Sample Eating Schedule/menu to Transition from Nursing to Foods?

HI M.. This comes on good research and advise as I am passing along as it is what I was given from my baby group/mommy and me class. It will help you tremendously!

6-8months old
upon waking: breastfeeding/bottle
mid-morning:breast/bottle feeding
Lunch: (serving should be approx the size of babies palm) could be veggies if you are starting with veggies or cereal
Mid-afternoon: breast or bottle
Dinner (about 5PM): breast or bottle OR at 7 months add in this as a solid feeding: veggies, fruit cereal
Bedtime: breast or bottlefeeding

8-10 months: (may move to two naps a day)
Upon waking (6AM): breast/bottle
breakfast (7:30-8) (cereal and fruit)
play
nap
Mid-morning (Upon waking): Breast/bottle
11:30-12 Lunch: protein, veg, starch maybe fruit
play
nap
mid afternoon (Upon waking): breast/bottle
Dinner (4:30-5PM): protein, veg, starch
Bedtime: breast/bottle.

Hope this helps! Please feel free to contact me with anyquestions. I want to share when I learn in the classes with others.

She still needs your milk until she transitions to cow's milk when you decide to do so after she turns one. Do not pull back from nursing. Food is largely for "sport" at this time and she gets the majority of her nutrition from you until she is able to eat a full "pyramid" of foods. I bf until the age of one, then continued to offer formula until the age of two years old. Neither of my kids liked cow's milk, so then we went to soy milk. Keep pumping consistently!

Ask your Pediatrician, about how much or how many ounces of breastmilk/nursings she should be having throughout the day, whether or not at the Daycare.

There are LOTS of different thoughts on this... I was told, per our Pediatrician, that for the 1st year of life, a baby's PRIMARY nutrition comes from breast/formula, not solids. So, I nursed prior to solids... and on demand as my kids needed. But solids fills them up, making them "full" and so they sometimes won't "ask" for nursings & thereby "appearing" as though they are weaning etc.

Granted, a baby will sometimes lessen their nursings, once they start solids. But each baby is different. My kids, even with solids, still wanted to nurse about every 3-4 hours in addition to having solids.
For me, I nursed upon waking, and then nursed before any "solids" meals, and before bed.

Here is a link:
http://forums.llli.org/showthread.php?t=10985

Each Mom approaches this transition differently.
Ask your Pediatrician, since only the Doc would know your baby's growth/weight/development history.

As for your milk production.. you can pump at your regular intervals as usual, and store it... because I am assuming that on weekends when you are not at work, you are probably direct nursing her during the day as needed? Or, if your girl is naturally weaning from breast.. then your body will adjust to that flow. But, ask your Pediatrician about it, or a Lactation Consultant.

There is no one single "rule" to handle this... but all the Mom's you hear from will have had different experiences and approaches. And, it depends on whether you "want" to wean your baby now... or not.

All the best,
Susan

hi -
i'm a working, nursing and pumping mom of an 8 month old boy. It's normal for your supply to drop when solids are started. It's kind of like a natural weaning process. I try to keep my supply up by nursing him often on the weekends and nursing him 2-3 times when I get home from work.

The typical foods for a 6-8 month old are peas, sweet potatoes, yams, summer squash, carrots, green beans, apple, bananas, pears, prunes. I have also started him on chicken and beef.

here's a sample of his "schedule", but it's more of a routine depending on when he wakes up for the day. Our pediatrician recommended 3 meals a day and cereal 2xs a day.

7:00 wake up
7:30 nurse
8:00 4 oz breastmilk mixed with cereal
9:00-10:30 nap
11:00 bottle
12:00 4 oz of baby food
1:00-2:30 nap
3:00 bottle
5:00 nurse when i get home from work
6:00 4 oz breastmilk mixed with cereal & baby food
7:00 nurse
7:30 bedtime

Hope this helps!
M.

