feeding schedule.

Tiffany - posted on 04/02/2009

Both my kids were different.  I started both of them when they seemed ready, my oldest had his first at 3 months and my lil one started at about 5 months.  I always start with the vegies.  Squash, green beans, peas... then move to fruits.  I normally wait about 2 weeks after they first start this then add in the cereal and oatmeal.  I ended up having to use the cereal as a substitute for bottle feeds because my son was drinking WAY too much formula everyday (this was recomended by a doctor because he would go through almost 2 12.9 oz cans of powder formula a day).  But this is how our schedule goes right now, he is almost 9 months...

8:00 (wake up)  oatmeal with fruit

10:30    snack, normally the gerber puffs or applesause...

12:00    lunch, cereal with a vegie

3:00    snack, normally some sort of cracker or bread

6:00  dinner, cereal (just a little) mixed with a meat and a vegie.

Neither of my kids ever liked the stage 3 meals, but would eat a mix if I mixed it myself.  So, I use cereal and add half a jar of each to that and mix it all up.

Allison - posted on 04/02/2009

Sorry for the duplicate post - had some browser issues and it didn't look like it got sent, but it did. Oops!

Allison - posted on 04/02/2009

I typically start feeding at 6 months. I generally start with 1 meal a day (and not necessarily every day...just depending on how baby seems that day and how interested he/she is). With my daughter, I started with dinner, since I worked full-time. With my son, I started with breakfast, since I was home and he was less likely to be sleepy at that time, plus he'd have nursed already.

I keep things very relaxed. I don't start with cereal at first...avocados, bananas, sweet potato, and yellow squash are the ones I uses first, with several days between introductions of each. They are so easy to prepare, and the potato and squash freeze really well (I use ice cube trays), so they last a long time. I don't spoon-feed: I put the food mashed up directly on the high chair tray and let baby play with it, assuming some will make it to the mouth. Since they don't need solid foods to fill them up at this age (and shouldn't be using solid foods to replace their breastmilk/formula for nuturiton) we use it as a fun exploration, experimentation time. I do this for about a month or two. With my son, he stopped being interested in food for several days at a time until about 8 months or so, so I'd offer it but wouldn't push it. I think it depends on their teething and their growth...sometimes they are just not hungry for solid foods.

I really like http://www.wholesomebabyfood.com/ as a reference for foods and ideas. I don't use cereal at first, because grains are harder to digest than other foods, don't taste so great (I want my kids to have a positive, fun, flavorful first-foods experiences), and don't really have any nutritional benefits. But I will use cereal later on, to thicken foods I've made that are too thin or watery - and I prefer oatmeal over rice since it tastes better and can be at a thicker consistency. I don't usually use it until 7-8 months, though. It's also nice to use oatmeal for breakfast, and mash up bananas or apples or mangoes or whatever fruit in it for flavor :-) By about 9-10 months, I move to normal oatmeal for breakfast, since it's typically easy to babies to swallow by then.

HTH! Have fun!

Allison - posted on 04/02/2009

I typically start feeding at 6 months. I generally start with 1 meal a day (and not necessarily every day...just depending on how baby seems that day and how interested he/she is). With my daughter, I started with dinner, since I worked full-time. With my son, I started with breakfast, since I was home and he was less likely to be sleepy at that time, plus he'd have nursed already.



I keep things very relaxed. I don't start with cereal at first...avocados, bananas, sweet potato, and yellow squash are the ones I uses first, with several days between introductions of each. They are so easy to prepare, and the potato and squash freeze really well (I use ice cube trays), so they last a long time. I don't spoon-feed: I put the food mashed up directly on the high chair tray and let baby play with it, assuming some will make it to the mouth. Since they don't need solid foods to fill them up at this age (and shouldn't be using solid foods to replace their breastmilk/formula for nuturiton) we use it as a fun exploration, experimentation time. I do this for about a month or two. With my son, he stopped being interested in food for several days at a time until about 8 months or so, so I'd offer it but wouldn't push it. I think it depends on their teething and their growth...sometimes they are just not hungry for solid foods.



I really like http://www.wholesomebabyfood.com/ as a reference for foods and ideas. I don't use cereal at first, because grains are harder to digest than other foods, don't taste so great (I want my kids to have a positive, fun, flavorful first-foods experiences), and don't really have any nutritional benefits. But I will use cereal later on, to thicken foods I've made that are too thin or watery - and I prefer oatmeal over rice since it tastes better and can be at a thicker consistency. I don't usually use it until 7-8 months, though. It's also nice to use oatmeal for breakfast, and mash up bananas or apples or mangoes or whatever fruit in it for flavor :-) By about 9-10 months, I move to normal oatmeal for breakfast, since it's typically easy to babies to swallow by then.



HTH! Have fun!

Emily - posted on 04/02/2009

When my children started solids they had a routine kind of like this:

a piece of really ripe fruit and some cheerios for breakfast

a steamed veggie dish for lunch

and a steamed veggie usually with some really soft pasta for dinner

I nursed upon waking, before morning nap, after lunch, before afternoon nap, after afternoon nap, before bed and whenever they woke up at night. As they got older and ate more I would give a morning and afternoon snack too.