Let's chat feeding

[byjove]

How much is your LO wanting to take at work? Or if only pumping/formula, how much in 24 hours? How are solids going?

[gdaisy09]

She takes 13-15oz while I'm at work and one meal that usually consists of baby oatmeal and some pureed fruit. I've been pumping 7-9oz this week...I have a batch of zucchini lactation bread cooking now. I work 7:30-2:30, she generally nurses once MOTN around 3am, then again just after 5. She usually nurses twice after I get home before bed and gets one solid meal that is usually a veggie or two and maybe some protein

[RoLoMa]

M takes two bottles, 4oz each, at daycare and I nurse him over my lunch hour. He has always been on a rough schedule of nursing at 6am, 9am, 12pm, 3pm, 6pm, and then again around 7:15-30pm before bed. He takes his bottles at 9am and 3pm at daycare to stay on "schedule".

He is 100% on table foods as far as solids go. He eats 3 times a day at daycare; morning snack, lunch, and afternoon snack. On the weekends we usually do breakfast and then he eats some of whatever I am having for lunch or a meal off a kid's menu if we are out where they have one. We eat late lunches/early dinners on weekends so it is usually around 2pm or so. We don't do a full dinner yet because he nurses those back to back sessions before bed. He would eat as much as I let him though so I may start trying for a small dinner right after he nurses at 6pm. We don't get home until about 5:50pm otherwise I would feed him before.

He eats everything. I mean, there isn't a food this kid won't eat.

[geners]

The 3 days I'm at work for 11 hours, C takes in about 10-15oz by bottle (I nurse before I leave, just depends on when he wakes up that first time - usually between 4-6am) plus two meals of solids (fruit puree + oatmeal for breakfast, fruit or veggie puree for dinner). The other days it's a combo of nursing on demand and bottles, depending on what we have going on, plus the two meals. As a general rule of thumb I nurse him early morning, NOD throughout the day every 2-4 hours, then he nurses around 7-8pm before going to bed. Lately he's been waking up around 12-1am looking to eat, not every night but maybe every other night or so.

His milk intake has dropped a lot since starting solids - at least in terms of ounces on the days I work, it seems like our nursing has stayed about the same on days I'm home with him - but he's gaining weight really well so I'm trying not to overthink it. Plus his intake has been on the rise again over the last week or two so who knows.

C overwhelmingly prefers purees at this point - almost anything not in puree form causes major gagging and often comes right back up. I am torn between keeping trying so that he can get used to it, or backing off for a bit and just starting smaller with things like puffs or the mesh feeder.

[cnf2013]

Ellie drinks anywhere from about 24-32 Oz a dsy, though more on the low end since starting solids.

Solids are going great. She definitely prefers real food over purees and eat basically anything and everything.

We feed her real "meals" three times a day. She has a bottle after she wakes then has breakfast around 730, then she takes formula as needed the rest of the day, then she eats a lunch and dinner of solids and purees whenever we do. Her breakfast is usually fruit and purees. Her lunch and dinner are usually some of whatever we're eating

[expatmama11]

Cam sounds basically the same Ellie as cnf2013.

He will typically get anywhere from 24-28oz of formula (4 bottles) depending on how much food he has eaten. He eats three meals a day.

I suspect at his 9 month appointment in a few weeks the pediatrician will recommend we move him down to 3 bottles a day and increase the solids. I actually think I could do this now but am going to wait.

[enigmaticdrscully]

E takes 3-4 bottles while I am at work, 3.5oz each, depending on whether I nurse her before I leave or not (usually she is still sleeping). She nurses every 1.5-4hr when I'm with her. She doesn't care for purees or oatmeal. She does better with food in the mesh feeder that she can feed herself. Mostly that is fruit now, because it is cold and soft, and her gums are bothering her. We offer the mesh feeder 1-2 times a day. She seems slow to get into food, but she is on the young side of the D15 group (born 12/23) so hopefully she'll get more into it soon.

[Unknown]

Feeding Schedule:

7am: Nurses
10am:6oz bottle of BM
1pm:3oz bottle of BM and 2oz container of purees
4pm:6oz bottle of BM
6pm:4oz container of purees, puffs, BLW combo for dinner plus a sippy of water she just plays with
7pm: Nurses

We rarely nurse overnight anymore.

[mrspotatohead91]

About 28 oz of pumped milk a day and solids three times a day. Usually he eats half a jar of purees for breakfast with fruit and Cheerios or puffs. Today he had pancakes instead of fruit. Lunch and dinner he eats a whole jar of purees with some veggies or bites of our food. He is just starting to like real
Food.

[obscurereference]

She takes in about 28 oz of formula in 4 bottles a day. We are giving purees at lunch and dinner. She has been hitting her milestones a bit late so we have not done table food yet but that's right around the corner. Probably another couple weeks and we'll try some puffs and after she's got the hang of that we'll do table food. DD1 scarred me for life with table food so I tend to start later than most.

