How Much to Feed My Sixth Month Old

Giving him food at noon shouldn't be a problem. Several suggestions here... mix a little cereal into the fruit or veggies. That will help fill his tummy more. Also, if he's grabbing at the food and trying to shove it into his mouth, you may need to start some "small, slow bites" type of training now. He will likely fuss, maybe even act angry toward you if you aren't feeding him as fast as he thinks you should, but just keep feeding him at a reasonable rate and wait for him to swallow a bite well before even putting the spoon back into the dish. Talk to him all the while either by saying thing like "take little bites", "swallow that bite and then you can have more" or just have a conversation with him as he's eating. He will begin to get the idea if you are consistent.

Kids know how much they need. Trust him. If he wants more I would give it to him. That has been my attitude with my children. My daughter is not a big eater and never has been but a week here and there where she could just eat all day and I let her. My son, like yours, loved solids from the start and would get very excited and shove the spoon in his mouth as well. Neither of my children is overweight and they have no issues with food. If they ask for more I give it to them, but I don't generally give them junk so I don't worry about them having poor nutrition.

boys eat more than girls.

I wouldnt give him more fruit of veg as there is very little nutrition or calories in the jarred fruit.. add some cereal.. it is fortifield adn has more calories..

just dont add too much foods so he wont drink his milk.. all of babies nutrition for the first year comes from milk.. food is just practce for eating..

yup yup yup. Feed him till he stops eating. My son was 20lbs at 6m (exclusively breastfed until 7 months when we started introducing rice cereal as well), then as he ate more food and less breastmilk in the coming months, and learned to crawl, walk, and climb, the weight just spilled off of him.

So have fun! He won't get too fat. He's a baby. He's probably cute and chubdiddliumptious. He should enjoy eating while he can before he has to grow up and start counting calories. lol!

I also recommend feeding until full with a couple possible changes.

1) Make sure that the spoonfuls YOU feed him are small. Remember even for us adults eating it takes 20 minutes for our brains to get the message that we are full. Babies haven't quite created that pathway so you have to offer less on the spoon.

2) Food at this age is supposed to be LEARNING and FUN, not for nutrition especially since he is otherwise breast fed. At 6-12 months only about 5-25% should be coming from foods. This increases to only about 50% 18 months and upto 75% at 2 years.

3) Try intermixing self feeding into the spoon feeding. Small soft chunks of avocado, sweet potato, carrot and banana for him to pick up, circle cereals and even a couple of those yogurt meltable things. Follow his lead, look into baby led foods.

Most times boys eat more then girls do. I can remember my son (who is now 25) at cereal and fruit for breakfast, veggie and fruit for lunch, and cereal, veggie, and sometimes a half of a jar of fruit for dinner. He is in no way heavy he was just a great eater. Before solids he was eating every 2.5 hours I couldn't keep up. If he looks like he would like more then I say give it to him. This is also a good time to try puffs, or cheerios on his tray to help him develop his fine motor skills. It keeps them busy and teaches them how to chew foods with consistency. I really didn't do baby food too long with my kids eventually they ate what we ate and that made life soooo much easier. Good luck!!

So kids are just ready for food.

When my son started solids (much later than yours) we just always essentially gave him an adult serving. He'd eat until he was full, just like BF on demand. What he didn't finish we'd wrap up and he'd have it later.

Piggybacking off the 20 minute adult "rule," try to keep in mind that babies have the same appetite we do in the sense that if we eat a big breakfast, we won't be hungry for a large lunch at the traditional lunchtime. We may have a snack, then pig out at dinner. Our appetites change daily and may be completely different from day to day.

That being said, my 8mo daughter has her moments where she can't seem to get enough to eat even though she just had an entire jar of baby food!! After that, I try to give her finger foods that slow her eating down and allow her belly to catch up. I know your little guy can't feed himself yet, but Cheerios and Gerber puffs are good places to start as well as soft chunks of banana, etc. If she still seems hungry, I'll put her to the breast and let her drink her fill. And I ALWAYS offer the breast before I give her solids (unless it's bedtime; she always has Yo Baby yogurt before nursing to sleep). Sometimes it helps fill up her belly, so she doesn't eat so many solids.

As long as they're healthy choices, let him eat and explore. Let him practice feeding himself, but be prepared for a mass clean-up!!! haha

feed him till he is full. I always mixed cereal inthe fruit and in my case formula in the cereal to fill my youngest up faster. he was and still is a very heavy eater. he is a very big boy but not fat. with him being a very heavy eater i would give him cereal mixed with formula. and if he was still hungry cereal mixed with fruit.

even doing this I was buying 3 extra cans of formula and 5-6 more boxes of cereal than what wic gave me, and lots of baby food on top of that. he was in a size 5 shirt at 1 1/2 yrs old. and if you look at my photo on the profile you will see he is not fat. I started the protien thing as soon as possible and was mixing cereal in with baby foods that had meat in them. its what I had to do to get him full.

Yep, well he is also... at a growth-spurt period. 6 months is a spurt time. Every 3 months is.
So there is that going on too. At growth spurt times, they get hungrier...

Keep nursing on-demand BEFORE solids.
Because if you nurse after solids, it will cause a baby to 'wean' from breast.
For the 1st year of life, breast/Formula is a baby's PRIMARY source of nutrition... not solids and not other liquids. This is per our Pediatrician.

As far as boys v.s girls... yes boys eat more.
However in my case, my girl ate like your son at that same age. And my boy, although will eat a lot, is very picky. But my daughter would eat anything and well and heartily.

I would not focus on jar "fruit" more... it is sugar. For us, we started with single grain cereals, then veggies.... and at 12 months, 'meats.' For us, the Ped said fruits or sweet stuff... was not important. Babies will like fruit because it is sweet.... so to introduce other foods first.

Here is a good link:
http://www.babycenter.com/0_age-by-age-guide-to-feeding-y...

http://www.babycenter.com/0_foods-that-can-be-unsafe-for-...

all the best,
Susan

I got this paper from the health department, and the recommended amounts to give a 6-8 month old are as follows:
Baby Cereal: 4 to 8 tablespoons or more per day of prepared cereal
Pureed Vegetables: 4 to 8 tablespoons or more per day
Pureed Fruits: 4 to 8 tablespoons or more per day
Pureed Meats:(cooked lean meat, chicken, or turkey): 1 to 6 tablespoons per day
100% Fruit Juice: 4 to 6 oz per day in a cup only
Water: Babies over 6 months who are given a variety of foods may need to be given 4 to 8 oz of water per day

a 2 1/2 oz jar of baby food is 5 tablespoons, a 4 oz is 8 tablespoons, and a 6 oz jar is 12 tablespoons.

Oh, and all this is on top of the 4-6 feediings per day since you're still breastfeeding!
Hope this helps!