Is your baby finally eight months old? As loving and caring parents, you simply need to find out what the baby should become now and how often the baby needs to be fed at this age. Natural nutrition of a child at 8 months differs from artificial nutrition. However, it varies up to a year.
Feeding meat
At 8 months old, doctors allow a baby to be given broth cooked with meat, and even add a little vegetable puree. In order for a child to learn to eat bread, it is recommended to crumble a small piece of it into the broth. You can also be allowed to eat sweet cookies.
A child of one month, who is strict and precise, should eat boiled meat, as it contains many vitamins and amino acids, protein, and minerals. Doctors recommend using poultry or beef to feed your baby. These varieties are not so fatty, which means they are more easily absorbed by the child’s body. In addition, all useful substances are preserved in such meat. But before you include boiled meat in your 8-month-old baby’s menu, you need to have him fully examined by a pediatrician to avoid various troubles.
Diversity
A child's diet at 8 months should be varied, not only so that the baby does not get bored with the same food, but also so that he gets everything useful substances, found in products.
You can add cereals to the meat.
Instead of meat, the baby should be fed fish broth 2 times a week. Fillet is best suited for its preparation. And you need to carefully check that there is not a single bone in the liquid. And fish is very useful for a growing organism.
Also, the baby must be fed with cottage cheese once a day, but not more than 50 g.
Despite the fact that by the age of 8 months a child already has 2-3 teeth, all food must be thoroughly crushed.
Vegetable puree soup
After testing the meat broth for 14-16 days, the menu of an 8-month-old child should include vegetable puree soup, to which you can add 1-2 teaspoons of cream and half a boiled chicken yolk. But the portion should not exceed 200 g.
It is worth adding 2-2.5 small spoons of oil to the puree to improve the taste and absorption of nutrients. Just like in meat broth, it is recommended to put a small cracker or just a small piece of bread in vegetable soup so that the baby gets used to it. In addition, all pediatricians recommend giving children a little kefir after 6 months to improve stomach function and more.
After vegetable soup, you can pamper your baby with a fruit dessert by making puree from it. Or drink natural, preferably freshly squeezed, juice.
If an 8-month-old child, whose daily routine was prescribed above, follows it, he will certainly grow up to be a healthy and strong person.
Meal schedule
Rules for natural feeding of children without allergies:
- Give your child no more than 250 ml of mother's milk or formula and no more than 60 ml of natural juice per day.
- fruit puree, but not more than 60 g per day. Give mother's milk or milk porridge - no more than 190 g per day, adding 2 small spoons of butter and 50 g of cottage cheese.
- Make broth for your child, adding vegetable puree (150 g), crumble a small piece of bread. The volume of soup should not exceed 0.23 liters. Afterwards you need to give the child juice (0.05 l).
- Instead of your own milk, you can feed your baby kefir, but not more than 0.016 liters, pampering your baby with sweet baby cookies. Give pureed vegetables and fruits, approximately 50-60 g each.
- Breastfeeding or formula - 0.22 l.
Nutrition for a child with a cow's milk allergy:
Child's daily routine
By 8 months the baby becomes more active. It is very important to pay attention to all the nuances of his upbringing, because at this time the child begins to communicate with society.
Sweet dreams
A child of months, whose daily routine becomes more eventful, sleeps less and plays more, has fun, is capricious, cries, laughs.
The baby has more strength, and therefore, instead of the previous 2 hours of wakefulness, he may now not want to sleep for 3-4 hours. Parents will also have to gather their strength, because parenting is work.
Toys for an 8 month old baby become more attractive. And often the baby does not want to sleep during the day at all, which frightens the young mother.
Ideal regimen for an eight month old baby
6:00 - 7:00
Climb! The baby wants to eat.
6:30 - 8:00
The child needs a morning walk.
8:00 - 10:00
The walk was completely exhausting. Need some sleep.
Waking up the baby. We need to eat.
10:30 - 14:00
During this time, the baby needs to do so many useful things! Exercise, washing, massage. And walk again!
14:00 - 14:30
14:30 - 16:00
The little one goes to rest, falls asleep if possible, allowing her mother to do her own thing for a little while.
