Wednesday, June 30, 2010

Question for my Mommy friends

Now that I'm introducing Peyton to "solids", I'm curious as to how often and how much to give her. Right now, she gets rice cereal mid-morning, between her morning and lunch nursing, and half a jar of a veggie between her evening nursing. How did you do it and when did you start upping their intake??

7 comments:

Jennifer said...

Brookelynne ate WAY more than the other babies her age for the first 3 months or so. And I was feeding her breakfast around 9 and dinner around 5 or 6 and she would eat 1.5 stage one foods per sitting from the 3rd day on. We made our own baby food so every few days I would add an ice cube and if she finished it we would stay at that #, if she didn't, we'd go back to what we had been giving her.

The doctor told us to start toward 3 meals a day at her 6 month appt, so we did, but she began eating less at each sitting and that was a hard transition for her. They told us that from 4-6 months she should eat a fruit in the morning and veggie at night and then between 6 and 9 month transition to fruit for breakfast, veggie for lunch and veggie/meat for dinner. Hope it goes well for you!

Erin said...

We didn't really start Collin on regular solids until he about 5 1/2 months old. It would depend on what kind of mood he was in in the mornings. If he wanted it, he'd eat it. If he didn't, he wouldn't eat it. We practically skipped the plain rice cereal too. He didn't seem to want it. (Not that I blame him!)

Once he did start he'd eat breakfast around 9. It would be a fruit, usually banana, prunes or applesauce. I would mash 1/2 a banana, or use about 2 oz applesauce or prunes with oatmeal. (Like Angela, I make all of his food and it's usually in 1 oz cubes) Then at dinner he'd eat about 2 oz squash, sweet potatoes or some other vegetable I had made.

Because of his "weight issues" at his 6 month appointment the doctor had us stat 3 meals a day. Fruit and oatmeal for breakfast, veggie for lunch, and a meat and veggie for dinner. I'm not brave enough to make his meat so he eats the stage 3 Gerber jar meats (and LOVES them)

Little by little he'd start eating more. I'd make an extra cube of food and he'd more each time. Now he eats anywhere between 3 and 5 oz each meal. Plus any type of snack thing I put on his try because he's not happy unless he can feed himself something too.

Some days are better than others, but I have to remember that a baby isn't going to starve him/herself and he'll stop eating when he's full. I'm glad I have a great support system with all my friends going through the same thing I am right now too, that really helps a lot. Good luck with your little cutie-pa-tootie! She's adorable!

Angela said...

At Dallas's 6 month appointment, the doctor told me that my goal should be to have her eating about 1/3 of a cup per meal. But it took us a while to get there with Dallas. She just did not take to solids well at first. I stressed about it quite a bit, and was really, REALLY upset about two weeks after that appointment because she would not eat hardly any solid food, so I finally called the doctor's office again to see if they had any more advice. The nurse I spoke to said that every baby is different, and some will eat really well and some won't. Before they're a year old, the point of solids is more to get them used to eating rather than for them to get all of the nutrients they need. She is getting everything she needs from your milk, so anything solid she eats is a bonus.

A few weeks after Dallas's 6 month birthday, she finally started eating her veggies well, and like Jen said, we eventually just started adding ice cubes when we felt like she'd probably eat more if it was there. I kind of feel like after a while we just did what we felt was best and just had to stop listening to whatever everyone else said to do and what everyone else was doing. Now, Dallas eats just fine -- pretty much anything we put in front of her.

Angela said...

Oh, yeah....Dallas pretty much skipped plain rice cereal, too. She eats oatmeal every day, and we have a whole box of rice cereal that pretty much doesn't even get used unless I accidentally make one of her veggies too runny. Then I'll use the rice to thicken it up.

In Wonder of it All... said...

I just went with what he would eat, like the others said, its just a bonus. Make sure they get their milk first and then food on top of that. I did it the other way around for a while and it wasn't good.

We are delaying meat until at least a year for various reasons but stick with the cereal until 6 months and then slowly start a new fruit or vegetable every 3 days or so. I like oatmeal as far as the cereal goes because it doesn't stop them up :)

Here are the servings my doc told me to work toward and then I switched them to what meals fit best for us. The serving size can be as little or as much as you think she will eat. Right now I just make sure he gets a little of everything. (3 or 4 oz. serving usually, or 3 or 4 cubes) Obviously she's only gonna be having fruits and veggies for a few months but this is what I worked toward.

Morning (8ish)
Nurse
1 grain ( I do oatmeal)
1 fruit

Lunch (12ish)
Nurse
1 Fruit
1 Veggie
1 Dairy (yogurt or cheese)

Snack (3:30ish)
Nurse
1 Dairy (yogurt or cheese)

Dinner (6:30-7ish)
1 grain
1 veggie
1 protein (he's not doing meat yet so beans,eggs or some other complete protein)

Again, that's just what we are doing but you can make whatever works for you!

In Wonder of it All... said...

oh and the grain serving at dinner is either cereal, bread, pasta etc.

Michelle said...

Thanks ladies!!!