[13liza]

A is still taking about 26-28oz of formula in 4 bottles. He gets solids 2 times per day- usually a full container of purée at daycare and a mix of purée and BLW for dinner. He eats pretty much everything.

[COCO]

Yay! I was going to create this type of post.

DD was taking 5 bottles between 5-6 oz each per day. She has only been on solids for 3ish weeks (12/31 birthday so she's younger), but I noticed she is spitting up a lot. She was never a spitter so I think i need to reduce the amount of formula she receives. The last few days I reduced 2 bottles to 3-4 oz with success (= no spit up).

So she's drinks ~26 oz of formula (7 am, 10 am, 1 pm, 4 pm, 7 pm) and eats twice per day. She eats off our plate - oatmeal, sweet potato, fruit, etc - and I freeze food (usually fruit) that she can chew on with a food mesh thing. We are traveling the next 10 days so I picked up a few pouches for convenience.

FWIW I fed DS purees the first few months he was on solids. He's 3 now. I don't think it made a difference that he had purees over BLW. If your baby prefers purees just go with it and try piece of food again in a few days.

[geners]

When do babies transition from drinking from a bottle to a straw or sippy cup usually?

[byjove]

Aug 3, 2016 10:44:14 GMT -5 geners said:

When do babies transition from drinking from a bottle to a straw or sippy cup usually?

I am really not sure. I think around a year?


My big only ever took a straw cup and starting using one around 6 months. M is approaching 8 months and is not thrilled about any type of cup (if we offer some water to let her practice). Totally different kids!

[byjove]

M wants to eat every 2 hours at daycare and drinks everything I can muster to send, ideally wanting around 18 oz over about a 10 hour time period from nursing before school to after (some days I only send 16-17 oz). I feel like that is a lot, especially while still wanting to nurse most of the night But she is pretty much not eating solids right now, so maybe she is just that hungry? Still trying to figure out solids- trying different flavors and textures. She likes teething on carrot sticks and prefers to eat the handle side of the mesh feeder, silly girl, but will happily mush her hands around in whatever we are offering. I tried to give her some puffs and she liked crunching them with her teeth, but then she started drooling a lot until the pieces just poured back out her mouth and now she won't try them again.

[RoLoMa]

Aug 3, 2016 10:44:14 GMT -5 geners said:

When do babies transition from drinking from a bottle to a straw or sippy cup usually?

There are a couple of babies 10-11 months at M's daycare that are just starting to (slowly) transition to sippy cups with lunch.  We let M play with a straw cup, and he gets it, but he learned if he blows in it makes bubbles.  So yeah.  I think I am going to try the Miracle 360 cup again and see if he can figure that out yet.  He gets the sippy cups but has a hard time because he can't quite lift them to the right angle and he gets pissed.

[geners]

byjove, the handle of the mesh feeder is C's favorite part, too By the way, is there some magic trick to cleaning that thing out?! We put banana in it the other night and I don't know if it will ever be clean again.

RoLoMa, C couldn't get the hang of the Miracle 360 either, though it's been a month or so since we tried. He gets the straw cup but he has the same issue with the sippy cup, he can't lift it to the right angle.

[Deleted]

Oh I'm so happy for this thread. We were gone off and on all summer and so have been lazy with introducing solids. He on average will have 5 8 oz bottles of formula every day and we would occasionally try purees at dinner time. We've been doing rice cereal more often too. This week we've buckled down and attempted purees every night at dinner and asked daycare to try too. He just does not seem to like anything and we've been told "food is fun until 1" so it's hard to not be lazy about it. As foster kids though, the boys get WIC and so we have a pantry FULL of pureed fruits and vegetables that we can't use fast enough; all the more reason to get serious about it!

[byjove]

geners, hm. I find them pretty easy to clean. You know the silicone pouch comes out, right?

[geners]

Aug 3, 2016 14:28:08 GMT -5 byjove said:

geners , hm. I find them pretty easy to clean. You know the silicone pouch comes out, right?

Mine isn't silicon I don't think - maybe we have different ones... I have these and even after soaking and scrubbing there's still banana!

[geners]

Good to see you, @helgahufflepuff!!

[byjove]

Aug 3, 2016 14:41:10 GMT -5 geners said:

Aug 3, 2016 14:28:08 GMT -5 byjove said:

geners , hm. I find them pretty easy to clean. You know the silicone pouch comes out, right?

Mine isn't silicon I don't think - maybe we have different ones... I have these and even after soaking and scrubbing there's still banana!

Oh yes, we have different ones. I was thinking you had the silicone ones like we do. FX the banana comes out!

