Should I reduce milk for 1yo?

[fluffyanimal]

I've sort of raised this subject before but I'm still unsure what to do. DS will be 1 yo in a couple of weeks. At present he has between 21 and 24 oz of milk a day split between 4 bottles, and 3 solid meals a day. The solid portions are not enormous, but are as much as he will eat. He is pretty light for his age, below 25th centile and weight gain is slow but pretty constant. He is really active so I've tried to increase the calories of his solid food without increasing portion sizes (so more meat and carb in proportion to the veg) because he doesn't want more. But I'm hung up on whether it is possible to have too much milk. Do you think I should be cutting back his milk? I feel reluctant to but worry that too much calcium will inhibit absorption of iron etc. What are others doing?

[derlor]

i found with my 2 kids that the best sort of routine at this stage is one similar to you -
so wake up - breakfast and drink of H2O or juice
mid morning - bottle if needed
lunch time - food and H2O or juice again
mid afternoon - bottle if needed
tea time - food and H2O or juice again
bed time - bottle to settle

finger foods should also be encouraged between meals if hungry.

do not give food and milk together as milk is still a meal for a baby at this stage so they will not be so inclined to eat as it takes more effort.

Also if just about to turn 1 yr then you can ditch the formula milk and change to full fat cows milk - less like a meal to them so again will be more likely to eat more solid food to fill himself up.

hope this helps - good luck

[gnu]

It does seem quite a lot of milk. DD is 11 months and has been on 2 7oz bottles a day for 4 or 5 weeks at least.