How much food is your baby eating? - Infant Care (up to 18 months old) Message Board

liloulou · 07-19-2007, 05:17 PM

So my little girl started rice ceral at about 5 1/2 months. She's taking that fine now and will eat a few tablespoons at a time. At six months we started her on sweet potato, then carrot, then peas... She eats about 1/4 of a jar and on a good day she'll eat 1/2 jar. She's 6 1/2 months now.
Her caretaker at daycare commented that she isn't eating a lot and the other kids her age are finishing their jars of food.
Should I be initiating and encouraging her to take more of her food? I really just feed her until she seems uninterested and then I stop. It happens quickly.
Any thoughts?

Tiff24 · 07-19-2007, 06:16 PM

My six month is an oinker. He eats about 17 oz of food on top of his formula and cereal. He's a pig. As for your question about your girl... I don't think you should worry about how much she's eating compared to the other kids. As long as she's getting enough breast milk or formula, I wouldn't be concerned. Some kids aren't big eaters. I think you're doing exactly what you should by giving her food 'til she doesn't seem interested anymore. Babies know how much they need, so you don't have to worry about her over eatting or not getting enough. She'll let you know how much she wants.

Lola26 · 07-19-2007, 07:45 PM

My 7 month old son doesn't seem to enjoy eating solids, so I don't force him to eat very much. However, since he is exclusively breastfed, he does need extra iron so I do make him eat a bit of cereal with fruit each day and put some vitamin drops in. I wouldn't worry about your daughter. She'll let you know when she's ready for more solids.

xinerevelle · 07-19-2007, 08:05 PM

First off, which size jar are you talking about? The stage 1 is 2 oz. while the stage 2 is 4 oz and the stage 3 is 6 oz.

Important tip: the same food is cheaper as a stage 3, but may take a few days to finish. The peas and the sweet potatoes are exactly the same texture as the stage 1 and 2 jars.

Lorelei is just 8 months this week and she doesn't eat a ton at each feeding either, but is gaining weight just fine. She usually eats a third to half of a stage 2 jar plus about 2 tablespoons of cereal. We started yogurt last week (the YoBaby full-fat organic kind) and today she ate almost all 4 oz in one sitting. Yay! She also usually eats (or attempts to, anyway!) a handful of Cheerios at each sitting. (It gives her practice at feeding herself and is pretty cheap.)

liloulou · 07-20-2007, 08:14 AM

I've gotten the small 2 oz. jars. But thanks for the tip xinerevelle with the sizes/costs.
I guess I won't worry about it then. It seems like it can vary a lot. I just wasn't sure if she was behind on the food introduction/eating thing or not. But it sounds like I'm ok as long as I keep introducing foods consistently and let her determine her pace for eating them.
Thanks for all your input.