8 month feeding schedule

[effystonem]

First time mom who is really struggling at the moment... family can’t support me due to lockdown rules and my husband is working long hours. My daughter turned 8 months about a week ago & we are doing traditional weaning. Her schedule is as follows...

7.30am = 7oz bottle

10.30am = 1 weetabix with 3oz formula

2.00pm = I’ll try and give her some food, either half a pouch of Ella’s, or I will mash up some broccoli/ sweet potato/ avocado. Sometimes she will eat it all up, other times she will shut her mouth very tightly and refuse anything after the first bite. I will also give her about 2oz of water with her meal.

Baby will have one more 7oz bottle before bed, timing will depend on how successful lunch has gone. Ranges from 3pm to 5.30pm.

She then goes to bed and will wake for a 7oz bottle at about midnight.

Is this normal? Am I doing anything wrong? Please help me

Sorry just to add... she always polishes off her breakfast. That’s the one meal I don’t dread and she will happily eat the whole thing.

Hi OP

I'm a first time mum as well. At first I tried to follow what friends did with their LO but it didn't seem to fit in well with my LO so I spent 4 days recording when she slept, seemed hungry etc and then came up with the little routine below. Since then she is a lot more content and happy.

My LO is 7 months. I started weaning just before she was 5 months. This is my LO schedule:

7am - wake and 9oz bottle
8.15- brekkie ( wheatbix or puréed fruit/yogurt)
9.15-10- nap
11.45/12- lunch ( veg purée mixture an example)
1-2.30 nap
2.30/245- 9oz bottle
4.45- tea ( usually an actual meal- lasagne for example just puréed or Ella pouch)
6.45- 9oz bottle
7pm- bed for the night.

What I would recommend is if your schedule works for you and baby is content/happy then continue as you are!

Hope this helps!

Ps- sometimes my LO does the same and just keeps her lips together! I just accept she isn't hungry!

I don't think you are doing anything wrong at all but now might be the time to start offering more solids and a little less milk. She only really needs 20 floz at this age, moving down to 13.5 floz at 10 months.

It might be time to up the protein a little too and offer finger foods along with the mashed/puréed food. In traditional weaning almost all babies were eating finger foods at 8 months.

The Caroline Walker Trust have a useful guide on feeding in the first year here. You'll probably need from page 31.

It also has some suggestions of things to try her with and advice on portion sizes.

Have you had a look at the weaning recipes on MN too? There are some great ones in there

You should probably be aiming for solids at 3 meals a day by 9 months, with a 7oz bottle in between both meals and before bed.
Try and expose her to as many different flavours and textures as possible. The earlier you do this, the easier your life will be later down the line.

Is she only having 2 bottles? Think mine still had 4 up until 9 month and then was down to 2 by 11 months.
At 8 months it was:
Milk - 7, 11, 3, 7
Food - 8, 12, 5

@May2311 this may sound weird! But do you remember us chatting in a chat about my positive Ovulation tests and then I told you I was pregnant and then you found out you were?? I saw your name on this thread and thought oh my god!!! Our babies must be same age now! I really wanted to message you again as you were the first person I told I was pregnant back then! Hope you see this!!! Let me know be nice to catch-up!

@Emmaaa1990 omg yes!!!! You were the first person I told! Those ovulation sticks definitely puzzled us🤣🤣How are you doing?? How's your LO? Girl or boy? X

@May2311 ahhh so lovely to speak with you again! So mad we both found out and told each other first. I had a little girl on the 9th May and I called her Thea. What did you end up having? How did you find labour? Xx

@Emmaaa1990 I had a little girl as well on 3rd May called Ada. Labour was quicker than I thought( thank god- my biggest fear was it would be drawn out...) woke up on the morning & waters broke about 9am, contractions started 11ish and by 12.30 they were coming quickly. Got to hospital & I was 5cm but she was back2back. 10cm at 2.30 but she had been trying to turn so was transverse so ended up in theatre. They turned her with forceps and then she arrived! Bit of a whirlwind really. She is such a placid little thing. How was your labour? It's so strange thinking of us chatting at the start of it all! Can you believe we have our little baby girls & they are 7 months old!!

