How much food to give?

[lil monkey]

Hi all,

Tayla has been on solids for nearly 3 weeks now and I was wondering how much she should be having and how many times a day?

She is still having 5 bottles a day of up to 150mls and I am giving her cereal at breakfast time after her first bottle, yoghurt after her lunchtime ish bottle and pear just before her bath and bottle before bed. She is having probably around 2-3 tablespoons worth of food but how much should she be having?

[lil monkey]

Anyone out there with a 6/7 month old?? How much do you give your bub to eat?

[Chickadee]

Hi Lu,
I can't remember how much Chloe was having at that age, but the short answer is probably to give them as much as they want. You're offering solids after her bottle so you don't need to worry about her having so much that it interferes with her milk.

You could try introducing some variety such as new vegetables or meat, general recommendation is not more than one new food every 3 days to be able to monitor for reaction. You could also try a different cereal (Chloe hated the plain rice cereal but loved the banana one, odd since she refuses bananas!).

[mimi]

Hi there Lu

I don't think I can say any set amount of food should be given as all bubs are different - but so long as you are giving her the milk feeds first [at least until 9 months of age] and are being 'baby-led' as to the amounts she wants to eat each time then everything should be FINE!

It isn't necessary rush the solids thing - slowly, slowly is the name of the game - introducing a new single food every 5-10 days is recommended, to observe for reactions and for bub to get used to the separate tastes. Also think I should mention that according to the latest recommendations, babies are not supposed to have dairy [custards/yoghurts/cheese etc] until 9 months, and then only in small amounts ... Many mums seem to know about the 'no straight cow's milk' until 12 months, but it seems that the midwives, CHN and GPs etc are a bit slack on updating on the dairy recommendations!!

Tayla looks like a georgous, healthy bubba in your avatar!! so you are obviously doing all the right things so far!!

:)

[lil monkey]

Thanks guys!

Yes, tried the petit miam yesterday and she LOVED it but unfortunately it had the same effect on her that dairy has on me today! :p So, no more dairy for a few months I think.

She keeps opening her mouth when I offer her food and I stop as I worry that she may get too full. I was finding the other week that her milk feeds were drastically dropping off the more solids I gave her but she seems to prefer solids to milk still.

MarthaM, she refuses the baby rice too but loves the pear and banana rice so I guve her that for breakfast and lunch she gets pear and I tried some pumpkin/carrot/potato puree the other day mixed in with a bit of pear so she had some familiar taste in there otherwise she pulls a sour lemon face! I will try it again tomorrow and offer her a bit more food and see how she goes with her milk.

So hard to find a balance between the two!!!!

[Chickadee]

Lu,
I think it's pretty normal for milk intake to start dropping when you start solids. So long as she's still getting the suggested amount per day based on her weight (what was it, 150 ml/kg?), if that still applies at that age, and is having lots of wet nappies it shouldn't be a problem. If she's still opening her mouth for more I'd go ahead and feed her, she'll refuse when she's full.

You may find that as Tayla gets older and is eatting more that you need to adjust the timing of her bottles versus solids, stretching them out and possibly dropping a bottle that has just become a snack. Hard to predict, but it does change week to week sometimes - as with all things, just as you think "aha! I've figured it out!" , it changes :)