Most babies are ready to eat solid foods between 4 and 6 months of age. And once solids are introduced, a baby may start to drink slightly less, but still drink a bottle every 3 to 4 hours in the day. The goal is to shoot for 4 to 5 4oz-to-6oz bottles (if that makes sense) during the day once your baby is 8 to 12 months of age. And that will be given in combination with solid food feedings. And so you mentioned that you have a 7 1/2 month old that's drinking 2 4oz-to-6oz bottles throughout the day and eating 2 solid food feeding each day. And continue to add more solid food feedings and your baby probably should be drinking more each day. Typically speaking, a baby will wake up and want to have a bottle, and so that's one of the bottle feedings, and then they can eat a solid food feeding followed up by a bottle later in the morning, probably go down for a nap at that time, and then wake up and want to eat a solid food feeding for lunch, followed up by a bottle, and then drink another bottle, and maybe a snack in the afternoon, and then go down for an afternoon snack, and then same thing for dinner - a solid food feeding, and then a bottle, and then another bottle before bedtime. So that's how you get 4 to 5 bottles throughout the day in combination with solid foods.
At the end of it all though, the most important thing is that your baby is happy, healthy, and gaining the appropriate amount of weight. So if you have any questions about your baby's growth, don't hesitate to ask your pediatrician. But if you have more questions for me in the future, feel free to ask them on our Facebook page at Facebook.com/IntermountainMoms, and recommend us to your friends and family too.