Aww lovely! Such a nice name too! Oh wow that's insane! Shame you had to end up theatre tho 😓 did you recover okay? My labour was quick too! She was due on the 6th and on the 8th I had a midwife appointment and they did a sweep. I was already 3cm then and didn't even know and literally 2 hours after that my waters broke on my sofa 😂😂 literally the most water ever. I then went from 3-9 in an hour and a half once it fully kicked off. She had her arm up on her head tho so I couldn't get her head out for ages and almost needed assistance but I think I must have thought fuck that and got her out 😂. I know! It's kinda emotional isn't it. I was talking about you and that thread to my partner the other day and then I saw your username and I was like omg! I can't believe we both picked up pregnancies on this ovulation tests, so weird! I literally cannot believe they are both 7 months old, how she eating/sleeping etc? X

Very emotional! I still feel hormonal now when she hits a new milestone! She absolutely loves her food. I weaned a little early (4.5months started) so she is onto 3 meals a day- quite often gets frustrated when she has finished 🤣🤣 We have been lucky in that she has always slept well on night so goes down 7 & usually sleeps till 6.30-7. Naps during the day took some work as she was a big fan of having "cat naps" but the last 2-3 months she seems to have got into a routine & has a short nap on a morning and then a good lunchtime nap (1.5-2hrs ish). What is Thea like with feeding & sleeping? Is Thea moving around a lot now? Ada isn't quite crawling properly but is a big fan of army crawling 🙈 I can't leave her for 2 seconds now as she ends up the other side of the room!! Xx

Haha that's amazing! Yeah Thea eats 3 meals a day loves it, she's always been quite a hungry baby, I tried breastfeeding but I don't think I was producing enough milk so only lasted a week! That's really good always good if they sleep well, hard when there's rough night and you've still gotta mum the next day! Yeah to be honest Theas been a pretty good sleeper too, she can't hack life in the evening and usually is in bed by 6 and stays there til 6-6.30 wish it was later sometimes haha! But when I go back to work she needs to be up at 6 anyway so guess it's a good thing 😂🙈 naps are still sometimes a battle, we were doing 3 but now we are on 2 one morning and one afternoon but they are hit and miss in length! She's not consistent with naps. are you going back to work?

Aww army crawls 😂😂 that's funny. She doesn't crawl either kinda shimmy's haha and she can sit up now which is easier! I don't know about you but I find myself sometimes wishing the time away I want her to walk and be my little best friend but then I think I will miss her being little! Xx

Awwww she might be a shuffler( shuffles on her bum instead) my friends baby does that!

I was the same breastfed for a week & then got an infection so went onto the bottle. Not really sure why I tried breastfeeding- I was always going to bottle feed but then the pressure/ worry about Covid made me attempt it 🙈

Yes I'll be going back part time but not till May. We have really good maternity pay at work & get the first 7 months full pay. When will you be due back? Where abouts do you live again? Is it down south? X

@May2311 haha that would be funny! God it's been a terrible year isn't it! Our babies are lockdown babies. Guess they will learn about this in school haha.

Oh that's amazing!! Mine was okay I had 3 months full of then 5 months half and the last bit is stat I then took my annual leave I had to use up of this year. I go back in feb full time for 3 months then I'm going to get a part time job elsewhere as I cannot do my job part time unfortunately.

Yeah I'm from Rochford Essex how about you? X

@Emmaaa1990 I'm in the North East- near Newcastle.

Yes they most certainly will learn all about it! Tbh it worked out quite well for us as my hubby is Asst HT so as schools were closed & he was only WFH he managed to get a lot of time with her due to lockdown- we wouldn't have got that otherwise! Have you been doing any clubs? X

@May2311 oh nice one! That is so good isn't it! My partners been working from home since March and is still here not sure when he's gonna be back! But it's nice isn't it because under normal circumstances they wouldn't have really seen their babies.

I've been on a waiting list for ages as they were closed but since reopening I think everyone's gone mad so haven't managed to! We did go swimming a couple of times when we went to Center Parcs but I wanna go again now things have eased up slightly. How about you? X

@Emmaaa1990 yes it's lovely for them- wouldn't think they will get this much time again for baby no 2 etc! We been swimming & Ada loves it- it's nice seeing them enjoying things but a shame as we have missed out on most the clubs etc. X