanut spreads. All these are known allergens. Whole milk yogart is ok and is actually recommended for digestive health.

The book's philosophy is about organic, healthy, balanced eating and can give you vegetarian or nonvegetarian paths.

Good luck and feel free to contact me if you have any questions about the book.

i think what your doing is great. you can also give her 4oz a day of any type of juice for babies or if you want to give her adult jusice just water it down and it should be fine. i give my 8month lil girl food that i eat sometimes she gets very intersted into what were eating for dinner i just break it into small peice. and since she has teeth you can give biter buiscut for a snack or something. she can have soft small meats and mashed beans or eas bit-size bread cooked mashed veggies and furit and even noodles...hope this helps you out!

Sounds like you a doing a perfect job with this. Just like you,if you want to taste or add new different things go ahead and do so. Baby will let you know if she isn't getting enough liquid. You're schedule sounds great. Just enjoy baby!

I was reading through the respones, as I have a 7 mo old (second baby, first one is now 2) and, to no surprise, there are quite a range of suggestions and highlights of what people are doing, which is great. However, I was surprised at reading that some moms feed their kids 7 times per day. My son eats 4x per day, about 7 - 8 oz of formula per feeding. My ped told me 32 oz was max for the day. We started giving him cereal at 6 mos (per ped's recommendation) and do so once a day in the morning when he wakes up. He sleeps from 6pm - 6am (on average) and takes about 2 - 3 naps a day. He's a very happy, active baby. If I fed my son 7 times a day, along with his nap schedule, my 2 year old would be miserable as we wouldn't be able to go many places. Is anyone else only feeding 4x per day for a 7 mo old?

I feed my 8 month old cereal with fruit or fruit in the morning, feed a veggie in the evening. He started when he was 5 months. He eats stage 2. I breast feed the rest of the time. He didn't really like stage 3. He either didn't eat it or didn't finish it.

At 8 months if you plan to introduce meats, you can start with pureed meat. Also, you can start yogurt, cottage cheese (my 9 mo old doesn't like the consistency though), and thin small bits of cheese for added protein and variety. We nurse 1st thing around 6am, have oatmeal mixed with breast milk and 2 oz fruit about an hour later 715ish, nurse about an hour later before nap 845, eat lunch (4 oz veggie and 2 oz fruit and sometimes yogurt) around 1130, sometimes nurse before afternoon nap around 130 but not always, nurse upon waking or around 330 or 4pm, eat dinner at 6pm (2 oz pureed meat, rice cereal mixed with breast milk, 4 oz veggie, and sometimes yogurt or cheese), and sometimes nurse before bed (he sometimes doesn't want to and I pump instead). I KNOW he is getting a ton of breastmilk because he drinks 25 oz between bottles and mixed with cereal daily for the 10 hrs he is there when I work (the nursing schedule I gave you is our weekends since you are a SAHM). I am TRYING to get him on more table foods -- we made the transition with my now 2 yr old (they are little less than 16 mos apart) when she was 10 months. My 9 mo old has 4 full teeth and 4 more poking through now. I have tried little pea-sized bits of sweet potato (letting him pick them up himself off his tray and feed himself like the wheat puffs), little pea-sized bits of ripe banana (sometimes too slippery to feed himself so I spoon feed them). Some advice though -- feed the new chunkier stuff FIRST at a meal when you transition. That way, if she doesn't like the texture or chokes a bit while working on this new skill, she won't heave up her whole meal! We had it happen once with our daughter and (shoulda learned) once with our son! Good luck!

Hello M. B:

Congratulations you have a full blessed life that a girl wants.

You are doing a great job by breast nursing your baby daughter. Remember, because your breast milk is the result of your food intake, take a well balanced diet and much more than normal. Some specialist in this field say, if you can not make sure of a balanced diet full of all vitamins minerals and iron and a lot more, then give your baby formula, or supplement with formula.

Either read baby food details on the internet, by some baby doctors, or buy books or get from the library. As a mother it is very important to know what your child needs, at every age.

Basically what you are doing is okay. But nutrition, how much is a child getting, exactly is very important to know. For example, at 8 months, your child sould take 24 to 32 oz of formula, or breast milk every day. Do you know how much is your child taking. Try to know that, by pumping your milk and measure when you give her. What you feed now is the base for your daughter's full life.

You sound like a very great girl this little more effort will satisfy your motherhood and will give you more confidence to feel that you are doing the best for your daughter.

FA
Oswego Il

I'm going to kindly disagree with Fran. You do not need to know how much fluid your baby is getting. Up until recently, women didn't measure how much breast milk their children received, and the human species is surviving nicely. As long as your child is growing, they are getting enough. Unlike adults who have picked up bad eating habits, babies can still truly hear their natural urges and they will eat what they need --unless there is a problem.

At 8 months, I introduced finger foods and more mashed stuff. I used the Wholesome baby website. My daughter decided around 8 months she wanted what was on my plate, so I started making meals that she could share too, and gave her less and less frozen veggie food. You should be introducing meat purees about now, though, to get her use to the taste. I think I also pushed the egg around 8 months, making hard boiled and putting it in avocado --she loved that.

Hi M. Check with your daughter's pediatrican about what solid foods she should be eating and if she's getting enough fluid from nursing her. Her doctor would know better than anyone on the internet unless they're pediatrican. At her age you don't second guess. What may work with someone else child may not work for yours.

This is always a hard time to decide what and when to feel your little one. As a mom of two, and someone who has been doing daycare for 10+ years, it's hard to balance the meals. My general rule of thumb is: milk/formula is ALWAYS first, especially nuturition wise; you give your little one cereal when she starts showing signs that the milk is not enough (with your little one right now cereal, you may need to do cereal at all meals); and food is just an experiment in flavors-don't use it to replace the nutrition of the other two. Use maybe a tablespoon or two just to flavor the cereal. As she gets near 10 months and is ready to start testing out the waters of 'solid' food, smush us some noodles and little pieces of chicken when she can grab, and start things that way. Anyway, order of nutritional value is the key: milk, then cereal, then food. At this age, and it's a little tricky for you since you nurse, they recommend no more than 30 oz. of milk a day. Good luck! And remember as long as she is growing, and pooping (not hard poops) and peeing, you're doing pretty good!

For that age I find this schedule works best
wake let's say at 7 for example sake- nurse
8:30 solids - cereal, fruit or veggie - then immediately to nap
10:30 wake, nurse
11:30 solids - cereal, fruit or veggie, maybe some finger foods then immediately to nap
2 wake, nurse
3:30 solids - finger foods such as cherrios, kix, or other low/no sugar cereal
5 dinner with you, give her small bites of every food you eat that isn't a dessert type, also give her baby food, cereal or meat and fruits/veggies
7 nurse before bed, but not to sleep

Hope this helps!
For finger foods canned and frozen veggies work great, and basically any food you eat you can cut up small and offer her it. They have found that even peanut butter is better introduced sooner rather then later in order to avoid allergies. Do not feed her milk products or any product that contains honey yet, even cooked in honey can still giver her botulism.