how much food should a 7mo be eating in a day?

[titferbrains]

sorry I've been posting everywhere trying to crack my dd's night waking. She's been waking up earlier and earlier for night feeds over past few days and I think it's because she's not eating enough during the day. She is very little,below 0.4th centile and generally takes about 5-6 oz as a full milk feed but not really that interested in solids, mostly likes things with banana, fruit etc. Am going on a mission to start introducing more protein, made lentil stew last night. But am concerned that her portions aren't big enough. Any guidance on this? Bowl of baby porridge made with milk for extra calories is usually 3-4 heaped tbs of powder, then maybe 1/3 pk ella's fruit. When I've given banana and avo puree in the past, she'll take 1-2 oz.

also could you tell me what times you feed your 7mo? I haven't got my head around supper/tea, she goes down about 6.45pm at the mo. ie begins her milk feed at about this time. I have been giving her 1oz formula with baby rice to fill her up about 1 hr before bedtime but want to start doing a proper supper.

I have no idea how BLWers do it?? doesn't it take hours for them to eat anything and how do you know if they're full enough? DD eats the odd rice cake and roasted root veg stick but alway spits out the big bits that break off, so essentially very little goes in.

Wanted to BLW but she doesn't like lumps and I'm dreadful about salt, used to be a chef so I fling the stuff everywhere.

sorry for ramble but am desperate to get feeding and sleep on track. home and life in chaos because I can't function properly in day because am deeply overtired.

i would be concentrating on getting more milk, rather than more food into her, especially if you want her to gain a little weight. milk is more calorie rich and filling than a couple of spoons of food. food at this age is about new tastes and textures, filling the tummy is secondary.

just offer her tastes of food, when you eat and give her as much milk as she will take, and obviously milk in the night if she is waking

it is normal for a baby of this age to wake for a night feed

thanks lulu. am overthinking a bit as tired, but am concerned that she eats well in the future and when I'm knackered I feel like just forgetting about solids and just giving milk... think it's important to continue giving them even if amount varies. also wanting to get naps in place which is why I asked about timing in my OP. I offer milk after after every solid feed.

BTW have been giving a bottle of 5 oz at 12/12.30 midday, am going to start offering lunch then instead. does this seem right?

would like to ensure her naps are regular so I know it's not lack of daytime sleep that's affecting her nights.

thanks lulu. am overthinking a bit as tired, but am concerned that she eats well in the future and when I'm knackered I feel like just forgetting about solids and just giving milk... think it's important to continue giving them even if amount varies. also wanting to get naps in place which is why I asked about timing in my OP. I offer milk after after every solid feed.

BTW have been giving a bottle of 5 oz at 12/12.30 midday, am going to start offering lunch then instead. does this seem right?

would like to ensure her naps are regular so I know it's not lack of daytime sleep that's affecting her nights.

you should offer the milk always before solid food

also, routine is great, but if she has a cold, or an off day it might go out of the window, but by all means aim to get her in a routine, but with room for some flexibility

the amount of sleep she gets in the day should not affect her night sleep too much, indeed if she is over tired, she will be harder to settle to sleep

i would not offer food at lunchtime instead of milk, but still aswell as

milk really is the main source of nutrition for the first 12 months, and you are only a month or so into weaning, so food should not really be replacing milk feeds

i would offer food 3 times a day on top of her milk feeds, and give her as much milk as she wants, day and night for now.

what she eats now is not going to set a pattern for her whole life IMO

DD ate v v little for the first year and then really until she was 2, did not eat meals in any big amount. she still does better on 6 small meals/ large snacks a day now at almost 4. she eats little and often and that is fine

BLW is really just offering what you are eating, and letting her pick up the food, offering chunks of avocado or banana, which are foods she likes, but in a whole rather than mashed form might be good. she can have toast fingers, cheese , rice cakes, chunks of steamed carrot and broccoli etc..

tifter - thanks for starting this thread, I am having the same worries, though trying to do BLW. DD is 7.5 months.

We saw the Dr yesterday and DD had dropped from 75th to 50th centile since beginning of January - but they are the old charts, on the new BF by gender ones she is find.
I am now under pressure from him and DH to ensure she doesn't drop further. Dr said if she does drop then we will have to increase solids.

Dr also told me I shouldn't be bfing more than 5 times in the daytime - about what I do now - and that I should try to cut back to 4.

I am very upset about this as I feel that I am now under pressure to stop BFing.

wow steaknife I'm astonished to hear of a doctor pressuring to stop bfing. have you asked for a 2nd opinion?

Lulu - am not routine crazy but don't want life to be entirely unpredictable for DD, I just get quite stressed when she doesn't sleep enough in the day.

will calmly keep giving milk. about to offer her lentil stew for the first time, am sure she will tell me to f-off but will smile sweetly and plod on. thank god for bananas.

Pressure is coming more from DH - its a bit complicated. We are in France and Dr was a bit surprised I was still BFing 3 months ago.
He keeps asking me if I am tired, I say "yes I have a sleepless baby"

Just trying to explain to DH that if he is worried about calorie intake then I should not be cutting back on BFing unless led by the baby. However he thinks we should listen to the Dr as he is the expert.

