Dropping a bottle feed for 12 month old

[Fayola]

It's my first time on here to bear with me.

My DS has just turned 12 months so have moved him onto full fat cows milk which he seems to enjoy. His current routine is:

7.30am - 7oz wake up feed
8.30am - Breakfast
12pm - Lunch
2.30pm - 7oz bottle
5pm - Tea
7.30pm - 8oz bottle

I do give him a snack in the morning and afternoon and offer him a beaker of water throughout the day.

He loves his food and has a big appetite. I thought that once we establish his 3 meals a day then he would be less interested in his milk feeds however this is not the case and he's sometimes really upset once ge gets to the end of the bottle.

The health visitor told us 2 months ago he was having too much milk and to drop a feed. And that when he's 1 he should just be on 2 bottles of milk a day. We dropped from 4 bottles to the above routine and then the following month he had lost weight. He is a big boy and is also walking. His Dad is 6ft6 so potentially going to be big boy.

I'm just not sure if I should keep going with what I'm doing or to drop his afternoon milk and go to 2 bottles? Any advice would really be appreciated.

They only need around 300 mls of milk now (approx 10/11oz) to get their calcium. Could you give the 2.30pm milk in a cup with a snack instead of in a bottle and that should help him take less

When my DTs turned 1 I just binned the bottles and only gave them cups(they’d been drinking from cups outside of bottle feeds), and dropped all formula milk as they’re on three meals a day now. I’ve been told to stop giving them so much milk because they’ve gone up to many centiles from birth so have switched to giving them water and milk now. Our routine looks something like:

7.30ish breakfast and milk
11-2ish nap
2ish lunch and water
Playtime
5-6ish dinner and either milk or water depending upon what they’ve had with snacks
7ish bed

If your DS is drinking from a cup I’d personally try to cut down the bottles because I was told it’s not great for their teeth. No idea if that’s true or not!

DD was in a similar routine at 12 months. I started giving her the milk in a beaker instead (if she was given a cup she would just pour it everywhere) and gradually cut down the mid day milk and replaced with a snack. Within a month she wasn't having the mid day milk at all. I also dropped the morning and night milk down to 5oz.

Thank you for your comments. I'll do what's been suggested and start giving the afternoon bottle in a beaker to hopefully phase it out. Thanks again x

I'm almost at this stage with my third baby, I'll be swapping the mid afternoon feed for a healthy snack of fruit/cheese and crackers/yoghurt and a beaker of milk.

Eventually I'd cut out the morning milk by giving breakfast straight away and then a mid-morning snack.

Good luck.x

Switch from a baby bottle to a beaker or sippy cup. If not for all feeds, then the ones you want to cut out. Also, try giving him more at meal times if you're able to.

My boys definitely drank milk out of the bottle for comfort. The second I stopped giving them milk in a baby bottle, they lost all interest in milk.