How much milk/juice should a 6 month old have each day?

[Bayliss1]

My child is 6 months old and is breastfed and has been on solids since 4 months. It has been a slow process but she now eats 3 meals per day plus has breast milk morning and night and occasional feeds during the day. She has suffered from constipation prior to beginning solids and has been prescribed lactulose to help this. Due to the lactulose my husband and I have worked hard to get our daughter to drunk juice as lactulose can cause dehydration. This has taken a couple if weeks to get her to drink juice (we give her diluted juice bs cause of the high levels of acid in baby juices) and we are now finding that during the day she prefers juice to breast milk. Is this ok or should I still be giving her breast milk??? I know babies wean themselves off breastfeeding but I'm not sure that morning and night is enough for a 6 month old!!! Advice much appreciated!!!!

milk should be the mainstay of the diet of a 6 month old with solids as an added extra. I would start watering the juice down further until you are just offering water as it is better for teeth/emerging teeth. I would try and offer breatmilk rather than juice/water as a minimum of 20oz of milk is recommended between 6 months and 1 year which your lo would be unlikely to be getting from only 2 breastfeeds.

Personally I'd increase the breastfeeds and also offer water (rather than juice) with every solid food meal as well. Breastmilk is full of nutrients that are good for your baby, as well as hydrating her - there's not much in juice, and drinking it all the time could cause tooth decay when she has teeth.

Thanks for your replies! My daughter is my first child so all this is new to me!!! The thing with the juice came from the pharmacist who gave me the lactoluse prescription... she said I had make sure my daughter had extra fluid so that she didn't dehydrate and so that the lactose worked. My husband and I have worked at the juice but I think it's gone too far!! I will revert back to what I was doing previously which was just giving juice (although I will try just water from tomorrow) at her mealtimes and feed her breast milk the other times.
Thanks again!

What was the consipation problem? It's highly unlikly that a soly BF baby would be consipated unless there was some medical problem. It is normal however for a BF baby's to go day's without pooing. If poo's where still soft then it's unlikly she was consipated.

3 meal's a day is a lot for a baby of six month's, I'd drop the juice as they don't need it and feed her milk before solids. It is also possible that to much solids could be making the consipation worse. There is some good reading hear www.kellymom.com/nutrition/solids/index.html

i wouldnt give her juice, just breastmilk whenever she wants it and water at meal times. if she is a bit constipated then you could mix some pureed prunes or apricot in with some natural yog, i have done that with all 5 of mine and it works a treat. just one ice cube of frozen prunes, mix in with a tablespoon of natural yog once a day helps get things going :)

My DS is also 6 months and we started weaning at four months. He's not quite on three meals a day, well not proper 'meals'. I'm giving him breakfast and tea, and then on days like today he had a bit of toast to chew on whilst I had lunch.

I'd up your breastfeeds TBH - helps to ease constipation. I give my DS at least 4 feeds, with the odd 'drink' if he seems thirsty. And as someone else, just offer some cooled boiled water as they finish eating.

I always leave an hour between a milk feed and solids, just to make sure that he's always up for his milk. I'm noticing that he's happy going longer between his late morning milk and afternoon one - almost 5 hours today. So I am seeing that as his sign that he's beginning to self-wean. Although I will continue to offer that feed for a long time yet.

My first too - so hard to try and figure out if you're doing the right thing!!

Bayliss, if the constipation was before you started weaning to solids, it may be worth trying a few days without lactulose as some babies poo much more frequently once weaned, so the problem might have resolved itself by now? Sorry if this sounds silly/something you've already tried.

Agree with others about juice, at six months they really shouldn't have any except if absolutely necessary. Do not let her go off milk, she still needs loads of it.

Thanks everyone for the advice. I've given my daughter much more feeds today and offered less fluid (changed to just water now instead of juice). She has only been on 1ml of lactulose once a day for the last 3 days and I will stop that altogether tomorrow (doctor told me I should wean her off it, not just stop it). She has been pooing much more easily for a couple of days instead of having to really force it. I'm happier giving her more breastmilk because she is only young!!!
Thanks again everyone!!

At that age my DD only had water with meals and breastfeeds for everything else. I would get some advice from a health visitor as I suspect your breastmilk will be fine and you wont need juice.

The constipation probably comes with changing her on to more solid foods, try drinking more water yourself and eating liquorice as it is a natural laxative and will go through to your milk. This os what I do and my DD is back to normal in 2 days.

My DD is 2 now and still hasn't self weaned it is very unusual for a child to wean themselves off the breast before a year. As others have said water the juice down until your back to water children under 5 aren't recommended to have anything other than milk or water.

It was my hv who told me I should give her some juice (not as much as she's been having though) to help with the constipation because the lactoluse can cause dehydration otherwise. Yesterday and today I have only offered her water with her meals and breastmilk the rest of the time and I'm happier with that!!