How much solids should babies eat?

S

Shenzhennifer

Registered User
I always read `every baby is different`, so nowhere seems to give an amount to feed your baby that I have seen.

My nearly 8 month old is on 3 solid meals a day. This is what I usually feed him:
Breakfast - Fruit with yogurt/oats
Lunch - veg with lentils/chicken/beef/tofu (3 cubes or full small jar or half a large jar), fruit (2 cubes or half jar), bowl of barley cereal
Dinner - same as lunch but with rice cereal instead.

But today I found out that he`s only gained 400gm in the last 2 months - he is now in the 25th percentile, whereas he was always in the 50th. that`s not very much weight gain considering he eats what I think is a fair deal of food. I always prepare extra and he always eats it. In fact, just this week, I prepared a bit less bc I thought he should drink more of my breastmilk as I don`t think he gets enough.

Is this consistent with what other people are doing? By the way, he is more mobile now yes, but not crawling yet.
thanks~
 
I've been wondering the same thing...I did read between 6-8 tablespoons split between a savoury and sweet course, but my 8 month old eats double that.

I feed him similar things to you but dinner is the same as lunch with yoghurt and fruit for desert. He also has 3 bottles of formula a day (6.30am, 1.30pm and 6pm). Do you give him fish? My son loves trout and salmon not keen on meat and chicken...i haven't tried tofu but will give that a go! how do you prepare it?

My son is very active, crawling at 6 months and now creeping around the furniture, he also does swimming lessons twice a week. He is chubby and last time I got him weighed he was on the 75th percentile, when he was born he was only 2.4kg and on the 15th percentile. Its the formula thats helped him put on weight as I had very low supply and couldn't breastfeed him full time.

I usually just feed him till he turns his head away a few times. And after a dinner he wants his bottle of milk straight away, I thought he must of been still hungry but he isn't interested in more food, just wants milk.

A baby's weight gain does slow the older and more active they get. He isn't losing weight so i don't think you should be too worried.
 
if his gaining rate is like when he was baby then he will be huge when he is older! Consider that he is moving so much now and active, he is now in the 25th percentile is a very reasonable gain! Nothing to worry at all.
 
I only give my 9 months old one solid a day, except for snacks, like puffs and rusks... Am I giving too little as you all are giving 3 solids a day... But I heard a paediatrician said, before 1 year old, babies' major nutritional intake should be milk, solid food before 1 year old is not for nutrition, but more for practice oral activities to prepare her for chewing and speech. So the doctor suggested not to cut down milk intake for solid food...

I don't know, but I give my LO 3 milks and 1 solid a day, she is always on the 75 percentile on her weight gain...
 
Gladyswly

Milk will still be baby's main food and source of nutrition. Giving solids 3 times a day just gets baby used to eating like an adult. They really don't eat that much. I don't give my son snacks between meals except for a rusk which is more for teething.

When do you give the solid meal? How much milk do you give? I offer a bottle of 200ml (7oz), if your doing more you could try to reduce it and offer solids. Here is my son's routine
6-6.30am - bottle of milk 200ml
7.30am - solids for breakfast - rice cereal with fruit, if he has milk left over from the bottle I use it to make up his breakfast.
11-11.30am - solids for lunch - protein or pasta and vegetables
1-1.30pm - bottle of milk 200ml
5pm - solids for dinner, usually same as lunch
5.30pm - 6pm - bottle of mlike 200ml

Hope this helps.
 
My 10 month old eats somewhat like this:

breakfast - she eats a bowl of cereal and a piece of fruit... she'll eat a whole banana or kiwifruit, or about 5 strawberries...
lunch - usually I give her a piece of vegemite toast, or a rice cake (those ones made with puffed rice - I give her the adult ones rather than the kid ones), sometimes some more fruit or other little snacks, like cookies or something - depending on if she's hungry or not. She also loves cheese or yoghurt. I give her water, or sometimes diluted apple juice with lunch and dinner, but not at breakfast time.
dinner - small pieces of vegetables and meat, usually just from our own dinner but sometimes I cook especially for her if our food isn't as suitable. She loves pasta too. Dinner time, generally she feeds herself and I try to eat at the same time with her, promote that "family meal" kind of thing. It's quite nice! Although she gets VERY messy so it's always straight into the bath afterwards!!

