Oh, so much changes in just one short year. As my boys approached their first birthday, I grew weepy thinking back on all we had experienced with the joy of life during the exciting first year.
Here are notes from our schedule for 10-12 months.
MONTH 10
Cereal was consistent and we were adding more fruits and vegetables throughout the day. While following the 3-5 day wait rule, I added various fruits for breakfast, green veggies for lunch, and orange veggies for dinner. The boys were taking 2 full naps and a third catnap in the late afternoon. I got them up for the day at 7:00am and they had a bottle and ate breakfast. They had another bottle and ate lunch at 11:00. Then, they would have another bottle and eat their afternoon meal at 3:00pm. The last feeding of the day was just a bottle at 7:00pm right before being laid down for bedtime. This 4 hour schedule worked well for a while.
MONTH 11
This month, we were down to just 2 naps around 9:00am and 1:00pm. The eating schedule stayed about the same while adding more and more quantities as well as mixing flavors. Some favorites were mango, blueberries, pears, avocado, banana, sweet potato, zucchini, squash, and carrots.
MONTH 12
Our sleeping and eating schedules stayed generally the same with lunch and the afternoon meal each moving about 30 minutes later. We kept increasing food amounts, varieties, textures, and mixtures. At this point, the boys were generally eating about 26-32 oz formula, 6-8 oz fruit, 1/2 cup porridge, and 6-8 oz vegetables every day. This was split up as follows:
- 7:00am – bottle, porridge, fruit (sometimes yogurt with berries or banana)
- 11:30am – bottle, green vegetable, fruit, and protein
- 3:30pm – bottle, snack (cheese, graham crackers, cheerios, or fruit)
- 7:00pm – water, yellow vegetable, grain (porridge from rice or millet or whole grain pasta)
RESOURCES
I’ve mentioned these before, but my two favorite resources have been Super Baby Food
by Ruth Yaron and wholesomebabyfood.com. Please share any other interesting or helpful resources. You may also benefit from some of these TIPS.
Be sure to also see these previous posts.
SAMPLE BABY FEEDING SCHEDULES: 10-12 Months (you are here)
SAMPLE BABY FEEDING SCHEDULES: 7-9 Months
SAMPLE BABY FEEDING SCHEDULES: 4-6 Months
SAMPLE BABY FEEDING SCHEDULES: 0-3 Months
SAMPLE BABY FEEDING SCHEDULES: Introduction
ADDITIONAL THOUGHTS
As always, be sure to discuss any feeding options, ideas, struggles, or issues along the way with your pediatrician.
Consistency is key. Decide what you want your daily routine to be and stick with it. Babies, children, and adults enjoy routine and knowing what to expect next. You will, of course, need to change with your children as they grow, but getting this established early is something that you will be thankful for in the future.
Keep taking notes and writing what your baby eats, how much, and how often. It will great in knowing where to go next and noting any allergy triggers or sleep issues. Full tummies like their sleep. My boys also definitely eat better when they are well rested.
NOTE: A month references the time from turning that age until the next older month. So, if your baby was born on January 1st, then those first weeks are considered MONTH 1 until he reaches February 1st. From then until March 2nd is considered MONTH 2. Remember that there are 52 weeks in a year, so it’s not an even 4 weeks per month.
Please share your thoughts and ideas.
Tags: cereal, formula, fruit, porridge, routine, schedule, schedules, vegetable
This was a very fun time. I felt like we really hit a groove and many things with our routine such as sleeping and eating really fell into place and stayed consistent for a while. Both boys also started crawling and pulling up to stand during this period which is so fun.
Here are notes from our schedule for 7-9 months.
MONTH 7
Cereal was consistent and we were adding more fruits and vegetables throughout the day. While following the 3-5 day wait rule, I added various fruits for breakfast, green veggies for lunch, and orange veggies for dinner. The boys were taking 2 full naps and a third catnap in the late afternoon. I got them up for the day at 7:00am and they had a bottle and ate breakfast. They had another bottle and ate lunch at 11:00. Then, they would have another bottle and eat their afternoon meal at 3:00pm. The last feeding of the day was just a bottle at 7:00pm right before being laid down for bedtime. This 4 hour schedule worked well for a while.
MONTH 8
This month, we were down to just 2 naps around 9:00am and 1:00pm. The eating schedule stayed about the same while adding more and more quantities as well as mixing flavors. Some favorites were mango, blueberries, pears, avocado, banana, sweet potato, zucchini, squash, and carrots.
MONTH 9
Our sleeping and eating schedules stayed generally the same with lunch and the afternoon meal each moving about 30 minutes later. We kept increasing food amounts, varieties, textures, and mixtures. At this point, the boys were generally eating about 26-32 oz formula, 6-8 oz fruit, 1/2 cup porridge, and 6-8 oz vegetables every day. This was split up as follows:
- 7:00am – bottle, porridge, fruit
- 11:00/11:30am – bottle, green vegetable, fruit
- 3:00/3:30pm – bottle, porridge, orange vegetable, fruit
- 7:00pm – bottle
RESOURCES
I’ve mentioned these before, but my two favorite resources have been Super Baby Food by Ruth Yaron and wholesomebabyfood.com. Please share any other interesting or helpful resources. You may also benefit from some of these TIPS.
