Feeding solids and finger foods?

LibberDuck

Hi everyone!

 I'm sure this has been a topic before, so I apologize for the redundancy, but I am just wondering how and what everyone is feeding their LO's.  My guy is 7 and a half months and I still have him on the same feeding schedule and diet as when he was between 5 and 6 months.  Here is our schedule:

~8:00am - 4 oz juice/water (1/2 and 1/2), approx. 1/4 to 1/2 cup cereal (oatmeal & banana), and 4 to 6 oz formula.

11:00am - 1 container Gerber 2nd foods veggie and 4 to 6 oz formula

2:00pm - 4 to 8 oz formula

5:00pm - 1 container Gerber 2nd foods fruit and 4 to 6 oz formula

~8:00pm - 6 to 8 oz formula

This schedule varies on occasion, depending on what we are doing for the day, but for the most part it stays exactly the same.  Our pedi told us at the 6 month appointment that for the times that he eats solids, we can skip the bottle, but my son doesn't seem satisfied unless he gets a little bit of formula, even if we up the solid intake.  We have not yet introduced any meats.  Do we just begin offering it?  Does anyone have advice on how to up the intake of solids?  Also, we rarely offer him just plain water and I feel like at this point, we should be doing so.  Is anyone offering any finger foods?  Anyone have any advice for the best finger foods to start with?  I was thinking about the Gerber puffs that dissolve, but I'm not sure if I should wait until he's a little older.

I'm sorry this is so long and all over the place.  I just feel like I don't know what I'm doing where feeding is involved!  Thank you all in advance!   

Cheekers2010

I'm probably not the right person to respond since G doesn't eat a lot of solids, but I think you should feel free to feed your LO meats whenever you want. A lot of the moms here have been doing baby led weaning and have had a lot of success with finger foods. G will eat a little bread and butter, avocados, mashed potatoes, yogurt, etc. He likes to snack on mum mums and puffs if we are eating out. I give him some of my water pretty often but more because he likes it than he needs it. Anyway, sorry for the rambling response. It sounds like you're doing great and you should just try integrating some of the things you're wanting to. I think your LO will do great.

ReneeDear

I don't feed Ari baby food I just mince whatever we are having.  He eats chicken, beef and pork as recommended by the health nurse at our 6 month shots.  Apparently babies iron stores are depleted at this age so they need meat other iron rich foods (black beans  would also work). 

I offer Ari finger foods like a little bit of banana, cheerios moistened with water( moist is great because it helps them swallow and the cereal sticks to his hand) but he usually doesn't get them into his mouth. I also offer him bits of bread that I help hold while he takes bites.

Also have your baby practise drinking out of a cup when eating.  A sippy cup is fine if it doesn't have a valve. This helps because every now and then A will store bit of food in his cheeks the water helps get stray pieces down. 

ReneeDear

Unless your baby is constipated (I know prune juice is used for this purpose) there is no reason you need to offer juice.  We were told to focus on water only.  Why get your baby used to sweet things at a young age?

LibberDuck

Thanks everyone!  The juice is because he gets constipated if he doesn't get it.  We give it to him every morning to help keep him regular.  If he doesn't get his juice, he has a heck of a time trying to poop!  But this is why he only gets a little bit once a day... it really has made a huge difference with his regularity!

welshgirl

I nurse on demand, so generally regardless of her meals. (FWIW, she BF at 6am when she wakes up, snacks on and off during the morning, has a few sizeable feeds (10m?) around mid afternoon, and then again before bed.)

The schedule of meals is based on DS, and what we already do. She also has a few finger food snacks in between. But generally,

Breakfast: 7am

Lunch: noon

Dinner: 5pm

We do about half and half of purees and finger foods. Finger foods that worked well initially were banana, cheese (which she still loves to gum), puffs, bread. Other finger foods taht go down well: any sort of bread product (crackers, bread sticks, scones, pancakes, etc), soft fruits (plums, peaches, apricots, bananas, berries, kiwis), cheese (cubes or grated).  She basically gets a combination of finger foods each meal.

Today she had a jar for lunch (we were out at a birthday party) and a cheese sandwhich, dinner was a cream cheesse sandwich and applesauce. Breakfast is always porridge and fruit, but with whatever finger foods - sometimes the fruit is finger foods. You get the idea!

She's not so keen on meat so far, but has tried it, and fish. But we keep working on that!