8 month old feeding schedule.

[CJ98]

I’m just looking for some advice on my 8 month old daughter, we really struggled with weaning to begin with. As a first time mum I was so overwhelmed with all the different websites telling me to do things differently, one would say one thing another would say something else so for the first month we simply just weaned our daughter on puréed food that was either the shop bought jars or the pouches. However over the last month or two we’ve slowly introduced normal food, the one thing I’m worried about is that I’m not feeding her enough. On a day to day basis her routine looks a little like this.

7/7:30 - she’ll wake up.
8/8:30 - she’ll have breakfast this can be anything from weetabix (with fruit using cows milk), porridge (with fruit using cows milk) - both are spoon feed…. pancakes, bagels, toast or crumpets which she feeds herself.
9/9:30 she’ll have a 30 minute nap.
around 11 she’ll have some teething biscuits
12/12:30 - she’ll either have a bottle anywhere from 6-8oz - I really struggle with dinner time meals 😣
around 2 she might have something like sweetcorn rings or some like melty sticks.
3 - she’ll have a long 1.5/2 hour nap

5/5:30 she’ll then have her evening meal which 99.9% of the time is either leftovers from our meal from the night before or something simple like a jacket potato and cheese and beans which again we spoon feed her.
7/7:30 she’ll have her final bottle depending on how full she is from the day she can have anything from 6-8oz & then bed.
Am I underfeeding her by giving her teething biscuits or weaning “snacks” rather than milk or am I over feeding her by giving her too much to eat throughout the day. I feel like I’m overthinking everything & everyone who’s around me that are parents are saying there’s nothing wrong with giving her the teething biscuits and sweetcorn rings as it’s giving her the chance to feed herself but I’m concerned that I’m not giving her enough milk as everyone keeps telling me milks the biggest source of nutrition but if she’s eating full meals I'm then concerned that if I add milk in she’s going to be over feed.

Do I replace the teething biscuits etc with milk ?? I feel like there’s so much around weaning and what’s right and wrong that everyone’s going to have a different opinion. I just don’t know what’s right and wrong. 😣

It’s so difficult isn’t it! There is so much conflicting advice, and then the obvious variables of each baby to contend with so I don’t think there ever is a “perfect way”, I feel like they will tell you if they’re hungry though, does your little one absolutely finish everything they’re given? I would always try and provide a bit more to know for sure that they’re full. From memory this is what my boy’s sleeping and eating schedule was around 8 months:

6.30-7am - wake up and have bottle around 7.30 (I think around 5-6oz)
8am - breakfast, weetabix or toast with banana
9am - 90 minute nap
11am - bottle and snack (baby granola bar/yoghurt)
12.30 - lunch (omelette or wrap etc with veggie sticks
2pm - 60/90 minute nap
3.30 - another bottle and snack (something like the melty bars or sweetcorn rings
5.30 - dinner (whatever we were having or had the night before)
6.45 final bottle and then bed at 7pm

We were constantly tweaking this though, some days he would want alllllll the milk, snacks and meals and some days we wasn’t interested 😂

Also OP do you take her to get weighed monthly? If so and she’s on the right percentile and increasing her weight healthily I really wouldn’t worry! You can drive yourself insane worrying about doing things as the advice instructs but it’s all just a basic guideline, I think it sounds like you’re doing fine!

It’s honestly ridiculous how everything says different. We’ve found that she eats everything if she’s spoon feed we worry when she’s given meals she can feed herself like today we’ve given her weetabix for breakfast and then for dinner I’ve given her some pancakes, yoghurt and some carrot puffs and I’ve noticed she isn’t as interested in the food (hence why most of the time I just give her a bottle). Breakfast & evening meal she completely finishes but dinner I really struggle with giving her food that she actually can feed herself.

She’s always been a baby that’s over average for her height and weight (she’s not overweight as I’ve been told) she’s just above the “normal” baby which is another thing that gets me concerned all the time, how every baby is compared to “the normal baby” yet every baby is different. I have a health visitor appointment at the end of this month so I’m just going to see what she says and go from there.

Awww she sounds like my little boy, he’s always been a cuddly little baby 😂 I would mention it to the HV like you said but honestly it sounds like her feeding schedule is great! Lots of variety, snacks, milk etc and if she’s putting on weight you’re all good! Also I wouldn’t stress about her feeding everything herself, my boy is 16 months now and in nursery the staff still need to support them with feeding. You could even give her spoon fed stuff that you give her and then some finger foods on the side like cucumber/avocado sticks, broccoli etc. Defo don’t stress though, I stressed so much about EVERYTHING in the first year and know look back and realise I didn’t need to, just enjoy the time, 8 months is such a fun age 🤩

Thank you so much for the reassurance. I’ve found sometimes mumsnet can be a little judgmental but it’s so reassuring how someone say im actually not doing things wrong. I’ve tried giving her fruit and veg on the side as finger foods and she doesn’t even attempt to put it too her mouth so I’ve been mixing it in with her food to make sure she’s getting fruit and veg. I know it’s all about trying her but it’s so hard 😣😂

Just some ideas based on what I do with my 9 month old and what I did for my older child. Instead of the teething biscuits at 11, what about giving an early lunch of e.g. toast fingers spread with hummus/cream cheese/mushed up pilchards/tuna mashed with a bit of cream cheese/nut butter? Other ideas - pinwheels, breadsticks with dip, rice cakes sliced into fingers with some toppings as above, sticks of cheddar, wedges of boiled egg, omelette strips, tortilla, savoury muffins. A whole prawn to grab and chomp also goes down surprisingly well here 😅 For more veg, make soup and let her dip toast fingers in?

