Feeding My 8 Month Old

I have an 8 month old who has 8oz of formula at 7am.........then a jar of fruits and 4oz of formula at 10:30ish........then 8oz of formula around 2pm. Then a jar of vegies and 4oz of formula at 6pm. Then an 8oz bottle of formula at 8pm. She does NOT eat during the night. She sleeps the whole way through. I of course have trained her to sleep through the night by not giving her a bottle at night. Hopefully you can get some sleep.........good luck!!

Hi B.,

In reading your S.O.S :) Are you saying that he only gets one bottle of formula a day now? If that is what your saying, yes, your Mom is right. He should be having more of that. Since you are on formula, there is another brand that is specifically for the older baby. I think the name is Carnation Good Start, or something like that. Teething is always a trying time as a parent. If you give him a cold wet wash cloth, that will help. They also have a ton of teether toys too. However, I found the wash rag to be more beneficial. It sounds like when he is falling asleep and eating, that he is looking for that comfort. There is no right or wrong way B.. You will find what works best for you and your angel. If you want, you can introduce him to sippy cups. I am not sure he will like it, but, you could always make the introduction. He sounds like a very normal baby. Suckling is a form of comfort. With him not feeling good, I can imagine that is what is making him want that. I would really steer clear of laying him down with a bottle. It is really bad for their developing teeth and their ears. Sometimes the milk or juice will leak down their faces into their ears; causing more of a problem.
I hope that helps.
Take Care,
F.
Olathe, KS

hey B.
i have a 7 1/2 month old boy. i have to watch how much i feed him because he has acid reflux ( which my docter refuses to treat but thats a different story) and he doesnt realize when he's full so he overeats and spits it all up. how this relates to your question is while still watching that he doesnt over eat i also have to make sure he's eating enough. he usually gets 3 6 1/2 to 7 oz bottles and 2 4 oz bottles w/ a jar of baby food every day. he eats every 3 hours. that comes to 27 1/2 -29oz a day plus 2 jars of food. and he is at a very healthy wieght.(pretty chunky :)) he has never had a problem sleeping except when he's sick and then i just deal with it. his brother on the other hand hardly ever sleeps through the night and he's 2 years old. so you should really have your baby on the formula until he is a year old even if you give him a jar at every feeding and let him rinse it down with 3-4 oz of formula would still be good. if your worried about attachment to the bottle just put the formmula in a sippy cup. my oldest switched to the cup about a month after his first birthday and did it with hardly a problem. but your supposed to introduce the cup at about 6 months anyways so you can give it a shot. but i would suggest sticking to the bottle for atleast a couple more months especially while he's sick and teething because for baby its a comfort to suck. and if he doesnt use a pacifier or thumbs then that bottle is the only time he gets to sooth himself. if you give him a couple more bottles during the day he will stop waking up during the bedtime ritual. also, before you regret not doing it, start putting him in bed still awake. start the habit now and you wont wind up with a two year old who doesnt like to sleep in his own bed like im dealing with. i wish i had started with my oldest when he was a baby but now i put my 7 month old in bed awake and he just falls asleep on his own within about 20 minutes and when he wakes up in the middle of the night he just puts himself back to sleep. so start good sleeping habits now while he is still not set in his ways.

im sorry i dont mean to preach but i am a little upset at myself for a couple of bad habits i started with my oldest and i dont want to see anyone else go through the same things.

sincerly S.

Hello B.,
My name is A., mother of three boys. My youngest is 19 mos. old. From what I remember, I was told that until they are 12 mos. old, they need at least 32 oz. of formula per day.
As far as the sleeping problem, I am still having issue's with that with my own baby.
I wish you much luck.

Check out www.babywhisperer.com. They will be very helpful to you in getting his feeding schedule straight. At 8 months, he should still be getting at least 24 oz of formula and should not be falling asleep to a bottle (very bad for his teeth).

Most doctors recommend a child breastfeed or bottle feed until they are 1 year of age. That is when you take them off of the boob or formula. The reason being is because they are getting lots of vitamins from that. One of the most important nutrients in formula that regular milk does not have is iron. That is why they want to keep kids on fomula or breastmilk for the first year. Otherwise they can become iron deficient. I just talked to my son's feeding therapist about the same issue! Hope this helps!

My son is about 8 months, and he takes about hald formula and half baby food. You may want to allow him to have more formula. An infant isn't ready to be weaned from formula intil he is a year old. He should be only getting formula/baby food right now intil that point.
Baby food not only helps him learn how to chew but gives a few extra vitiams he needs for his growning self. But from what i under stand the majority still comes from his formula. Plus the water in the formula alone helps keep him hydrated.
I would suggest that you feed him baby food, then let him top it off with a bottle. I cannot remember how much formula an 8 month old should have, but i would agree that 3-4 bottles sounds about right.

Hi B.,
Well first off he should have a bottle at every feeding atleast offered to him. I am a home child care provider and here is how are schedule goes everyday...

8 am breakfast
10 am nap time for the 1 yr and younger
11:30 lunch time for the 2 yr old and 3 yr old
12:30 for the babies
1 pm - 3 pm naptime for the 2 yr old and 3 yr old
1:30 - 4 pm or 4:30 the babies go down for nap
3:30 snack time for the 2 yr old and 3 yr old
and when the babies wake up the 5 1/2 month old gets a veggie and a 4 oz bottle.
we have dinner at 5:30 so the kids are hungry by the time we eat the 5 1/2 month old eats dinner with me (because of moms hours but she gives him his bottle before he goes to bed.
In between these set times we are playing and things like that and the older ones are coloring and doing stuff like that.

I would say give him cereal and a fruit for breakfast and then a bottle, lunch a veggie and a bottle you could give another fruit here if needed or like the banana cookies or cheerios somehting like that and a bottle, then a snack when he wakes up from nap and then he has dinner and a bottle, you could start giving him water in his bottle and then put him in bed awake. and then he be in bed by 9 pm or so and sleep all night. good luck W.