Crying every meal time

[Pyjamaramadrama]

Ds is 8 months and our day currently is like this.

Wake
7am 8oz bottle
Nap
10-11am bowl of porridge with fruit/egg & toast/eggy bread with fruit
Playtime
Nap
2pm 8oz bottle
Playtime
Nap
5-6pm meal which could be roast dinner/pasta/casserole-whatever we are eating generally
7-8pm 8oz bottle and bed

I probably need to introduce 3 meals now but not sure where I'll fit lunch in, I seem to struggle to fit everything in as it is around the school run too, he eats well though, not fussy at the moment, he likes a drink of water too.

The problem is more and more he's crying and getting really upset at mealtimes. He's fine with his milk. It's the solids. He's fine taking a spoon and can also feed himself a bit of finger foods.

He just gets really upset, he will eat but cries and cries in between mouthfuls. I don't think he's in any pain, he can manage the food really well in terms of chewing.

It's almost as though he's either really tired or really hungry, as though the food isn't getting in him quickly enough. But he can get so upset at times it then makes it difficult to feed him. I tend to spoon feed him some porridge then give him some toast to chew on. I can't really feed him any sooner as I make it as soon as he wakes up from his naps.

I've considered I'm not giving him enough, but on weekends our routine is usually different and he gets more solids, but he still does the crying.

Any ideas?

Btw when I say fitting it in it's just he sleeps quite a lot during the day, so for example we get up at 7, then he has a nap straight after the school run and might not wake until 10-11, but then he's ready for another nap an hour later and might nap from 11-2pm, or from 12-2.30pm.

Wow, I'm just jealous at how much your baby naps!
Mine is 7 1/2 months and our day looks like this...
Up at 6am, 6oz bottle. Breakfast at 7.30am.
Nap at 9-9.45am
6oz bottle at 10.30am
Lunch 12pm
Nap 12.30- 2pm
6oz bottle at 2.30pm
Dinner 5pm
7oz bottle at 7pm (bedtime)

She won't take a spoon so all food is finger food, so not sure how much actually goes down. Judging by her poo some must do!

Could he possibly want more milk?

Yes he does nap well during the day, only at home though, if we go out he doesn't sleep at all. I could drop his last nap and put him to bed earlier, but, he gets really tired and grumpy, also dh doesn't get in until gone 6 so he'd barely see him. He also wakes often at night and being overtired seems to make this worse.

By the sounds of what your baby has I'm not giving him enough to eat.

I think I'll have to give him breakfast at 7 then a smaller milk at 9 before his nap or vice versa, then an early lunch at 11.

I'd just try a few different things with regards to timing, often something really small makes a big difference. Alternatively it may just be a phase and one day he'll just stop doing it! Babies are enigmas!

It could be that the gaps between bottle or food is too long? Looking at your timings it is 3.5 to 4 hours between either a bottle or solids. He may well be really hungry, and wanting food quicker. If you add lunch in, and rearrange so there's less time between meals/bottles?

Thanks, looking at it now I am letting him go too long. It hasn't been deliberate the times all need moving around a bit.

Tomorrow I'll give him his breakfast first thing at 7, then milk at 9ish and so on, hopefully that will resolve it.

Update.

Today I did things a bit different.

7am Porridge and banana
9.15am 8oz bottle
9.30-11.00 nap
11.45 sandwiches
1.00-2.45 nap
2.45 8oz bottle
5.00-5.30 nap
5.40pm pasta with cheese and salad and a yoghurt

He will now go to bed at 7.30

He scoffed all his food and bottles but unfortunately we still had lots of crying.

Breakfast wasn't too bad, a bit of crying, he ate his lunch no problem and fed himself, but he got really upset at tea. He was ok once he'd finished and then had a bit of yoghurt and is happily playing now.

My grandson howled during meals at this sort of age. It seemed to be the gaps between spoonfuls that distressed him - possibly because it's not a continuous flow like breast or bottle. If he hadn't been so miserable it would have been very funny. Like most baby habits he grew out of it after a couple of months.

Wow. I have nap envy. My almost 7.5mo day looks like this.....
5.45am wake and bf(we co sleep) and snooze
6.45 wake properly
7.15 breakfast. Today was porridge with blueberries(didn't eat much) half a brioche some raspberries
9.45 bf
10 - 10.40 nap

12.30 - lunch. Avocado on toast, half a slice. Half a tomato. Cheese.
2.45 bf
3 - nap.

He Will bf again as he naps (i am laying with him, trying to instill a nap habit. ...) and again at bedtime 6.30-7. And all blummin night.

He occasionally gets upset if he's hungry and i give him difficult to eat stuff or if he's too tired.

Well I've done it differently today. He's had.

Breakfast
Bottle
Lunch
Bottle
Tea

He's still cried at every meal, he's actually getting worse, he's getting so upset he won't even eat.

We are having exactly this as well. My 9mo is a great napper and does not really cry, except at mealtimes. When we started her on solids she was wolfing huge portions of root veg mash and the like, now it is a struggle to get anything savoury into her, and even fruit puree and yougurt has become a chore.

Our day looks like
7am wakey wakey 6oz bottle
8am porridge with fruit puree, toast,
9.30 to 11 nap
11 6oz bottle
12.30 lunch usually a rough mash of some sort and some finger foods( rice cakes, fruit/veg batons)
2.30 to 4 nap
4 6oz bottle
5 dinner, Similar to lunch with yougurt and fruit for afters
6.30 6oz bottle
7pm bed
3am breastfeed

She rarely finishes all her bottles (am i giving too many?) as is so distracted and she is now eating less solids than ever. Luckily she has some padding to her so not worried about her fading away just yet, but it is worrying just the same.

I am feeding more often than that but smaller amounts. I'm totally relaxed and feeding when he's hungry, which has given us a bit of a routine. I feed him small amounts of porridge, puree and yoghurt and stop when he wants to. He also tries whatever I'm eating if no added salt. He has been breast fed on demand and still is, but after I have fed him his food. He will lean in to the spoon, then shake his head when he has finished. If he has had a really small amount I wait 10 mins and try again and he usually almost finishes what I've prepared.

You might want to go for smaller amounts more often. If he cries, give him a bit of bottle then try again. I probably feed mine 4 or even 5 times a day, with tastes of what I'm eating if I eat at a different time. At 8 monthd milk is still their main source of nutrition so don't cut out milk, just give a bit of food before hand.

This is my rough 'schedule'

6am bf in bed
7am up
7.30 porridge
9am bit of my breakfast
10.30 bf
11-11.30 nap
12ish puree
1ish yoghurt and bf
1-2.30 nap
4pm bf
5.30 puree
6.30 bf
7 bath time
8 bf and sleep
overnight bf x 2 or 3 times

He won't eat finger food as he has high gag reflex, so we use puree veg/meat. He likes little and often. My dd was bottlefed and a happy guzzler/eater - she would finish food and want more.

Baby is 7.5 months