How Many Bottles vs How Many Meals?

My almost 11 month old only takes 2-3 bottles a day and eats 3 meals (breakfast, lunch and dinner) and a morning snack. But, her weight gain has seriously dropped since starting mostly solids because they don't have as many calories as formula. I think it's whatever your baby wants...mine doesn't want formula now that she's tasted REAL food!

I think it all depends on your baby but I think by 10 months she should be having more meals. My baby is 8 1/2 months and here is her day:

4-6 oz b/w 7-7.30am
Breakfast b/w 8-8.30am usually a bowl of cereal with fruit and a cup of water
Sleep around 9.30am
Lunch at 11.30am - big bowl of home cooked vegies sometimes with meat and a yoghurt/fruit or sometimes both. Another cup of water and sometimes someting to snack on if I need to clean up etc
Sleep again for a few hours
2-4 oz milk at 3.30-4pm
Dinner at 5pm more vegies, meat and fruit and water
8oz milk at 6.30pm
Bed by 7pm

I'm sure my little one should be drinking more formula but she is just not that interested so I figure with the water as well she should be OK.

I would certianly start introducing set meal times for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Talk to your pediatrician and see what they think? Hope this helps :)

I am actually going through the same thing with my 10 month old, actually he has the same b-day. So here is his schedule, i dont know if it is a good one, i guess it depends on your child. as long as they seem to be growing and happy and thriving I think whatever works for you. I am also having a hard time figuring out exactly how to transition to "toddler and people food" rather than baby food. He gets up around 6 and takes a bottle (6 oz), sometimes may have some puffs, around 9ish gets baby cereal and half jar fruit, sometime in themorning he gets another bottle (6 oz). lunch around 1 with a jar of veggies and the rest of th jar of fruit. bottle in the afternoon and dinner around 7 with one jar veggie and one jar fruit. i have also started trying the stage 3 at dinner. he gets puffs/cheerios as snacks. bottle at bed around 8. so he is getting three meals and four 6 oz bottles. my ped. rxs 3 6-8 oz bottles. i guess it just depends on your babies schedule. good luck!

-E.
28 yr old FT-working mom of baby boy born march 9th

My daughter is almost 8 months. I give her 3 meals..breakfast, lunch and dinner each with a bottle and some puffs for practice. Then I give her a bottle before bed. Sometimes she takes a bottle during the night too. My Pediatrician said at my 6 month well check that she should be eating 3 jars of baby food/cereal per day and no less than 24 ounces of formula. My daughter doesn't drink a lot of juice either because she often doesn't finish bottles because she wants food instead. Hope this helps!

I have a 9 month old little girl and she gets 3 8oz bottles (breakfast 8am, lunch - noon and dinner 5pm) and then she gets something to eat with eat bottle and then maybe some fruit puffs in the afternoon for snack. Usually she is a really good eater in the morning for breakfast with cereal and fruit. For lunch she doesnt' seem to really want to eat that much, about a 1/3 jar of veggie or fruit and then for dinner she eats about a 1/2 to 1 jar of veggies (we did just start her on the stage 2 meals this last week, so we will see how she does with this). After dinner she doesn't get anything else to eat or drink and is in bed between 7:15 and 7:30 and sleeps till 7:30/8 the next morning. She is growing well and doesn't seem to be fussy which would lead us to believe that she is growing well, she has her 9 month check up on Friday so we will see.

At this stage I think that bottles are more important than food. As long as she is taking her bottles and she is showing interest in food then I would think that all is good. I hope that this may have helped you a little. Good Luck.

I have a 10 month old as well. He eats three meals with the rest of us, plus an afternoon snack in addition to his milk. At that age they should be on a regular meal schedule with the rest of the family- have you talked to your pediatrician? Breakfast is a grain and 4 ounces of fruit. Lunch is usually a fruit and a veggie, plus some kind of protein- and dinner is the same. For snacks I give him yogurt, puffs, or soft fruit to chew on.

I was wondering how much formula is minimum, but my almost 10 mo old eats 4 meals a day of finger foods.

