Everything I read gives contradictory information about what I should be feeding my 8 1/2 month old. I was reading in What to Expect the First Year and it was saying that he should be getting way less formula now and way more solids and that strained baby foods should be a thing of the past. I have also read that you should not give foods such as tomatoes, citrus and cows milk before the age of one, but then I read that tomato juice and things like yogurt and cottage cheese (which contain cow's milk) is great for babies. I've been told to just "feed him whatever it is that we are eating", but sometimes what we are eating simply isn't that healthy and I don't want him eating crap like pizza, mayonaise and french fries. I've read to only give him whole grains...but what exactly are they referring to? I can't imagine giving him a piece of bread...wouldn't it get clumpy and gummy and gag him? I know that he shouldn't be getting more than 2-4 ounces of juice/day and it should only be given in a sippy cup, but I always see babies drinking a bottle full of juice as their mom's push them around the mall so they can shop. WTH? Also, what about snacks? With all the formula and meals, I really don't think he needs them yet. Finally, I am ULTRA terrified of him choking so alot of table foods that I've read I should be feeding him just don't seem safe for him to eat. I end up chopping and mashing everything so much just to ensure he doesn't choke that I may as well be straining the stuff!
I know I'm all over the place with my questions, but if some of you mommies could give me a run down of what your babies are eating (and not eating) I would be very appreciative!
Right now, DS drinks about 30 ounces of formula/day. For breakfast, he has baby oatmeal cereal with a mashed banana...sometimes with avocado or a baby food fruit mixed in. Lunch is hit or miss...if I'm having something healthy and easy for him to eat, I'll give him some...small bits of turkey, cantaloupe, soft carrots, etc. For dinner, he gets baby rice cereal with a baby food veggie and usually some baby food apples mixed in. Snacks are minimal...he may get 5 puffs with a few yogurt melts or he may just get a piece of fruit in his mesh teether.
Please help me figure this out! I want to give him what's best for him, but I just can't seem to get it all sorted out. Thanks!
Re: So confused about what to feed 8 1/2 month old!
I am just as confused as you are. dd is just 8 mo old and really only eating purees and puffs, she just got into puffs w/o gagging on them like last week. I don't give her any table food yet, but I'm going to mash up some bannana tomorrow, last time she hated it. I thought it would get easier when she could eat "food" lol.
Thank you! I see that your DD is 11 months old...were you giving her all of that stuff 3 months ago? DS has no teeth yet so I am afraid to give him most things. How do you give her the turkey? Do you chop it into small bits? I don't think I've ever seen whole grain crackers before...what brand are you getting? Thanks again!
LOL! I thought the same thing, but it's DEFINITELY harder, more time consuming and more confusing! Good luck with the banana! That is one thing my son LOVES and eats every day!
My DS is still almost exclusively on formula, but that is due to food allergies. Let me tell you about what we did with my DD.
We didn't give juice. Rarely we would give it as a special treat (usually at grandparents' houses), but other than that we stayed with water. We would just put a bit in a sippy cup to let her practice using it.
I've never heard to not give tomatoes or citrus though I can say that DD has always been sensitive to them - too much gives her a diaper rash. As for whole milk, I was always under the impression that they say to not give it to baby under 1 because formula or breast milk has the nutrition that they need up until that age (they're typically eating mostly table food by that age for nutritional needs).
Try not to worry too much about what others say your DC should be eating. Let your DS dictate when he's ready to eat foods with more texture.
For eating table food, that will really depend on how well your DC does with eating solids. Has he had stage 3 foods? When he eats the cantaloupe, carrots, etc does he gag? or does he mash them up pretty well? If he's doing well with them, I don't think it would hurt to start trying more table foods. If you're not eating something incredibly healthy you don't have to share it with him. We would just make something else for her.
As for snacks - we didn't really start giving snacks until DD was eating 3 real meals a day.
(m/c 1.17.07, m/c 5.15.07)
DS - 03.15.08
DD2 - 12.03.09
DD3 - 3.28.11
Yeah, I've had to start giving him breakfast before his morning bottle so that he'll eat. Breakfast has become his best meal of the day. He is hungry so he eats all of it. Then he'll drink 3 or 4 ounces of formula after he eats. Good luck!
Thanks for the info! I just bought some Stage 3 foods yesterday. We haven't tried them yet, but I'm pretty sure he'll love the fruits and hate the veggies and meal combos! That's been the case with all the baby food for him. If he would eat all the veggies/meats in the baby foods, I probably wouldn't be so much in a hurry to go to table foods. He LOVES everything we give him from our plates and he will even eat most green veggies that I give him, but he REFUSES the green baby food. So, that's mainly why I really want to figure out the whole solids/table food thing.
For my DD:
We started her on table foods around 8.5 months old after she did well with the Stage 3 (we only bought maybe 6 of them before realizing table food is cheaper and easier). She was able to pick things up and made chewing motions (still only a couple of teeth at the time) so that's how I knew she was ready for table food. When she was on formula at 8/5 months, we did: 6 oz formula at 7 am, cereal/fruit at 8 am, 4 oz formula at 10 am, fruit & veggie at 12 pm, 4 oz formula at 2 pm, veggie & meat at 4 pm, puffs/melts snacks at 6 pm, 5 oz bottle at 7 pm and then to bed. Now she basically does the same thing, but she gets whole milk out of sippy, so she drinks less (we also give her different snacks with her milk before nap at 10 and 2). She also gets a lot of different things for breakfast, and generally eats what we eat at dinner. See this website for food ideas: https://fingerfoods.wetpaint.com/page/Meal+Planner
For my DS:
We skipped cereal, purees and stage 3 foods and went straight to table foods at 6 months old. He refused to eat off a spoon and gagged on the food. However he would pick up food, put it in his mouth and would make chewing motions with table food. We basically do the same thing with him as we did with our DD, except he gets table food. So instead of pureed peas, he gets regular peas. He still gets breastmilk and eats about 18-24 oz during the day and I'm not sure how much at night since we co-sleep and I don't really wake up to see how often he eats. Again we use the above website (I've added several things to that website) when we can't think of what to feed him. He is starting to eat what we eat, more out of convenience for us since that's what our DD does. We tend to eat pretty healthy, balanced meals, but if we have pizza or fries, we make them something else.