Baby breakfast food 8 months

Sample Menu for a Baby 8 to 12 Months Old

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Now that your baby is eating solid foods, planning meals can be more challenging. At this age, your baby needs between 750 and 900 calories each day, of which about 400 to 500 should come from breast milk or formula (if you are not breastfeeding)—roughly 24 ounces (720 mL) a day. Breast milk and formula contain vitamins, minerals, and other important components for brain growth.

At about eight months, you may want to introduce foods that are slightly coarser than strained pureed foods. They require more chewing than baby foods. You can expand your baby's diet to include soft foods such as yogurt, oatmeal, mashed banana, mashed potatoes, or even thicker or lumpy pureed vegetables. Eggs (including scrambled) are an excellent source of protein, as are cottage cheese, Greek yogurt, and avocado.

Sample menu ideas for an 8- to 12-month-old baby:

1 cup = 8 ounces = 240 ml
¾ cup = 6 ounces = 180 ml
½ cup = 4 ounces = 120 ml
¼ cup = 2 ounces = 60 ml

Breakfast

2 to 4 ounces cereal, or 1 mashed or scrambled egg
2 to 4 ounces mashed or diced fruit
Breastmilk or 4 to 6 ounces formula

Snack

Lunch

2 to 4 ounces yogurt or cottage cheese, or pureed or diced beans or meat
2 to 4 ounces cooked pureed or diced yellow or orange vegetables
Breastmilk or 4 to 6 ounces formula

Snack

Dinner

2 to 4 ounces diced diced poultry, meat, or tofu
2 to 4 ounces cooked green vegetables
2 to 4 ounces cooked soft-whole grain pasta or potato
2 to 4 ounces diced or mashed fruit
Breastmilk or 4 to 6 ounces formula

Before bedtime

Breastmilk or 6 to 8 ounces formula, or water. (If breastmilk or formula, follow with water or brush teeth afterward).

More information

Sample Menu for a One-Year-Old
Starting Solid Foods
Breastfeeding Mealtime Milestones
Ask the Pediatrician: Is it OK to make my own baby food?

Last Updated: 8/12/2022

Source: Caring for Your Baby and Young Child: Birth to Age 5 7th Edition (Copyright © 2019 American Academy of Pediatrics)

The information contained on this Web site should not be used as a substitute for the medical care and advice of your pediatrician. There may be variations in treatment that your pediatrician may recommend based on individual facts and circumstances.

Breakfast Ideas For Baby-Led Weaning (6 to 9 months)

These are the best Breakfast Ideas for Baby-Led weaning to nourish your 6 to 9-month old and ease him or her into a healthy, wholesome diet.

If you are working on weaning a baby, you know that breakfast can be one of the most difficult meals to prepare. However, during the first three months of weaning, it’s important to start each day with a healthy breakfast that the little one enjoys and can palate. I’ve compiled the master list of the best breakfast recipes to serve baby during the first three months of baby-led weaning.

These recipes below are designed to introduce baby (and you!) to new flavors, textures, and ingredients. Use this list for baby breakfast inspiration to keep things interesting and help you break out of a rut.

Plus, these recipes accommodate all diets and aversions. See breakfasts with and without eggs, with fruit, vegetables, grains, and more. There’s something for every palate!

How I Prepare for Baby-Led Weaning

In my experience with baby-led weaning, my goal is to try as many different shapes and sizes of foods (as long as they’re not a choking hazard size, of course). This way, I could see what Luca and Roma liked best. Plus, meals become an opportunity to work on dexterity and fine motor skills!

The recipes below are all meals that I’ve made for 6- to 9-month-olds that both my kids love. You can find photo examples of all of these kid-friendly breakfast ideas on Instagram @inspiralizedkids. Plus lunch and dinner ideas.

And before you start cooking, for safe practices on baby-led weaning, I recommend taking the Infant Feeding Course by Feeding Littles with code INSPIRALIZED for a $10 discount!

For my favorite baby feeding products, check out my Baby Favorites.

What is Baby-Led Weaning?

Baby-led weaning, Or BLW, is how I’ve weaned both Luca and Roma. Essentially, it’s a method of introducing foods to babies that they eat themselves. Instead of spoon-feeding baby food purees, you go straight to finger foods that the kids can hold themselves. You can read more about why we’ve used BLW and how it works here.

The most important thing is to choose foods that the babies can hold and eat, and all of these breakfast ideas fit the bill.

Best Breakfast Ideas for Weaning Babies

These are the breakfast foods that I’ve had the most success with feeding both Luca and Roma as they weaned off of breastfeeding and started eating solid foods on their own. I’ve included tips to help make raw ingredients more baby-friendly and easy to pick up. Often, just a bit of help with grip is all your baby needs to start feeding him or herself.

