How Much Do You Feed Your 8 Months Old?! Can You Share?

Hi J.,
My son just turned 8 months yesterday. I started weaning at 6 months, so now we're doing: 1 nursing around 5 am, cereal and fruit in the morning with Similac, Similac around 10, veg at 1 (yesterday I added pureed chicken and he loved it!), Similac again at 3, and cereal and fruit again at night. We're trying Cheerios but he hasn't mastered the grip, so once he does we'll try other soft finger foods. Sounds like he is really thriving. And really good for you for keeping up the breastfeeding and getting him off to a great start!

J.,

I think it was somewhere between 8 and 9 months that we upped my daughter to 3 meals a day. As far as how much - we fed her til she didn't want anymore. I think the rule of thumb is that you can't over feed a baby. They will stop when they are full. But try to see how long your son can go in between meals. If he only makes it 2 hours then I would say he needs more to eat at a meal but if he can go 4 or 5 hours then he got enough at that meal.
My daughter nursed 5 or 6 times a day til she was 14 months old and it didn't seem to interfer with feeding to much. She nursed once or twice at night, when she got up, mid morning (without napping - we have since cut this one out) at her nap time in the afternoon and for bedtime.

Good luck,
L. M

That seems to be about what I feed my 8 month old. Sometimes she nurses less sometimes more. Same with the solid food. My little girl is just about the same size 18lbs and maybe 27 inches.

I have a home daycare and am enrolled in a food program with very specific feeding guidelines that I follow.

Begining solids as a meal begins at 8 months and lasts to the first birthday. These are the minimum amounts that I may serve (This means: this is the amount I start with & they may have more if they want)

Breakfast of 6-8 ounces of formula/BM, 2-4 Tablespoons of cereal and 2-4 Tablespoons of fruit or veggie (I mix them together)

Lunch/dinner is the same except I can substitute 1-2 ounces of protien instead of cereal- cottage cheese, lean meat, egg ect.

snack consists of 4 ounces of 100% fruit juice and a few crackers (or anything from the bread group)

I feed the children
7 am breakfast
10 am snack
noon lunch
3 pm snack
5 pm dinner
7 pm snack

By 8 months, your child should be having a much more varied diet than what you described. BabyCenter has a great guide (heres a link: http://www.babycenter.com/0_age-by-age-guide-to-feeding-y.... It is also time to introduce protein foods and finger foods.
By 8 months, my son was still nursing on cue, and eating 3 meals a day plus 2 snacks. Meals would be homemade babyfood, like veggies and brown rice or fruit and oatmeal. I tried to introduce pureed meat but he wouldn't take it, so I made him lentils and mashed beans. For snacks, he would have the finger foods, like Cheerios, soft fruit slices or cheese, and yogurt before bed.
This may seem like a lot of food, but hes now 15 months old and very healthy, not overweight or anything. If anything, hes underweight, because hes tall and thin.

Hi J. - I stopped breastfeeding at 6 months, so she's a formula fed baby now. She has a 6oz bottle at 6am, then she gets organic baby food fruit variety (apple, pear, or banana) at 8am, sometimes mixed with cereal. She never finishes the entire jar of Stage 2 - usually only eats 1/3 of the jar. She then gets another bottle before lunch, a Stage 2 veggie for lunch (same thing - only 1/2 jar or so) and bottles for the rest of the day. We've tried finger foods from Gerber Graduates (puffs) and we've tried pancakes, but she just refuses to eat them. We figure as long as she drinks the formula, she's getting plenty of nutrition. She also gets floride supplements since we don't have floridated water.

Yes, try varied types of healthy foods like avocadoes, quinoa, millet and vegetables. But be careful NOT TO FEED TOO MUCH! watch the consistency of his poop, if it is becoming too hard, if he is struggling at all, or waits a couple of days to poop, he's getting too much food. They only need to be experimenting with foods at this point. Good Luck!