How many milk feeds per day for a 7.5 month EBF baby?

[BR44]

My current feeding schedule with my 7.5 month old ds looks roughly like this -

7 am - BF
8 am - breakfast
9 am - BF (he takes much more at this time than he does at 7)
12 noon - lunch
1.30 - BF
4.00 - BF (small)
5.15 - tea
6.30 - BF

I'm wondering if decreasing his milk intake would improve his appetite for solids a bit, but as he is not very good at drinking from a cup yet and has never taken a bottle I don't want to risk dehydrating him.

I'd be really interested to know how this compares with other feeding plans for babies of a similar age.

I think at that age mine had 5 daytime feeds and 1 night feed.

Why do you want to increase solids?

7.30am bf
8.30 breakfast
10.30-11am v. small bf (mainly to sleep)
12.30-1pm lunch
2pm bf
4.30pm bf
5.30pm dinner
7pm bottle
10.30pm dreamfeed (not always)

so about 5-6 a day depending on how well he eats.

At that age mine was having roughly same in the day plus at least 2 at night, I continued on-demand for a while yet.

AFAIK at this age they should still be getting the majority of their nutrients from milk, and solids is just about introducing tastes and textures. So they will only ever take as much as they are ready for. I did as you are and alternated bf with solids; I know some people wait till they are really hungry then offer solids followed by a bf, but I just ended up with a screaming child who then just wanted the boob!

As you say, you also don't want to risk dehydration and until he masters water in a cup bf is the only source. I wouldn't want to be restricted to only 4 drinks a day or less!

Dd3(7m)feeds similar to your routine plus night feeds.

We are doing BLW and she doesn't swallow much yet despite chomping away. I figured she will get there eventually & are abiding by the 'food is fun until they're 1'

Have you tried a doidy cup? We had a bit more success with that one in the early days than with a spout cup. You have to do the holding and guiding, but apart from getting a bit wet it worked ok :)

Thank you all for the feedback.

Rita Morgan - it's not that I want to increase soilds per se, I just wondered if by offering him milk too often I'm stifling what would otherwise be a stronger appetite for solids. Just an inkling.

On a slight tangent - I am considering trying to give either his 1.30 or 4 pm feed in a sippy cup to hopefully speed up his ability to drink from it. Any thoughts? I'm not overly optimistic!

Spagbolagain- just seen your message. Yes, we have had partial success with the doidy, but nowhere near enough goes in to satisfy me that he's not still thirsty!

We had most success with a free-flow sippy cup (one with a spout but no valve so they don't have to suck). At first I held it for him but from about 8 months he could do it himself. He never drinks more than a few sips at a time though.