Egg-Free Breakfast Ideas for Babies

Because it’s so easy to fall back on eggs at breakfast time, I’ve put together my family’s favorite eggless recipes to switch things up:

Chia seed pudding. Make dairy-free chia pudding with almond milk. Top it with nut butter for healthy fats and plenty of fresh fruit (smushed berries or chopped bananas) for fiber.
Vegetable sticks made with a crinkle cutter. These can be dipped in applesauce. It’s a great way to get your baby to eat more veggies.
Boiled or roasted beets. Slice the beets into quarters or strips. They’re sweet enough for breakfast.
Roasted purple sweet potatoes with cinnamon and/or yogurt.
Orange or grapefruit slices with part of the rind still on for gripping.
Banana with part of the skin on. You can rub this with nut butter or dip it in a smoothie for more nutrients.
Oatmeal with swirls of nut butter, breast milk, or fruit (smushed blueberries, chopped banana, etc).
Healthy Cheerios. Eating dry cereal helps with pincer grasp.
Avocado quarters sprinkled with almond flour or unsweetened coconut flakes for gripping.

Toast strips with mashed avocado, KiteHill almond cream cheese (vegan), thinly spread nut butter, or mashed raspberries.
Peeled apricot slices, served on a Grabease fork.
Peeled and halved large grapes. I also smash them a little bit with my fingers.
Roasted or steamed veggies cut into sticks with a crinkle cutter. I love using carrots, zucchini, kabocha squash, sweet potato, butternut squash, broccoli, cauliflower, beets, parsnips, etc. You can also top them with some Greek yogurt. Or, season them with whatever seasoning your little one likes – cinnamon, curry powder, cumin, etc.
Fruit cut into strips – melon, tomato, kiwi, mango, etc.
Applesauce preloaded on a GOOtensil.
Berries. halved or quartered. Especially blackberries, raspberries, and strawberries.
Energy bites. I flatten out the mixture and cut it into strips/squares for easy grabbing (example here.) They include dates, nuts, and coconut shreds.
Whole milk Greek yogurt swirled with nut butter, coconut, and mashed berries (example here. ) Preloaded on a GOOtensil.
Potato toast dippers
Egg-free oat muffins. This is the recipe I use and Luca loves.
Waffle strips. I like Birchbenders!

Baby-Led Weaning Breakfast Ideas with Eggs

If your little one loves eggs, then try these recipes for breakfast too:

Hard-boiled eggs, sliced into quarters or strips.
Egg donut or muffin. These are my favorite way to serve veggies at breakfast. I add any leftover roasted/steamed veggies from the week into the blender. I’ve tried: kabocha squash, parsnips, sweet potato, carrots, and beets!
Egg and banana pancake strips – you can make two-ingredient pancakes. Then slice them into strips OR use the same batter from the egg donuts and muffins and just pour into a skillet like you would cook a pancake and then cut into strips (example here).
PB&J Oatmeal Bake from my cookbook. This is probably one of Luca’s favorite breakfasts. I cut them into grabbable pieces. This is how I serve it.
Veggie omelet strips. Simply make an omelet with veggies like spinach, bell peppers, etc, and cut it into strips (example here.)
Scrambled eggs with homemade basil pesto. Just make sure the scrambled pieces are big enough for your baby to grab.

Drinks to Serve Babies at Breakfast

I give Luca sips of water after his meals. I rotate between a cup and a straw cup!

Baby-Led Weaning Resources

If you’re new to baby-led weaning or curious to learn more, here are some other helpful resources to check out:

Our first week with baby-led weaning (Luca)
Baby Led Weaning Basics and Cooking Tips
What a week of meals looks like for our family (Luca)
Inspiralized Littles eCookbook for Baby Led Weaning
Baby Led Weaning With Roma: Feeding Update
Inspiralized Littles eCookbook: Healthy and Delicious Recipes for Baby Led Weaning

approximate diet for a week, menu for a day with artificial and breastfeeding for an 8 month old baby

Published: 02/10/2021

Reading time: 3 min.

Number of reads: 84448

The author of the article: Ponomareva Yuliya Vladimirovna

Pediatrician, Candidate of Medical Sciences, Allergist-Immunologist . The process of intensive growth and development continues - the baby is rapidly mastering new motor skills, improving in speech and cognitive activities.

The pace of growing up and high activity determine the clear requirements for the nutrition of the baby, which must quantitatively and qualitatively meet the needs of children at this stage of life. By the 8th month of life, the child's digestive tract is already quite mature. It is able to digest and assimilate the products of the main food groups. Let's look at the basic principles of compiling a baby's diet, and also develop a menu for 8 months, indicating an approximate list of dishes and a meal plan for a week.

Contents: Hide

General principles
A must in the diet
Sample menu for a week for 8 months

General principles Breast milk is no longer the basis of the diet, but continues to be a source of easily digestible and beneficial nutrients, and also protects the baby from many infectious diseases.

If the baby is artificially fed, use an adapted mixture in the diet that suits him well and matches his age. In addition to breastfeeding, an 8-month-old baby's eating schedule includes 4-5 meals. Of these, three are basic (breakfast, lunch and dinner), two are additional (second breakfast and afternoon tea). The baby already withstands 3.5–4 hours between meals and at least 6 hours at night. The volume of each feeding is 170–200 ml and approximately 1000 ml/g per day.

