From Bottle to Table: How to Track Feeding Habits as Your Baby Grows

Tracking your baby’s feeding habits—from milk to solids—is more than just numbers on a screen. It’s a roadmap of your little one’s growth, nutrition, and developmental progress. With the right tracking approach, you gain peace of mind and practical insights into what’s working best for your baby.

At Cuddlydoo, we help parents make sense of those daily details so you can focus on what matters most: nurturing your growing baby with confidence.

🍼 The Foundation: Growth Monitoring Comes First

The most powerful reflection of feeding success isn’t the ounces consumed—it’s steady growth over time. Pediatric experts recommend tracking your baby’s weight, length, and head circumference using WHO growth charts, which are based on the growth of healthy, breastfed infants around the world.

Why Growth Charts Matter:

- They reveal long-term growth patterns instead of day-to-day fluctuations. - They help detect growth acceleration or slowing early on. - For premature babies, use corrected age until about 24–36 months to ensure accurate comparisons.

💡 Cuddlydoo Tip: Log growth data right in the app, and see those values plotted against the WHO charts automatically—no guesswork needed.

🍼 Tracking Breastfeeding and Bottle Feeding

Whether you breastfeed, pump, or use formula, tracking intake helps you understand your baby’s routines and ensure healthy nutrition.

What to Track:

Bottle feeds: type (formula or breast milk), volume in ounces, and timing. Breastfeeding: which side baby nursed on and duration per side. Diapers: 6–8 wet diapers per day (or 5 heavily soaked) is a positive indicator of good hydration and intake. When you record feedings, you’ll notice patterns that tell a bigger story - how long baby typically goes between feeds, which times of day they feed most efficiently, and how supply and appetite evolve together.

💡 Cuddlydoo Tip: Cuddlydoo’s feeding tracker gives you side-by-side insights into nursing sessions, expressed milk, and bottles—making it easy to share a full picture with your pediatrician.

🍎 Transitioning to Solids: What to Document

Around 6 months, babies begin showing signs of readiness for solids—sitting with support, showing interest in your food, and losing the tongue-thrust reflex. This is when your tracking shifts to include new textures and tastes.

How to Start:

- Begin with 1–2 teaspoons daily and gradually increase. - Introduce one new food at a time to monitor tolerance and reactions. - Continue milk feeds as the primary nutrition until 12 months; solids complement, not replace, milk. - By their first birthday, most babies enjoy three small meals a day alongside milk feeds. Tracking this journey helps you understand preferences, appetite changes, and developmental skills around self-feeding.

💡 Cuddlydoo Tip: You can log foods and reactions directly within the solid foods tracker—perfect for identifying early favorites or sensitivities.

🗒️ Practical Logging Methods Made Simple

While notebooks work, mobile baby trackers streamline the process. With tools like Cuddlydoo, you can:

- Log feedings in real time (bottle, breast, or solids). - Track diaper output and sleep alongside feeding. - Visualize growth charts within the same dashboard. - Share updates easily with partners or caregivers. - Don’t strive for “perfect.” Even periodic notes create a valuable pattern that helps guide future adjustments with your healthcare provider.

💖 Signs of Healthy Feeding Progress

Your tracking data can reveal whether your baby’s nutrition is on the right track. Look for: ✨ 6–8 wet diapers in 24 hours ✨ Weight gain aligning with expected growth percentiles ✨ A content, alert baby between feeds ✨ Growing curiosity about new tastes and textures

If you see these patterns, your baby’s feeding journey is thriving beautifully.

🌼 Final Thoughts

As your baby grows, feeding evolves from bonding over bottles to joyful messes at the dinner table. Each entry you log in Cuddlydoo isn’t just data—it’s part of your baby’s growth story.

Use your baby feeding tracker as a gentle guide, not a rigid rulebook. Most importantly, enjoy the daily discoveries, the belly giggles, and the small wins that make early parenthood extraordinary.

Not medical advice; consult your pediatrician for personalized guidance about feeding or growth.