[evenkeeled]

Aug 3, 2016 12:35:17 GMT -5 byjove said:

M wants to eat every 2 hours at daycare and drinks everything I can muster to send, ideally wanting around 18 oz over about a 10 hour time period from nursing before school to after (some days I only send 16-17 oz). I feel like that is a lot, especially while still wanting to nurse most of the night But she is pretty much not eating solids right now, so maybe she is just that hungry? Still trying to figure out solids- trying different flavors and textures. She likes teething on carrot sticks and prefers to eat the handle side of the mesh feeder, silly girl, but will happily mush her hands around in whatever we are offering. I tried to give her some puffs and she liked crunching them with her teeth, but then she started drooling a lot until the pieces just poured back out her mouth and now she won't try them again.

Emma is very similar. She still wants to eat every 2-3 hours, eats 25-30 oz pumped breast milk and we offer her solids 2x a day. It ranges from purees to puffs, to table food, etc. She is still only eating very little in amount of solids but is trying a lot of different things. She is also eating 7-12 oz of breast milk at night. We have found that she definitely prefers savory foods to sweet and will eat those types of purees better. 

I like the carrot stick idea, going to try that!

[amylev80]

L takes five 6 oz bottles a day, draining most of them. She also eats purees or oatmeal/rice at traditional meal times. Here's her rough daily schedule

5:30-6 am- Bottle
7:30- fruit puree
9:30- Bottle
11:30- veggie puree
1 pm- Bottle
4:30- Bottle
6-6:30- dinner puree or oatmeal
8:30- Bottle

[cnf2013]

Aug 3, 2016 12:28:52 GMT -5 byjove said:

Aug 3, 2016 10:44:14 GMT -5 geners said:

When do babies transition from drinking from a bottle to a straw or sippy cup usually?

I am really not sure. I think around a year?


My big only ever took a straw cup and starting using one around 6 months. M is approaching 8 months and is not thrilled about any type of cup (if we offer some water to let her practice). Totally different kids!

Ellie cannot figure out the sippy or straw cups because of the dang valves on them. She drinks out of a real cup with assistance really well though, so I'm guessing we'll be skipping right to regular cups

[enigmaticdrscully]

geners, we have the mesh feeders, and I find that on the top shelf of the dishwasher they usually get clean, like 3/4 times. The fourth time, there is still food particles in it, and I have to run it through again. The silicone feeders sound easier to clean, so I may have to order those.

DD1 never really liked the mesh feeder and preferred to be spoonfed. DD2 hates being spoonfed (even if it's frozen yogurt, which she tried today But she loves the mesh feeder. We've put fruit and a few vegetables in it. At this point I think I'm just going to try giving her a taste of anything we eat other than honey.

[emmylo413]

Feeding is a bit of a disaster for us at the moment. During summer I didn't give her bottles and I am paying the price. She is refusing the bottle at daycare, occasionally taking a couple ounces here or there, but often flat out refusing. We've tried a couple types of nipples and I even ordered some latex ones because I've heard bottle-refusing babies sometimes prefer them. We're also trying lots of different cups just in case she takes to one of those instead. So far it's really hit or miss. She still nurses with no problem and is up multiple times a night trying to make up the deficit from the day, which is exhausting. I finally gave up on purees because she was refusing those too, so we've moved onto table foods. I have lots of anxiety about that as well and don't want her to start dropping breast milk in favor of solids. So basically, we're a mess. An exhausted, stressed, frustrated mess. Blah.

[crinita]

We nurse 1x a night usually, and it is around 2:30 am. We nurse in the early a.m. around 6:30, then around 10:30 pre-nap, then several more times in the afternoon and before bed (8:30-10ish). I have absolutely zero idea how much milk he is getting!

He likes rice crackers (like the Mum Mum biscuits) and will usually have at least 2 packets a day. Aside from that he gets small bits and bobs of what we're having... like rice, beans, bagels, fruit, oatmeal, soy yogurt... we're definitely more in the 'food is for fun/learning' stage though as he is mostly getting all nutrition from the breast still. He gets upset if he doesn't have something when we're all eating, and he wants what we're having, oh and he wants to feed himself! Ha! He has actually gotten very good with a pincer grasp and at bringing small pieces of food to his own mouth. He also is mashing things with his jaw even though he just has one silly snaggle tooth!

[junkytrunk]

I'm up and out before she wakes up, so she usually gets 4 - 4 oz bottles of BM a day. Depending on when I pick her up. Sometimes it's 3 if I get there before 530ish and I nurse her in the evening.
They feed her 1 container of purée at daycare, either split in 2 times or all at once. Sometimes I feed her another one in the evening as well. She has a hard time with puffs because they stick to her hands too easily. She likes bread. Haven't really ventured past that yet.

Im just getting over the stomach flu from this weekend, so my supply has tanked. I nursed her all weekend but the bedtime feedings were rough and last night she woke up needing to eat. I hope it picks back up soon! I don't have much freezer stock left.

[junkytrunk]

Also let me just add I'm glad to see this thread because DC was making me feel like I wasn't feeding her enough, saying babies her age usually drink more like 6 oz bottles. But that's usually with formula. So I'm glad to see I'm not way off here.