8 months old diet

lounakin

Hello!
Can anybody tell me what they give to their roughly 8 months old breastfed baby for food during the day?
I cannot think straight these days as I haven't slept in 3 months. Lately she has been more fussy than usual and definitely not teething. She didn't want to eat solids but was gaining weight from nursing quite well.
I decided to try again in the last few days and she's begun to eat purées and finger food but today I got a shock when I weighed her like I do every months: she has lost 300gm since last month!
As I said I'm not thinking straight, I don't really know what to do with her, she's tired but won't sleep and now she's losing weight.

lazygal

lounakin wrote: »

Hello!
Can anybody tell me what they give to their roughly 8 months old breastfed baby for food during the day?
I cannot think straight these days as I haven't slept in 3 months. Lately she has been more fussy than usual and definitely not teething. She didn't want to eat solids but was gaining weight from nursing quite well.
I decided to try again in the last few days and she's begun to eat purées and finger food but today I got a shock when I weighed her like I do every months: she has lost 300gm since last month!
As I said I'm not thinking straight, I don't really know what to do with her, she's tired but won't sleep and now she's losing weight.

Baby eats what we eat, doing baby led weaning. Usually fruit and porridge or rice cakes for breakfast, veg and pasta or bit of low self pitta, mini tuna croquettes, potato cakes for lunch and what we have for dinner, eg fingers of chicken, beef stew, fish with veg, potato or pasta. The amount she eats varies, sometimes she'll need seconds, other times only nibbles. She also has three 7oz bottles and couple of breastfeeds a day. Does your baby have lots of wet and dirty nappies? Some babies eat better when they fed themselves. Ours hates any spoonfeeding.

pwurple

Weaning with lack of sleep can be bonkers altogether. You don't know whether you're coming or going I'd say!

I wonder is the lack of sleeping that she is a tiny bit hungry in the night? Does she settle with a nurse in the night?

Try a few proteins maybe. At that age mine really loved cheese! She was a cheese fiend (like her mammy!). She liked porridge as well... I use to make the ready brek, 30 secs in the microwave for the tiny amount. 1 spoon of ready brek and 2 spoons of milk, stir, zap and add a bit of milk to cool. Put a bit of fruit puree in if you have it handy, but grand on its own too.

Mine gobbled the glenisk baby yoghurts as well.

If you're shattered maybe the ellas kitchen pouches would be handy? I kept a couple of those handy for when I was zonked and I didn't want to defrost a whole thing, only to have her refuse. You can squeeze out 1 spoon and see if there is any interest.

Do you eat lentils or beans yourself? Mine loved those mashed up a bit.

lounakin

She doesn't like to be spoonfed as much as feeding herself but when she does it herself she gets nothing in, she just plays, nibbles and spits out.
She has lots of wet nappies but only 1 dirty a week or week and a half, that was because she didn't eat solids though, it might change now. I try to give her what we eat but unless I mash it and spoonfeed it to her she won't really swallow anything. She loves the mesh feeder but she doesn't get much from there unless it's banana or something that mashes well.
She gets nursed 6 times a day and all through the night, because she doesn't sleep I end up trying to feed her to sleep every couple of hours but that hasn't worked in months now.

Suucee

MY LO is 8.5 months. I dont breastfeed though but when i started weaning i used to give purees and this was fine until she got a little older and more independant and wanted to feed herself.
Breakfast is fine as she is half asleep and doesnt have the energy to do anything (even after getting 12-13 hours sleep)
At lunch she has some beans which i spoonfeed to her and a cheese sandwich which she feeds herself. I would give her a spoon or 2 of beans then she would have some of her sandwich then i would give her more beans, then more sandwich and so on until beans and sandwich are gone. For dinner she normally has what were having eg: potatoes, veg, chicken. I would give her a piece of chicken and maybe brocolli or cauliflour and she can pick these up herself, then i would mash up the rest of the veg and potatoes and spoonfeed these to her as she feeds herself the finger food bits same as lunch, spoon or 2 of mashed up, them feeds herself for a bit (while i feed myself) then another spoon or 2 and so on. She then has a rusk mashed up with her milk just before bed.
She drinks approx 18oz of milk from beaker throughout the day also.
Maybe if you try something like this shes getting to play with it a bit and feed herself and while shes distracted and your getting a bit into her also. I used to use the mesh feeder also and she loved it and then would start fighting with it as she couldnt get it out so i had to just bite the bullet and hand her the food. I found the organix biscuits good in the begining as finger food as they pretty much disolve in the mouth, shes flying now and i can hand her pretty much anything to feed herself, chicken, veg, sandwiches, bananas, grapes, she even managed fairly tender beef in recent days, although i couldnt take my eyes off her. I also reckon that feeding her at the same time as we are eating helps alot also.
I hope you get a bit of sleep soon. When your tired everything seems to be so much hardler.

movingsucks

My 8 month old doesn't eat a whole lot but she is formula fed and doesn't seem hungry.
She looooves Ellas kitchen pouches but if I give her anything I make no matter how mushed or blended it is she gags and spits it out. Divil.

