5 Month Old Eating Schedule

I am a mother of 4 and I breastfeed my 5 month old only and to me it sounds like a lot of food for such a little guy. Especially if he is spitting up. Most pediatricians say wait until 6 months now to start solids. Could you possibly do just the cereal in the morning or at night and only a jar of food at noon and milk the rest of the time??

My daughter is 4 1/2 mons. and i was just going to post this exact same message so thanks! Let me know what works..our routine is as follows and it seems to be working..but i'm like you just not quite sure if she's getting enough?

7am-8oz.
10:30am-7oz.
1:30pm-cerealw/fruit and 4 oz.
4:30pm- 7 oz.
7:30pm- cereal w/fruit and 4 oz. bottle
and that's the last one!

Good Luck!

When my baby was 4 mts old she drank 6.5 oz 4 or 5 times a day, but she always seemed to want more out of the bottle. The doc said to give her 8 oz instead. She then began spitting up more often and having a lot of gas. It turns out she had acid reflux the entire time, which causes a burning feeling in her stomach making her think she's still hungry when she's been fed enough. When she turned 5 mts we were told by a specialist that we fed her too much and should give her no more than 6 oz every 3 hrs, but thicken her milk with rice cereal. As u can see, from my experience, he's getting way too much and may need to be checked for acid reflux.

Hi i just wanted to give you some thoughts on this one
first will the day care even follow your schedual, a lot of places have thier own feeding times and such and while they will give bottles more or less on demand they might not be as willing to stick to a special schedual for one child.

secondly since formula is not suppossed to be reused it is not unlikely that they are discarding anything left in the bottles and rinsing them out. just because they are empty i would ask them before you assume he is finishing all of them.

and lastly as for your schedual my kids always did better having bottles between meals rather than with meals, just a thought.

good luck

I think that sounds reasonable with the exception of the 7oz bottle at one time. My 4 month old daughter drinks 4 oz at a time, and her DR has recommended that no child should ever have more than 6 oz at a time until 1 year. You know as well as I do that many DR's will tell you different things, so check with yours first.

Hello.. I have a 7 month old and this is how she eats 730 6 ounce bottle, 9 am breakfast ( she eats scrambled eggs or a quarter of a piece of french toast (chopped up into very little pieces), she will not eat baby food at all. after she eats breakfast she drinks about 3 or 4 ounces then she is usually good until 12 or 1230 she eats lunch which is spag (chopped up, or mash pots or whatever I make that I can grind in a baby food grinder she only eats about 2 or 3 tablespoons.. then 4 ounces.. about 3:00 she drinks about 6 ounces, and at dinner she eats something ( about 5 or 6) and then about 4 ounces of formula and then she drinks 6 ounces about 8 or 9 before she goes to sleep at night. And she doesnt spit up at all, so for a whole day she consumes about 30 ounces of formula.. so your schedule makes sense..

This is alot of food for a 5 month old. I would try this schedule

7am cereal
30 min later bottle
or bottle first then cereal

12 veg/fruit
30 min later bottle
or bottle first then food
offer water in sippy cup if you want also

5 pm food
30 min later bottle

also, i've worked in a daycare to know that it's a requirement to rinse bottles. For example, if he finished all but 2 0r 3 oz i'd still rinse it out and send it home. It's unsanitary to let the milk sit just to wait for him to be hungry again. Does your daycare right a daily schedule of how much and often he's eating? If not, ask them to. This will really help you formulate a schedule that suits your son.

Best wishes, C.
or bottle first then food

More than likely your child will eat again before bedtime

I agree with the other post, I would start give him bottles in between meals instead of with them.

At 6 mos I was only sending 3 maybe 4 bottles with her to the sitter, I would also send a jar of breakfast food, a jar of food for lunch, and some kind of snack (ie: puffs, crackers, or cherrios) that the babysitter could give them to her in the afternoon. I would nurse her before she went to the sitters, then She would get a bottle in the morning around 8, then one in the afternoon after lunch before her nap, then one right before we picked her up. I would nurse one or two times when I would get home from work before bed.

You may want to work on cutting one of his bottles out during the day by increasing the amount of food he eats. Eventually he will work his way down to eating a bottle in the morning one in the after noon then one before bed. I found with my three gradually removing bottles from their day helped, so that by their first birthday I could completely get rid of the bottle and move them to milk.

I am sure the day care will try and work with your schedule, I would have a meeting with his teachers and ask. Hope this helps.

A.

Personally, I think that seems like alot. I wouldn't give both a 7oz bottle and jar of food. Not at 5mths. old. You might be getting so much spit up because he's getting too full. Try cutting oz of milk down by half when feeding food. Or cut down how much food he's getting in a day. Cereal is very filling on its own. He's still young yet. His stomach is not very big. Should start out slow when adding foods to his diet. Might be overdoing it.