DH won't trust anything that comes from forums so I am trying to back my POV up with WHO, NCT.
I get the sense that France isn't so forward thinking.

TfB sorry to hear you are having a bad time at the moment. Our LOs sound similar - DS is 7 months & is under the 0.4 centile. It is difficult (I find) to balence milk & solids at the moment but I feel it is most important to get as much milk in him as possible. Solids are pretty hit & miss but here is our (vague) routine.

6.30 wake FF approx 180ml

8.30 Breakfast - Fruit puree/ porridge (1 heaped TBSP made with Formula (about 30ml). or 1/4 Oatibix!

9.30 Milkfeed 60ml then a nap
He finishes the bottle (60ml)

11.30 lunch - Protein meal (very hit & miss -he sometimes manages only a few mouthful before growling & demanding avocado or yogurt. Today he put away a full Yeo Valey baby yogurt).

12.30/1.30ish - Nap - no routine for this!
Then I try & get another milk feed in whenever he wants it. (Today he only took 100 but I like to get him to take 210ml).

4.30 Tea - usually veg purees (3-4 icecubes) - hit & miss again...(with butter/cheese in for extra calories)

6.30 - Bottle (210- if I am lucky) & then bed.

(Or today small bottle at 5.30...& then even smaller one at 7.30.....)

If he doesn't take enough milk by bedtime (I like him to hit the 700-800ml mark) then we will wake hime up at approx 10.30 for a feed.

Like I said - it's very hit & miss & I don't think that you can have a rigid routine every day. I try & give solids at the same time & milk feeds as & when he wants them (the only regular Milk feed seems to be the morning & evening ones). Sometimes he will have very hungry days & sometimes not.

I offer milk if he wakes up early in the morning,(which he does on occasions!)

Sorry for waffling on. Hope that helps.

Steakknife - sorry that you are getting pressure from your DH. Hope it works out. Take care.

steaknife I know how hard it is when DH doesnt listen/understand, just keep explaining and showing him basic facts about breast milk. Take him on a calorie counter website and show him that breast milk will provide most calories by volume. if he can work it out for himself (1tsp banana equals x calories vs 6 oz milk equals....) my dh took months to understand that topping up was not a good idea, but that's a whole other story...

deanna thanks for telling me about yr baby's routine, helps to see it laid out like that. DD did actually taste lentils even tho she didn't eat more than a small tsp, which is progress in my book, and she also chewed on some green beans - HURRAH, and tasted broccoli. Great to see her playing with veg so will keep having a go via the BLW route whilst trying to get a bit of puree in at the same time. It's so hard not to think of amounts when i'm always hungry from BFing all the time. I regularly finish her baby porridge which I not very secretly love.

Feel better to have heard from a few people. Off to bed now YAY.

Morning all.

I had a heated discussion lively debate with DH yesterday about BFing and what the Dr had said. I'm a tad overwraught at the moment so it seems that I took things a bit out of context.
The comment about the number of times DD feeds was more to do with having a loose schedule - which I do in the week, but DH only sees the weekend when it goes out the window because he wants to get out and about.

I think the centile comment still stands, so I am going to take my WHO chart with me to the Dr on Monday.

I am a bit over-tired and over-sensitive at the moment so I get on the defensive very easily.

Deanna - like you I try and get the feeds at around the same time. However we are experimetning with a later bedtime for DD to try to get her sleeping better so I am having to re-jig her day a bit.

my DD is nearly 7 months and her usual routine is:
7 6 oz bottle (how much she drinks if any depends on if /when she has had a night feed)
8 am breakfast (few tbsp fruity baby porridge)
10/10.30 snack (rice cake/banana etc- she started refusing mid morning bottle about 3 weeks ago so stopped it)
11.45/12 lunch (still quite picky with savoury but usually has few tbsp followed by lumpy fruit puree or yoghurt, then finger food to nibble on)
2.30/3 5 oz bottle
4.30 ish tea (as lunch)
7pm 6oz bottle but quite frequently she only has a few oz.
Im sure you know from other discussions that we are not the best example for a routine that encourages night sleeping, but this works for us. if she has her lunch/tea later it throws things off and she has even less of her bedtime bottle which causes more night time problems!
My DD doesnt have huge portions but she is definitely getting better.
Just a quick, unrelated comment... My LO is asleep next to me, making cute little snores and it has just stuck me (again) that she is gorgeous and fantastic and beautiful etc etc. As stressful as it can be dealing with night wakings and fussy eating and bottle refusals....its all completely worth it!!!!!

Just to add,
DD has water in a cup with each meal.
As for naps, its quite flexible but usually has and hour from about 9/9.30, then has another hour at about 1/1.30. If she wakes from this nap before 2.30 then I know she wont last till bedtime so she has a short snooze later on at about4.30 but I try to make sure she doesnt sleep latre than 5. I wonder if she has too much sleep a day (2-2.5 hours) but if she has any less than this she really really struggles through the day and seems almost worse at night.
She slept through last night...YAY... (well kind of slept through, 11.45 to 6.30). that means she has slept through 10 times in total. double figures!