Baby Parenting Guide

When should i start feeding my baby 2 jars of baby food per sitting?

My son is almost 6 months old and he gets 3 jars a day for breakfast, lunch, and dinner with his formula in between and a cereal bottle at night. When should i start giving him less formula and 2 jars of baby food for lunch and dinner? He is starting to get to where he wont take the formula as much because he likes the baby food better.

Public Response to When should i start feeding my baby 2 jars of baby food per sitting?

1. Never. A baby who wants that much by way of non-milk food should be eating real food, not solely convenience food from jars. What is a "cereal bottle"? Are you putting his breakfast in his formula instead of letting him eat with a spoon? Don't do that.
2. I wouldn't try to replace formula with jarred baby food. The formula is full of all the vitamins and nutrients that he needs but solids are not. Formula should be the focus in formula fed babies for the first year. When my twins were that age they were eating maybe twice a day and still getting 40 oz of formula every day. They are so healthy now at 2 and 1/2.
3. You dont want to decrease the formula at all. If your baby is still hungry after 1 jar you can give another one though. Or move up to 2nd foods, those are bigger servings.
4. Unless he's taking vast amounts of formula (over 40-45 ounces or so) you won't be reducing his formula intake until he's close to a year old. Until then, solids are mostly for fun, with formula or breastmilk the basis of his diet. 3 meals a day is already a lot of solids for an 'almost 6 month old' who really shouldn't be having any solids at all yet, or at most just dabbling in small tastes once or twice a day. (Current sources recommend waiting until around 6 months to even START solids.) So I wouldn't be in any rush to increase the amount further. And you also really shouldn't be putting cereal in his bottles. Solids are fed with a spoon, not a bottle. (No reliable source would recommend putting solids in a bottle.) Still, you can pretty much follow his lead as far as quantity goes. As long as he's getting, and finishing, a regular bottle of formula first at each meal, he can have as much solid food as he enjoys. Formula first, then solids. Or, if it works better for you to offer his solids between bottles, as long as he doesn't reduce his formula over the course of the day, you can increase the solids as he seems to want/need. If he does start wanting less milk, ease off on the solids. EDIT: If he's starting to reduce his milk intake, you do need to cut back, or even stop the solids. Babyfood does not contain the fats and nutrients he needs to grow and thrive.
5. Well, there is no exact science to how much to feed your child. However, when they turn 6 months old you can start replacing 1-2 of the bottles with juice. (usually watered down half juice and half water.) As far as baby food goes I would suggest rather than giving him 2 at a setting add a jar between meals (like a snack) But if you would rather give him two you can do so now. Your son will let you know when he doesn't want more by either spitting it out or pushing his head back to avoid you from putting it in his mouth. (I would suggest giving him a fruit and a vegetable...and make sure to add variety to his food.) Also, you can cook some oatmeal (or give him baby cereal) this help fill them and is also healthy. I would try to wean your child from a cereal bottle at night just so that when you quit giving him bottles he will sleep through the night. (of course if he is on this because he has and problem with acid reflux then obviously don't take him off of it.) If he doesn't sleep well without the cereal than you can always put it back or you can offer it to him like a meal at supper time (just cereal mixed with water or formula, in a bowl) I wouldn't worry about people who say you are feeding your child too much. Every child requires a different amount of food. My son is 8 months old and drinks a bottle every 3-4 hours (except at night) and eats 1 banana plus 2-3 grains a day (cereal, oatmeal, or just some breakfast bread that I have made that is very soft.) and 2-3 other fruits and veggies. (I don't use baby food but that is just because it is much cheaper to make it yourself. Jars of baby food contain the vitamins that a child needs as well.) Hope this helps. Edit: my son weened himself off of formula by 10 months (with the exception of his first bottle in the morning and his last bottle of the day.) My pediatrician didn't care as long as he wasn't loosing weight. (I didn't ween him at this age he just refused to drink formula at this point.)
6. he needs his formula but also they can drink water.(waters good for them) and instead of jars of food get a stick blender and start boiling vegetabals up then blend them.he'll luv it! and there is more to give him! i gave my 7month old pumpkin, patato, broccoli and carrot mashed up she loved it. p.s why would you ween your baby off formula my girl is 16months and she loves her formula and she has cows milk and juices. her formula settles her down and she always falls asleep on her formula.FOR GOD SAKE HE IS ONLY 6 MONTHS OLD. jar food is bad for your baby look on the side of the jar.see all the words you cant understand the meanings for look them up on the internet. its all made up shit.
7. Just a tip: Jars of baby food are a rip-off! If your baby is eating food from jars, he/she will do perfectly fine eating regular (blended/ground up) foods - especially if you're going through multiple jars in one sitting! Eeek! The thought of that makes me dizzy! You can blend/process foods for your baby in a food processor or cheap foodmill. It is soooo much better, because you actually know what's going in to your baby's food and it isn't full of preservatives AND it costs way less!!!
8. Dont replace his formula with jar food. right now until he's 1 most of his nutrients come from his formula, babies under 1 can't live off of solids. Babies grow so much in such a little amount of time, they need all the iron in their formula. Don't do the cereal bottle at night, that only teaches them to overeat since they are just drinking it til the bottle is gone they can't tell when they have had enough. feed cereal from a spoon and allow him to sense when he is full. this just seems like a lot of baby food for a 6 month old. maybe you should try cutting back on baby food and get him used to his formula again.