How Much to Feed a 6 Month Old????

L.
My son is five months and he eat 3 meals a day. He's really not on a schedule except for when he eat breakfast, lunch and dinner.

This is what a normal day might look like for me...

Breakfast- cereal and fruit
Bottle (maybe right after maybe a little later.)

Bottle

Lunch
Fruit and veggie- my son is on stage 2 but i still mix 1 and 2

bottle (he only drinks about 2-4oz so thats why he gets two bottle before dinner)

bottle

Dinner
Fruit and veggie

Bottle and cereal- before bed.

The thing about how much to feed them is really how much they are going to take that day. Some days my son will eat both jars at a sitting and some times he will only eat a half. So its really a guessing game!

Good luck!

Hi L.,
I would suggest going to the Gerber website (www.gerber.com). They have a lot of useful information and you can print out sample menus for you to follow. My son is 8 months old and he is an "independent sitter" according to Gerber. I follow the menu for that and my son is thriving! When he starts to crawl, I will follow the menus for that particular time in his life!

About his hard stools, my mother-in-law convinced me to start using infant acidolphilus, or infant probiotics. If you are not familiar with what that is, it is good bacteria, the same bacteria that are found in yogurt. It helps maintain healthy intestinal track and strengthen the immune system. I was very skeptical about this as I am not into holistic medicine, but I have been using this since my son was about 3 months old and he poops every day at least 2 times and sometimes 3! His stools are ALWAYS soft. Not runny or loose, but soft. Seeing is believing. Asked the Dr. too if it was OK to use and he gave me the thumbs up for me to use. It is not medicine, just the same strains of bacteria that are used in yogurt. If you are interested go to this website www.florahealth.com. I use Udo's Choice Infant's probiotic; 1/2 teaspoon in his morning formula every day. Good luck to you!
K. L

I wouldn't worry to much about your sons tummy. He will let you know if he has had enough and exactly what he does and does not want. The one thing I did that you don't seem to be doing is cereal right before bed. Sure makes for a good sleeper.
As far as the hard stools. My doctor ALWAYS said to use the Karo syrup. It really did work wonders. If things get so bad that he hasn't gone for a bit and needs some relief, there are suppositories that can be used on little guys. (Ask CVS Pharmacy) I used them and within 20 minutes, my little one was cleaned out. (At least if he wasn't he sure smelled that way.) Good luck to you. Shannon G.
PS. Stage 2 foods- Try him on it and see how he does. Worst case is that you waste a buck cause you have to throw it out.

I am going through the same stage with my 6 mo. old daughter. I give her about 2 ounces of food at breakfast along with a bottle. She's only 16 lbs. so she's just not as hungry as my son was (who could eat and eat and eat and eat, and I just let him since he knows best) so she'll sometimes eat another ounce or two at lunch, but sometimes just a bottle. Then at dinner I'll give her about 2 ounces of food with a bottle. She also has other bottles throughout the day. I leave it up to her, but making sure that she's getting at least 24 ounces of formula/day (that's what my Dr. said is the minimum), and then the rest is however much food that she wants.
Just remember that the formula/breastmilk is what makes them grow now and the food is just to get them used to different tastes and textures.
My son was just as big as your little boy at 6 months and he's still eating non-stop at 27 months. He's tall and thin for his age now so I'm not worried. If he wants lots of food give it to him, just make sure it's balanced and healthy.

I was feeding mine about every 3 hours--b'fast (cereal), lunch (fruit and veg), afternoon snack (cereal mixed with a fruit), and dinner (meat/veg and fruit). My daughter won't take formula, so I offer water with meals and breastfeed at bedtime and early AM. My Dr. said to move on to the stage 2's after we tried all the 1's, not much difference in consistency, but most 2's are combinations of things...watch for anything you're giving him that he hasn't had before (for allergies). Also, my daughter liked prunes and they worked fast to loosen the poo.

All three of m kids were eating three meals a day at 6 months, my two boys were eating stage 2 foods pretty much after they tried all the stage one. All three of my kids were eating all table food by 9 months My youngest was a big eater, high metabolism, I think, because he's a skinny thing. Anyway, he was eating stage 2 foods, mixed with cereal, at every meal. An example would be, a stage 2 fruit mixed with cereal in the morning, a stage 2 veggie/cereal and a stage 2 fruit/cereal for lunch, and a stage 2 dinner or another veggie/cereal for dinner, usually followed by yobaby yogurt or a stage 2 dessert/cereal. All three of my kids preferred the consistency of the baby food thicker, so that's why they had cereal mixed in the food. Also, he nursed or had formula throughout the day. Babies will let you know when they are full, and I noticed that my boys could eat like CRAZY! My daughter was a little less ravenous!