16:00 - 18:00
The baby goes to play with her favorite toys. By the way, toys for an 8-month-old child should be different than before, so their range needs to be reconsidered.
19:30 - 22:00
The baby wakes up and asks to eat. You need to feed him, and he will fall asleep until the morning.
Of course, a child rarely observes all this. But if you roughly follow this schedule, the baby will be brought up correctly and grow healthy, strong, strong.
Baby's whims
Which must be strictly observed, does not always obey parental rules. The reason for this may be:
- Mother's milk. A mother gives her baby milk too often. Should be given only after the main meal.
- Violation of the daily routine. The development of a 7-8 month old child depends on this, so failure to comply with it can harm the child. Even if something has changed in plans, the baby needs to be fed strictly according to the clock, then everything will be fine.
- Teeth. This is the most common cause of whims. The baby experiences pain when teething, and the touch of a spoon to the gums causes discomfort, so the baby refuses to eat. In this case, you cannot insist. Let him eat as much as he can.
- Room temperature. If a child cries without apparent reason, then most likely the room is too hot. Scientists have proven that high temperature Children have a harder time with air. Therefore, you need to constantly ventilate the house, but at the same time do not forget about the health of the baby. Do not create drafts where the baby is. Before airing at night, it is good to cover the child so that he does not catch a cold.
Young parents probably wonder when their child turns 8 months old: “What can he do and what should he be able to do at that age?” It all depends on how often they engage with their baby. The more they teach him now, the more hobbies, aspirations and passions he will have in the future.
Important foods in the diet of an eight-month-old baby
At this age, the baby's main food is still breast milk or formula. Their volume will reach 700-900 milliliters per day. But adult food is still in second place, although the composition of complementary foods is already expanding. The child becomes more and more familiar with new tastes and develops a food interest.
Let's see what you can add to your diet:
Cereals:
In addition to buckwheat, rice and corn cereals, oatmeal is added. Also, a child can already try pasta and noodles for soups. But it is better to introduce bread no earlier than a year.
Vegetables:
Additionally, broccoli and cauliflower, spinach, and green beans are introduced.
Fruits
The child can already try bananas, prunes, plums, peaches, nectarines and apricots.
Meat
Add turkey, rabbit, chicken and veal to your menu. But you should refrain from soups with meat broth for now.
Eggs
Since eggs can cause allergies, try a hard-boiled yolk first. A whole egg can be given after a year.
Fish
This is a new food product. Cod is a good introduction to fish for an eight-month-old baby.
Oil
Give preference to butter, olive and sunflower oils.
Dairy products
Many mothers introduce them as early as possible to provide the baby with calcium. You can give pureed cottage cheese and yogurt.
Cookie
Children's cookies should be added in small portions and if the child already chews well.
Beverages
Except breast milk or mixtures, offer the child other liquids: water, juice or compote.
How to cook and serve food
The child can be given thermally processed vegetables and fruits. We cook food mostly in soft and puree form. It is better to make porridge boiled for feeding the baby.
At this age, the child begins to grab food himself and is already better able to chew. To practice these skills, offer food in bite-sized pieces so that he can pick it up with his hand. For example, bananas, pasta, meat and vegetables. Never leave your baby unattended while feeding. Do not give grapes, raw carrots, or raisins, as they are easy to choke on.
Offer a new food in the morning. And in the evening you can familiar to a child dishes.
A table with an example of what the daily menu of an 8-month-old baby might look like (suitable for both breastfeeding and IV):
We remember that this is just one example of nutrition at this age.
It is no coincidence that the age of eight months is called a turning point in the development of a baby, since it is from this time that the gradually increasing dynamics of his physical and social activity become more and more obvious. The daily routine is 8- one month old baby there is a persistent tendency towards the predominance of periods of active wakefulness over periods of sleep. Communicating with the baby day by day becomes more and more interesting, although it is also more troublesome for the mother, who is constantly next to him.
Sample daily routine for an 8 month old baby
- 6:00-8:30 Time to wake up, first feeding, and light massage, completing the air bath procedure.
- 8:30-10:00 The first sleep is preferably on fresh air.
- 10:00-10:30 Baby's second meal.
- 10:30-14:00 Active leisure, including performing morning exercises, massage and educational games.
- 14:00-14:30 Time for the third meal.
