11 month old DD refusing to drink milk in the day and weight gain dropping - any ideas? (sorry a bit long)

[lilysma]

Not sure if this is really a weaning question but am hoping someone will be able to provide reassurance or help! My 11 month old DD is often dropping her daytime milk and her weight has dropped from tracking the 25th centile to below that.

She generally eats quite well and still BF to sleep at night and in the (early!) morning. She rarely asks for milk in the day except if she's tired - then she just wants to feed to sleep. She started nursery for 3 days a week a month ago. After quite a rocky start she seems to have settled in quite well, but she refuses to drink any milk there. She does take water from a lidded cup but nearly always refuses her milk. Sometimes I take in EBM for her but it doesn't seem to make any difference.

When she's at home in the day I try to offer her bf when she's not tired and sometimes she takes it, sometimes not. She does have a long feed to sleep at night at 7.30ish (about an hour, but this is partly cos she's sleepy) and in the morning from 4-5ish (on and off until we get up at 7). She wakes up at night intermittently and always has done as she's not a great sleeper. I stopped feeding her between 8.30 pm and 4am at about 6 months as she wanted to feed every 2 hours - it was just a habit and was driving me into a depression with lack of sleep.

I really don't want to start feeding her in the night again but am concerned that she may not be getting enough milk, mainly because her weight gain is slowing. She has just had a growth spurt in height to above 75th centile, though. Am I depriving her by not feeding her when she wakes in the night? Do I need to get her to take more in the day? If so, how?!!

[Seona1973]

my bottle fed ds only had 2 feeds a day at 11 months as did my dd when she was that age (morning and bedtime). I dont think it is uncommon for milk intake to tail off at this age. Could you try offering more solids and/or more calorific/bulky solids rather than giving more milk if your lo is not so interested in taking milk? Weight gain does slow greatly at this stage so I wouldnt worry too much about her not putting on as much as before.

[CarGirl]

Is she mobile - walking or crawling??? How long has she been mobile? This often coincides with dropping down a centile because they are expending more energy and lose interest in food.

Drinking less milk is common at this age just up the calorific foods she is offered - dairy and protein.

[dyzzidi]

could you offer more milk in food. as in Creamy sauces, rice puddings, custards, extra milk in Mashed potatoe etc. Does she have cereal or porridge with milk?

[ScaryFacedPumpkin]

Mine only had two milk feeds at 11mths, one in the morning and one at bedtime. By 12mths old they say 12oz of milk per day is all they need and that can be included in sauces etc.

[CarGirl]

2 of mine gave up milk at 11 months!

[lilysma]

Thanks for the responses, which encourage me a bit. Yes, she is very mobile and doesn't stop all day (walking holding hands and, as of the last few weeks, crawling). She doesn't sleep much in the day. Am trying to give her as much milky foods as possible but it doesn't seem to add up to all that much milk. It's difficult with bf, isn't it, as you have no idea how much they're getting. I'm encouraged that others have gone down to two feeds at this age, so will try to just go with the flow. I was just concerned because all the other children at nursery still drink milk and the HV seemed concerned about her weight, although I'm never sure how far to trust her! Will try to pile on the calorific foods - any good ideas for a mainly veggie baby apart from puddings and cheese?! She tends to eat a lot of potatoes, pasta and rice pudding already.