I will say though I did notice the last week or so she has been a lot tireder so I was wondering if there's a growth spurt around now

littlemissfixit

Im wondering what the health nurse thought about the drop of weight, was she concerned about it? Was your daughter weight gain always good before?

I have a near 8 mth old boy, weight gain always been on low side since birth, he was a big baby 10lbs, but then levelled up to a more average weight. I breasfed him exclusive until 5mths, and he is now on 2 bfeeding and 3 bottles formula during the day which normally amount to about 15-18oz. He started food at 5and half months.
I do a mix of spoon and self-feeding. I spoonfeed his breakfast, as he nurses around 5h30-6 am, he is quite hungry at about 7h30-8am. He has either wheetabix or porridge made with formula and some fruits.
Lunch is always self-fed, whatever Im having. Dinner, whatever we're having. If my toddler having snacks and he seems interested and its suitable, he has a go too.
By the way, it took him a long time to manage self-feeding too, they need a lot of practice, so if your just restarting it, I would say its normal she's not getting much that way. Do you feel she has cut down on nursing at all? I always give the milk before, about an hour or so before food to make sure he gets enough of that and that food is just an addition at this stage.
When I feel he didnt get much of the food not for lack of appetite but more lack of skills, the glenisk baby yogurts is always a hit, or smthing you know she loves and can manage better.

Here are some of the things he loves and doesnt waste much of:
Chicken, pasta, berries, toasts, brocoli, fish

lounakin

I haven't brought the baby to a doctor/nurse in 4 months. I don't trust the health nurse around where I live and not the GP either (who is against breastfeeding for longer and is going to tell me to put her on formula). She hasn't been sick and since she was born, she has gained steady weight.
I used to nurse her before feeding her every time but then I switched to see if she'd eat more solids that way. But now because she doesn't sleep, her schedule is way off and it's hard to keep track of meal times and nursing. She's been so ill at ease lately that I end up nursing her just to get her to a more contented state and then give her food. She's been eating eat quite well though so I'll weigh her next week again to see if it worked.

littlemissfixit

It may have been just a wee rough patch that caused her to drop in weight a bit and as you say, she may well be back on track now. They produce the grownth hormone in their sleep if Im not mistaken, so if she wasnt sleeping well, maybe that didn't help either.
I had same experience with health professional, might be worth your while trying to find another gp, even just for the support and reassurance. I found a great one who even encouraged exclusive breastfeeding until at least 6mths and to start weaning only from 6mths if possible. So they are out there, maybe some people around where you live could make recommendations. If she is not sleeping well and ill at ease but feeding on demand, there might be something else bothering her. But they do go through phases dont they, from one day to the next it might be completely different.

pwurple

For the eating herself thing, cheese again.And the ellas pouches mine loved sucking the stuff out of them. The weaning thread has loads of good ideas for finger food. If you are looking for ways to spoonfeed her without a fight... maybe Let her have a spoon in each of her hands and get distracted. Our dinner time for a while was the baby with two spoons having a go herself, me with a spoon, and her dad with a spoon sitting either side with our own food, each sneaking bits into her while she was busy. Otherwise we would be there all day.

Off topic, but as you mention the health nurse... does anyone know are we supposed to be seen by the PHN more than just at the 6 week checkup? That was the last time we heard from ours, and the baby is 23 months old now.

skit490

pwurple wrote: »

For the eating herself thing, cheese again.And the ellas pouches mine loved sucking the stuff out of them. The weaning thread has loads of good ideas for finger food. If you are looking for ways to spoonfeed her without a fight... maybe Let her have a spoon in each of her hands and get distracted. Our dinner time for a while was the baby with two spoons having a go herself, me with a spoon, and her dad with a spoon sitting either side with our own food, each sneaking bits into her while she was busy. Otherwise we would be there all day.

Off topic, but as you mention the health nurse... does anyone know are we supposed to be seen by the PHN more than just at the 6 week checkup? That was the last time we heard from ours, and the baby is 23 months old now.

Had 12 wk checkup n to b seen again at 9 months or possibly 6 months- can't remember but she said I'd get letter about it.

lounakin

skit490 wrote: »

Had 12 wk checkup n to b seen again at 9 months or possibly 6 months- can't remember but she said I'd get letter about it.

Same here, nothing since the 6 week check-up. My friends back home (france) are horrified since they have a check-up with a pediatrician every months of the first year!

lounakin

helenwicox1 wrote: »

Does she settle with a nurse in the night

She used to, but it hasn't happened in a long time.

