Timing Bottles & Solid Food during day

[newtonj]

DS is 7 months. He drinks four 8 oz bottles a day plus one meal in am at same time (before) as first bottle. Dr. wants us to go to 3 meals a day plus the 4 bottles and to cut down on the amount in each of the bottles to 4 or 6 oz. The plan she laid out for us alternates bottles/food during the day which comes out to a whopping 7 feeding times a day. Some of my friends do the food at the same time as the bottles (before) so they only feed 4 times/day which seems much more appealing to me. Is there any reason not to do this? I feel like I'm giving him a ton of food/drink all at once. I'm also worried that eating food first he won't drink enough- then again he's always been 90% for ht and wt so I probably don't have anything to worry about. What do you do? Lots of small feeds or a few bigger ones?

[crazye]

It's overall better for kids and adults to eat many small snacks throughout the day and not 3-4 big meals. I don't agree with 3 meals of solids per day as at 7 months my DD was still primarily getting BM (nursing, but bottles at DC). She was also 90th plus at that age but I still prioritized the BM over any solids. Solids were offered 2x per day for us and those weren't full meals...more like "dessert" of a couple ounces after nursing was done. And BM was always offered first so she'd fill up on that and not solids. In terms of overall nutrition BM (and formula) are going to be better overall for your DS vs any solids. 1oz of BM or formula will be more balanced than say 1oz of sweet potatoes (or whatever solids you're on right now).

We didn't do 3 full meals until closer to 10-11 months old b/c of nutritional value and even then DD was always offered BM 3-4 times per day (I'd nurse when she woke, mid-morning snack, mid afternoon snack and bedtime, plus she'd get bottles of BM for hydration with meals). And at that point the 3 meals had protein/meat, veggies and fruit (as well as typically some sort of grain) so I felt it was more well balanced than say an ounce or two (or more) of a single veggie or a veggie combo.

[bigpassport]

OP--What is the reason your ped gave for more food and less BM/Formula?

[newtonj]

Don't know the reason...it wasn't that she's trying to put him on a diet or anything. I think that it is just the next progression- to go from one meal to three meals- she didn't give me a reason but I didn't ask because it is pretty much the same thing I've read in every book. If he was still hungry or wanted more formula I would definitely give it to him but lately, even before the extra food, he was cutting back on the amount of formula and wouldn't finish his bottles.

Here's the other problem with feeding 7 times a day....there's just not enough hours in the day if you factor in napping to get all these feeds in!

[crazye]

Actually it worked pretty well for us to feed that many times per day and DD at that age was still napping 2x per day and sleeping 12 hours overnight. What we did was this:

wake: nurse
arrive at daycare: bottle
before nap: a couple oz of solids
after nap: lunchtime bottle
before afternoon nap: solids
after afternoon nap: bottle (SOMETIMES...some days DD didn't want that bottle)
dinnertime: nurse, then a couple oz of solids (once we were on 3x per day...for the longest time we were on 2x per day...breakfast & lunch)
bedtime: nurse

It just depends on how fast your DS eats/drinks. DD was a very efficient nurser and bottle taker (ok for everyone except me) as well as solids eater so I could nurse her for 15 minutes and she'd be done. Also she'd eat her couple oz of solids pretty fast (by her choice not mine)

Honestly like I said above at 7 months I wouldn't be feeding that many solids simply b/c the nutritional value isn't there when compared to BM/formula. Esp if he's refusing his bottles b/c he's full, I definitely wouldn't offer solids after that period. But I'm also fairly child-led when it comes to things like that. While I nursed for 18 months I did introduce solids so that she wouldn't get such a preference for nursing that she wouldn't take solids (or bottles for that matter) for someone else. If you want to do 3x per day solids for routine I wouldn't offer any more than an ounce or two and after bottles as the bottle should be the nutritional source and the solid should be the snack/dessert.

[itsagirl]

here is what we have been doing for our 8 month old (who has reflux and never likes to eat in large amounts):

7:15 - wake: nurse (only a few minutes; my daughter is not a big nurser)
8:00 - couple tbsp of baby cereal mixed with BM and fruit
9:30 - 3 oz bottle (#1) of BM
9:45-11:30 - nap
12:30 - 6 oz bottle (#2) of BM (she usually only finishes half)
1:00 - 2-3 oz of veggies solids
1:30 - finish bottle (#2)
1:45-3:30 - nap
4:30 - 5 oz bottle (#3) of BM (usually only finishes half)
5:15 - dinner (2-3 oz of solids)
6:15 - finish bottle #3
6:45 - bath
7:30 - 4 oz bottle (#4) or nurse to sleep.

[itsagirl]

i should add that the schedule/amounts above are based on what my baby will eat. i have tried giving her more BM but then i usually end up throwing most of it away because she just won't eat more than these amounts (even when i cut down the food). i should also mention that often she doesn't even finish the solids.