- 14:30-16:00 Second period of daytime rest. It's better to combine it with a walk.
- 16:00-18:00 A period of active acquaintance with the environment, time for developmental activities and fulfillment physical exercise.
- 18:00-18:30 Baby's fourth meal.
- 18:30-20:00 Walk in the fresh air.
- 20:00-22:00 Games with close relatives, the procedure for the child’s evening bathing.
- 22:00-22:30 Evening feeding of the baby.
- 22:30-6:00 Night rest period.
A few more additional options with a daily routine (you will already choose the best option, taking into account the characteristics of your baby):
Upon comparative study of the tables, one can notice that the daily routine that organizes the life of a child at 8 months has not undergone significant changes (compared to the previous period). It still includes five feedings with a four-hour interval between them and two walks in the fresh air. Only the time of daytime rest has been reduced, since the child is able to remain active for 5-6 hours.
About the need for rest
The sleep of an eight-month-old child, which has a phase of superficial and deep sleep, begins to resemble the dream of an adult. A baby who is sound asleep does not react to any external stimuli; his reflex reactions during this period are significantly reduced. The level of brain activity during night sleep decreases to a minimum.
- The most long period rest in the daily routine of an 8-month-old baby is night sleep, usually amounting to at least eight hours;
- Daytime sleep becomes biphasic. Most babies go for one and a half to two hour naps twice during the day, although there are often cases when its duration does not exceed forty minutes. Some eight-month-old babies rest only once during the day, and the duration of this rest can be at least four hours;
- On average, a child needs eleven hours of sleep per day, although some babies continue to sleep for thirteen hours.
It is easy to guess from his behavior that the baby is tired and needs rest. The baby becomes lethargic, stops actively reacting to what is happening, begins to yawn and rub his eyes with his fists, his breathing becomes deeper and more even. Having noticed all these signs, the mother should change the baby's clothes and send him to his crib.
About proper sleep organization
In order for the baby to sleep as soundly and calmly as possible, you need to take care of creating optimal conditions for him.
- The humidity level in the children's room should be no lower than 70%, and the air temperature should not be higher.
- Before putting the baby in the crib, you need to take care of pre-ventilation of the room: air saturated with oxygen will promote deeper breathing for the baby.
- Using a properly selected orthopedic mattress () and a neatly made crib that does not have folds on the surface of the sheet is another condition for long-term sleep.
- It is necessary to put the baby to bed in accordance with the usual daily routine.
- To ensure a restful sleep for your baby, you should shade the window and turn down the volume of the TV and radio (low background sounds not only do not interfere, but also help your baby fall asleep well).
- It is very useful to give him a relaxing massage and sing a lullaby before putting your baby to bed.
- A long night's rest is always facilitated by a walk in the fresh air and a bathing procedure (after soaking in warm water and playing enough, the baby will fall asleep faster and more soundly).
An important point concerns children who tend to roll over on their back in their sleep and sleep with their nose buried in the pillow. The baby must be turned over immediately, accompanying his actions with stroking on the back, quiet singing or monotonous affectionate muttering. If the baby, scared, wakes up, you can simply pick him up and, shaking him slightly, put him back in the crib.
To make it easier to control the sleep of a baby who turns over in his sleep, you can completely remove the side wall of the crib and move it to the mother’s bed, aligning the levels of the beds. Holding the baby by the hand, the mother can either sleep peacefully all night (if the baby behaves calmly) or wake up at the right moment. It is known that sleep caring parents is particularly sensitive and intermittent. Feeling the movement of the little hand, the mother will wake up and control the baby’s behavior.
About the intricacies of feeding
A child's diet at 8 months becomes quite varied. In addition to the dishes and drinks that are well known to him (vegetable and fruit purees, multi-grain and milk porridges, baby cottage cheese, kefir, tea and juices), the baby begins to receive meat. For baby food Low-fat varieties are excellent: chicken breast, rabbit and turkey meat.
When introducing meat into your baby’s diet, it is better to add it little by little to the vegetable puree. A good way to get acquainted with a new product is to add meat, chopped to crumbs, to children's soups cooked in vegetable or meat broth.
