8mo - formula intake has dropped drastically - what to do?

[Ceebee74]

DS2 has 4 bottles of formula a day (plus 3 meals and the occasional snack) - over the last week or so he is barely touching the formula.

His morning bottle (which he has first thing) he will maybe have 5oz, barely touch his mid-morning or afternoon bottle and then maybe have 5-6oz of his bedtime bottle.

Any advice - is it ok for him to be phasing out the formula and prefer food? His appetite for food varies each day but this doesn't affect how much formula he is drinking.

[CatIsSleepy]

i think at around this age dd1 was on 3 bottles of formula a day...and actually I dropped the afternoon bottle as she was a very pukey baby and after her afternoon milk was throwing up not only the milk but the lunch she'd had a couple of hours previously. So basically she was on 2 6 or 7oz bottles a day. I made up her porridge with formula (2 oz or so) and gave her lots of dairy- yoghurt, meals cooked with milk/cheese etc. She ate tons so it didn't seem to be a problem.

[Ceebee74]

Thanks for your response - I will start using his formula to make his brekkie (had been using cows milk)

Today was even worse as he completely refused his afternoon and evening bottle

[aendr]

I'm interested in this too as my little one has been reducing the amount he eats - only had a total of 6oz yesterday! (But did have lots of yoghurt and milky porridge.) This morning he's already had 4oz (and 4oz in his porridge) so I'm a little less concerned but would still like any tips/reassurance anyone has.

[Rhian82]

I'm interested as well, though DS is breastfed. He's 9 months and has just dropped to three milk feeds a day, which sounds right but they're also much shorter than they used to be (obv I have no idea how much he's actually getting).

[aendr]

Well, while we're all interested and not getting much further, I thought perhaps we could see what we're all doing to tackle it and compare notes in case anyone has strategies others could use.
Note, I am not a pure BLWer and he's on formula.

I'm making up porridge with a higher proportion of formula than previously (all formula instead of 50/50 as per the instructions) and instead of using just the right amount of formula, I'm making up a whole feed and seeing if he wants the leftovers to drink before the porridge, which he usually does. He often doesn't have much formula first thing (1-2oz) so that boosts that bit.

Puddings: he has yoghurt every day for dessert at tea time, but instead of plain fruit after lunch I've begun to give him a milky pudding every other day (the other days it's finger food fruit, and I want to encourage the finger foods too). So far he likes semolina made with full fat cow's milk with chopped fruit, not rice pudding and bought custard (making my own invariably goes wrong) and the Cow and Gate strawberry dairy desserts but not the banana.

Main courses: this is where I struggle to think up extra dairy items, beyond cheese (which is a bit salty) and x in white/cheese sauce which is boring if repeated too much (so once in 2/3 days).

[thomasina1]

Am also interested as DD is 8m and also reducing milk feeds - she is on 3 BFs a day currently.

I understood that cow's milk was OK with food and counted towards the overall "milk intake" so am using cow's milk with cereal, pudidngs, white sauce... think this is OK but someone please correct me if not!

[Ceebee74]

Aendr good idea to share ideas. I have reverted back to making DS2's brekkie (either ready brek or weetabix) with leftover formula from his morning feed, rather than cows milk which I was using. He also has a yoghurt every day for his pudding after tea and as a snack, I am mushing up either a rusk or a Heinz biscotti biscuit with more leftover formula (rather than giving it to him as a finger food)

thomasina cows milk is perfectly ok for cooking once they are past 6 months but my DS2's formula intake has dropped and I want him to get the nutrients that are in formula - which is why I am using formula for his brekkie etc.

[Chulita]

I'm so glad someone posted this, I was about to ask too! DD is bf but has seriously cut down her milk intake - tiny feed in the morning but only about 2 mins if that, really doesn't want a lunch feed, bedtime feed and 1 or 2 feeds during the night. She's 8 mths and I've been giving her cow's milk in everything but I'm a bit worried she might not get everything she needs from that and a few short feeds.
For lunch I give DD mostly cheese sauce stuff but she also loves eggy bread and lentil soup/stew. She's mostly BLW but I'm not a purist by any stretch of the imagination (she wants to be hand-fed finger foods at the mo [lazy DD emoticon]
I suppose some babies self-wean at 9 mths so maybe I shouldn't worry too much