6 mo old eating plan suggestions

zoeylove

Hi ,

I have a six month old daughter who we have given baby food to sporadically since she was 4 months old ... only like half a container a day of a fruit or vegetable.  At her most  recent doctors apt... they said she can start making the switch to solids completely with formula as her drink/liquid.  I am a FTM and just wondering what is a good menu for a baby this age.   Should we do it slowly & increase week to week or just start in with breakfast lunch and dinner?  Should her feedings still be every few hours?  She is now 16 lbs  & 26 inches if that helps.  Any help is greatly appreciated.  I don't want to under or over feed her.

zoeylove

ok thank you

Suga1

I have twins boy& girl 7 mths old today I started solid very slowly from 4mths they now eat 2oz of fruit & cereal for breakfast 2oz veggie & cereal for lunch & dinner dbl veg & cereal! They sleep from 8pm - 4am breast feed then back to sleep! They get around pretty good but not officially crawling!! He scouts she gets on her knees!

zoeylove

thank you suga1 that is helpful

ShanJohnNC

Did your Dr. say NO formula or just add solids to the menu?

zoeylove

she said to add solids to the menu

HNRomance

we started rice cereal just before 4 months old and worked our way up. LO is just over 6 months now and we do oatmeal mid-morning (with a little fruit or a tiny bit of jelly mixed in for flavor) and then we do a puree at dinner time. I mix in some breast milk with each solid serving and he still drinks the rest of the bottle after the solids. Other than that it's breastmilk the rest of the day. Babies need a LOT of fluids to stay adequately hydrated. It's too soon for a mostly solid diet.

MommyAtty

DS is 6 mos old. He now does oatmeal with fruit in the morning and a veggie in the late afternoon. He's gotten to the point where he will eat almost a whole standard jar of his veggies in the afternoon. He eats a ton more than his big sister did at this age! Also I started with veggies and added fruits later. I've heard that it's easier to get them to eat veggies that way. Otherwise, they like the sweetness of fruit so much that veggies seem dull. That made sense to me. And both of mine adore their veggies and seem overwhelmed by the sweetness of fruit at first. (Though my 2 yo will eat her body weight in blackberries, grapes, and/or oranges now. Still doesn't care for processed sugar, thank goodness!)

deanna1313

At 6 mths old out dr said start working up to 16 oz of baby food per day and soon one bottle less.
That is CRAZY what your dr is saying! I'd also switch immediately! I've taken care of so many kids at my past job and NEVER has any child had that little formula/breastmilk at 6 mths.

Seriously! Switch drs.

Nekotaru

I started out BFing roughly the first 3 mos before I was unable to and went to formula. When she was about 4 mos. we started adding in rice cereal. by 5 mos she was on solids + formula. she eats 4 times a day and after we worked her up at 6 mos now she eats solids + formula every feeding. she is doing fine with it but I just found out at her 6 month checkup I could have been giving her the solids 2-3 meals a day instead of every single one. but i'm a new mom! i didn't know, I thought you just transitioned up to it and then fed them that way every meal.

But the doc said that was fine and she is still getting a lot of formula + solids. so i changed it this week to solids + formula 3x a day and lunch is just a bottle (but then she drinks 11-12 ox without the solids! she is a healthy eater lol). she is about 17 lbs and 27". but i also agree they need the nutrients from formula or BM until at least 1 year old. i think i read after that you can start transitioning to other liquids. 

deanna1313

@Nekotaru‌ Same thing happened to me at our appt last week, but the dr said at 6mths( which he is now) to transition to 3 meals and 16 oz of baby food a day. It's a transition and it's not like we were starving them until we were told. I knew he would change it at 6 mths. I was just waiting for the go ahead.
I'm kind of doing what I want with bottles and food amounts. Working up to more food and feedings now. He said no more than 36 oz in bottles. I'm sure all babies are different based on size. He does 36 oz or a little more right now. If he wants more or less I'm not going to refuse it.

Nekotaru

deanna1313 said:

@Nekotaru‌ Same thing happened to me at our appt last week, but the dr said at 6mths( which he is now) to transition to 3 meals and 16 oz of baby food a day. It's a transition and it's not like we were starving them until we were told. I knew he would change it at 6 mths. I was just waiting for the go ahead. I'm kind of doing what I want with bottles and food amounts. Working up to more food and feedings now. He said no more than 36 oz in bottles. I'm sure all babies are different based on size. He does 36 oz or a little more right now. If he wants more or less I'm not going to refuse it.

We also moved up her sleeping time by an hour because she is just so tired and fussy by the end of the night, and she still sleeps 11-12 hours straight on through, so I think we could start to adjust her eating schedule to 3x a day as well. Plus, I think now that she is in 2nd stage solids, they are thicker and it fills her up way better than the finely pureed stuff did. I agree with what you said about if they want more or less, sometimes I think we have to make sure we are listening to the little ones too, they are a better judge sometimes than following any plan too strictly from a book or doctor as long as they are full