Instead of meat, you can add yolk to soups chicken egg, strictly ensuring that both of these are sufficient heavy product did not end up in the child’s stomach within one day (they should be alternated, giving on different days).
Many mothers of eight-month-old babies believe that at this age it is time to wean them off breast milk. This is a wrong position. Most experienced pediatricians say that you should breastfeed your baby for as long as possible. Of course, the nutritional value of mother’s milk alone is no longer enough for a grown baby, so it needs to be applied to the breast at least twice a day: when waking up and when going to bed at night.
Note to moms!
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Since breast milk is food and not drink for an 8-month-old baby, it must be given special baby tea or boiled water. During the day, the baby should receive approximately a liter of solid food and 600 ml of liquid(in the form of juices, teas, herbal decoctions, water and breast milk).
The daily diet of a child at 8 months should look something like this:
- Breakfast: mother's milk or formula.
- Second meal: porridge (with water or milk), fruit drink or children's tea.
- Dinner: vegetable soup with the addition of meat or yolk (you can make vegetable puree instead of soup), fruit juice.
- Fourth meal: fruit puree or baby cottage cheese.
- Feeding before bed: breastfeeding or porridge (for artificial babies).
Starting from the age of 8 months, the baby must be taught to wash his hands before eating: if you do this regularly, he will soon develop good habit associated with feeding. This useful skill will be useful to the baby when he goes to school. kindergarten. Read the article about 4 main useful skills which you should teach your child before kindergarten -
Helpful tips for moms:
About physical activity and walks
By 8 months, the baby achieves great success: thanks to stronger muscles, he can sit confidently without any support, crawls well, moving from room to room, stands on his feet and begins to walk with the support of both arms.
To consolidate these achievements and lay the foundation for future successful development, the baby needs regular physical activity: performing morning exercises and sets of special exercises to strengthen the ligamentous-muscular system.
Introduces mother to a set of gymnastic exercises nurse in the office healthy child. When performing exercises for flexion and extension of the limbs, performing circular rotations with the arms and feet of the baby, the mother must be extremely attentive and careful, making sure that the active baby does not get injured during an awkward turn.
To make gymnastics enjoyable for your child, after each exercise you should perform several relaxing massage movements. Total duration physical exercise for an 8-month-old baby can be 15-20 minutes a day. Before performing gymnastics, it is necessary to ventilate the room well.
Spending a long time in the fresh air is extremely beneficial for a child’s development, which is why pediatricians advise using every opportunity for the baby to walk as often and for as long as possible. Two two-hour walks should be a mandatory component of your daily routine.
Inhaling oxygen-enriched air promotes:
- active development of the cerebral hemispheres;
- oxygen saturation of the cells and tissues of the child’s body;
- deep and long sleep.
The arsenal of educational activities for a child can be replenished with new interesting games:
- Children like to rearrange bright cubes, disassemble multi-colored pyramids and lay out objects from boxes;
- If you place as many toys as possible in your baby's crib, he will enthusiastically begin to throw them out of it. During this strange (from the point of view of an adult) game, the child develops coordination of movements, an eye, all muscle groups are strengthened, and a lot of energy is spent;
- Kids love active games, so you can give them the opportunity to “fly an airplane” in dad’s arms or experience the delight of playing “boom hole”;
- To develop coordination of movements and motor skills of small muscles, you can offer your baby a toy wrapped in soft wrapping paper (you need to wrap it away from him). Satisfying his natural curiosity, he will certainly begin to unfold it;
- When instilling in a child an interest in books, it is necessary to teach him to carefully look at the illustrations, accompanying the process with comments about who is shown in the picture. If it is an animal, you can talk about its size, habits, favorite treats, and demonstrate what sounds it makes;
- In a fascinating role-playing game You can even transform the usual procedure of bathing your baby. Taking a plastic boat, the mother can show the baby how it can be used to transport a small toy. You can bathe his favorite doll or rubber toy in front of the child's eyes, soaping it with a piece of sponge and repeating the same words that are usually used when bathing a baby. After this, the baby will certainly want to perform this action on his own. The kids really love pouring water. To do this, they should have buckets, watering cans or small bottles at their disposal (). Water procedures, beloved by most kids, require great care from parents. It should be remembered that the baby sitting in the bath should not be left unattended, even for one moment. It is also undesirable to remove the plug that covers the drain hole of the bathtub when a child is in it. The sight of rapidly receding water and the sounds it makes can frighten him and cause him to die.
