Feeding 5mo baby: how much? how often? solids?

[torinyc]

I would very much appreciate if you shared your experience how your 5-6months olds progressed with feeding.
DS is about 5.5 months now. He takes 6-8oz of formula 4 times a days. He is not underweight at all, double his birth weight by 4months.


Are babies this age really consuming 32-40oz and eat 5-6 times a day as Baby411 suggests? How? My DS can not be forced to eat. he screems bloody mirder if he is hungry, but his mouth is shut tight if he is not.

Does this mean I should wake him up in the middle of night to feed? When did you stop middle of the night feeding?

My other question is how much solids your baby actually eats? I know solids are optional at this point and I just started with this a couple of days ago. Should a table spoon of carrots or yamms or 2tbsp of cereal be even factored into the total intake?

I feel very unprepared for his growth and would grately appreciate your thoughts.

[happymom]

Of course you cannot force your baby to eat. If youre baby is gaining well, you probably have nothing to worry about.
Here's my 6 1/2 month old daughter's schedule- but keep in mind that she's officially underweight so I really do try to feed her as much as possible. She is breastfed exclusively so I don't know how many oz. per feeding, probably about 6 oz. She wakes up and nurses at 8 am , then 11:30 am, then 3 pm, then 6:30 pm, eats a 4 oz. jar of baby food at about 8 pm, nurse again 9:30 pm. and then goes to sleep. Usually wakes up to eat again at about 1:00 am. Her rschedule is not ideal- I would really love for to go to sleep earlier but its working for now. So she gets a total of 6 feedings.

But I'm feeding her pretty often- about every 3-3.5 hours with one 4 hour stretch during the day. Why don't you ask your pediatrician what he thinks?

About the solids- my pediatrician said to give her as much as she wants. So some days she will eat a full 4 oz. but some days she refuses it completely and I don't stress about it.

[arivecchi]

You baby sounds perfectly normal to me. My 5 month old has anywhere from 4-8 ounces of formula every 3 hrs during the day. At night he eats before he goes to bed around 6:30-7, has another bottle around 11-12 and then eats when he wakes up around 5:30-6. He is just starting to try solids, so he barely eats any. DS probably weighs about 17 -19 pounds right now. Check with your ped if you are concerned. HTH.

[BeccaB.]

My son started solids at 5 months because he was eating 48 oz. of formula a day - 6 bottles 8 oz each. Now he is 6 months and eats 28 - 36 oz of formula and 3 solid meals a day. His solid meals are 1-2 oz of baby food each meal with some cereal at breakfast. He was 75th percentile at his 4 month check up. Haven't had his 6 month yet.

My theory on his eating is to let him decide how much he wants. When I mentioned something to his doctor about his weight (he's got chubby checks and thighs). She said as long as is weight and height were in a good ratio (he's 75th weight and 95+ height) there's nothing to worry about. So I would think as long as your DC's weight and height are close in ratio to each other it shouldn't be a concern.

[torinyc]

Thank you! These are very helpful. DS downs 6-8 oz at a time now. I am trying to give him a bit of solids in between the meals. Sometimes he eats more, sometimes less. My PD gave us a suggested meal plan - cereal in am and in the early afternoon in addition to formula, veggie at lunch time, fruit optional, and formula only at bed time. They recommend only 4 oz of formula with veggie. DS could not care less what they recommend and started screaming bloody murder :)
DS's schedule is still all over the place. First meal at 7am, though he wakes up at 5am (how did DH and I end up with an early riser???). And he goes to bed at 8-9pm after bath. But we feed on demand durin the day.
Anyway, I am much more comfortable now with his eating and starting solids. Thank you very much again!!