does this sound like a balanced diet?

MOMama987

Our pedi didn't give us much guidance for solids, and we've been doing them for months now - I just want to make sure we're not skipping anything valuable. I know I could just call his office and ask (they're great about answering questions, they just don't always give us a lot proactively) but I'm curious what others are doing

- breakfast - pureed fruit and oatmeal (usually most of a packet or a few spoonfuls of applesauce, and I eyeball the oatmeal, but it's probably about 2 TB dry before I mix in the formula)

- lunch/snack (daycare usually splits it into two feedings) - fruit/veggie blend (a stage 2 container or a packet)

-dinner- pureed meat and veggies, usually. sometimes all veggies (stage 2 container or packet) / sometimes a baby or toddler yogurt if he's still hungry

He still has about 32 oz of formula a day, and we give him puffs / cheerios / teething crackers for "fun" and practice, but not on any kind of schedule. We'll also occasionally give him veggies / fruit to gnaw on, or pieces of bread, but we're not doing BLW

ETA the yogurt. 

snowgirl427

That's almost exactly what we do. DS is EBF so I don't know how much he gets. We also don't do any snacks (Cheerios etc). I'm afraid he'll choke lol.

MOMama987

The cheerios and puffs get really soft once they're in his mouth - half of them end up on the floor (our dog loves them too) and sometimes he tries to shove a bunch in his mouth at the same time, but so far, so good. 

emmy236

That's really close to what we do too. It sounds like you're hitting all the basics. R gets BM but our pedi said at least 24oz of formula or BM a day is a minimum. R takes 28-30 so if your LO is getting 32 than he's definitely getting all he needs and all the food is bonus. I take the food part as learning experiences. I try to get him different foods to learn new tastes and then his finger food are for motor skills and hand/eye coordination and chewing skills.

babyo52

@ allison078 Are you buying pureed meat or making your own?

flyliceandcoffee

so um...yah...I was under the impression that we don't really have to worry about a "balanced" diet just yet. Hell, I'm lucky if I can get S to eat an ounce of solids twice a day let alone 3 meals, snacks and all 4 food groups. I think you're fine. According to our pedi, right now the point is to get S acclimated to different types of food and when she's closer to a year old is when we should start taking note of what she is actually ingesting.

MOMama987

Cool. Thanks all. Sounds like we're on the right page. I wasn't really looking for a food groups balance or anything, just trying to figure out if we should, like, make sure to offer cereal at every meal or something. @lilash2426 - we use pre-made. 

Cgoode517

C gets solids twice a day. Usually a fruit in the morning and a veggie/meat in the evening. I stopped adding cereal to his fruit awhile ago but your post got me wondering if he should still be getting cereal once a day.

kmcd23

Cgoode517 said:

C gets solids twice a day. Usually a fruit in the morning and a veggie/meat in the evening. I stopped adding cereal to his fruit awhile ago but your post got me wondering if he should still be getting cereal once a day.

Our pedi was adamant about the cereal once a day for the iron, and the rest just for exposure/learning.

Cgoode517

kmcd23 said:

C gets solids twice a day. Usually a fruit in the morning and a veggie/meat in the evening. I stopped adding cereal to his fruit awhile ago but your post got me wondering if he should still be getting cereal once a day.

Our pedi was adamant about the cereal once a day for the iron, and the rest just for exposure/learning.

Thank you, I will add it back! Our pedi didn't mention much about it.

Cgoode517

Does anyone know at what point they don't need the added cereal and can just get enough iron from foods? I'll definitely bring this up at his 9 month appointment but thought I'd see what you guys have to say.

jedimindtrick

Cgoode517 said:

Does anyone know at what point they don't need the added cereal and can just get enough iron from foods? I'll definitely bring this up at his 9 month appointment but thought I'd see what you guys have to say.

I believe I saw 18 mo somewhere.

Oohgurl

kmcd23 said:

Cgoode517 said:

C gets solids twice a day. Usually a fruit in the morning and a veggie/meat in the evening. I stopped adding cereal to his fruit awhile ago but your post got me wondering if he should still be getting cereal once a day.

Our pedi was adamant about the cereal once a day for the iron, and the rest just for exposure/learning.

Same here.

TheyCalledHerKate

We feed way less solids than that but I think it's because I haven't figured out what I want to send to daycare yet. We do fruit purées with oatmeal for breakfast and then a veggie of veggie fruit combo at dinner. We haven't tried meats and we don't do puffs or anything yet. She is still taking 30 oz of BM per day so I'm not too worries about solids since they're just for fun. I do want to start doing solids 3 times a day though.

Shoegal36

NJAZgirl said:

Does anyone know at what point they don't need the added cereal and can just get enough iron from foods? I'll definitely bring this up at his 9 month appointment but thought I'd see what you guys have to say.

I believe I saw 18 mo somewhere.

This is what we were told too.

coffeeandbooks

to me it sounds like you are ahead of the game with eating...I am lucky if LO eats solids once a day.  The only thing I would add is that my pedi also prescribed a multi-vitamin.

MOMama987

Thanks all! LO is also a little bit older than a lot of the babies on here (born at the end of April) and we started solids at 4 months... so it's definitely been a process to get him to this point (and some days he doesn't eat everything I listed...). I appreciate all the feedback!

jayro10

missk0411 said:

How do you all prepare the oatmeal? I have a large carton that I eat, but I think people have mentioned blending it first to make it finer? Then do you just follow the normal cooking directions?

Making food for A is so intimidating I'm afraid she's going to think food comes only in little foil pouches!

I make my own purées, but for oatmeal, I buy the Earths Best Organic baby oatmeal and mix it with breastmilk. Babies need the iron that is in cereals made specifically for them.

Angela183

My LO hates cereal! She will eat fruits and veggies no problem, but doesn't eat cereal.

Blueyed228

For those of you whose pediatricians were adamant about cereal for iron, are you BF or FF?

Our pedi didnt seem super concerned at the 6m appointment that they were not interested in the cereal.  Recently we started using the Gerber stage 2 fruit mixed with cereal/oatmeal so they do get it once a day, but we get iron in the formula.

bumpuser8130818

I BF and my pedi said it was not necessary, so we just do regular oatmeal for breakfast some days.

Oohgurl

Well at his 6 month appt my pedi knew that at the time we were 50/50 BF/FF but I told her we were going to FF soon. She still insisted that no matter what he ate he had to have the oatmeal per day. But I know she differs from many other pedi's including some in her own practice for what that is worth. 

jayro10

I EBF and my pedi wasn't adamant, but said she should be eating cereal every day.

Shoegal36

I BF and ours wasn't overly adamant but said that we should start to introduce iron rich foods first, whether it be cereal or meat. 

ordinary1

I BF and we don't give her any baby food. For oatmeal A eats Quaker steel cut oats. However, we do give her vit. D with iron.

ETA: sometimes we do give puffs.