8 Month Old Upset at Dinner Meal

Hi M.,
My son will be 8 months old at the end of the month and I don't give him solids for dinner. For breakfast,he gets a little less than 2 ounces of spoonfed cereal followed by almost 2 ounces of bottlefed formula. He is given the bottle for the rest of the day with the exception of midday snack of half a jar of a veggie or fruit babyfood. For dinner, he only has the bottle and the milk is warmed. I've been told by my pedi that breastmilk or formula should be their main food intake until they are one year old.
Maybe your baby wants the bottle for dinner?? Perhaps you can thicken the milk by adding just a little bit of cereal. Or you can warm it and increase the amount you usually give her.
Instead of making her full dinner a solid,try giving her just a little bit as a snack and feed her a full warmed bottle right before bedtime.
It could be that her tummy is not ready for all those solids in one day and by the time dinner comes around she's fussy from a tummy ache or something. Or maybe its just something simple like teething or the fact the she gets grumpy when she's tired like my little guy does.

I think it's wonderful that you're trying to make the baby part of the family dinner. It does vary dramatically per child as far as to what's normal in terms of solids/meals. My oldest did very well with solids, but he only had 2 meals a day at that age (lunch and dinner). My youngest only had one solid a day until almost a year and then he suddenly became very interested. You also have to keep in mind that a serving for these kids is like a tablespoon, so it does seem that your daughter's message is loud and clear that her tummy just doesn't want it. And, I totally agree, you don't want to make a battle of it at this age at all (you'll need to save your energies for that when she's 2 and 3 :) We never made food a battle in our family, as there are eating disorders in my husband's family. We just offered the food and if they didn't eat it, we knew they weren't hungry. I think it's very important that they feel totally in control of what is put in their mouths. When they were older, my kids were required to at least taste everything and finish all of one thing. If they don't eat all their dinner, then if they're hungry later, they can have a bowl of cereal or fruit. And, I have to say that it is extremely rare that they don't eat all their meal.

What you could do if it's important to you that she eat with the family is to reduce the solids at breakfast/lunch and/or skip the solids altogether for one of those meals. I would think you would want the solids in the evening as that supposedly helps them sleep better.

Hi M.,
Solids add another dimension of confusion! My first thought is timing, though, as another poster mentioned. Around 6 to 8 months, my daughter was getting increasingly fussy at night and I had to put her down earlier (btw 7 and 7:20). I try to start feeding her supper solids at 6pm or so before that meltdown period. If she is more tired than hungry, she just won't eat. As well, solids really aren't the major source of nutrition at this stage; 3 solid meals isn't a necessity. I tried not to stress if my daughter didn't feel like eating as well on some days vs others (easier said than done.;) Good luck!

I'm not sure if anyone has suggested that she might be teething but my now 16 month old wouldn't eat as much when she was teething. She also did a little of the crying in the high chair thing. I think she just didn't like to be contained. It could be the same with your daughter. Good luck!

what time are you eating? I know my 7 month old starts to slowly melt down at 7:00pm. She is totally exhausted by 7:30. By 7:35 if she has not hit they hay, then she is just balling until I get her in the crib. This just started recently with her as she is staying awake more during the day.
Anyway....just something to think about.