How much solid food for a 7 month old?

[1sttimemom]

My 7 month old LOVES her solids. She hasn't refused to eat anything yet (yay!). My question has to do with the quantity she's eating. I started her on solids at 5.5 months.

Her schedule (she is bottle fed and quantity is anywhere from 3.5-6.5oz):
7am feed
8am breakfast - 2tsp rice cereal with some formula+1.5 oz of fruit or veg puree
11am feed
3pm feed
5pm dinner - 2 oz veg/fruit puree
645pm feed (before bedtime)
7pm bedtime
11pm dreamfeed (slowly cutting this bottle out...)

She is 75th percentile weight and height. I know milk should be her main "food' until she is 12 months, so I don't want her solids intake to affect her milk intake.

How much milk should she be drinking every day even as she takes more solids? Is there is minimum? If I let her decide how much to eat, she might eat so much she won't take much milk!

 

[Gataloca]

I feed my almost 7 month old solid 1 hour after his milk.
My baby is currently having 3 solid feeds a day. 1 1/2 oz for breadfast, 1 1/2 oz for lunch, and 2 oz for dinner. I am incrementing the amount slowly so that he will not get constipated.
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[Frenchy]

My daughter is 6 months 1/2 and has been eating for 2 months 1/2 already.
So far she has :
Morning : 1 breastfeed (I don't pump, so I don't really know the quantity)
Breakfast : 2 tsp 1/2 of cereals in 60 ml of formula + 1/2 jar of fruit puree
Lunch : 130 g of veggies puree + 60 g (2oz I think) of fruit, or a banana
Snack : a teething biscuit + 1 breastfeed
Diner : 15 g of meat mixed with 100g of veggies + 1 jar of desert (equivalent of, as sometimes I buy them, or prepare myself)
Bed time : 1 breastfeed.

Milk intake is still important, that's right, but by 1 yo, a child should have a full and balanced diet.

 

[1sttimemom]

Thanks both!
@ Gataloca, what time do you give dinner? The last bottle at 7pm is a part of our bedtime routine, so don't want to change that just yet...

@ Frenchy, that looks like a balanced diet.. meat, veg, fruit... any problems with constipation?

 

[Frenchy]

I try to give her enough liquids through the day and during the meals. She drinks water by the glass. Also I don't mix "heavy" food during the same meal, like for example rice and banana, I rather do rice and apple puree, or veggies and banana, and one day I do mashed food, the other day pureed food.
So far, it works.

 

[Singstar]

According to the information I have read - at 6 months plus you should ensure that your baby is still drinking about 600mls about 20oz over the day of either breast milk of formula. This reduces to about 400mls at 1 year. So 1sttimemom it sounds like your little one is getting more than enough milk - so no need to worry. My son is nearly a year old and by the time he was about 8 months he was on three meals – but the amount varied from each meal. All babies are different and have different activity levels – so it is difficult to say how much and often they should eat. I think milk is important as it gives them iron and vitamins, fresh fruit and veggies too but I wouldn’t worry too much

 

[joyofliving]

Sorry to sabotage this post but I needed to know this. Frenchy how did you get your daughter to drink water/ juice. My son is 11 months old and only has breastmilk as liquid. He refuses to learn to drink from a sippy cup or straw cup.

I try to give her enough liquids through the day and during the meals. She drinks water by the glass. Also I don't mix "heavy" food during the same meal, like for example rice and banana, I rather do rice and apple puree, or veggies and banana, and one day I do mashed food, the other day pureed food.
So far, it works.

 

[Frenchy]

Well, I just introduced her a plastic cup with a little bit of water between the meal and desert. First few times there was more water around than in, but now she is doing pretty good. My daughter have refused the bottle till now, only breastfeeding and now the cup (no sippy cup or straw), just a glass like us.
The cup has two handles, so sometimes I put just a tiny drop, and let her do it herself, she really loves it.
Sorry I don't have a magical solution, this one just worked

 

[Gataloca]

@1sttimemom. I give my baby a feed at around 6pm and his dinner an hour later, at around 7pm. He still get a feed before bed at around 9pm.

My baby still get breastfed every 3 hours, and in ocassion has a midnight feed at around 2am. He was 0 percentile weight by 6 month, so I let him feed whenever he wants. Also I am not planning to introduce meat till 1 or 2 months later due to his eczema, so in the meantime I am feeding him milk before his solid.
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[3Tower]

Hi 1sttimemom,

We have a very similar routine with my 7 month old son. He has 4 bottles in one day total to about 28 oz. He also loves his solid food and on the 97 percentile for his weight and 90 for his height.

This is our schedule:
8 AM - 8 oz bottle - he can always finish this as he doesnt get a feed since 7 PM the night before.
9 AM - breakfast - rice cereal and fruit puree (about 50 ml) followed by a sippy cup of water
11 AM - 6 oz bottle
12 PM - lunch - a mixture of fruit and vegetables (about 100 ml) followed by a sippy cup of water
3 PM - 6 oz bottle
5 PM - dinner - veegetables (about 100 ml) followed by a sippy cup of water
7 PM - 8 oz bottle.
Bedtime before 8 PM.

I think the aim for now is for them to get use to feeding with the spoon and getting used to different flavours and textures. I plan to make his bottle intake 3x 8 oz a day when he is about 9-10 months old and increase the lunch of solids and introduce a snack meal in the afternoon before dinner.