How Often Should I Feed My 7 Month Old
What Should I & How Often Should I Be Feeding My 7 Month Old?
Updated on February 27, 2007
E.B. asks from Raleigh, NC
16 answers
Hi. I have a 7 month old baby girl and I wanted some feedback as to how often and what types of foods should I be giving her at this stage. She has two little teeth that are coming in, and developmentally she is able to sit up on her own. She has formula as her primary diet (about 30 or so oz's a day) along with some Gerber fruit in the morning and occaisionally a pureed Gerber vegetable at night. Is this enough? Should I be incorporating more food with her dinner time regime? What types of "snacks" are good for her? Help! I need some ideas. Thanks!
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E.B.
answers from Charlotte on
What you're doing sounds great. I have a son about the same age and that is what we are doing. Sometimes if he's really hungry he gets to jars of food at night. The Gerper Puffs are great for this age. Its just a snack that they can put in their mouths and it desolves. They have fruit and veggie flavors. You can also start to incorporate meats here very soon.
More Answers
S.
answers from Spartanburg on
E.,
I give my boy fruit in the morning (around 7am), generally he eats 1 jar, and after a while the bottle (to wash the fruit down and because he is thirsty) about 6oz.
The next meal (snack) will be 8/9 oz bottle.
The following one (around lunch), a jar of meat or chicken mixed with a jar of any veggie and some cereal (I use oatmeal) and water. Sometimes I use the jar where chicken and beef are already mixed with some type of vegetable.
Generally an hour or so after this meal he gets thirsty and I give him the bottle (8oz will do). This is the afternoon snack.
The next meal will be a jar of any veggie mixed with ceral and water and, if still hungry, a jar of fruit (plain, not mixed with cereal). This is dinner.
If he wakes up during the night, 8/9 oz bottle will keep him full and hydrated (and he'll go right back to sleep).
I hope this works for your little girl, let me know if I can help some more.
S
T.T.
answers from Norfolk on
At 7 months old, she should be on all baby food. The plan I was told to put my son on at that age was in the morning, baby fruit mixed with some rice or cereal, and she should be having baby food for lunch, try mixing a veg. with some rice or baby cereal, and for dinner, I would give him a jar of both veg. and some sort of meat baby food (turkey, chicken) and she should be able to snack on the little fruit puffs or veg. puffs made by Gerber in the afternoon as a snack. In between meals, a bottle is fine, and then a bottle at bedtime.
Good Luck, hope this helps.
K.R.
answers from Raleigh on
HI E., I'm K. from Wendell. My ped recommended that I give Aiden (8 months on 2 days) some stage 2 meats and veggies at least once a day. Formula should still be your daughter's main source of nutrients but with those chompers coming in, she needs to practice chewing. I give Aiden some cereal mixed with fruit in the morning.....some veggies in the afternoon..and then a little bit of veggies, fruits and some meat at night....in between he gets bottles and once a day he gets juice. But at this age, you should really be following her cues. She'll let you know if the bottle ain't cuttin' it anymore. LOL If you haven't already, I'd start with some basic veggies.....sweet potatoes, squash, green beans, carrots, etc. Make sure she's not allergic to any of it and then when you figure all that out, try some meat...unless you're vegetarian. (In that case, well, I don't know what to tell you...we are rabid carnivores. LOL) But your little angel will let you know what she wants and what she doesn't. Plus spoon feeding and watching them try to feed themselves is an activity that should not be missed. If you're in the mood for a good laugh. Aiden and I have so much fun at meal time. I used to hate having to fix his plate and put him in his high chair and get a bib ready...now I love doing it because I know I'll be rewarded with green bean smiles and fruit faces. And if you haven't got one already, invest in a tarp. They come in handy underneath highchairs. LOL
Good luck to you and if you have any more questions, let me know....I'm right up the road.
J.M.
answers from Fayetteville on
Every kid is different. My son was ravenous, so he started rice cereal at TWO months and baby food at four months. He couldn't get enough. He also nursed for the first six months and stayed on formula until one year. Now he is a healthy 2 1/2 y/o and will eat anything I put in front of him, (particularly vegetables and fruit.)
My daughter is a totally different story, though. She also nursed for the first six months and has switched to solely formula now. She is seven months old, and we have tried baby food several times, but she's just not interested.
Pediatricians generally recommend starting baby cereal at four months and then baby food at six, but clearly every child has their own preference.
Other than the obvious jarred choices, sweet potato, banana, or avocado mashed with a little water all make really good, easy first foods. :-)
S.N.
answers from Greensboro on
i found that the age of 7 months they are able to handle finger foods like small pieces of say hamburger or any kind of meat that will be easy for her to gum. i am babysitting a 8 month old and she loves meat or anything that is small enough for her to gum. you just got to experiment with the foods you give her. good luck.
K.C.
answers from Roanoke on
At 7 months, I would not worry about the amount of solids-it's just practice. Olivia's pedi said at 9 months her diet should be at least 20 oz of formula and just testing the solids. Of course, my daughter went through 2 surgeries at 5 1/2 mo and 7 1/2 mo old, so we fell behind on our feeding "plan". But we started her with cereal at 5 months old and other solids a month later, but she has worked her way up to eating stage 2's and normally won't finish a container.
My daughter is 10 months old now and she is eating 3 meals a day and bottles in between because she likes to eat about every 3 hours. Now, we give her a fruit with cereal in the morning, a meat and veggie at lunch, and a meat, veg or fruit, and cereal at dinner. We do give her puffs and biter biscuits if we sit her in her highchair while we're eating and it's not time for her to eat. Of course, my daughter doesn't have a single tooth yet! I think the container recommends that if your baby can sit up and pick up things between her first finger and thumb, then they can have Puffs...good luck!