Daily adherence to the established daily routine is a guarantee of excellent mood, successful development and good health 8 month old baby.
VIDEO GUIDE: 8 months: development, nutrition, sleep and daily routine, what he can do
In this video I will tell and show what a child can and can do from 7 to 8 months of life. I will touch on such important issues as complementary feeding, development, our achievements, the child’s daily routine and sleep, as well as some other topics. You will be able to get some idea of what a child is like from 7 to 8 months, what he can do and how he develops.
For full growth and development, the menu for an 8 month old baby is artificial feeding must be correctly selected, taking into account all individual characteristics nutrition.
Artificial nutrition means that the baby, for one reason or another, does not receive mother's milk, but eats special formulas, which, of course, have good composition. But nothing can replace breast milk and therefore very it is important to meet all the needs for vitamins and microelements due to the introduction of a wide variety of foods acceptable at this age. At 8 months, the baby is already actively crawling, sitting well, and can even stand, leaning on something. He is preparing to walk and, therefore, he needs many times more energy for this process. Therefore, it is so necessary to introduce as many healthy foods as possible into the diet of an eight-month-old baby.
It is extremely important to teach your child to correct regimen nutrition - he should eat at the same time. The baby should have his own children's plate and mug. Moreover, each new product is introduced gradually. Parents monitor the tolerance of certain foods, weight gain and development of the child.
Diet in table form
Every month, parents visit their local pediatrician to monitor the health of their baby. There they also receive all nutritional recommendations for children under one year old. Usually tables are provided with a list of products and their quantities. A bottle-fed baby's nutrition at 8 months can be presented in the following table:
| Feeding No. | Diet | Volume |
| I feeding 06.00 | First breakfast. Usually lightweight. Formula milk | 180.0-200.0 ml |
| II feeding 10.00 | Lunch. Be sure to eat porridge - corn, buckwheat, rice, pearl barley. Vegetables in puree must be fresh and boiled. Porridge Fruit puree Yolk | 170 ml 30.0 ml 1/2 |
| III feeding 14.00 | Dinner. The presence of steamed or boiled meat dishes is required. The meat should not be fatty or tough. For vegetable puree, you can use carrots, beets, zucchini, and cabbage. The juice should not be concentrated. Vegetable puree Vegetable oil Meat puree Fruit juice Bread | 180 ml 1 tsp. 50 ml 70 ml 5 g |
| IV feeding 18.00 | Dinner. Consists of light dishes. Infant formula Cottage cheese Fruit puree Cookies | 110 ml 40.0 g 50.0 ml 10 g |
| V feeding 22.00 | Formula milk | 200.0 ml |
According to the table, a child’s diet at 8 months should be healthy and varied. For better absorption It is recommended to process food with a blender or mixer. Ready-made purees and porridges should not be placed in the refrigerator and then reheated. This will not be good for your baby. All vegetables and fruits must be washed thoroughly before use. Do not under any circumstances eat unripe or stale foods on the menu of an 8-month-old baby.
Diet products
The diet of an 8-month-old baby includes a huge list of products, including:
- fish and meat soup;
- all kinds of vegetable purees;
- porridge with added butter;
- fermented milk products - kefir, fermented baked milk, yoghurts;
- various fruits and greens in small quantities;
- meat products, boiled or steamed;
- compotes, natural juices (diluted).
It is necessary to realize the importance of all these products for the nutrition of an 8-month-old baby and follow the regimen, frequency of feedings, and cooking techniques.
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Nutrition of a child of the first year of life is the most important issue for every mother. An 8-month-old baby is just beginning to explore various foods, and his diet is expanding significantly. What should a child's nutrition be like at 8 months when breastfed and bottle-fed? What to do if your baby refuses complementary foods? We will talk about this in our article.
A child at 8 months is actively growing and moving a lot, so feeding the baby becomes a primary issue for parents. The menu for a child of this age can already be quite varied. But first of all, the choice of products still depends on the type of feeding - breast or artificial. We will talk about them in the following chapters.