Hi M., What I was going to write is so similar to Kelly R.'s post below that I won't even bother repeating! That is a perfect sched for this age! The one thing I would caution against is the yogurt. I would wait until 12 months to introduce ANY dairy products as they can be highly allergenic and you want to wait on those foods. (I have one child with food allergies so I know all about this unfortunately.) You should still try to keep your milk up until the 12 months mark as that is still her main source of nutrition. :-)J

The typical formula or breast milk intake at 6-9mo is 20-24 ounces per day. She should get 3 meals per day. Our son's schedule is:
7:00 wake up and breast feed
7:30 or 8 breakfast (cereal with breast milk and pears or banana, etc)
9-10 or 10:30 nap
11:00 breast feed or bottle of breast milk (6 oz) at babysitter's
12:00 or 12:30 lunch (fruit, veg, or some mixed with plain whole fat yogurt or cereal)
1:30-3:30 or 4 nap
3:30 or 4 breast feed or bottle
6:00 dinner (similar to lunch)
8:00 breast feed and bed time
He wakes up once in the night and gets breast milk again. He also gets 2-4 oz of water during the day which you should do when solids are started.

Some babies may take more breast/bottle feedings, but it is not necessary. The "snacking" feeds take up a lot of your time. I pump twice at work because he gets 2 bottles during the day.

So far our son has had bananas, avocados, sweet potatoes, squash (summer and acorn), pears, mangos, peaches, nectarines, rice and oat cereal and yogurt. Wait 4 days after each food before starting another new food.

For questions on what food to give when, check the book Super Baby Food (it is a great resource for making your own food which I do. The author is vegetarian and feeds things like Brewer's yeast which I ignored). I do not recommend meats until 9mo. Good luck with the transition!

There is a great website i visit frequesntly called wholesome baby.com. They have ideas and sample menus. I hope this helps! I have an 8 month old who is breastfeeding and eating solids as well, i am always wondering the same thing (:

I'm always a fan of feeding table food in the morning. This way, if there's an allergic reaction you have the day to deal with it. How about serving your baby fruits and veggies at 9am when baby is awake and alert and then the rice cereal at the end of the day?-www.weelicious.com

Hi M....

I'm also a first-time mom of a 10-month old boy. I've been back at work now for about a month. I agree with the other poster that you should talk with your pedi. Mine also believes that the primary source of nutrition is breastfeeding/formula. I'm unable to pump enough milk so I supplement with formula.

From my own experience, your schedule sounds spot on. At 7 months they should be having about 2 meals a day. I went to 3 meals a day between 8 and 9 months. You won't be able to substitute a bowl of rice cereal for a bottle because there just aren't enough calories in it. Check the side of the box and you'll see that full serving is only 60 calories. Babies are only eating about 2 oz. servings at 7 months so that's only about 30 calories. Not enough to support an active baby. At our 9-month wellness check, the doctor said that my son should be having 3 meals a day of about 4 oz. each and 3-4 nursings/bottles a day.

Every baby is different, so I'd talk to your doc and watch the cues your little one is giving you. Congratulations!

Great job nursing, sorry to hear you can't be with your daughter. Remember food at her age is just for texture and experience, she still gets all her nutrients from breast milk. Thanks for giving that to her, it's the best thing for her. She needs your milk and alot of it well past a year. Look at the Le Leche League website on extended nursing. Especially since she's in daycare, you don't want her to get sick, keep nursing as much as possible. Nurse her more when she does get sick and she'll recover much quicker.

Hello. I have always read that you do not replace nursing/bottle feeding with solids. You do it in addition to. And the other thing is it is always better to have too much breast milk than not enough. If you have too much you can always donate your breast milk! Good Luck!!!
-A.

I agree with others that say breastfeeding should be the number one source of nutrition. I didn't give my daughters solid food until 6 months. Then introduced each vegetable one at a time for about two weeks each. Then once I went through all the vegetables I introduced fruits/rice cereal. My ped recommended introducing solids slowly so that I could watch for any allergic reactions. My daughters both had breastmilk as their main source of food for the entire first year and solid food was "just for fun." Good luck!