Feeding Solids on a Babywise Schedule

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Feeding Solids on a Babywise Schedule. How to set up your baby’s feeding schedule. What your daily schedule should be for feeding solid foods.

Baby eating solid foods

Many moms start baby on solids while baby is still eating six times a day. Others are at 5 or 4 and wonder when to do the solids. Here is what our schedule has looked like (after all foods were introduced).

Solid Food Feeding Schedule for a Babywise Baby

Here are some sample schedules for feeding solids.

Schedule With Six Feedings a Day

You might only encounter this scenario if you start solids before 6 months. Here is our schedule:

  • 7:30 AM–Wake up, Nurse, Solids (Cereal and fruit)
  • 10:30 AM–Wake up, Nurse
  • 1:30 PM–Wake up, Nurse, Solids (Veggie and fruit)
  • 4:30 PM–Wake up, Nurse
  • 7:00 PM–Nurse (we didn’t do a nap between these two at this point), Solids (Veggie, fruit, cereal)
  • 9:30–Dreamfeed (feeding the baby but you don’t work to wake them and you put them right back down immediately).

Schedule With Five Feedings a Day

This schedule looks the same as the six a day without the dreamfeed:

  • 7:30 AM–Wake up, Nurse, Solids (Cereal and fruit)
  • 10:30 AM–Wake up, Nurse
  • 1:30 PM–Wake up, Nurse, Solids (Veggie and fruit)
  • 4:30 PM–Wake up, Nurse
  • 7:00 PM–Nurse (we didn’t do a nap between these two at this point), Solids (Veggie, fruit, cereal)

Schedule with Four Feedings a Day

At this point you are on a 4 hour schedule and meals start to line up with the family mealtimes.

  • 7:30 AM–Wake up, Nurse, Solids (Cereal and fruit)
  • 11:30 AM–Wake up, Nurse, Solids (Veggie and fruit)
  • 3:30 PM–Wake up, Nurse (she will often eat finger foods while I fix dinner)
  • 6:30-7:00–Wake up*, Nurse, Solids (Veggie, fruit, and cereal) *your baby may or may not be taking a nap between these two feedings, mine did for a while but that is the next napped dropped.

I am sure you noticed that I don’t feed solids at 3:30 like the book says. I do this for two reasons. One is that it is more convenient for me because we often run errands after that nursing (and on those days she doesn’t nap) and it is easier to get away quickly when we don’t have solids to deal with. If I am not running errands, I am busy fixing dinner. Two is that I just feel better stuffing her full before a long night of no food. I did this with both kids.

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This is just what I did. Take my ideas and run with it. Do what works for you. Let your schedule serve you.
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Added 12/2009
I wanted to add what I do with McKenna since it is different. This is our solids schedule:
8:00 AM: wake up, nurse, solids (cereal and fruit)
12:15 PM: wake up, nurse, solids (green veggie and fruit)
4:30 PM: wake up, nurse, solids (yellow veggie and fruit)
7:45 PM: wake up, nurse
McKenna has a later schedule in the day. For some reason, my mind cannot feed solids at 3:30 PM, but 4:30 is okay 🙂 Also, since her last feeding is so late in the day, I don’t want to add solids to the mix. I want bedtime to come as early as possible!

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Reader Questions

  • heather said…
    Do you suggest doing solids at bedtime for my 6 month old?

    The Baby Wise Mom said…
    That is your call. I fed both of mine solids at the feeding right before bed. Some people find doing that makes their child’s blood sugar spike and not sleep well. I think most that do it find no problems, though.
  • Emily said…
    My 6 month daughter usually eats 1/4 cup of rice cereal in the morning. This morning she only had a couple of bites. Should I offer rice cereal at her next feeding or just have it a missed solid meal?Also I was looking at your solid schedule and had a question. Before she’s on green vegetables can I do rice cereal in morning, carrots and sweet potatoes for lunch, then rice cereal and squash for dinner or should I just do one veggie at lunch?Thanks!

    The Baby Wise Mom said…
    Emily, I would not offer rice at the next meal if she usually does not eat it. You can do more than one yellow veggie at lunch if you want/need to. Some babies like more variety in their diet (like my kaitlyn). Some will happily just eat more of one food, though (like my Brayden). Just be sure she has been introduced to each veggie one at a time.
  • Reds said…
    I was reviewing your sample schedules (specifically for 6 months), can you explain why you gave solids at the last feeding (7pm) instead of at dinnertime (5pm)?I am having an issue with my son at bedtime, he needs to stay up after eating b/c of acid reflux. We usually feed him at 530 (nurse + solids), then again at 730, but put down to bed at 8:15. He is started to really cry again, I think he may be overtired. do you suggest having the last feeding a little earlier or switching the solids to the last feeding so it will help keep the liquid down? thanks so much.

    The Baby Wise Mom said…
    Reds, There are a couple of reasons. One is that with Brayden, he really needed that meal to be later to make it through the night. He has a really fast metabolism. I think Kaitlyn could have done it earlier and still slept fine, but we often left to do errands after the feed around 4:30ish (I can’t remember off the top of my head what time that was at that age). To feed Kaitlyn solids took FOREVER at first, so it was easier for us to leave quickly if she ate later. You might try one or the other or both and see what works. I can’t see one or the other being any better.
sample baby schedules wih solid foods pinnable image