How Strange

We saw our phn irregularly up to 3 months but she was very pro breastfeeding so I think she popped in to check up on the very few breastfeeding mammies in her area.

Apart from that we had a 6 month, 12 month and 18 month check. They're very important as they check hearing as well as other things I can't remember.

I'd go to your go for an overall checkup now just as a reassurance.

Ds has one undescended testicle that the phn noticed at 3 months and mentioned at all the check ups. Thanks to that I got our go to refer us to Crumlin for a minor procedure to correct it.

So they do serve an important purpose.

How Strange

lounakin the starting solids is a nightmare at times but milk should be the main source of nutrition up to 1 (keep saying food is fun until 1!) so stick with introducing the new textures and tastes and keep up the breastfeeds.

Who knows why she lost a little bit of weight but if she's got plenty of wet nappies and she's generally content then she's doing ok.

As you said she's been sick lately and who wants to eat when they're feeling unwell.

Try offering higher fat and protein foods over fruit or vegetables so maybe Greek yoghurt with jam or berries or chopped boiled egg, scrambled egg, pancakes, cheese, pieces of red meat.

I found those Ella pouches very handy too as my son would suck them. They were a great distraction in ikea!

lounakin

How Strange wrote: »

lounakin the starting solids is a nightmare at times but milk should be the main source of nutrition up to 1 (keep saying food is fun until 1!) so stick with introducing the new textures and tastes and keep up the breastfeeds.

Who knows why she lost a little bit of weight but if she's got plenty of wet nappies and she's generally content then she's doing ok.

As you said she's been sick lately and who wants to eat when they're feeling unwell.

Try offering higher fat and protein foods over fruit or vegetables so maybe Greek yoghurt with jam or berries or chopped boiled egg, scrambled egg, pancakes, cheese, pieces of red meat.

I found those Ella pouches very handy too as my son would suck them. They were a great distraction in ikea!

Actually she hasn't been sick! She's fine, just unhappy all the time, so clingy I haven't been able to make myself tea, lunch or anything when she's awake because the screams are just too piercing after a while!

movingsucks

littlemissfixit wrote: »

Here are some of the things he loves and doesnt waste much of:
Chicken, pasta, berries, toasts, brocoli, fish

For the pasta do you cut that up small or just let him chew on it?

Also are you guys all using highchairs for the self feeding? I have no room for one in my house

pwurple

We have a booster chair in grannys house... It fits onto a normal kitchen chair. You can get small highchairs though... Very neat ones that take up hardly any space.

littlemissfixit

For pasta I use whole fusillis, the shape is easy for them to get a grasp on and at same time, the pasta is not very thick so they get the hang of it a bit better than penne I find.

I have a high chair, but also use a booster with tray, got a travelling one in smyths for 20 euro, it folds back on itself, very handy to visit family. Little man would be a bit too low straight at the table even with booster. Tray makes it very easy to clean too. If you get anything, dont get anything with fabric, even the plastic ones, there are too many nooks and crany, hard plastic all the way, I really regret my high chair now its balls to clean.

Neyite

movingsucks wrote: »

For the pasta do you cut that up small or just let him chew on it?

Also are you guys all using highchairs for the self feeding? I have no room for one in my house

The ikea antilop highchair is lovely and compact: I have a small house and it fits in lovely. You can easily take the legs off it and throw it in a kitchen cupboard.

Lounakin, try giving baby an empty spoon to play with while you spoon feed her. I wonder if the purees are a bit strongly flavoured for her at the moment, maybe mix them with some milk (expressed or formula) and a spoon of rice.

My baby gets porridge/weetabix in the morning with about 3-4 tablespoons of fruit puree mixed in - spiced pear, apple and cinnamon, apple and raisin, plain apple or pear.

Afternoons he gets dinner - mashed potato with a mix of veggies - any combo of carrott, parsnip, butternut squash, sweet potato, brocolli, cauliflour, tomato, red pepper, peas, courgette etc.

For his tea he gets rice with fruit - strawberry, peach, blueberry, mango, papaya, kiwi, or whatever else I have.

The above was mostly "first tastes" I'll be shortly introducing more savory foods for tea - pastas with fish, or chicken, and whatever other recipes in the Annable Karmel book I think he will go for. He gets grated cheese as a snack, Glenisk fromage frais, avocado, and slowly I'm introducing more finger foods as I go along. He is not keen on jars of ready-made.

lazygal

movingsucks wrote: »

For the pasta do you cut that up small or just let him chew on it?

Also are you guys all using highchairs for the self feeding? I have no room for one in my house

Fussili or similar is easy for them to hold. Penne is still too slippy. Rice cake (unsalted) broken into smallish pieces is also good for self feeding.

I also have an Antilop highchair. Such a good buy, much smaller than others. If you wanted to spend a little more something like the Stokke Tripp Trapp fits under the table so it doesn't take up much extra space at all.