10 month old doesn't want her formula feeds

[kerry85]

My 10 month old has been having two feeds a day for quite a while now, one in the afternoon and one at bedtime.
But lately she's been pushing it away and not wanting it at all.
I worry about her being hungry.
She has weetabix or porridge for breakfast followed by toast or crumpet. Lunch is finger foods and yoghurt.
Then she usually has her afternoon feed at around 3 o clock.
Then we have tea at 5.30/6.00 a hot meal followed by fruit.
She's a bit of a picker though, the only meal she eats all of is her breakfast!
My dh thinks we should just offer her cows milk instead of keep making up and wasting formula ??

If you're not breastfeeding then your dd will need formula until she is 12 months. Cows milk does not contain the correct balance of nutrients for under ones, and so shouldn't be given as main drink. It can be used in cooking or on cereal etc, just not in bottles.

Perhaps she is teething and doesn't like the sensation of the bottle in her mouth at the moment? I would keep persevering with it and hopefully it's just a little blip.

I think that babies of this age are supposed to have about 600ml of formula alongside food, so if she's having around that much then don't worry about it.

Just to reassure you my DD refused formula totally at about ten months. I was terrified she was going to be badly affected but I needn't have worried.

She was having a varied diet and I also gave her vitamin drops (Abidec I think) on the advice of HV. I also upped her dairy intake (natural yoghurt, cheese). She still will not drink milk of any kind now.

She is now a physically perfect, top-of-the-class intelligent 5 year old.

I would speak to your HV. The one good one at my nearest SureStart centre was excellent.

I get what your saying re cows, that somethings better than nothing, whats the point saying its not as good as formula if shes not accepting formula anyway.
I think its the iron and vitamin c that's lacking in cows, in the short term until you can get advice I think wellkid do a vitamin with iron.
My Mum and MIL both say when theirs where little the rule was formula until six months then onto cows.

The issue with cows milk isn't just that it doesn't have enough vits/minerals, it's also that the protein balance is wrong and it has too much of other vits/minerals. It can be hard on their systems to process if they have too much of it. It can also cause low iron as it inhibits iron absorption.

I would say rather than offer cows milk instead of formula, keep offering as much formula as she will take. Give a vitamin supplement as well, and offer plenty of water with meals. Once she is 1 you can give cows milk as a main drink, up to 350ml a day.