Be sure to also see these previous posts.
SAMPLE BABY FEEDING SCHEDULES: 10-12 Months
SAMPLE BABY FEEDING SCHEDULES: 7-9 Months (you are here)
SAMPLE BABY FEEDING SCHEDULES: 4-6 Months
SAMPLE BABY FEEDING SCHEDULES: 0-3 Months
SAMPLE BABY FEEDING SCHEDULES: Introduction
ADDITIONAL THOUGHTS
As always, be sure to discuss any feeding options, ideas, struggles, or issues along the way with your pediatrician.
Consistency is key. Decide what you want your daily routine to be and stick with it. Babies, children, and adults enjoy routine and knowing what to expect next. You will, of course, need to change with your children as they grow, but getting this established early is something that you will be thankful for in the future.
Keep taking notes and writing what your baby eats, how much, and how often. It will great in knowing where to go next and noting any allergy triggers or sleep issues. Full tummies like their sleep. My boys also definitely eat better when they are well rested.
NOTE: A month references the time from turning that age until the next older month. So, if your baby was born on January 1st, then those first weeks are considered MONTH 1 until he reaches February 1st. From then until March 2nd is considered MONTH 2. Remember that there are 52 weeks in a year, so it’s not an even 4 weeks per month.
Please share your thoughts and ideas.
::
Tags: cereal, formula, fruit, porridge, routine, schedules, vegetable
Posted by tntmck on Mar 24, 2010 in
Purées,
Sample Schedules 4-6 months is a time for lots of change for babies. My boys were much more alert and awake as well as enjoying longer periods of sleep. We also starting doing fewer liquid feedings. This is the recommended time period to begin solids.
I began rice cereal during this period. Here was our basic schedule for 4-6 months.
MONTH 4
We dropped our late night feeding at 12 weeks and both boys began sleeping generally from 7pm-7am. We continued on with our liquid feedings, about 5 per day. At this point my boys were on formula bottles. They have always been such different eaters, but averaged anywhere from 26-36 ounces per day. They were taking bottles about every 3.5 hours as we were moving to a 4 hour feeding schedule. Look at the resources below for ideas on amounts per feeding and per day and always discuss with your pediatrician. I made my first big batch of food for the freezer this month.
MONTH 5
This was an exciting month…full of change. We moved to a 4 hour feeding schedule with 4 feedings per day and started rice cereal. I can tell you that it took a while for them to catch on to being spoon-fed, but once it clicked, it was great. I mentioned this earlier in the blog, but I fed them straight rice cereal without mixing in any fruit or anything else. Discuss with your pediatrician and do some research, but you could also begin with something like avocado. However, if you learn how to and stick to making homemade whole grains, then cereal is an excellent choice. Be consistent with your time of day to begin feeding. I think it helps your baby learn and know what to expect. I started with breakfast at 7:00am and slowly added dinner around 3:00pm.
MONTH 6
Cereal was catching on and we started adding fruits and vegetables. I started with sweet potato at lunch, but kept the cereal for breakfast and afternoon. As we continued, I added a fruit to breakfast and lunch and a vegetable to dinner. Remember the 3-5 day wait rule to watch for any reactions. I vividly remember going to the beach with my family in August before the boys were 6 months old and trying to get them to eat the cereal. It was just a week after we returned that they were really getting the hang of it. It almost just seems to click one day. I say this because, I think it’s important to get that first food established well before you move on to too many options. I never had any food refusal, but had to stick with something new over and over to get it well-established. I had already made my food batches and had a good stash in the freezer to get is started. I think this is important so that you can concentrate on feeding and don’t have to worry about making for the first few weeks or more.
RESOURCES
I’ve mentioned these before, but my two favorite resources have been Super Baby Food by Ruth Yaron and wholesomebabyfood.com. Please share any other interesting or helpful resources.
Be sure to also see these additional posts.
SAMPLE BABY FEEDING SCHEDULES: 10-12 Months
SAMPLE BABY FEEDING SCHEDULES: 7-9 Months
SAMPLE BABY FEEDING SCHEDULES: 4-6 Months (you are here)
SAMPLE BABY FEEDING SCHEDULES: 0-3 Months
SAMPLE BABY FEEDING SCHEDULES: Introduction
ADDITIONAL THOUGHTS
As always, be sure to discuss any feeding options, ideas, struggles, or issues along the way with your pediatrician. Remember that this is a time where liquid feedings are still the primary source of nutrition for baby. You are teaching and your baby is learning about solids. In all reality, this is the first step in the weaning process.
Consistency is key. Decide what you want your daily routine to be and stick with it. Babies, children, and adults enjoy routine and knowing what to expect next. You will, of course, need to change with your children as they grow, but getting this established early is something that you will be thankful for in the future.