A.C.
answers from Norfolk on
My 8-month old loves yogurt (try Yobaby yogurt) for lunch. She also likes shredded cheese and cheerios, which she can feed to herself. Your child is probably old enough for a wide variety of fruits and veggies, and you can make them fresh as well as the Gerber kind (we do both). Some good baby cookbooks are Super Baby Foods, Mommy Made, And Feeding Baby. They have a lot of ideas and some timetables as to when to introduce things. Good Luck!
K.J.
answers from Richmond on
My son is 6 months old, and at 5 months our pediatrician told us to feed him as we normally do, but to substitute 2 solid meals a day. Meaning a ceareal a fruit or a veggie twice a day. He also loves those gerber fruit puffs, and contrary to what alot of the responses say, they are not loaded with sugar, He has the banana puffs and the sweet corn puffs, both of which have just 1 gram of sugar per serving of 61 pieces or 1/2 cup. Which if you'll notice is about one twelfth of the sugar content of the gerber fruits at about 12 grams per container. I like them better than the cheerios because they're smaller and they dissolve very quickly, which being a first time mom, I am super paranoid about him choking on the smallest crumb lol, but the puffs put me at ease. Our doctor also said that cooked baby carrots are great too, as long as they can be smooshed between your fingers than they're safe for the baby. Good luck and have fun with this new stage of learning and exploring for you and your baby! P.S. Make sure that when you do start introducing solids, you do just one fruit or veggie or cereal for 3 days straight to make sure there is no reaction, and you might want to keep a checklist of sorts to mark any reactions to a certain one to try a few months down the road.
P.
answers from Spartanburg on
Mine is 7 1/2 months.
We do 7oz bottle, cereal, bottle, jar of fruit, bottle, jar of veggies and 1/2 jar of fruit, and bottle.
At daycare she also snacks on crackers and basically anything that she can hold. She gets lots of cherrios during dinner. The fruit puffs do have sugar, but it's like 25 calories for 1/4 cup. I don't think my girl could eat that many. I use them between spoonfuls of veggies that she's not fond of and then she'll eat more. She also loves cut up banana and will knaw on a wheat bagel forever.
I'm getting ready to add meats to dinner, so I will probably take away a few ounces of formula at the same time.
A.E.
answers from Raleigh on
You can start giving her her soft foods that you eat. Cheerios are good. She won't choke on them, they have holes. It would probably feel good to her teeth coming in. Try giving her pasta to chew on and veggies cut into small peices you can even give her protein cut into small peices. Don't be afraid of the food. She will probably love to explore the new tastes. Watch out for those gerber puffs they have a lot of sugar. It is the second ingredient listed. You can do the jar food if you prefer, but it is same thing that you would eat. I started my daughter off with baby applesauce at 3 months. So I think however you do things is up to you. If your baby is happy and healthy you are doing things right!
L.M.
answers from Charlotte on
My daughter is 6 1/2 months old and eats two times a day (which was recommended be our pediatrician) in addition to breast milk. For breakfast she has cereal mixed with breast milk (probably 4-5 tablespoons of cereal) and half a container of fruit (stage 2). For dinner she has 1 1/2 containers of vegetables- she used to have cereal and 1/2 a container, but has become finicky about having cereal at night.
She is able to eat plain cookies (as long as she's being watched) and there are plenty of little snacks that Gerber makes that she can eat once she gets used to eating more often.
The best advice will obviously come from your doctor.
L.M.
answers from Charleston on
Until 8 mths bm or formula is the most important staple in your babies diet and should be about 90% of their nutritional intake. Until this time, really just consider solids as practice and don't worry about how much you feed - concentrate on milk (we just did two solid meals -1 gerber stage 2 serving (with cereal) - a day and 4 milk feedings around this time - 7ounces each).
Around 8 mths solids start gaining in importance but milk is still more important. Figure milk 75% nutrition and solids 25%. Around the 10mth mark you see a change and solids take a big increase 50%-50%. Until this time many feed milk first and then solids an hour later. Often, this switches around the 10th month to recognize the added importance of solids. My son is 10mths old and we are on three solid meals and three milk feedings a day. By the time he is a year we will be down to two solid meals, a solid snack and two milk feedings.
M.U.
answers from Myrtle Beach on
Hi! I also had questions about feeding. A friend directed me to Gerber's website http://www.gerber.com/sthealthitem?id=5261
This had a great chart that targets independent sitters, crawlers, walkers, etc. You can also call your pediatrician and ask for their advice. Hope that helps!
R.W.
answers from Norfolk on
Each parent is different but here was what I was feeding my kids at that age.
In the morning they would get their 8-9oz bottle of formula. A little while after that I would give them a snack of plain cherrios or rice krispies since both dissolve easily. At lunch they would get 1 jar of fruit and 1 jar of veggies, but 7 months they were on Stage 2 foods, followed by a bottle a little bit afterwards. Another snack in the afternoon, cherrios or biter biscuit. Then at dinner they would get a bowl of baby cereal mixed with formula and another bottle before bed. I never gave them a bottle in the bed--that is a bad habit to start and HARD to break.
The cereal at night sustained them and they slept through the night from about 4 or 5 months old.
Good luck!
J.F.
answers from Fayetteville on
Are you not feeding this baby cereal? The first thing that should be introduced to babies is Rice cereal and that along with her formula should be her primary diet. Slowly then introduce more single ingrediant cereals and fruits and vegetables - one every three days or so in order to make sure there is no sensitivity - until she is eatting a wide range of things. At about 9 months she can eat more combination cereals and foods. Best wishes....
Source: https://www.mamapedia.com/article/what-should-i-and-how-often-should-i-be-feeding-my-7-month-old
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