She actually eats quite a lot of solids now! But at this age, their weight gain slows down a lot. I think she's only put on less than half a kg in the past 3 months!! But she's growing longer. She's just losing some of her baby fat. But that's meant to be normal after 6 months of age when they get significantly more active.

In between her solids, I still breastfeed on demand. I still bf probably 6-8 times a day most days - but these days it's just quick 3 minute feeds. I rarely bf when I'm out though because I tend to feed before I go, then just offer other snacks with water/juice to drink, just because that's easier... I have no idea how much milk she gets these days, but I figure she's generally happy and healthy, so that's good enough for me ;)
 
Karmah1 - I add silken tofu to whatever he is eating. Like for lunch today for his veg I gave him 2 cubes cauliflower, 1 cube carrot and about a tablespoon of tofu and just mixed it together. Also, it sounds like your baby is drinking more milk than mine. I`m sure he`s not drinking 200 mls per feed, maybe right before bed, but that`s it. I actually started to cut back his food a little so he would be hungrier for milk. now I don`t know which will make him gain more...:(

Mscheerful - I know they gain less weight as they get older, but to my understanding they should be gaining at an increase on their chart. Mine isn`t - he`s going up and down.

gladyswly - as karmah1 said, although milk is still the most important source of nutrition, solids are now needed to get other nutrients that our milk doesn`t give anymore. I can`t say whether you are feeding your baby too little, especially as she sounds nice and chubby, but it does contradict what I have read, in terms of food schedules and the like. I also read that if babies are not given much food or given food too late, then later they are hard to feed or are fussy with food.

Nicolejoy - wow, your baby drinks a lot still! I have practically had to forcefeed my baby sometimes. He gets really cranky with my sometimes slow letdown and there are so many interesting other things to do. I wish I could measure how much milk he was getting.
 
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Wow, I think I really have to give my baby more solids, I don't want her to be a fussy eater! My feeding schedule is like this..

0700 milk 240ml
1100 rice cereal with veggies or meat (I used 120ml milk to mix with the rice cereal, and I use Organix baby first banana porridge)
1500 milk 240ml
1900 milk 240ml

I don't know how to integrate solids inbetween milk, because she won't be hungry enough to drink milk if I give her another bowl of cereal between milks...

karmal1, is it really your little one can drink 200ml milk half an hour after the solid dinner?
 
Shenz - I've actually tried to decrease the amount I feed her, but it's a real fight!! I've managed to get it down to as little as 4-5 times a day, but she gets cranky if she wants milk and I offer something else. I haven't decided yet when I'll actively wean her, but I would prefer if I could get it down to only maybe 2 times a day by the time she's a year or so... it's hard though because she never seems to drink much, she just likes to drink frequently!!
 
SZJ,

I don't know much about the percentile chart or how relevant it is in all cases. Since your baby is a mixed baby and neither of his parents are large people (and by large, I mean, "big boned" :smile:), he may be in a lower weight percentile for a certain ethnicity but that may or may not apply to him. Have you checked the Japanese percentile chart? Actually, in HK, the HK percentile chart is different than the one in the USA. Also, what percentile is he in for height? If he's in a lower percentile for height that might point to him being a more petite person overall.

Basically, my theory is that healthy babies eat until they're full. So, if your baby is otherwise healthy and you give him food until he refuses it, then he's probably getting enough. Also, your meal plans for him seem quite balanced.

My son is a solid little guy, as you know. He's in the 95th percentile for height on the USA percentile chart and in the 75th percentile for weight on the same chart. Picking him up is like trying to lift a large bag of rice. He has never been fat but he's always been solid--I mean, the kid isn't even two years old yet and he's got little muscly biceps and a very broad chest and shoulders (exactly like my father, brother and actually my husband too). When he was 6 weeks old, local HK people were asking me if he was 4-5 months old! But, when I look at the gene pool he comes from, at least on my side of the family, my father is 6'1", my brother is 6'3", my sister is 5'11" and my mom is 5'7". I am the shortest at 5'6". I am also the smallest in my "big boned" family for weight and I always have been. So, even though my husband is only 56 kilos and is 5'7" I can pretty well guess my son is going to grow up to be a larger person.

