how much solids 6-9 months?

[jewels]

So I have a perfect little vegan baby girl thats almost 7 months. I have tried to search for answers on how much I should fed her but only come up with a clear guide to 9 months on nothing for 6-9. so how much should she eat? I try to feed her 3 times a day thats what the dr said to do a fruit a vegetable and cereal, but she didnt say how much, so how much do i feed her?

[Christa]

Rose Elliot has a book entitled "The Vegetarian Mother & Baby Book" that is pretty good with questions of what to feed at each age and how much. It is not vegan, but most the suggestions are easy to translate into vegan.

Anyway, at 7 months your baby should probably want to eat 1-2 tablespoons of pureed vegis, fruits, and/or cereals. I would estimate that a total of 2-4 tablespoons of "solids" at each meal will probably be plenty, but don't push it if she doesn't want to eat it all. One the other hand, if she is super hungry, give her another tablespoon or 2 :)!

I was probably lazy, as I tended to just put the food in front of the girls on a big plastic tablecloth & let them feed themselves, but I also figured that they would know how much they wanted and eat accordingly, as well.

I believe that I started some more solid "solids" at around this age with my girls, too. I used to cook up chunks of baby carrots until they were really soft, or give them teething biscuits. In the next month or so, you could probably give her some soft semi-mashed beans to eat, as well. Both of my girls loved baked beans - a bit sweet, but they were favorites.

[Erin Pavlina]

I would probably feed her more than 3 times a day. Babies' stomachs are smaller than ours and they need to eat more frequently.

At that age, I was giving my daughter several jars a day of organic baby food. Fruits and veggies mainly. At 9 months we added grains.

Read Becoming Vegan by Brenda Davis and Vesanto Melina. There's a great food guide for kids that age.

[vegma]

Hi Jewels,

My understanding is that in the first year of life, any food other than breastmilk (etc.) is just an intro to get the baby used to the idea of food - not to actually nourish. So I always let my little guy go at his own pace. If he wanted some food, fine; if he wanted more, fine; if not, that was fine too. I was fascinated to learn that breastfeeding on demand and letting the baby/child choose how much and when to eat when solids were introduced, sets them up to eat only when they're hungry .. i.e. not to overindulge.

[5xblessed]

I don't think there is a "right" amount to feed kids. Each one is very different. I would say nurse first and then offer solids. If they quit opening their mouths for more they're done. I tended to skip "baby food". I offerred crackers, toast or smashed banana or avacado and whatever they got in their mouths I figured was enough. If the baby is growing and gaining steadily I wouldn't worry about trying to get it "just right".
Lisa

[tina]

I second the post that breastfeeding should be the baby's primary source of nutrition still...There are many children who are breastfed on demand and never eat any solids in the first year of life, yet they still grow and develop and are very healthy. We give our baby tastes of foods if she is interested in them and they are appropriate. We do not force the matter in any way nor do we worry about it. We did with our first and she wnated NOTHING to do with solids until she was over 14 months old. We saw that she grew and developed still way ahead of the average so we have learned not to worry about it. Ironically, dd#2 wants to eat any and everything...but we still do not give her much...it is our belief that breastmilk is still the perfect nutrition for her growing body and the other foods will actually just disrupt that while giving her incomplete nutrition. Breastmilk comes first in our house. :)
Tina

[bachlva]

Ditto vegmama & tina ... from what I have researched. We have the same motto around here [BM coming 1st for the 1st year, that is]. ;)

[Krystal323]

how much food she eats depends very much on how much milk she drinks--if you're still nursing at this age LLL recommends to just let them taste foods and if they're hungry always nurse first then offer food becuse breastmilk is more calorie-dense than most foods are. If you're giving her formula, however, then you should probably feed solids first and offer bottles afterwards, says LLL. You gotta keep an eye on her fat intake--my son was formula fed and I wanted to take him off at one year and so I just gave him silk and there wasn't nearly enough fat in it for him to grow properly! Now, he still drinks infant soy formula occasionally and he's four!!! Check out your local LLL or the book The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding for more tips on what to feed. If your baby's still nursing I wouldn't worry about food intake for at least another six months! BTW Rose Elliot's veg mother-baby book IMO will cause you to wean unnnecessarily with all the food she's got your kid eating at such a young age!!! The American Natural Hygiene Society recommends 50-100% of a baby's diet be breastmilk until one year or age, and 25-50% breastmilk until age two. It's still natures' perfect food y'know!! ;) Good luck!