To have no idea with 6 month old...?

[Peppery123]

Sorry. I always get good answers from here.
3rd dd is 25 weeks. You would not think this is my third child but it honestly feels like years ago and I really cant remember how it was with the others.
What routine do I implement?
Iv weaned her and shes loving it! Having all kinds, so today ive done 3x meals
Im confused with milk and naps.
Shes formula fed
Please can you mumsnetters share your routines for a just turned 6 month old? Am I cutting out a bottle yet?
TIA

Go with what you think best. My six month old (now 16mo) didn't eat that much. I started weaning at 5.5 months and he would take a small amount (tbsp?) once a day. He probably only moved to two "meals" at about 6.5/7 months. I loosely used the Ella's Kitchen weaning chart. I wouldn't drop a bottle if she is having the right amount of formula for her age. How many is she having?

@Peppery123. When my DD was 6 months I usually offered her milk (also formula fed) after each meal. She didn’t eat a huge amount when I first started weaning so used to take approx 8oz milk per feed. She is 2 now and still likes her milk alongside her breakfast and dinner.

DD still needed 2 naps at that age. She usually woke 630/7 so first nap was around 10/1030 with another nap around 230. She’d then be in bed for 630/7. Timings will obviously be different for each baby but DD would get grumpy unless she had both naps at this age. She only dropped to one nap around 18 months or so.

My 6.5 month old is barely eating one meal so still on the same amount of bottles. I'd just take the lead from your baby :)

I think they say go to three meals about 9 months old and don't usually expect milk intake to drop until then.

Thanks everyone
She hardly drinks milk...this has been the case since birth, she was drinking very little and often..probably be able to see my numerous, frustrated posts on here as I couldnt comprehend a baby not wanting milk! We initially thought silent reflux but then it gone even odder - she would only take milk lying down flat and still does so HV ruled out reflux after me medicating her which was annoyingx
She just doesnt seem to like milk? Iv changed hee formulas a few times.. so id say shes having 18oz a day as she only takes 3-4oz per feed, wont ever take more
Shes up at 6.40-7am and usually has 3 naps through the day but isnt the best at napping when were out so its so hard to plan things.
I think if i had a routine implemented it would help but just feel a bit lost

This was my routine for my bottle fed babies at 6 months, but they are all different:

7 am: wake, 7-8oz bottle
8 am: breakfast: baby cereal and fruit purée, sometimes with some toast for finger food
9.30-10.15: nap
Then play etc
11.45: lunch, usually protein, carbs and veg in a purée form with a cup of water and some cooked veg or fruit pieces as finger food
12.30-2.30 nap
2.30 7-8oz bottle formula
Play etc
4.45/5.00 dinner, usually not protein, maybe baby pasta with a sauce in a purée, some rice cakes and cheese, etc. Water in a cup
5.45 ish Bath
6.30 8 oz formula in a dark room
7.00 bed sleep til 7

Should add that this was quite a long time ago now (!) and based on Gina Ford, make of that what you will!

Peppery- just seen your bit about milk, my daughter was the same! I ended up giving her as much dairy as I could (yogurt, cheese) etc in meals, and water with her lunch and dinner so she wasn’t dehydrated.

I’m not medically trained though, so don’t take what I say as ok! As soon as we weaned, she was so much more interested in food than milk.

By 8 months she had dropped her afternoon bottle too.

@hopingforabrighterfuture2021
This is exactly what I wanted thank you so much! Also, brilliant to know you had a similar experience with the lack of milk feedings. Did you ever get a referral from Gps or any medical advice? Just wondering because I have asked my gp and they have referred me to a paediatrician. Havent had an appointment through yet.
Can I ask how yours was sleeping? As mine constantly wakes for night feedings and Im worried shes associated milk with nighttime

My daughter was the same, just didn’t seem to like milk at all. I mixed fed her and she would breastfeed presumably because it was comforting but from a bottle I was lucky to get her to take 4-5oz even when she was nearly 1. I concluded in the end that she had indeed had silent reflux as a small baby and had developed a bit of a feeding/bottle aversion from it. Even now at 2.5 she doesn’t like milk at all but will eat loads of yoghurt and cheese.

If she is that way round then I would always offer milk before food. Otherwise she will fill up on food and start to refuse milk quite quickly and at this age you really want them to still have as much milk as possible. Also she presumably won’t do what a lot of other formula fed babies do which is to quite quickly drop to only 3 or even 2 bottles a day but with each one being 7-8oz so you still need to offer milk quite frequently in the hope she’ll have little and often. So I’d go with
Morning milk upon waking
Offer breakfast about an hour later
Mid morning bottle - keep offering this for now but if she’s really not interested by 8-9months then I’d offer a snack with dairy eg cheese and grapes
Nap
Wake and milk
Lunch 30 mins later
Mid afternoon milk - again replace with snack if she is really not interested
Nap
Milk followed by dinner (you could drop this bottle if she is eating quite well and has yoghurt at dinner)
Milk before bed
Or you could just go for dinner and then milk before bed and offer another bottle in the night.

Other people will probably say this seems like a lot of milk feeds but you need to try and get at least 15-16oz into her throughout the day minimum and ideally more so I would try for 5 or 6 x 3-4oz bottles rather than drop to only a couple and then stress if she’s not taking large volumes each time.

Also I know it’s not great for your sleep but if she will only take milk at night then allow it for now rather than trying to force her to drop the night feeds. You can encourage it by offering milk regularly during the day and hopefully that will fill her up enough to get through the night but it’s not a guarantee. My daughter was very similar and I think it fits with the idea of silent reflux and needing to be sleepy to feed. Once she’s 1 and eating well at meals then you can try to distract from the night time bottles but until then milk is really important for nutrition.