IIRC, I think we were told to aim for 2 meals a day by 9 months, 3 meals by 12 months. I would start moving the meals closer to traditional meal times. I don't remember serving sizes, but it seems like I would just feed her a "meal" until she wasn't eating - so I'd mash up a banana and give her that, if she was still interested after that was gone, I'd give her some noodes or 1/2 waffle, kwim? You can't overfeed a baby, I don't think.
Just repeat, repeat, repeat: Food is for fun until they are one. Do not stress over portion sizes. Feed them until they push it away (or finish the tub LOL). A baby has the natural ability to stop eating when they are full.
Now then, at 7 months LO was regularly eating dinner, then around 8.5 months it was 2 meals. At 9.5-10 mos it was a food explosion and now she's almost fully on table food. We did Baby Led Weaning/Solids and didn't feed baby food so I'm not a big help with serving sizes. We just laid 1/4 cup or so of stuff on the tray and let her try and eat it. We NEVER worried about how much she ate and now she eats like a 2 year old.
Check out wholesomebabyfood.com for suggestions.
Francesca Pearl is here! Josephine Hope is almost 3!
Ditto pp advice. Don't stress about portion size. We've also been doing baby-led weaning. Some days DD will eat 3-4 inches worth of banana for lunch (at 9.5 mos). Other days, she hardly eats anything. She seems to eat solids about 2x a day, but sometimes it's still only once a day and other times it's 3x a day. From what daycare says, she usually eats in the morning, but does not always eat in the afternoon. She still likes her milk and she is gaining weight, so I figure she is good.
When we sit down to eat lunch or dinner, we put her in her high chair with some foods she can feed herself. She sometimes needs a bit of help, but it keeps her busy and helps establish a meal-time dynamic for us. If she is hungry and it's not a meal time, we still sit with her at the table. Sometimes I have a snack or I'll just sit and "talk" with her.
Ideally, I think they are supposed to eat 3 meals/day when they are one, but as long as the child is gaining weight, I don't think portion size or number of times they are eating is a big deal. Also, I am not sure if this advice assumes that they have teeth by 1 year of age. DD doesn't have teeth yet, so I am wondering if she will be more interested in eating when she finally gets them.
In that range we sent 2 containers with him to DC and they gave them to him when the could during the day. At home during dinner time we would give him one or two containers, if he seemed interested 2, if not just one. we also did kind of a modified BLW and would let him gum apple slices or large cut up carrot sticks. We really didn't follow a schedule, like a PP posted food is just for fun at this point, so whatever he ate after BFing or bottle was what he ate.
Ditto SnoopyLuv. Google baby led weaning and check out wholesomebabyfood.com. Claire will be six months on Friday (yikes!) and we're going to start one meal a day as she's been grabbing at our plates for quite some time. However, it'll be more for fun and exploration for her as opposed to nutrition. BM will still be her primary source of nutrition.
Laura & Jim ~ July 10, 2004
miscarriage on 11/26/09 at 5w6d
Re: Solid Food Question....
Just repeat, repeat, repeat: Food is for fun until they are one. Do not stress over portion sizes. Feed them until they push it away (or finish the tub LOL). A baby has the natural ability to stop eating when they are full.
Now then, at 7 months LO was regularly eating dinner, then around 8.5 months it was 2 meals. At 9.5-10 mos it was a food explosion and now she's almost fully on table food. We did Baby Led Weaning/Solids and didn't feed baby food so I'm not a big help with serving sizes. We just laid 1/4 cup or so of stuff on the tray and let her try and eat it. We NEVER worried about how much she ate and now she eats like a 2 year old.
Check out wholesomebabyfood.com for suggestions.
Francesca Pearl is here! Josephine Hope is almost 3!
Ditto pp advice. Don't stress about portion size. We've also been doing baby-led weaning. Some days DD will eat 3-4 inches worth of banana for lunch (at 9.5 mos). Other days, she hardly eats anything. She seems to eat solids about 2x a day, but sometimes it's still only once a day and other times it's 3x a day. From what daycare says, she usually eats in the morning, but does not always eat in the afternoon. She still likes her milk and she is gaining weight, so I figure she is good.
When we sit down to eat lunch or dinner, we put her in her high chair with some foods she can feed herself. She sometimes needs a bit of help, but it keeps her busy and helps establish a meal-time dynamic for us. If she is hungry and it's not a meal time, we still sit with her at the table. Sometimes I have a snack or I'll just sit and "talk" with her.
Ideally, I think they are supposed to eat 3 meals/day when they are one, but as long as the child is gaining weight, I don't think portion size or number of times they are eating is a big deal. Also, I am not sure if this advice assumes that they have teeth by 1 year of age. DD doesn't have teeth yet, so I am wondering if she will be more interested in eating when she finally gets them.
miscarriage on 11/26/09 at 5w6d