Thursday, April 8, 2010

Formula

Okay, I have another question bloggy friends.  I was talking to some wonderful mothers yesterday about how their docs told them to schedule their babies solid foods.  It was a little different than what my doc told me, but it sounded much better, so I have transitioned more to their way.

Here is our schedule so far

8 am: 7 oz formula bottle

11 am: cereal mixed with fruit and a veggie as well. 

2-3 pm: cereal mixed with veggie and fruit

6-7 pm: veggie and cereal

9 pm: 7-8 ounce bottle

He also gets puffs/yogurt melts/real fruit after some feedings to snack

The problem is Caleb is not wanting to take in very much formula anymore. I know babies start to slow down on their formula intake, but I have also heard they need 32 ounces until they are 9 months. Caleb is maybe taking in 25 ounces a day.  I always offer him a 3 ounce bottle after each feeding, and it usually takes him an hour to finish that.  Is it okay that he is not wanting formula anymore? What was your experience with this subject?

Note: I just began giving him both a veg and fruit per feeding yesterday. He was still not wanting formula when I only offered him one solid per feeding. 


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6 comments:

Bethany said...

do you give juice at all? maybe cut down on the cereal because it really fills them up
but dont worry too much if he isnt hungry and he is gaining weight its ok he knows how full he is!

The Dorns said...

K this is my opinion but I also have a degree in child development and have taking child nutrition classes.

The recommended amount of formula should be given per day. Food should only be given for the experience. Formula has all the essential nutrition and iron that babies need so must be given. I would offer the formula first and after he has finished then you could offer food until full. Up until the first year food should be given for purposes of learning to swallow puree up to lumpy foods and working on self feeding skills such as picking up small pieces with whole fist and then just the pincher grasp.

Beth P. said...

I was told that once they are eating three meals a day infants need 20-24 oz of formula in addition to the nutrients they are getting through fruits and veggies. This is exactly what we did. Collin was eating solids at meal times and then bottles in between. It worked well for us, and Collin is a BIG boy, so to have him so healthy and happy makes me feel like we did a-ok with that method.

Katie said...

Okay, keeping in mind that I'm a first-timer and I could be totally wrong....
Ellie has about four 7oz bottles per day (about every 4 hours) and in between I feed her a jar of baby food. Sometimes she eats the entire jar, sometimes not. My understanding was that the food was just for the "experience" of training them to eat, not for the nutritional value. I'm pretty sure the main nutrition is to come from the formula. I would definitely try to feed him the formula (as a priority) and then give him real food just as snacks. There's my 2 cents : )

Meant to be a mom said...

I haven't reached the point your at yet but I will tell you the schedule our doc told us to do. But your right every pedi says different things.

6:30 7 oz bottle with cereal in it
10:30 7 oz bottle with cereal in it
12:00 Fruit or vegi
2:30 7oz bottle with cereal in it
6:00 Vegi
7:00 5-6 oz bottle with cereal in it
9:30-10:00 7oz bottle with cereal in it.

Our son is still having really heavy meals every 4 hours with his bottle full of cereal. I don't know how he fits all the vegi's and fruit's in?

I would just do what works best for you. I told our Pedi today that our son WILL NOT eat cereal off of a spoon and that he's getting allot in his bottle. He said to keep trying but as long as he's getting it in his bottle he is fine. So they change stuff up too.

Good luck, I hope someone with some older kid experience has some good tips for you :)

Meant to be a mom said...

I haven't reached the point your at yet but I will tell you the schedule our doc told us to do. But your right every pedi says different things.

6:30 7 oz bottle with cereal in it
10:30 7 oz bottle with cereal in it
12:00 Fruit or vegi
2:30 7oz bottle with cereal in it
6:00 Vegi
7:00 5-6 oz bottle with cereal in it
9:30-10:00 7oz bottle with cereal in it.

Our son is still having really heavy meals every 4 hours with his bottle full of cereal. I don't know how he fits all the vegi's and fruit's in?

I would just do what works best for you. I told our Pedi today that our son WILL NOT eat cereal off of a spoon and that he's getting allot in his bottle. He said to keep trying but as long as he's getting it in his bottle he is fine. So they change stuff up too.

Good luck, I hope someone with some older kid experience has some good tips for you :)