Thank you so much for the ideas. I think bringing lunch forward is a good idea and might try that tomorrow. I’m not much of a chef so simple things like you’ve recommended are amazing for myself. I’ve tried her with wedges of boiled egg & omelette strips and both she refused but I’m going to try her again with them to just see if it was because it was a new texture for her or not.

If she's a bit wary of texture, which is totally normal, then toast fingers with some kind of moist topping/dip like soup, hummus, mashed avocado etc is a really good gateway to then accepting more challenging textures in time.

My 5 year old still won't eat carrot sticks due to the texture BTW so I do get it 😅

Yeah I’ve tried her with carrot sticks and she refuses to put them into her mouth. It’s so hard trying to find fruit and veg she’ll actually eat without me having to put it into her food so she actually eats it 😂

She’ll eat the yokes out of boiled eggs but even then it’s a challenge, and we’ve tried everything like mango sticks, watermelon/melon sticks, cucumber (she enjoys sucking that), carrot sticks, apple sticks (these she enjoys as she can scrap them with her bottom teeth). We recently tried her with some cheese on toast so I just think it’s about changing things up and just trying her, I always knew it would be a challenge as she spent 6 months just on milk so everything is new too her but it’s so hard finding fruit and veg she’ll actually eat 😂

It sounds like you're doing great! I think the main thing is to give them loads of opportunities to try something and not be afraid of letting her have a go. My ILs thought I was mad when they saw my giving DS a whole king prawn but the look of delight on his face when he held it in his chubby little fist and slurped away at it was enough to convince them 🤣

Keep offering them even if she refused last time. Children have to see/experiment with food loads of times before they'll actually accept it.

Mine liked scrambled egg with toast fingers
Plain pasta (fusilli or penne were easy to hold) with grated cheese or chopped up roast chicken.
You can try veg sticks raw or lightly steamed.
Fruit sticks or cubed with a fork to eat
Pitta bread sliced
Wraps
Sandwiches (which were usually pulled apart before eating!)

We’ve been parents that have allowed our daughter to try anything, someone has something and asks if she can have some I’m like “HELL YES” I don’t think there anything at the moment we’ve said no too. She’s very easy in the fact she’ll eat food but when it comes to fruit and veg I’ve found she’s so picky. I didn’t even think of things like prawns. I’m allergic to fish but I don’t even think of giving her shellfish to try.

I’ve tried her with scrambled eggs a couple of times but like you say it’s all about trying her, now that she’s a few weeks since I last tried her I’m going to try her again. I’ve done pasta before but didn’t even think about trying her with it plain. I was using the solids start app to make the pasta recipes they had on but didn’t think to even attempt it plain. I might have to start making sandwiches at dinner time I’m sure I can find different fillings to make it easier for her to eat. Thank you so much

To complicate things further, apparently it takes babies 15 tries of something to determine whether or not they like it! Also that their tastes change so much from month to month/week to week (and day to day 😂) that it’s just pot luck on whether or not they’ll eat it! Moral of the story is don’t concern yourself with what they do and don’t want, just give them any and everything and they may or may not like it on any given day. Helpful eh lol

Honestly who’d have thought weaning would be so complicated 😂 I’m just more concerned about her not having bottles throughout the day. I know eventually bottles will get dropped but I weren’t expecting her to drop them so quickly. Do I just continue with what I’m doing or do I give her a bottle with her meals.. I’m just concerned about everything 😂

@CJ98 if it puts your mind at rest why don’t you just whack in a morning bottle when she wakes up? That way she’s having three bottles per day plus milk in her breakfast! My son was definitely down to four bottles from this age. When you think about it, she’s not far off not needing bottles at all, it’s only a few months away so this sounds like a pretty good transition! Please stop worrying if you can 😂

edited to say, your “I’m just concerned about everything” comment was definitely said by me at least 100 times in the first year and now I can’t even remember what I was concerned about! 😂

I honestly feel like first time mums literally get 0 support. She’s not been having a morning bottle for atleast a month maybe more. Infact she wakes up at 7/7:30 and the first time she has a bottle is around dinner time but even then that seems to be pushing backwards & at times she’s not having a bottle until around 2/2:30. Most of the time she’s only on two bottles a day. She definitely has a bottle before bed and I know give it a few weeks maybe a month and she’ll probably have dropped all bottles but the one before bed. It’s just scary to think about how quickly things change from when they are newborns 😂