How tall your baby? How much does he weigh exactly?
 
thanka2 - he is maybe 70cm and weighs 7.8 kgs. My husband and I are not big people, but not tiny. My son is even smaller than `normal` according to the Japanese growth chart too.
 
Hey. I think if I had suspicions that my child was underweight this is what I would do:

1. Go to his doctor and have a consultation to check and see if his weight is so extremely off from "normal" that it warrants doing something about it. At around 7-9 months-old my son was about 10-11 kg. And, as I said, he is quite a muscular build and very tall for his age so, maybe 7.8 kg isn't that small for your son's particular build. I know you said you and your husband aren't tiny, which is true but I would definitely consider you both thin people. I referred to my dad and brother before--my dad, at his smallest/slimmest/fittest weight weighs 115 kg and my brother is similar. This is when my dad was in track and field in secondary school and winning in state competitions. I don't know what the size conversion for shoes is here in HK but in American shoe size my dad wears a size 15 and my brother a size 17...believe me, in comparison, you and your husband (and nearly every other person I know) is "slight" and "small." :0) So, those are the specific genetics I'm talking about when it comes to my son. I can't wait to see what my son looks like as a teenager (and uh...how much food he will consume??!!)

2. Based on what my doctor tells me, I would start designing meals that have higher calorie content. The amount (as in volume or bulk) of food probably isn't such an issue. A bowl of rice may fill your belly but if you're trying to put on weight it doesn't go too far toward that. So, I guess, maybe I would think about how I prepare the food--ways that I can add more healthy oils to the diet (i.e. cooking with more oil, giving foods that are higher in fat content etc.) If my son was found to be truly underweight, it's helpful to get more calories in his diet--so feeding more calorie dense foods would be an option. Also, there have been times when my son's appetite has seemed to be lagging--when it would get to the point where he was only eating one small meal a day and refusing other food, I actually fed him what is called "Chinese Appetizing Tea for Babies"--there are several brands but I bought mine at Watson's. It actually worked in increasing my son's appetite--I'd only have to use it for a day or so and his appetite would pick up.

3. Based also on what I find out from my doctor, I would add a baby vitamin supplement into my son's diet. I have one that I use with my son that's all natural. Sometimes I've found with my own body that it doesn't function as well without the proper nutrients--vitamins and minerals. Afterall, vitamins and minerals are really essential in helping all of us get the most out of the food we eat.

I really hope that you can pay a visit to your son's doctor and that he/she can point you in the right direction.
 
my baby just turned one and she still has 2 bottles per day...her feeding schedule is such:
8am 6oz
12noon Lunch: 120-140ml rice / pasta + veggies + meat and 2oz water
4:30 snack (optional - depends if she is hungry)
7pm Dinner: same as lunch time
8:30pm 5oz (diluted milk)

Though she is 1years already, I will still maintain 2 bottles of milk for as long as she is willing to drink it since I want her to get into the habit of drinking milk because of it's calcium (I don't like to drink milk so think it's important for her to develop a good habit of drinking it unlike me). In order to ensure she is not a fussy eater, I give her a big variety of foods to eat at her 2 solid meals...I don't think I will be giving her 3 solid meals until her appetite increases and perhaps I will add some more solids at breakfast time inconjunction with the milk....perhaps cereals with milk when she is older, sometimes I have fruit and milk in the mornings for breakfast....

my daughters weight gain has pretty much leveled off after 10 months..though she's not a big walker (she enjoys sitting the best), her weight gain has been only 2pounds in the past 2months..her last biggest leap in weight gain was from 4 months to 5months and after that it was been pretty much 1 pound per month...and last time I checked she was 92percentile for weight....she's not eating that much but I guess her absorption is great!
 
Shenzhennifer said:
Karmah1 - I add silken tofu to whatever he is eating. Like for lunch today for his veg I gave him 2 cubes cauliflower, 1 cube carrot and about a tablespoon of tofu and just mixed it together. Also, it sounds like your baby is drinking more milk than mine. I`m sure he`s not drinking 200 mls per feed, maybe right before bed, but that`s it. I actually started to cut back his food a little so he would be hungrier for milk. now I don`t know which will make him gain more...:(

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thanks Shenzhennifer! i will give it a go this week
 
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