How much milk/feeds for 8m old?

[grainmum]

Hi, just wondering how much milk an 8m old should be drinking? He's breastfed. I've recently managed to get him to take the occasional bottle of expressed milk as I'm going back to work 2 days per week soon.

Currently he has:
7am breastfeed
8am breakfast (cereal with about 2oz formula)
11am breastfeed or 2-4oz expressed milk
12: lunch
3pm breastfeed
5pm dinner
6.30pm breastfeed
one more breastfeed overnight

We have discovered he is cow's milk protein allergic so I'm a bit anxious he gets enough milk.

I'm particularly concerned whether the expressed milk is enough.

thanks for any advice

[TheScience]

Sounds fine to me, DS was having about 5 or 6 feeds at that age I think, and 3-4oz is a normal volume of breastmilk per feed.

[grainmum]

Thanks that's reassuring. If he had an occasional bottle of formula instead of ebm would you expect him to have the same 3-4oz or more?

[TheScience]

Mine never drank more than 3-4oz at a time, even when he was on cow's milk. I think often if they aren't used to taking larger volumes as a formula fed baby would then they just don't.

[CityDweller]

DD (bf) was on 6 feeds at 8 months, dropped to 5 at 8.5 mo. When she has ebm (when I'm at work) she takes 100-150mls.

[Cakeismymaster]

Hi grainmum, can I ask what formula you are using? As you mention your ds being cows milk allergic - did you request (and get a prescription) for the hypoallergenic stuff from the doctor?

[grainmum]

Yes he has neocate on prescription.

[Sunnysummer]

I was in a similar position with my ebf DS (now 10 months) and had a similar schedule, but managed to consolidate the late morning and early afternoon feed into one after-lunch feed, about an hour after his solids. It worked well from him, and had the major bonus for me of less expressing when I headed back.

It took about a week, then he got in the hang of making the morning feed a bit bigger, and taking in more solids. It also helped when I gave a mid-afternoon snack of Greek yoghurt with chopped up fruit, though this obviously wouldn't help with the CMPI - but perhaps you could give some cereal or porridge with formula to give a transition that still tasted a bit milky?

If it helps, they had us on a dairy and soy free diet for a while due to DS's reflux (he turned out fine) and the guidance they gave us was that so long as you are breastfeeding multiple times a day and giving varied solids, there's no real need to add formula to foods at this age, it's fine to make porridge/weetbix with water, have eggs for breakfast etc, or use almond or rice milk.

[Sunnysummer]

(And just to clarify, I meant that my DS turned out not to have CMPI, not that he miraculously recovered in 2 months... But it did give an insight into the extra hassle you must be going through with weaning!)

[Cakeismymaster]

That's why I was asking - my dd has suspected cmpi and gp would not prescribe any formula as said there was no need as I was bf'ing. Am hoping she will grow out of it - but good to know about using almond milk etc

[grainmum]

Thanks. DS has cow's milk allergy, also to eggs, banana, avocado and most recently we think tomato. I didn't really expect formula. We saw an on-call dietitian at a dermatology appointment (for eczema) and all she was really interested in was handing over some formula. Didn't seem to know much about or want to talk about alternative milks for cereal/cooking, or other calcium rich foods.

I checked all the "milks" myself and most have similar calcium content to full fat cow's milk - 120mg/100ml.

[Sunnysummer]

The only thing with alternative milks is that they really shouldn't be used as a drinking milk - they lack the iron etc necessary. But they're fine for cooking and solids!

Our gastroenterologist did say that CMPI is currently very overdiagnosed - it is very real and uncomfortable for some kids, but if you're not seeing red-flecked poo etc, it's unlikely to be dairy, and there are a lot of mothers who are denying themselves and their children necessary calcium or dropping bfing early with little evidence, so it's worth doing some careful checks, especially as it gets to be more and more of a hassle as they get older. Or if your DS does turn out to be sensitive, just make sure you take out all soya as well, as it's a very common cross-allergen (but it is unfortunately in almost everything!).

Good luck!