Its very similar to mine, but I only feed her 4-5oz at the 10am, lunch and 530p. She doesn't spit up as much now. My daycare was over feeding my little one also.

I am not an expert, but I know that babies won't eat when they are not hungry. My son would refuse to drink the bottle or eat baby food when he was done eating and there was nothing you could do to make him eat. Even now that he is 21 months, he will hand over his cookie from dessert b/c he is done. I wouldn't cut down on the bottle b/c that is most important right now in his life. Maybe ask you doctor about the spitting up and see if there might be more to it than just overfeeding.

A few ideas:

I agree to verify with the daycare that they are not throwing out some of the milk in the bottle. The number of ounces that he actually drank should be on his daysheet, but double check with the teachers that they are recording it correctly.

When you are home with him on the weekends, how much is he eating? Pay attention to that and it should remain fairly consistent during the week. Be a little flexible though, when my daughter was going thru growth spurts, she ate a ton!

How is his weight gain? I think your biggest indicator is how much weight he is gaining (also taking into consideration how tall he is getting). The doctor should be able to advise you in this area at his six month appointment.

Sounds like you are in a good routine. Some kids do spit up a lot or when they adjust to new foods. I know our daughter was quite a good eater and ate about every 3-4 hours at this age. Since your son is already eating some solids, you may consider a couple things. If it were me I'd probably move the 5:30 feeding time to more like 4:30 and then do a dinner around 6 or 6:30 with solids. I'd then offer a bottle for bedtime and move bedtime up earlier. I'm big into a good amount of sleep and would try to get him down earlier. dropping the one bottle may also help him continue his transition to solids.

Good luck!

Hi R. - I found that when I started feeding my son solid foods that I decreased the amount of milk I gave him. I think he will need the afternoon bottle you send (4oz) but maybe decrease the size of the bottles throughout the day and give him a bit more in the afternoon. My son is 9months old now and prefers to eat smaller volume bottles with meals and a larger bottle in the afternoon (3-4pm) and before bed (8-9pm).

At his age I think I remember feeding my son a bottle first then one jar of #1 foods or 1/2 jar #2 foods 2 times per day. When he seemed like he wanted more milk then I increased the amount of baby food and added in lunch.

Hope this helps and is not too confusing.

Instead of sending the 4oz. bottle of formula/milk, why not just let them use water instead to hold him over until you get there. From what you said, you must not live far away from work and the daycare, so just let them give him water. You can do the milk when you get home.

I have to admit that I think feeding has been the hardest thing about raising my baby!! :) I never know if she is overeating, undereating, ect. Many people say that babies will not eat if they are not hungry. My baby has always eaten and would eat until she threw up on occasion. She is now 7 months old and still does this. This was our schedule at 5 months. (I found an eating guide in a Parenting magazine.)
8:00 - 6 oz.
9:30 - cereal
11:30 - 6 oz.
3:30 - 6 oz.
7:00 - 6 oz.
9:00 - 6 oz.

It would vary a little depending on her growth spurts and when she woke up, but it was usually 6 oz. 4-5 times a day with cereal in the morning. I would also check with your pediatrician when you go at 6 months. If your little one's weight and height are doing good, then I wouldn't worry about it! Good luck! I know I stress way too much about eating! :)

It is important to remember that every baby is different. My son eats a ton and I feel like I am overfeeding but his dr said he would be spitting it all up if he was overfed. I started him on solids at 3 1/2 mos and he now eats anywhere up to 6 jars of 2nd stage foods a day and still eats at least 24-30 oz of formula a day as well. He stops eating when he is full and very seldom spits it up.

i have a 5mo DD but i breast feed so our schedual and ammounts will be diffrent than yours

but so far she only gets fruit/veggie with cereal twice a day just started solids like 2weeks ago. and as far as nursing she nurses when she wants.we really dont have a set schedual.
and as far as daycare they will give bottles and or food just to shut up a kid at times instead of tring to find a new way. to help them calm down i deal with this with my husband at times as well he likes to fast easy fix of a bottle rather than see if there is something else he can do to calm her down.

You can design any schedule you want to design. Daycare and Childcare Providers are not necessarily going to do what you want done, when you want it done.
Are you sure the food is being refrigerated properly? Are you sure it is being heated properly? These can also add to the problem. He may be spitting up more for them than he does for you because of the atmosphere. To much noise, to many destractions, and his ability to stay calm and not feel rushed there as opposed to eatting at home with undivided attention.
I don't disagree with your feeding schedule, just remember they may or may not follow it.
P. R