Sunflower, pictured above, has this weird thing that she totally thinks she’s hiding in situations like this. She’ll get under something like a table, or behind something like a chair, and think that because there is a physical item between you and her – that you can’t see her. She’s insane. In case you were wondering.
In non-cat news…AndyZ is turning out to be a much better food-eater than his sister. He actually eats most foods you put in front of him. He’s not a big fan of the green veggies if they’re alone, but if you mix them with something orange? He’s all over that. (Unfortunately, the mixture is then the same color as his diapers which makes me gag.) I’m thrilled with this development and hope that when he is 3, he will be eating more than veggie burgers and chicken nuggets (both dipped in ranch, of course) every night for dinner.
However, I am curious how his formula/nursing intake relates to other children his age. Since NikkiZ rarely ate food and would never take a bottle, I never thought about if she was getting enough milk. But AndyZ? Would almost rather have food, so we’re having to make sure he gets enough milk/formula. I’m curious – do you have an 8-month old? Or do you remember when you did? What were his/her eating habits in terms of times nursed or ounces of formula a day?
And also – is it just me or does some baby food smell really good? I opened a jar that was some sort of veggie/pasta combination the other night and thought, If this looked more appealing, I’d totally eat some myself.
Maybe I shouldn’t actually admit those things?
Can’t help with the baby-feeding question but I CAN say that indeed, some baby food smells amazing. I have never been so bold as to try any but I definitely have been surprised by how yummy some of it smells. That’s all.
Apparently Baby food does taste nice as well if you can get past the appearance!
My OH is a youth leader and his favourite game is daring his young people to eat the baby food!
When E was 8 months, he was eating pretty much any jar food I gave him and I was pumping at work. I think I was sending about 8 ounces to daycare and then he nursed in the morning, at 5 pm and then before bed at 8. Though, at nine months, he was in the negative fifth percentile so we had to put him on formula as well. I don’t know if this helps any – my son is small because we are but the dr. was concerned that what he got in a day was not enough, though it seemed like a ton to me!
I have to say, I am not a fan of the baby food smell (especially the mixed veggies – gag). I am therefore so happy that my 7 month old has started on finger food. Much more appealing.
I am also concerned about the milk/solid ratio. But I figure since she is also waking up TWICE A NIGHT (KILLING ME) to eat, she must be getting enough.
Not a fan of the baby food smell — except for Dutch Apple Dessert. I will totally eat an entire jar of Dutch Apple Dessert. Do they still make that?
I know my niece isn’t a big fan of drinking milk. They put it in her sippy cup and will try to get her to drink that,but she would rather have water or juice…not that helps you. She is now a year and half. Maybe niece no. 2 will be more of a milk drinker. Will find out soon!! she will be born in a month and halfish
Re: the photo
I love it when my cat puts JUST HER HEAD under the bed and then thinks she’s all the way under there. I come home all the time with her back end hanging out from under the bed and I think it’s hilarious.
I have a 9 month old now but at 8mo (and still) and she eats about 8oz at daycare in two bottles plus some finger foods. She nurses at 6 and at 10 and then we are lazy too and boob pasifiser/feed her all night and she eats apx at 3am and 6am and is awake at 7:30. I worry that she goes off solids some days and milk others but she is growing and pooping and happy so something is going well.
Anyway – try table food, my baby started getting mad at the spoon early last month but she chows down on cherreos and deli meat and bits of grilled chicken etc…
Delurking because I’m having the same issue with my son, who turned 8 months old on the 10th. He LOVES baby food and would rather have that than formula. I am still managing to get between 18 and 22 ounces of formula in him a day. I’m worried that it’s not enough; he’s my first, so all this baby eating/nutrition stuff seems so COMPLICATED to me.
I love the cat pic!!
The cat cracks me up!
My baby will be 8 mos. old at the end of this month. Right now she eats anything I put in front of her. At daycare she takes two 4 oz. bottles of pumped milk. Before solids she took three but now food is definitely preferred. She nurses in the morning before we leave, then fruit in the morning at daycare, bottle, veggie for lunch, then bottle.
When we get home usually she wants to nurse within an hour and take a catnap. I think it’s more of a comfort thing though, not necessarily just needing the milk. Around 7 we give her more veggies and oatmeal and she’ll nurse until drowsy then off to bed by 8:30.
Right now I’m trying to make sure she gets enough liquid to offset the solids. If she doesn’t I can tell by the diaper the next morning. When that happens I give a bit smaller portion of food for the morning meal in hopes she’ll drink a bit more and usually that works.
When I was in my mid-teens (come to think of it, that’s when my youngest brother was born), my mom and I used to eat baby food peaches or apricots as a snack. Delicious! and nutritious! Plus, if the baby wanted some, we had no guilt in sharing with him, although usually he had his own.
I tend to think that because he saw that we’d eat what he’d eat, as we introduced new foods, he learned not to fear eating what we ate.
I can’t remember what my kids ate when they were 8 months old, or how much. And it hasn’t been that long, they are 14 months and 3 years old now, so my memory must be slipping. I DO remember however how good some baby food smells. In fact, with my first son I wouldn’t feed him anything I hadn’t tasted first (weird, I know) so I would try a tiny bit of the baby foods and a lot of them taste so good. I never could make myself try the meats though. Disgusting.
When my kids were 8 months old, they stil nursed ALL. THE. TIME. Basically, they ate food at meal times and nursed on demand in between. I don’t know how that translates to a working mom, but I do know it was a lot of milk.
