Meal Schedule for 8 1/2 Month Old

Hi,
I know how frustrating it can be to try to figure out what to feed the little ones and when. I've done it 4 times, and everytime is different.
I think how much they will eat willingly throughout the day depends on how much they drink. If they drink less, they will eat more. Try not to give him bottles until after he eats a little food.
Breakfast is the most important meal of the day, so I would start with something then, like fruit and dry finger cereals that he can feed himself (cheerios, kix, something that will melt quickly without alot of dry crumbling).
Lunch, there are many things to introduce him to at this age. If you give him jar foods, I'd say give him a little more than you have for lunch to fill him up. Mine started on jars around 4 months, and up to 2 jars per meal by 7 - 8 months, and introducing table foods. Like fruit, mac and cheese, jello, pudding, eggs, lightly toasted and buttered/or jelly bread(my kids like butter with cinnamon/sugar mix sprinkled on top) , crackers (graham/saltines, unsalted, or try the gerber graduate snacks) Gerber also has snacks that my 2 1/2 year old loves, like fruit juice treats, yogurt melts, fruit strips, and different kinds of crackers. I like these because they are a great alternative to candy and other sweet treats.
And getting him on a 2 - 3 meals a day schedule is a real good idea about now, even if its just a little bit of food at each meal and feed him the same time that you eat. I wouldn't start him on everything you eat just yet, you still have 2 - 3 months to work on that.
Check into the baby food section in your grocery store, I'm sure you'll find plenty to offer your little one.
good luck

yes, i think he should be getting 2-3 meals a day. a great place for meal ideas and when to introduce foods is: wholesomebabyfood.com

at that age, our daughter small pieces of banana and cascadian farm organic "o's"
sometimes pieces of avocado as well.

good luck!

My daughter is going to be 9 months in about a week. Currently, I nurse her 4 times a day (when she wakes up, 12/12:30, 3:30/4:00 and around 7/7:30). I feed her solids twice a day - breakfast (4 T of fruit and 3T of oatmeal mixed with formula) and dinner (4T of veg and 3T of fruit, 1 T of rice cereal mixed with formula).

We go to the dr. for her 9 month appt in a week. I think at this time, the dr. is going to suggest adding lunch and incorporating some soft table food (daughter has 2 teeth). At 9 months, I think we'll also add yogurt to her diet.

Hope this helps!!

By that age, I did give both of my sons, three meals a day with the bottle as their drink. THe meal can be small, but it forms regular habits. I also used to do a morning and afternoon snack.

I have an 8 month old daughter and she is eating breakfast lunch and dinner and if she wants something in between. Her child is probably very hungry. the more meals you give him the less bottle you will go through and you should try and start introducing him to sippy cups.

H.

Hi R.. Until a year, his milk is his primary source of nutrition. Food is for experimenting with taste and texture. He doesn't get better nutrition at under a year from food, so it's recommended that babies have their milk first to ensure their nutritional needs are met, and then their food as a supplement. At that age, two meals can be enough, although I think I remember doing it as breakfast and dinner, I don't remember what ages I added a third meal. Good luck in experimenting with finger foods. When my youngest was about 10 months, we gave him whatever we ate, just not cooked with a lot of spices and without dairy.

I was really afraid of starting finger foods due to the risk of choking but I soon discovered that my baby could chew pretty well even without teeth!

Cascadian Farms organic cereal Os are great--no sugar and lots of iron. Little pieces of cheese, yogurt, cottage cheese, canned peaches and pears (I cut them in pieces, add a little cinnamon and heat them slightly), peas mixed with olive oil and minced fresh basil, Rice, small chunks of steamed carrots, small chunks of baked potato and sweet potato (remove the skin first) and mashed avocado are great to try. You will probably "waste" a lot of food as your baby tries new things. He may just push the food around in his mouth but that is just fine. He is learning how to use his tongue. Just let him experiment and have fun! I would absolutely avoid any surgery cereals and snacks. You are helping him to establish future eating habbits so stick to healthy things. Hope this helps.

My daughter is 9 months and we give her breakfast and dinner and she has lunch at daycare. We give her fruit and cereal at breakfast, fruit and veggies at lunch and all three at dinner (we're trying to get her to eat some meats, so we might put that in at dinner too) We try to give her dinner at 5:30ish every night. She takes bottles during the day, but not a whole bunch. We figure that if she's hungry she'll eat more. She does still eat quite a lot before bed, so she has about 20 oz of formula throughout the day. The doctor said that that was enough. I hope this helped!