Menu for a bottle-fed 8 month old baby
The nutrition of a bottle-fed 8-month-old child should be balanced and varied so that he receives all the necessary vitamins, minerals and trace elements from food. The daily volume of food is about 1 liter, that is, approximately 200 ml per feeding. The baby should eat five times a day with an interval of 4 hours. In this case, milk formulas are necessarily present in the baby’s diet. He should receive them on the first and last feedings of the day (early in the morning and in the evening before bed).
Complementary foods for a formula-fed baby are introduced a little earlier than for a baby. During the day, he may have three main meals consisting of complementary foods: breakfast, lunch and dinner. Moreover, now you should be accustomed to the order of dishes: porridge for breakfast, soup for lunch.
At 8 months the baby already receives different kinds products:
- milk porridges: oatmeal, buckwheat, corn, rice, barley;
- vegetables: cauliflower, broccoli, zucchini, potatoes, carrots, etc.;
- fruits: apples, pears, prunes, pumpkin, etc.;
- meat: turkey, rabbit, veal, beef, poultry;
- fish: for an artificial baby who began to receive complementary foods from 4 to 5 months, fish can be introduced as early as 8 months. Choose lean varieties with white meat and introduce it into food very carefully and gradually;
- As a snack, eight-month-old babies can already be offered kefir or baby yogurt, a small piece of bread and butter, cookies and fruit juice.
Menu for a breastfed 8 month old baby
Basic principles of baby nutrition breastfeeding coincide with artificial ones: five feedings a day at intervals of about 4 - 4.5 hours.
Breast milk remains an integral part of the diet. Try to maintain this type of feeding for as long as possible. To do this, be sure to feed your baby on demand at night. In addition, the first morning and last evening feedings should also be breast milk.
During the day, an eight-month-old baby can receive 2 or 3 complementary foods. This can be a full breakfast, lunch and dinner, which ends with breast milk. Compared to artificial infants, complementary foods are introduced later and more slowly. But at this age it is already necessary to try various vegetables (at least zucchini, broccoli and cauliflower), fruits ( green apple, pear, prunes) and porridges (dairy-free or dairy rice, buckwheat, corn).
At 8 months, babies are usually offered different types of meat. Perhaps you introduced it from 7 months, then you can offer new types (veal, beef, beef with tongue or heart). If you are just going to introduce meat into your diet, it’s time to start with hypoallergenic varieties - turkey or rabbit. Consult your pediatrician: from 8 months are allowed dairy products, namely kefir and cottage cheese. Already now you can give your baby a baby cookie or cracker if the baby does not suffer from constipation.
How much should a baby eat at 8 months?
The daily food intake for an eight-month-old baby (both artificial and infant) is 1 liter. With five meals a day, the baby receives about 200 ml at a time. The first and last daily feedings must consist of breast milk or an adapted formula in a volume of 200 ml (the baby, of course, chooses his own norm). Complementary feeding dishes should also be offered in a volume of about 200 ml, including liquids.
However, these are only average indicators. Many children are not able to eat that much food at one time. Especially when it comes to infants who nurse throughout the day. Focus on your baby: if he is gaining weight well, is not capricious, but eats less than normal, then everything is fine. The problem becomes a small child who refuses complementary feeding altogether. We will talk about such children in the next chapter.
8 month old child is not eating well
It often happens that a child of 8 months refuses to eat. Vigilant mothers begin to sound the alarm, because a growing body definitely needs food. First of all, do not panic and do not infect your baby with anxiety. It is necessary to understand the reasons for the refusal and find a solution to the problem. If an 8-month-old baby refuses complementary feeding, it is important to monitor what exactly he does not want to eat. If there is a certain product, it means he doesn’t like the taste. So, many children do not eat broccoli. In this case, eliminate the product for a while or mix it with another to change the taste of the dish.
Perhaps the child has already developed taste preferences, and now he does not like monotonous food. Try to combine products, add olive, sunflower or butter to dishes, steam and simmer in turn. There are many types of baby food sold in stores: if your baby doesn’t like your food, replace it with canned food, and vice versa. Get your little one interested in the process of eating: buy a plate with pictures, a colorful bib, and feed toys at the same time. As a last resort, you can entertain the fussy person with songs or books.