As for NikkiZ’s picky eating, my Z is a lot like that. However, I just give her what the adults are eating anyway. Some days she lots and some days not so much. My mom always said no kid would voluntarily starve themselves, and thus far I have found it to be true! Good luck!
Kiernan turns 8 months today, and we worry about the same thing, but have basically just sort of decided that she’s doing okay.
She eats solids 1-2 times a day – a banana and half an avocado or sweet potato in the afternoon, and now, some applesauce in the morning, because she seemed to be waking up hungrier than I could get her full with just the nursing. The banana and the applesauce get some oatmeal in it, and everything gets a heavy sprinkle of fiber powder, since she had some digestive problems as a wee baby and is just now getting over them.
I think the reason she needs the extra food in the morning is that she started sleeping through the night about the same time that she started eating the banana, so she skips a night feeding that she used to have all the time. So now she goes to bed at 7-730, and doesn’t (hopefully) get up until 630 or so, so I have to pump to get rid of some of the milk at night or I will die. So when she wakes up, she’s STARVING and I think basically needs two full meals.
So she nurses once in the morning, gets 2 bottles of expressed breastmilk while I’m at school (4 oz each, usually) and then eats 2 more times when I get home before going to bed. Plus 1 banana, half an avocado or sweet potato, half a cup of applesauce, 4-6 tablespoons of oat cereal, and lots of fiber powder. Occasionally she gets 2 oz or so of pear juice mixed with water as well. Which seems like a TON to me, but she seems happy with it.
I wanna say that when Tony was 8 months old, we were doing 24-32 oz of formula a day (usually 3-4 8-oz bottles) and two jars of baby food a day (but he rarely finished them). Some days more, some days less, but that’s about it.
When my first boy was 8 months old he was drinking about 7 oz of milk about three times a day but he was also drinking water and pedialyte throughout the day. He was eating with us at every meal too.
Mine is currently just about 8 months old, and I always have her nurse/take a bottle before she eats, otherwise she doesn’t drink much either. She typically drinks (and this is a complete estimate based on pumpin output) about 30 ounces a day (including the milk that is mixed in with her cereal). She also eats 2 servings of cereal a day, 3 Tbsp. of vegetables, and 2 Tbsp. of fruit.
Gabbie would so totally rather eat than nurse/take a bottle too, so I can relate to your worries.
That should be “pumping” output. I’m exhausted and so my fingers are moving much faster than my brain at this point.
My dog does the same thing as Sunflower. She loves hiding in plain sight.
My recollection is that my BoyChild, once he started eating real food, became much less interested in his bottle and he gave it up entirely at about a year. When he started real food, he would take a bottle when he first woke up in the morning, before he went down for his naps, and before he went down for the night. During the day, however, he preferred real food. I’m not sure how that translates to breast feeding though.
#3 nursed for a long time (maybe a year) and then switched more or less instantly to all solid food, if I remember rightly. I’m sure we were feeding her solids after maybe 6 months but it can’t have been much. #4 was fussy, started baby cereals around 4-5 months, weaned herself a few months later. She was never all that interested in formula but we must have done some of it, I guess.
In neither case did we pay much attention to quantities. If they didn’t eat, nobody cared. #4 always ate well at lunch and didn’t learn to eat a decent dinner until she was 16. We fussed at her early on, but quickly learned to put one tiny square of everything on her plate. Occasionally she would ask for more.
None of them suffered from lack of food, believe me. I wouldn’t worry about it at all.
And yes, some baby foods do smell nice, and I recall taking a nip or two back in the day.
When both my kids were 8 months, they were eating two jars of veggie/fruit/dinner at each meal plus nursing four times during the day and MULTIPLE times per night. It was fun. Now at 1 year for No. 2, she eats mostly table food and is starting the get two 5-ounce bottles of whole milk during the day and nurses twice a day.
I remember blogging about this very thing (the eating vs formula issue, NOT the (adorable) cat hiding thing). I had a heck of a time getting Kevin to take the amount of formula he was supposed to. He wanted FOOD. I don’t have an answer for you because I just kept trying. When he turned a year old and I switched him to milk and food only, he actually did better gaining weight (although he’s still pin thin) because he ate more from not being full on the formula. *shrug*
I had a room mate in college who used to buy baby food desserts to eat. Grossed me out.
I love the markings on your cat. My cat is very similar but has longer hair. She also likes to “hide” and jump out at you.
http://cookingwithaltitude.blogspot.com/2009/01/annebelle-krazy-cat.html
Dude, that cat picture is cracking my shit up!!!!
At 8 months, my son took 4 bottles/day (7-8 ounces) – when he woke up, before lunch, after afternoon nap and at bedtime. I tried to get him to drink water from a sippee cup but he didn’t learn to do that until 13 months. He ate 3 meals/day of baby food. When he was 11 months I dropped him down to 3 bottles/day and then increased food and added a snack. One thing to remember is that baby food has a very high water content, so you shouldn’t be worried about hydration. You do want to make sure that he is getting enough milk for the protein and fat content because he won’t get much of that from baby food. It all tends to work itself out though…..
Jake used to eat anything I put in front of him but now he is very picky at 2 1/2.
My dr. told me once they start on solid food 3x a day to give a formula bottle at night and in the morning. They also need bottles of watered down juice or water to keep things moving. It has been awhile and things always change. However, 6 years ago that was the advice and they are all alive and somewhat functional:)