Feeding Schedule from Hell
The addition of solids to a child’s diet is a time of excitement for parents. Now I get to give little Johny or Susie their first … (fill in the blank). You get to see their faces as they try things for the first time, new taste’s, textures, temperatures are all new experiences and it can be fun to see their expression and get a feel for what they like.
What’s not fun is having to now change your feeding schedule to incorporate said solids. Chances are you have spent 6 months getting into a rhythm, you know how much your child will eat, when your child will eat and everything has been going well.
For some of you the transition to solid foods will be an easy one, your child will continue to take in the appropriate amount of liquids and will add solids in addition to their current diet. For others your feeding schedule will go straight to hell and may or may not return to this world.
My child’s addition of solids in his head meant a reduction in liquids. Not OK, so we started playing with the amount of solids, sometimes more sometimes less. We moved around meal times, we shifted his daytime schedule to incorporate additional meals and snacks. We switched up bottles to sippy cups and purees to finger foods. I have done it all and right now his schedule looks like this
6 am Nurses and Breakfast (fruit, cheerios and possibly oatmeal if he will eat it)
9 am 5 ounce bottle or breast milk
11:30 am 4 ounces of solid food (puree something) and 3 ounces Breast milk in a sippy cup
3 pm 5 ounce bottle of breast milk
6 pm 5 ounces of solid food, whatever we are eating for dinner + cheerios and sometimes fruit
8 pm Nurses
11 pm Nurses (sometimes)
I am however in the process of reducing his “snack” bottles in amounts in an effort to increase his intake during actual meals. So he gets most of his nurition during breakfast/lunch/dinner but has snacks in between those meals. Right now we are a little backwards and as he moves into his 9th month its time to make those meals a larger priority and the snacks less important.
Some days he is ravenous and eats everything in site, other days I am begging him to eat anything at all. It is stressful especially when they get to be this age and you don’t know if he is getting enough. We are always it seems bordering on him not getting enough liquid. Some people think he should be eating more solid food, others hold to the “food before 1 is just for fun” mentality. I think there needs to be a balance but my son is very much an either or eater. Either he is eating solid food or he is nursing, but he won’t do one right after the other very well so its like i am feeding him 6 – 7 times a day in a 13 hours period which is basically like eating constantly.
All these things to deal with and stress about and no answers to be had. I have looked at feeding charts both online and in person. My doctor and daycare provider have given me the ones they use. All say my son doesn’t eat as much as a kid his age. GREAT! by the way, that doesn’t add to my stress about the situation at all. They are good guides, but none of them will work for your child exactly. Unless you are one of the blessed few … I am not.
I have no real help here other than to show you what I do and what I’ve found. Getting enough breast milk into him is a chore and for those of you who would like to argue with me about whether or not he needs that much breast milk go do some research then come back to me. Breast milk or formula is their primary source of nutrition for the first year. Solids is in addition to their current diet and is not for replacing. After 1 year their primary food should transition over to table food and they can be weaned from either nursing or formula onto cow’s milk. Although most hardcore breastfeeding sites will tell you to continue nursing if you like for as long as you like and skip cow’s milk all together. I have included a feeding chart that I have referenced below if for no other reason than if you are reading this you are going to look at it anyway. I almost think the feeding charts are evil. Either you fall into the perfect box the Dr’s created for your child’s age or you don’t. If you don’t, short of putting a funnel into his mouth and pushing food down his throat you are not going to get him to eat more. So the only thing you can do is feed him what he will eat, shoot for a balance of different types of foods and make sure that regardless of what he does or doesn’t eat he is always getting enough formula or breastmilk.
That’s my advice for the day, hope it helps, good luck and godbless the food thing isn’t an easy one
