Feeding a 9.5 mnth old?

[Blue&Pink]

Just wondering what everyone else's babies habits are?

Tai doesn't have a set routine for anything except his bedtime routine of a night. I've found it hard to almost impossible to get him into a routine and keep him in one, and found life easier to let him lead me.

Now I am a bit overwhelmed at all this feeding stuff because of it.

Depending on what he does with sleep he can have anything between 3 and 5 bottles a day (210mls) :eek: plus his solids.. about 5 teaspoons per feed.

Again depending on what his sleeping habits are he will eat anything from 3 hourly (which has always been his pattern since birth) to 5 hourly - my policy is that when he wakes up from a nap I'll let him play until he gets grumpy for food and then I'll feed him - as long as it's been 3 hours since the previous feed.

Will his feeding habits settle into a normal 3 meal a day pattern on their own or am I going to have to force this? I feel like I'm a bad mummy because he's still not on a set breakfast, lunch, dinner routine. Plus I get putdown by the ex MIL constantly for him being a jar-fed baby, and because he's eaten the same stuff for the last 2 months and I haven't tried him on anything new. I really freak out about him choking and things too, because I don't handle stressful situations well.

At what point can I lessen his milk and up the solids? When should he be on say, 1 jar of solids per meal? Ect?

HELP!

[jasminesmum]

Just thought I would let you know what my dd does.
She is 8mths old.
She usually wakes anytime between 5am and 6am.Has a bottle about 7.am. Breaky about 7.30 - 8.00.(farex and fruit,about 10tsp)
Another bottle about 11.00.
Lunch about 12.00(custard or fruit,she likes plums,watermelon and nectarines.Sometimes she has avocado too.Or bits of bread in tiny little pieces that I break up for her.)
Bottle 3.00
Tea 5.30(veges)
Bottle and bed at about 7.30 - 8.00
She also still wakes at about 2.30 in the morning for a bottle too.

This is what she does most days.Sometimes it changes,depends on sleeps.
She has the occassional arrowroot bicky too which she just loves.And she usually tries a bit of whatever we are eating too.A couple of tiny bits and shes happy.
If I give her a jar of babyfood she eats the whole thing.She also has water throughout the day too.

Hopes this makes sense.
Every baby is different though and just when you think you have got them into a routine they go and change.

All the best.
Michelle :)


Forgot to add.She doesn't drink a great deal in her bottles(never has)usually between 100 and 150mls.

[drewid]

Hi there :)

We don't have a 'set' routine here either - we go with the flow, do what we gotta do, when we gotta do it :D

We are a bit all over the place with feeding as well. Some days he has 3 breastfeeds, somedays 4 or 5. Just depends on the day. He is a good solid eater, and has his 3 meals a day plus snacks if he wants them.

With the 3 meal a day pattern, I did instill this myself, after he was eating solids well, I just played with the timing until they ended up being brekky lunch and dinner. But even now some days 'lunch' isn't until mid-afternoon - it all depends on when he sleeps etc etc.

The general consensus is that you can start feeding solids before milk when they are eating about 1/2 cup of solids at a feed. YOu can up the solids anytime you like really - your bub will only eat as much as he wants to eat. Its best not to try to force them to eat a certain amount of solids - just offer and see what happens. Somedays my Andrew is a greedy pig and will eat me out of house and home...other days he just has little snacks and is quite happy. THey're all individuals...

Just go with the flow...all you can do is try...trial and error!

[JessandKirra]

as said before all babies are different but here is my 9 month olds schedule.

up at 6am
bottle at 6.15
weetbix at 7.00
sleep 8.30 (1-2 hours)
bottle 10.30 and snack
10.45 sleep (1 hour)
lunch 12 vegies and custard
bottle 2.30 snack fruit and bickie
2.45 sleep (1 hour)
dinner 5.00 veggies or pasta and yoghurt
5.30 bath
bottle at 6 and bed
to sleep through to 6am

lots of water during day and snacks vary from fruit to cheese stick to arrowroot or toast

It took me a lot of time and advice to get into this routine and it doesnt always work, we try. A lot of mums arnt as lucky as me, I have a baby that loves her sleep. But...

Hope this helps.

[JanetF]

Never had a routine here. People eat when they're hungry and sleep when they're tired, don't they? At 9.5 months your bub is still experimenting with food, not receiving large amounts of nutrition from it. Just offer it and see what happens. You're doing a lovely job of supporting your child rather than forcing them into something unnatural just because it's convenient to you. Good on you! They're only tiny for such a short time. You go for it :)