Keep taking notes and writing what your baby eats, how much, and how often. It will great in knowing where to go next and noting any allergy triggers or sleep issues. Full tummies like their sleep. Enjoy your growing baby. The food only gets bigger. More fun, more challenging, more variety.
NOTE: A month references the time from turning that age until the next older month. So, if your baby was born on January 1st, then those first weeks are considered MONTH 1 until he reaches February 1st. From then until March 2nd is considered MONTH 2. Remember that there are 52 weeks in a year, so it’s not an even 4 weeks per month.
Please share your thoughts and ideas.
::
Tags: baby, breast feeding, cereal, formula, fruit, routine, schedules, vegetable
Posted by tntmck on Feb 22, 2010 in
Sample Schedules These first 3 months cover such a small time period, but a huge period of change in baby. Think back to when your baby was born and then at 3 months. Wow – what a difference! Anyway, I’m lumping it all together, because the only feedings were liquid. When I reference liquid feedings, I mean breast milk or formula.
These months were breast milk for my boys. As I’ve mentioned before some days went smoothly and others were a struggle. Towards the end of 3 months, most of it was pumped breast milk in bottles.
I also followed an eat-wake-sleep routine since birth, and here was our basic schedule for 0-3 months.
WEEKS 1-2
We just worked on getting good, full feedings. Owen was in the NICU, so I pumped and took milk to the hospital for his tube which soon turned into bottle feedings, then direct breast feedings. I was also away from home to be with Owen some so Wyatt would have pumped milk from a bottle at home. I tried hard to keep baby awake during feeding and any time after as they grew.
WEEKS 3-9
Owen came home and we were thrilled. But, this also began me feeding both boys for the first time. We had 7-8 feedings per day and I kept track of the times. I noted how long from each side and if there was any trouble. I have a bad memory in general, but having 2 newborns made it that much harder for me to remember anything. It was truly a great thing that I kept such good notes. I would often reference to see what we had done in the day to know and understand my boys’ hunger and sleep cues as we went along. It is amazing how easy it is to forget which baby had that really nasty diaper change just 3 hours ago.
WEEKS 10-12
This is where I dropped the middle of the morning feeding and my boys started sleeping through the night. We were doing 6 feedings at this time.
RESOURCES
As always, be sure to discuss any feeding options, ideas, struggles, or issues along the way with your pediatrician.
I can’t stress how much a great local lactation consultant can be. We made a couple trips to one and she was great. I would tell you to make sure you find someone with the same thoughts and ideas as you want for your baby. Feeding is an important part of your parenting style and be sure to find someone who understands and agrees with the way you want things to work.
A great online resource is kellymom.com.
Be sure to also see these additional posts.
SAMPLE BABY FEEDING SCHEDULES: 10-12 Months
SAMPLE BABY FEEDING SCHEDULES: 7-9 Months
SAMPLE BABY FEEDING SCHEDULES: 4-6 Months
SAMPLE BABY FEEDING SCHEDULES: 0-3 Months (you are here)
SAMPLE BABY FEEDING SCHEDULES: Introduction
ADDITIONAL THOUGHTS
As I mentioned previously, note taking is a great idea. It was a necessary thing for me and fits my personality, but even if you’re not sure it is for you, I would urge you to try it for a few weeks just to see. I think it would also come in handy if you have more children and want something to reference in the future. Enjoy this time and soon you will be feeding solids.
Please share your thoughts and ideas.
::
Tags: breast feeding, formula, schedules
Posted by tntmck on Feb 16, 2010 in
Sample Schedules In the coming weeks, I plan to post my experiences with our feeding schedules over the first year. This post is an introduction to that series to give you some background on my thoughts and style.
I have followed an eat-wake-sleep routine with my boys since birth. For this reason, I also started scheduling solid feeding times with liquid feedings. Liquids first since they are to be the primary source for infants, then solids. I think this timing helps establish good mealtime habits without snacking all day. This is not to say that healthy snacks aren’t good, as I believe we all function better with them in our day. But, I want to teach my children to slow down and focus on eating healthy food at the table. I believe food is important and shouldn’t be eaten on the run, while playing, or in any place in the house. We have always done bottles and still do milk some in laps, so that may occur in a chair or on the couch, but all food is consumed at the table.
We have consistent snack and meal times each day for multiple reasons.
- This helps develop a baby’s metabolism.
- My boys know what to expect and like this order in their day.
- I NEED A SCHEDULE. I’m very schedule-oriented and need to know what is coming next so that I can prepare and find the times in my day to get things done.
- This schedule helps when others take care of the boys and know what to do when.
The schedule posts to come will serve as a place for everyone to share their different thoughts and styles and when, how, and how much works when feeding babies the first year.
Here are the following schedule posts.
SAMPLE BABY FEEDING SCHEDULES: 10-12 Months
SAMPLE BABY FEEDING SCHEDULES: 7-9 Months
SAMPLE BABY FEEDING SCHEDULES: 4-6 Months
SAMPLE BABY FEEDING SCHEDULES: 0-3 Months
Tags: routine, schedules, why