6:30 - bottle
8:00 - dry cereal (cherrios or kix or whatever) and diced banana, sometimes a cheese stick or yogurt as well
9:30 - bottle
11:30 - chicken nuggets or grilled cheese and some peas or carrots or something like that
2:30 - bottle
4:30 - cheese & crackers or some oranges
6:00 - dinner (whatever we are having)
8:00 - bottle

My neice is 11 months old. I watched her a month ago and spend some days with her since. She takes a bottle, 6oz., when she gets up and eats a sm bowel of oatmeal or rice, this is was between 630-8a (my sister works early mornings). She then takes a 6 oz. at around 10a when she is getting ready to lay down for a nap. This is anywhere from 1-2 hours long. At noonish she gets another bottel, a fruit and a veggie (which is now regular food cut small vs. baby food) She takes another shorter nap in the afternoon, drinks a bottel when she wakes up from that. At dinner time she gets a bottle and 2 other different foods. She gets another bottle before she goes to bed. Sometimes, the dinner and afternoon bottle are one in the same. It depends on when she wakes up and when they eat dinner. So a total of 3 meals and 5-6 bottles a day. They are working on changing from bottle to sippy cup. Just remember, each child is different with their own needs. Each are growing different and need a different amount of calories and food. Just go with your daughters cues and what you feel she needs. You are the best expert with your daughter. You know her best, and know what is best for you. It's the joys of being a mother!

Here's what I did with my daughter 4 yrs and now my son 3/8/07.
Daughter: 7:00 bottle with cereal
11:00 bottle and lunch
3:00 bottle and snack
7:00 bottle and supper

Son: 6:30 bottle with cereal
10:30 bottle and lunch
2:30 bottle and snack
6:30 bottle and supper

Once she turned 10 months, I moved her completely to table food. I did that with him when he turned 9 months.
He still gets a bottle (now formula in a cup) with every meal.
He actually expects it with every meal. So, with him, you couldn't feed him a meal and not formula.

On weekends, we let him go till he wakes up. It might be 8:00 before he wakes up. Once, he slept past 8. Then, during the day, I move each meal up 1/2 hour early, so that he doesn't have his last meal late. Because he goes to bed between 7-7:30. Once he moved to table food, I started feeding him when we eat. This makes it easier, so that he learns we eat as a family, and also will know how to behave.

A.

My pediatrician told me that my son needed 24 oz formula until his first birthday. What we did: breakfast was cereal/yogurt and an 8 oz bottle (maybe 7:30 am depending on when he woke up), lunch was whatever I made (11:30 or so), afternoon bottle around 1, give or take. Dinner around 5 or 5:30, then a bedtime bottle. It works well for us...hope this helps!

She needs more food. Give her a good breakfast and her toddler food for lunch and dinner. You could try introducing a sippy cup at her meals. Or give her a bottle after each meal and at bedtime. She might not need all those bottles if she has more solid food. I think you will find that she will illiminate a couple of bottles herself.Also all the bottles don't have to be milk. The flavored water is great. My daughter in law gives her daughter half water and half flavored water. She uses the flavored water that comes in the little pouches with a straw. This way the child gets the water she needs.

My baby is 9 months old and she gets a 6 ounce bottle in the morning with some baby cereal, about 1/4 cup. Than she might have some puffs until lunch. At lunch she will get a 4 oz jar of stage 2 foods (usually a meat might give half a meat and half a veggie sometimes) and than a 6 ounce bottle. Sometimes she finishes it and sometimes she does not. Than she takes a nap. At dinner i will give her a 4 oz jar of either fruit or dessert and a 6 ounce bottle. again she may finish it and she may not. Than before she goes to bed she will get an 8 oz bottle but sometimes she will only eat 4 or 6. There are times she will eat all 8. It just depends. I just took her to her well baby appt and they did not seem concerned of what she was getting. Babies let you know when they are hungry. If she seems to cranky try to give her more foods or even formula. My beliefs are that all that she needs is in the formula and when she turns 1 i will make sure she is getting more foods than drinks. Good luck.