Good luck!

what do you put in those bottles? Formula is a complete meal with all the fiber he needs. I never mixed formula and real food at the same time. I did formula at lunch time and with snacks but only enough to wet his whistle. I also used juice to make the cereal and snacks were things like frozen peas, corn thawed out and finger squished and soft fruits or cooked ones. Mine loved cooked apples. Get creative and use a Mess Feeder for harder things they can gum it. My grandson Loves his feeder. A little hard to wash but is worth it. Good Luck L.

Hi,
My son is a little older- almost 7 months- but I recently was looking around for information about this topic too. I have been trying to follow this schedule:

early AM- breastmilk (or formula)

breakfast- breastmilk (or formula)
infant cereal
fruit or vegggie

lunch- breastmilk (or formula)
infant cereal
fruit or veggie

snack or dinner- breastmilk (or formula)
fruit or veggie

before bedtime- breastmilk (or formula)

I think stage 2 foods start at 6 months. Also I read that foods that are good for loosening stools are: strained peaches, prunes, and any green veggies. Good luck!

I feed my 6 month old 3 meals a day and a 6oz bottle in between the meals. I think she gets around 22ozs of milk (breast or formula) and in the morning she gets oatmeal or rice cereal, a bottle and sometimes some fruit. For lunch she gets some meat/veg mix and then for dinner some veg or meat and then some fruit mix. I modulate her food based on her bms - oatmeal when they are runnier, rice cereal when they are firmer, more or less fruit etc. I have a weighing sclaes and so keep an eye on how much she is gaining. I have read that mothers are more interested in balanced meals but the babies really need the milk(breast or formula) more than anything else. The American Academy of Pediatrics has some good leaflets on feeding.

You of coarse want him to try every thing before you start mixing it up too much, my doctor said to introduce one every 4 days or so. It's a somewhat slow process. I wouldn't introduce both luch and dinner at the same time, but you don't have to wait a real long time either. Your doctor is right, it is kinda up to you. In the scheme of things, it dosen't really matter how it's done, as long as your baby is responding okay. For our daughter, if stools got too thick, our doctor said it was okay to give her some juice, but didn't recomend juice other than that because of cavities and whatnot. But as soon as he has handled one transition of food, introduce another. Whether it be a new food or a new time of day. I always waited a week before changing anything.

Hope this helps!

As far as how much to feed him, the fact is that at this age he'll still eat exactly as much as he needs. If he seems to be getting hungry in the afternoons and evenings, then dinner probably is in order.

Hi L.:

I am the mother of three wonderful boys, ages 9, 7, and 1. I too had big babies; all were off the chart by 6 mos. old. You should try giving your son dinner. If he doesn't want it he will let you know. Also, what kind of cereal are you giving him? Rice coupled with a bottle of formula will surely bind him. You should try oatmeal, it has more fiber and will loosen his stool. Also try water or prunes, those always are sure bet. Start by giving him 4 ozs. of water. He may only drink 2 ozs but he will work his way to drinking the entire bottle. Prunes are a stage 1 food so it won't be harsh on his system. If all else fails, you may need to give him a little corn syrup in water. I only say this because hard stools can cause tears (fissures) around his anus hole and can be painful. This happened to my 1 year old.

When my dd was 6 mos old she ate cereal in the morning, a veggie at lunch (stage 2) and a Gerber dinner at dinner time. She would only eat about half the container of food at each sitting. If I could, I'd try to get her to eat a fruit at dinner also. She would have a 6 oz bottle in the am, one in the afternoon and another before bedtime. Sometimes she'd get another one during the day if she seemed really hungry. I'm not sure if that's the right amount of food or not. Check out Gerber's website. They have a good feeding schedule and plan.

my girls are 7 months now. But At 6 months I ws giving them a bottle when they got up. About an hour later cereal with fruit. For mid morning another bottle. AT abut 100-130 a fruit or veg. Then mid afternoon bottle. At around 400-430 dinner which was veg. and fruit. Then a bottle before bed. My doc said that bottle was still main source of nutrition so they should still get 4 bottles a day. I found that they still drank the same amount of formula with that feeding schedule. If you feel that thats too much you can take away they lunch feeding at first. Good luck.