Feeding schedule for 7mo?

[KrystalS]

DS is 7 months this week. He LOVES to eat. I mean he would probably sit in the high chair all day if I let him! He really doesn't have much of a schedule right now. Teething has just completely thrown us off. He already has 7 teeth and there are 4 more trying to break through now. So the last few weeks have not been fun to say the least.

On a normal day he gets up at 7am. Depending on what time he ate during the night, (he still wakes up twice to eat but thats a totally different matter!) he usually has cereal between 730-830. Nap 9-1030. Bottle. 1230 or 1 another nap. Usually wakes up at 3 b/c we have to get DD from school and he has a bottle then. Around 530 I give him baby food, 2 jars stage 2. Bottle before bed around 9. So he normally has 5 or 6 4oz bottles.

My question is how often is it okay to give him snacks? I don't want to be over feeding him. He loves yogurt and really anything I'm eating that he can have. Usually at dinner I will give him baby food, then food off my plate depending on what we are having.

He loves the snack puffs. Are these okay to give whenever he wants or should I limit those?

[mom2khj]

DS is 7.5 months. This is his schedule.

8:00-8:30AM - wake up. 1 jar stage 2 food and 8oz bottle.
10:00-11/12:00 - nap
12:00-12:30 -- 1 jar stage 2 food and 8oz bottle.
2:00-3/4:00 - nap
4:00-4:30 - 1 jar stage 2 food and 8oz bottle.
usually he naps again from 5:30-6:30, but not always.
7:00-7:30 - 1 jar stage 2 food and 8oz bottle.
8:30 bedtime.

Since he's gotten on this schedule, it rarely varies. He does not have any teeth yet, but is teething like crazy!

ETA - DS was 22 lbs and 29 inches at his 6mo checkup, so he may eat more than "normal". Ped was OK with it because he's stayed on the same growth curve since birth. He did drop a 5th 8oz bottle right around the time he started the stage 2 foods.

[wellyes]

My schedule is similar to the above for DS.

I think I'd give him more milk if I were you (meaning formula or breastmilk). Milk is more filling and nutritious, it's more important he gets that than the jarred stuff. I think 24 oz is the minimum recommended at that age. To start, try 6 oz bottles instead of 4 oz.

[KrystalS]

He usually spits up a little after the 4 oz bottles, is this just normal for any amount of formula? Should I give him 6 oz for all his feedings?

[KLD313]

I don't give nearly that much food. My DD gets five 6 oz bottles during the day, a mum mum or two throughout the day and one jar of food in the evening. My ped said to make most of her calories from formula. She's full with that amount and sleeps 10 plus hrs a night. I thought food at this age was for practice, am I not giving enough solids?

[Bootsie]

My DS is 7.5 months old. I give him four 8 oz bottles a day. He does not finish the entire bottle at each feeding. My pediatrician also recommended 3 meals a day with the bottles at this age- basically a schedule like this: breakfast (bottle, rice cereal [could be up to 6 tablespoons] plus jarred veggie), lunch (bottle, jarred veggie, jarred fruit) and dinner (oatmeal cereal [up to 6 tablespoons] plus jarred fruit).

Since he eats 4 bottles, there is one feeding that incorporates only a bottle. The more solids he eats at a feeding, the less bottle he drinks and the pediatrician said this is fine and to be expected. In fact, she said that once he was up to taking 3 meals a day, he should be down to 3 to 4 bottles/nursings a day.

His feeding schedule looks something like this:

7 am wake
7:15 am 8 oz bottle (he'll finish about 7 oz), 5 tablespoons rice cereal +part of a jar stage 2 veggie

8:45 - 9:45/10 nap

11 pm 8 oz bottle (he'll finish about 7 oz), part of jar of stage 2 veggie + part of jar of stage 2 fruit

1 pm - 3 pm nap

3:30 pm 8 oz bottle (he usually polishes this one off completely)

6:30 pm 8 oz bottle (he'll finish about 5 oz), 5 tablespoons oatmeal + part of jar of stage 2 fruit

7 pm bed

He sleeps through the night (7 pm to 7 am).

He sits eating in a high chair but doesn't have totally perfect ability to sit alone without any support. Once he can, my ped said to introduce finger foods (plain cheerios, soft cooked veggies and canned and unsweetened fruits). She said this would be a fun "practice" stage more for motor skill development than nutritional. She also said he could advance to stage 3 foods at this point. She also recommended practicing with a straw cup at this stage.

He will be at this latter stage soon. The next stage is introducing meats. She places things like yogurt, cheese and eggs at 9-10 mos.

I agree with wellyes that you may like to give your DS bigger bottles. This may sate his appetite. The bottle still provides a great source of nutrition at this age. In fact, I've heard of some doctors recommending giving the bottle first, and solids next (in terms of feeding order) just to make certain that the baby is getting sufficient milk (breast or formula) and not filling up solely on the jars.

Poor you on the teething! My DS is teething like crazy but no teeth yet.

KLD313: my DS has a 7.5 mo twin (my DD). Girls are just different. She doesn't eat anything like the amounts my DS does. She has 4 bottles (I give her 8 oz but since I introduced solids, she doesn't entirely finish them, but comes closer to doing so than my DS). She has a little bit of the solids (the cereal, veggie or fruit) that her brother is eating. I will feed her them as long she seems still interested (opening mouth for spoon or reaching, eating eagerly when spoon is in mouth) but she has a few spoonfuls at each feeding - that's it. She sleeps through the night with her brother. I think it is fine. I think if your DD were hungry and wanting more, she'd let you know.