Guide to feeding our 8 month old triplets (free download)

I had mentioned a few weeks ago about diving into more chunky, solid foods as the babies started approaching 8 months old. We had been doing mostly purees or soft foods and I felt their prematurity was becoming less of a factor in worrying about how they’d handle solids.

It’s been a few weeks now and they’ve taken to the solids like champs! Forrest is still sometime apprehensive about new textures, but does okay overall. They can feed themselves, but I prefer to feed them via a spoon in their Bumbo seats right now since they can’t sit unassisted yet and the high chairs have proven difficult for them for long periods of time. Once they can sit for minutes at a time, we’ll be making the switch to the high chairs full time.

One of the biggest questions I get and see in my due date groups is what, when, and how do we feed our babies at this age?

Just last week, our trio started refusing bottles and were being overall pains to get formula into. I sent a quick email to our pedi, who told us that around 9 months of age, babies will typically increase their solids intake while decreasing their formula/breastmilk intake to around 20-24oz a day. Considering we were still giving them 4, 8oz bottles a day and expecting them to take all 30+oz like normal, this made a lot more sense!

She advised us to add a third meal into their solids schedule, effectively dropping our 2PM bottle feed (please always consult with your own pedi before changing milk intake as different babies have different needs). ⁣

So what exactly are we feeding them, what are we doing for bottles, and when do we do all this, you might ask?

I decided to craft up a handy little chart for myself, the adults in our triplets’ lives, and for anyone else who may find it useful for their own babies. This chart is based on the AAP’s sample menu for babies 8-12 months old, but modified to our liking with foods we often give them that I feel give them a complete balanced diet.

You can download a handy PDF here or save the image for future reference.

Teal boxes are when we offer them bottles. We always offer them 8oz, but they do not always finish this. They will usually take between 5-6oz at the 6AM, 7-8oz at the 10AM, and we try and make sure they get all 8oz at the 6PM even if it takes till bedtime at 7PM. At the very least, our goal is 20oz per day (including the 2oz after lunch in their sippy cups).

The darker teal box is for offer formula or water in their sippy cups, as we are practicing these to eventually transition to them full time. Sometimes I’ll offer them water at other random parts during the day, but remain consistent with this after-lunch-sippy to ensure they’re having liquids with their meal.

Lastly, the rust colored boxes are for solid meals! Our morning meal consists of a bowl of oatmeal or scrambled eggs, split between all three (1/2 cup per baby), mixed with some sort of fruit and usually some peanut butter. Lunch is some sort of orange veggie (squash, sweet potato, carrots) or mac and cheese (no butter and mixed with formula) with a side of yogurt or fruit. Dinner is always some sort of whole grain pasta (or veggie pasta), rice, or sweet potato mixed or served with a veggie or meat if available.

These times, portions, and food suggestions are totally catered to our schedule and what works for our triplets, and certainly do not need to be taken as gospel - they can be adjusted according to your baby’s needs.

We make all of our baby food with fresh or frozen ingredients - it’s cheaper, healthier, and not all that time consuming. My mom will make up some things when she’s here and I will do meal prep on Sunday nights with portioned out meals. We freeze a lot of pureed fruits/veggies we make, in bulk, in the baby bullet and pull when needed.

These little humans amaze me every day with the foods they like, learn to like, and how quickly they grasp the concept of feeding themselves.

This solid food milestone is a huge adjustment and a bit more work for our family, but knowing they are getting healthy foods, a balanced diet, and the proper formula intake makes it all worth it!