food and drink for 8 months old

[GenT]

DD had her 8 month check today. The HV thinks she should only have 3 bottles (8ozs) of formulae instead of the 5 she gets. This is a thirsty kid and I will give her a bottle if she wants it.

She is sleeping well, sometimes she takes a 3 am bottle but definitely wants one at 7 am and has a little fromage frais with fresh fruit for breakfast. She have breadsticks or some finger food between breakfast and 1 pm , when she has some lunch, maybe mashed potatoes. In the afternoon she gets some more finger food and another milk. With some luck she would have taken a one hour nap before 4 pm.

When we have our supper, she will taste bits of whatever we have, and then eat some more veggies with meat or dinner like food. She might go to sleep around 8 or 9 pm, with a bottle just before that.

She will only take food if she is wide awake, don't bother giving her any if she is sleepy. Maybe she is curious but she has an appetite and always wants to taste food and have it if we let her.

The doctor asked if she could sit up when I had her in my lap. To that response I sat her on the floor for her own view, then dd got up and went to peruse the drawers. Dd took the blocks and paper clip given to her. That must have been some form of archaic test, which we didn't thnk she would fail.

We think she is doing well, weight wise she is 20 lbs and 1 1/2 ozs. All senses intact. She is crawling, pushing her walker she once sat in, even climbing onto it like a monkey. Her two bottom teeth are finally appearing and I do believe she will eat more when they come out. Those bottle baby food doesn't go down too well with her, not the tastiest of things.

Do all 8 month babies only have 3 bottles per day? Doesn't seem like a lot of fluid for them? What other food should I give her or which thread should I read. Any suggestions? What do you give your 8 month old? She doesn't have any allergies to date.

[maomao]

Hi GenT,

I think you should go with your instincts. I don't think it's so much the number of bottles as the overall fluid intake, but maybe I'm wrong about that. I'm sure someone with more experience will know!

My almost 9 month old has 4 bottles a day, varying between 6 and 9 oz., and in between feeding times, I give her water. I make sure she gets at least 24 oz. of fluid a day. She also eats pretty much everything, but I do feed her a lot of red lentils and rice (they cook quickly), chicken and broccoli, cheesy pasta with spinach, that sort of thing. She loves plain yogurt and bananas, oatmeal cooked with prunes or apricots. And Cheerios!

You can do search on the food thread, where you'll find a lot of tips, recipes, advice, etc.