I need help with what and when to feed my 7 month old and when do you start stage 3 foods? Right now her schedule is: 7 am - bottle, 9am - cereal, fruit, and fruit juice, 12 - veggies and bottle, 3pm - fruit, fruit juice, and puffs or biter biscuit, 7 pm - cereal, veggies and bottle. Her doctor said I shouldn't give her a bottle at mealtimes and she should be eating solids 4 times a day. Another source said she should be having a bottle 3-4 times a day. These conflict with each other so this is the schedule i've been following. She would be eating all the time if I didn't give her a bottle with some of her meals.
A 7 months old baby needs to get his/her nutrition from formula. At this stage solids two times a day are plenty.
RELAX - You are doing fine. Your baby is on a great schedule for meals. Of course she should still have bottles and of course you should be increasing solids, but if she only eats solids 3 times one day and takes 5 bottles it will all be okay.
When to start Stage 3? When she starts making a chewing motion. Many kids do not like stage 3 due to the texture. Some never eat it and skip straight to table food. In a couple months you can start introducing some table food.
not at seven months!!!! she should have only just started solids at seven months! i would dramaticaly scale back the solids, maybe feeding her a single type of fruits or veggies twice a day. she needs to get the bulk of her nutrition from whatever she is drinking from her bottle-breastmilk or formula. her system is not ready to handle all of that yet.
First I would cut out the fruit juice - babies don't need it at all much less several times a day. My nearly 1 year old doesn't get juice yet and my other 2 girls still have it diluted at least 50% with water when they do have it.
4 times a day for solids at 7 months seems like a lot.
Before a year they should get most of their nutrition from nursing or formula & certainly at only 7 months. I'm surprised a Dr. would tell you otherwise. I would think she needs a bottle at least 4 times a day minimum but I really don't know how many ounces a day they "should" drink as I nursed until this month. But there are websites that should have that info.
It seems like she's getting quite a lot of liquids, and maybe too much fruit juice. At that age, they really don't need fruit juice at all. What was suggested to me is to replace the juice with foods and follow a meal with a bottle instead of before or during. That way they will eat more and drink less. Good luck!
I agree with keeping the formula involved still as much as possible. And definitely cutting out the fruit juice anytime you can, it's never really necessary. All kids progress through food stages at different rates, so just pay attention to your child's cues and abilities and do what you think is best because all doctors have differing opinions so your doctor's is not the end-all to questions. Maybe read up on articles dealing with eating/drinking for infants too. I know my daughter used to choke big time with the stage 3 foods (so bad she'd throw up) and she seemed to deal better with adult table food that was softened and cut appropriately.
My nephew ate tons of solids earlier and is just always hungry, while some kids don't really like "eating" only drink until almost a year old. I think you're doing great so far though. Good luck.
OOPS! Posted to the wrong thing!
This is the schedule that I used for my children and my pediatrician is the one who helped me and my children are healthy and happy. I adopted all of my children and had three hours to learn everything I had to know. So my pediatrician helped a lot and my children (our miracles) are healthy and beautiful.
Breakfast
Bottle (4 0z)
Cereal w/fruit mixed in it and formula from the bottle you made (pour to the thickness she likes of her cereal)
Snack
a fruit
Juice (1 ounce water/ 1 ounce juice)
*the pediatrician said it is not recommended for them to drink straight juice until two years old
*as she gets older she can have a total of four ounces a day of juice for snacks
Dinner
Bottle (4 0z)
1 container of fruit/ 1 container of vegetables
*at first she may only eat a half of each and the formula she will probably drink 2-3 ounces. As they grow they need their formula but not as much because they're eating more.
*when she starts with her meats, just add a meat into the vegetables, or you can get the babyfood with them already together.
Snack
juice (1 ounce water/ 1 ounce juice)
puffs or a snack in the babyfood area
Supper
4 ounce bottle formula
vegetable and fruit and meat whenever she starts with that
Snack before bed
4 ounce bottle
Babies should eat every two to three hours. The last bottle will tide her over till the morning.
Remember she probably won't drink the whole four ounces for the meals, if she does it's okay.
