Not getting enough milk when weaning?

[LaDenf]

My DS is 7.5 months old. We started weaning him at just over 6 months. For a while everything was going well, he enjoyed his purees and we didnt give him too much. At 7 months we introduced slightly more textured food. Again, at first he was happy to eat both his solids and milk (I still BF).

Within the last week or two, however, things have started to change. It has been a real battle to get him to take his milk and on some days, eat anything at all!

He has started to bite a lot more, particularly through the day so I have taken to expressing during the day and BF at night when he is drowsy. He doesnt seem to like drinking his milk from a bottle and can take up to an hour just to drink 125ml, he spends a lot of the time just chewing the teat.

We have taken to mixing his milk into his food. I am really concerned he is not getting enough milk throughout the day, here is his general schedule:

7am - BF - usually just off one side (I can pump 125mls from one), but often it feels less
8.30am - Baby porridge mixed with 125ml milk
1pm - Try to BF but if biting will express and give via a bottle. May take about 60ml; then we give him half a jar/pouch of savoury and half a pouch of sweet
5/6pm - As above but can be really tough to feed him. He will shut his mouth and refuse to eat (even shakes his head)
11pm - BF - again not always what I consider a "full feed"

Even my most optimistic thoughts are that he is getting 400ml a day. Plus we try to give him water and he often spits out water from his mouth, although i think he gets some of it!

In terms of his weight he is fine, milestones he hits them all. He has been having trouble with teething, although no teeth have come through all the signs are there (his cheeks are so rosy half the day bless him) however most HVs/DRs suggest at his age he be getting 500 - 600 ml a day.

I guess the two main worries I have are:

1. That he is not getting sufficient milk to meet nutrional needs
   
2. Could we have rushed the weaning process, introducing texture so early might have made him fear meal times? Some days he really enjoys the lumpy food, others he just point blank refuses to eat it.
   

We have tried BLW but I get too worried over the choking/gagging plus he chucks most of it on the floor!

Sorry for the lengthy post! I have been struggling with the weaning process and worried that I am not doing enough or he is not going to develop properly.

[JiltedJohnsJulie]

Really sorry but I can't do a full reply at the moment, will try to get back later.

Just wanted to say that my DS started biting at 7 months and I rang the NCT Helpline. The tips they gave me stopped the biting in one day. Try ringing one of the helplines. Kellymom will also have some information on biting or post in the Breast and Bottle section regarding this .

[MarathonMama]

We have the same problem with milk refusal. DD eats like a horse but refuses her milk (I'm still breastfeeding and it's very frustrating).

I'm very interested in any advice...

[MincyPie]

Ladenf- I am having exactly the same problem, it's awful. My dd is also 7.5 mos and we started weaning at 6mos too. She loves her food, really loves it but I make sure she doesn't have an enormous amount. I have two other children and have never encountered this problem. I did ff feed the first two and ebfing dd. She has had two short feeds today, one at 7.30am and another at 3pm. I gave her a small breakfast yoghurt at 8am, offered bf at 10.30 and 11.30 she wasn't interested. I thought I would offer her some lunch instead but she wanted to go to sleep. Slept 12-3pm had feed and dinner at 4.45 just a pork casserole mashed up and a bit of puréed apricot. She wanted to go to bed at 6pm and tried to half heartedly bf but my milk refused to appear, I tried everything but to no avail. Then it let down but by then she was falling asleep. She will wake up around 8 for a feed I guess but according to guidelines she has had barely any milk today! My friends ff babies eat way more and drink more milk too. I never had this problem before. Sorry to hijack your thread!! Maybe there are some expert bfers who can help us? I just can't fit food and milk in without the milk dropping drastically even if I only give her a tiny bit of food. Please help me too!

[JiltedJohnsJulie]

How are you getting on now?

[Stubbed56]

My son doesn't really drink milk either since I stopped ebf when he was nearly 9 months.

He can drink up to a pint of formula a day, but usually it's half a pint or less (200 ml). My HV just said to give him vitamin drops (as his digestive system won't absorb them all from food yet) and make sure he has plenty of milk based foods like yoghurt and custard, rice pudding etc for calcium.

But he's 10 months now and does eat well. Although when he is ill or sickening for something he can eat barely anything for days. I just give him loads of fruit purée on those days so I know he is having fluids.

[NitaEvelyn]

My 7.5month son has practically self weaned himself over the past two weeks. Now he isn't even interested in being BF only wants a bottle however he has gone a bit haywire with it.
He used to BF like clock work: 7,11,3,7 and then one during the night. Now it is a completely different story.
He has decided that its better to feed 6ish. 11ish and then not again till 7ish and then if I'm lucky twice during the night but usually three times. He has approx. 125ml at each feed and won't take a drop more though he does have a pretty impressive solid food menu - rice ceral with pureee fruit for breakfast, fruit gel for morning tea with a arrowroot biscuit, bowl of veggies for lunch followed by custard or yoghurt, fruit for afternoon tea, veggies & meat for dinner followed by yoghurt.
I was concerned that he wasn't getting enough milk as its nothing compared to what he used to drink (approx. 250ml each feed prior to solids) however he is gaining weight, growing like a trooper and is very happy.
My mum gave me this advice:
"He won't starve himself. If he's hungry/thirsty he'll eat/drink. Provided he has a balanced diet everything will be fine." She also told me that "he'll sleep through when he is ready to - he isn't fussed that you have to go to work in the morning and he is just looking after himself!"
So i've deceided to go with that though it would be nice if he would swap back to having more milk during the day as I had thought we were closer to sleep throughs and it now seems we are even further away.
From reading all the posts i think the clearest message is that all babies are different and will do things their way which is something I think my son and I are going to have trouble with later on as it he appears he has inherited my stuborn trait!