I too have a 8.5 month old. He is eating three meals a day. He has his bottle first, followed by a jarred foods. Cereal and yogurt for breakfast. A jar of Fruit or veggie at lunch sometimes even a chicken turkey. And at dinner a meat/veggie combo then a fruit.

The bottle first is important as this is where most of their nutrition comes from until they hit one year.

He also has four teeth, and I have a 4.5 year old, so I have started experimenting with giving him tiny pieces of grilled cheese, chicken nuggets, a few grains of rice in a bite,even grilled zucchini minus the seeds and skin, pancakes and those gerber baby snacks.

My sisters baby is almost 10 months and she eats cut up chicken, avocado, anything that they are eating and she self feeds. Mine doesn't put anything in his mouth on his own, but lets it be known that he does want to try what we have. One night he actually refused to open up for his baby food which is how I discovered he liked rice and zucchini.

Hi R.
I have a 9 1/2 month old and she has been on this schedule for a while. Of course it changes sometimes based on length of naps etc.
7am 6oz bottle
9am breakfast
11am 8oz bottle
1pm lunch
3pm 8oz bottle
6pm dinner
8pm 8oz bottle
She doesn't eat any babyfood and will only eat people food. It is sooooo much easier. I just give her whatever I'm eating. Here are some things she loves
Waffles
Pancakes
yogurt
strawberries
blueberries
bananas
watermellon
apricots
you can also try other fruits
avacado
zucchini
squash
peas
carrots
green beans
beans - black, kidney etc.
cheese
chicken parm
pizza
quesadillas
meatballs
deli meat
hotdogs
hamburgers
tilapia
chicken nuggets
and more!
She just cut a tooth so, she is eating it all without any teeth.

Hello there.

My daughter is now 16 months. so I blanking as to what we were doing at 8 1/2 - but here are a couple of websites that helped me:

http://www.wholesomebabyfood.com/

http://www.babycenter.com/0_sample-baby-schedules-for-7-a...

Hope this helps..

My daughter loved to feed herself cut up avocado, peas, corn, and carrots. We also tried canned chicken. The canned chicken was easy to break into small pieces and convenient. They were all really easy to start with and easy to prepare. She loved the frozen mixed bag of veggies and the carrots were always soft enough that I didnt have to worry. She started refusing most baby food at 8 months so we had to be very creative with finger food. She also didnt get any teeth until her first birthday. We have a little miss independent on our hand :) Good luck!

Hey mom,

I would just break off bits of chicken, and beef when your having dinner and offer it to him BEFORE the bottle,

For breakfast, same thing, offer him the waffle first, then the bottle,

and at lunch give him the fruits.
Dole fruit cups are great. Or fruit cocktail in water.

Foods, could be, mac n cheese,
ravioli, grilled cheese, bits of cold cuts,
pancakes, oatmeal, sausage, broccoli, baked chicken
pizza, cracker, cheese,

Basically whatever, just broken up or cut well,

M

You got a lot of responses but I hope my response helps as I talked a lot about this topic with other moms I know - as well as - figuring what worked best for me. One of the important things you want to keep in mind is that you gradually want to move your son toward table food - most pediatricians say to have the child on them by 1 years old. My daughter is 10 1/2 months old and by 9 1/2 months she happened to be over the baby food so we have been solely giving her foods she can pick up. She has 3 bottle a day of formula as she weaned her self off nursing at about 10 months.
Here is what our day looks like in terms of a schedule and it seems to work as she is a happy and super healthy little girl.

7ish bottle - 6 oz
I have breakfast and then give her a breakfast around 8am. Usually scrambled eggs or pancake or other breakfast foods and fruit. I also give her water at each mealin a straw sippy cup. (used to give cereal with fruit but she stopped eating it!)

11:45/12 Lunch - yogurt, bits of turkey breast, grilled cheese cut up obviously, that kind of stuff

2:30/3pm - Bottle (6oz) and snack a little later (snack is usually puffs and cheerios or little yogurt melts

5pm Dinner - protein and veggies usually and fruit (ideas: bits of chicken, zucchini, carrots, green beens, turkey meatballs, elbow pasta with sweet potato or tomato sauce, veggie burgers); give water so he doesn't get constipated from the protein

6:30 8oz Bottle
7pm Bed time!