A must in the diet

Your 8 month old baby's daily menu should include the main food groups that ensure the supply of vital nutrients - proteins, fats and carbohydrates. What products must be included in the menu at this age? Porridge is one of the first and most important complementary foods. It is rich in all the main nutrients, provides long-lasting satiety and has a pleasant taste. By the 8th month of life, babies digest and assimilate dishes from various cereals well, therefore, multi-component cereals with natural fruit or vegetable additives, dairy-free or based on specially prepared milk can be used in nutrition.

Vegetables and fruits do not have a high nutritional value, but are a major source of fiber. Therefore, they are also required in the daily menu. Meat complementary foods are a source of protein that is complete in terms of amino acid composition, and a baby should receive 60–80 grams of meat per day. Dairy products are another source of complete protein and easily digestible fat. However, the introduction of non-adapted dairy products can cause allergies and increase the load on the baby's kidneys. In this regard, the menu should contain no more than 50 grams of cottage cheese daily. From 8 months, fermented milk drinks for baby food can be introduced into the diet of a healthy child.

In addition to animal fats, the daily diet should include vegetable oils as a source of polyunsaturated fatty acids, which are absolutely necessary for a growing organism.

In addition to essential nutrients, a daily intake of vitamins and minerals is just as important. For a child in the second half of life, the main source of these important substances are enriched baby foods, for example, the Bebi Premium line of baby cereals includes all the necessary vitamins and minerals for the harmonious growth and development of the child.

1st day

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Seeing		Bebi Premium Oatmeal Milk Porridge with Banana and Pear	150
	Bebi Premium Kids Instant Herbal Fruit Tea	50		Berry Fors	50

Before bed	Milk	180

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What to feed a baby at 8 months

— Anastasia Ivanovna, does the diet of an 8-month-old child differ from the diet of a one-year-old child?

— Yes, different. By eight months, additional baby foods with greater density and nutritional value are needed as the more active baby develops new needs. The most important stage in the formation of a balanced diet begins, the purpose of which is to lay the right eating habits in order to transfer the child to the common table by the year and feed him with adult food, which is customary to eat in the family.

— What is the optimal combination of complementary foods with breast milk and infant formula?

— During the day, complementary foods and the usual milk food for the baby — mother's milk or an adapted formula — are given in different feedings. In the morning and evening, the mother will continue to breastfeed or formula, and for breakfast, lunch and afternoon tea she will offer the child complementary foods.

— In what cases is the start of complementary foods delayed?

— There are a number of reasons for delaying the introduction of new complementary foods:

allergic reactions;
unformed gastrointestinal tract and rejection of complementary foods;
unformed nervous system;
complications or operations after childbirth;
chronic diseases;
benign and malignant neoplasms;
lack of nutritional interest with an unformed need for complementary foods.

— Why is it important to expand the baby's diet at 8 months?

— Eight months is a period of increased activity, intensive growth, formation of the food apparatus, digestive, urinary, and immune systems. All this requires the expenditure of a large amount of energy and the introduction of additional complementary foods that contain nutrients, vitamins, minerals in greater quantities than dairy food and the first complementary foods.

— What to feed a baby at 8 months?

— By eight months, a child can already taste a large number of puree-like foods — vegetables, fruits, cereals. But the older the baby becomes, the less the products are crushed so that he gets acquainted with the pieces, learns to chew and swallow them. Age-appropriate foods are numerous. But it is worth remembering that at least four days are allotted for adaptation to one new nutritional component in order to have time to track the body's reaction. If the baby responds well to one product, move on to the next.

What can a baby eat at 8 months

— What foods are bad at eight months?

- Cooking method will play a role here. For the baby, the products are not fried, but boiled. It is not recommended to consume juices, soda, products with food additives, sweeteners, flavors and preservatives. We do not give the child sauces, canned food, fatty meats, as well as poorly digestible semi-finished products. Whole milk as an independent product at this age is too early to give.

8 month old baby's menu option

Why doesn't the baby want to eat complementary foods?

— Such behavior is possible due to the lack of food interest or the lack of formation of some functions or organs of the child — not everything depends on the mother here, it will be necessary to resolve the issue with doctors and try to introduce new products.

Food interest is considered to be situations when a child reaches for a spoon, looks into a plate, is interested in different tastes. If this is not the case by eight months, it is worth contacting an allergist, a nutritionist, a gastroenterologist through a pediatrician.

Read also

Why a child refuses to eat complementary foods and what to do in such situations.

— How can I tell which complementary foods my baby is allergic to?

- The easiest way to track allergies is through observation and keeping a food diary. Flushing, screaming and crying, and constipation can occur alone or along with other symptoms of a food allergy. It is necessary to introduce new food very carefully, not to give everything at once, so that the body adapts to complementary foods, and in the case of an allergic reaction, it is easier to recognize its pathogen.

Nutrition at eight months should be varied and balanced. The nutrients of each new product are important, because the child needs to be supplied not only with energy, but also with dietary fiber, vitamins and minerals.