Is my feeding schedule reasonable for my 9 month old twins?

Kylene - posted on 09/30/2012

My 8 month old Son only eats 20-24oz of formula a day he eats 3 meals and a snack too he is on table foods. Here is his routine in between feedings and nap we run errands, have playtime, etc.



6am- wake, diaper change, 6oz bottle and breakfest

10am diaper change, 6oz bottle and lunch

12pm-2pm- nap

2pm- diaper change,6oz bottle and snack

5pm- 4oz juice and dinner then bath

6pm- 6oz bottle

6:pm-7am- bedtime

Tonya - posted on 09/24/2012

You all sound like you really have your schedules down pat...my girls are 14 months old and still am having a hard time with them eating solid foods..they just don't like the texture and always spit out the food..So what I try and do is I take frozen veggies and puree it a little in the magic bullet so it isn't so lumpy...They also still only have 4 teeth which it makes it difficult for them to chew, but we are working on that...I notice that when I take the food that we eat for supper and mix altogether and put in the magic bullet it comes out extremely thick so I have to add a little water to loosen it up...I'm hoping that we'll be able to convert them to table food real soon..stage 3 baby food is getting expensive for two and I also have to puree that a little too...:( they did convert to whole milk at a year old very easily...now I'm trying to get them off the bottle...they will drink water in the sippie cup but I can't seem to get them to drink milk in it..

This whole process can be very frustrating..

Heather - posted on 09/21/2012

No more need to worry. I have researched this topic and consulted with Pediatricians. Ultimately we give our children solid foods so that they can learn to eat prior to 1 year of age. They don't necessarily have to have this. Formula has everything they need. Keep this in the back of your head when you are frustrated trying to get 3 meals in. You are teaching them to eat...nothing else. You are doing great.



Heather

Jennifer - posted on 09/09/2012

There is so much to think about when taking care of these little ones. Who thought feeding a baby would be so complicated, LOL! I really like a book called "Baby Bites" when it comes to feeding.

I feed them a brand of baby cereal called "happy baby" which I really like, they prefer the oatmeal and whole grain. I do make their baby food. I used to do a lots of pureed veggie, fuit, ground beef, chicken, etc., however we are moving more towards mashed and actual chucks now that they like to feed themselves. Baby food in a jar is very watery and that may be why your girls do not like chuncks. When you make the food yourself you can make the puree thicker and eventualy get them used to a thicker texture. At about 8 months I started helping the girls learn their "pincher grasp" so they could start learning to self feed. This will also help them get used to "chunks" because it will be their idea to put it in their mouth. They will get use to it eventualy.

I also feed them the plain greek yogurt, and I mix it with fruit. Mine also make silly faces if there is no fuit in it :)

We do get out some, I just try to be extremely organized about it. I live in the country about 20 minutes from town, so there is just not enough time for me to get somewhere and back inbetween the first and second nap, plus I do not want them to fall asleep in the car if we are to close to nap time because it will through off our afternoon nap. Although we will go for a walk in the stroller in the afternoon. We tend to go out for errands and such between there second nap and bedtime since they have about 4 hours of awake time here. When we go out I take baby food in a jar to feed them.

Hope this helps!

Jamie - posted on 09/09/2012

Thank you for sharing your schedule! It looks as though your schedule is pretty close to mine. I have a couple more questions if you don't mind. Are you able to get out of the house with your girls? If so, when and how long? I try to get my girls out of the house at least once a day. By the way, we live in AZ so it's not like we can just go out to the backyard. We usually run errands, walk around the mall or go to a friend's house.

Do you feed them the single grain baby oatmeal or something else?

My girls just started eating stage 3 foods. I buy the organic food in the jar. They struggle a little with the chunks, but I guess they will get better at that as time moves on. Do you make your own food?

What kind of yogurt do you feed your girls? I tried plain Greek Yogurt twice and they both make sour faces. They don't seem to be big fans of it at all.



Thank you for your help! I'm just trying to make sure I'm feeding my girls enough, but also able to keep my sanity. :)

Jennifer - posted on 09/08/2012

My girls are 10 months old. At their 9 month checkup my doctor told me that they needed 3 meals and 24 oz of formula per day. I have never been able to get them to drink 24 oz of formula, we average 20-22 oz, however my girls are very petite. Our schedule is as follows (was the same at 9 months as well)...



7am - wake 7oz bottle

8:30am - oatmeal and fruit, yogurt

10am - nap 1hr

11am - 4 oz bottle

12:30pm - veggies, meat, fruit, cheese

2pm - nap 1 hr

3pm - 4 oz bottle

5pm - veggie, meat, fruit

6:30pm - 7oz bottle

7pm - aslpeep



I think they definately need a lunch meal of solids in there. I also try to offer things that they can feed themselves like cheese, little pieces of fruit, steamed veggies, so they can practice self feeding. I that my girls milk intake has declined the 11am and 3pm bottles were 6 oz at one time however the more active they get the less interested they are in sitting still and finishing a large bottle. I read that it is normal for their milk intake to decline after 9 months or so because of a loss of interest and weight gain also starts to slow down as they get closer to their first birthday

Charity - posted on 09/06/2012

My babies are 9 months too. It sounds like they have a good schedule and they must be eating solids well. Still at 9 months maybe slipping in another bottle or two into the schedule would suffice. My 9 month boy girl twins schedule. They are breastfed and also get 2 bottles of formula.

6;30/7 am Nurse

7:30/8 Breakfast- Finger foods(toast,blueberries, misc pieces of fruit)

9am -nap

10am-Nurse

11:30 Lunch( cheese cubes, cut up pieces of steamed veggies)

12:30/1 5 ounces of formula

2pm- nap

3pm Nurse

4:30 dinner

7:30/ Nurse and formula bottle before bedtime.