How to reduce DDs formula intake?

[IamScarfaceClaw]

Just looking for some ideas/reassurance I think,
DD will be one in a few weeks, she was drinking around 30oz of formula a day until the health visitors 9m visit, when we were advised to make up larger bottles (7oz) in a bid to get her drinking less bottles and therefore less milk. However- she just happily drinks the milk and is now on 5 7oz bottles a day plus 3 meals and snacks!
I'm not sure if it is too much? She seems quite attached to her bottles and I know we need to get her off them once she is one!
For example, today she has had:
7am- 7 oz formula
8.30am- 1.5 boiled eggs and 2 fingers of toast
11.30am- 7oz formula
12.30- porridge
2pm- 7oz formula
4pm- 7oz formula plus snacks totalling- half a banana, a sausage, half a crumpet, a handful of apricots.
She drinks water and chamomile tea throughout the day- and she hasn't yet had dinner or her bedtime bottle.

I'm struggling to figure out how I can reduce the milk as she seems to have plenty of food!

Scrambled eggs
Mushrooms
Greek yogurt and fruit with ground almonds
Thick porridge

TBH I just gave mine a spoon and let them spoon feed themselves. If it's thick it will stick to spoon easier

Beans on wholemeal toast

I've got that river cottage book and I will try her again with the pancakes/drop scones- they ended up on the floor last time! I will also try some mushrooms!
I'm struggling to see the difference between scrambled egg and boiled!
I'm guessing it's not an instant fix but I will try reducing her first bottle and increasing her solid breakfast and hopefully that will "set her up for the day"

At 11 months I dropped bottles completely and started using a cup, and switched day time milk for water. Within 2 days she had completely upped her food intake and stopped bothering about milk! She's now 17 months and since a year old has had a cup of cows milk in the morning and before her bath, plus 3 meals a day.

Also, she has never been spoon fed, always fed herself. Breakfast is typically eggs/porridge/toast, then sandwich/chopped veg/omelette/pasta for lunch, and whatever we're having for dinner (chilli con carne with rice and sliced avocado for dinner)

How did the initial 2 days go goofy? I would like to get this sorted while I'm off work for Xmas but dreading a major meltdown/multiple night wakings!
Sounds you like fed very similarly to us!

How did the initial 2 days go goofy? I would like to get this sorted while I'm off work for Xmas but dreading a major meltdown/multiple night wakings!
Sounds you like fed very similarly to us!

I am a nanny and also was a toddler room leader.

By a year most of "my" children are having

7.15 Breakfast - Wheetabix/porridge with milk - plus a tommee tippee cup of milk alongside
10 Snack - Fruit, breadsticks, toast, plus a tommee tippee cup of milk or water alongside
12 Lunch - Usually something simple like beans [small tin] and toast, scrambled egg, jacket potato, omelette, plus greek yoghurt and fruit - blueberries/strawberries etc
3 Snack - Fruit, breadsticks, toast, plus a tommee tippee cup of milk or water alongside
5.30 Dinner - lasagne, chicken casserole, pasta, 2 fishfingers + vegetables,
6.30 Cup of milk in a tommee tippee cup downstairs at the table - maybe a piece of toast if I'm having something.

By 14 months generally they are on the morning/evening milk, no milk during the day

I say tommee tippee - just so you can see the size/scale; also because we get rid of bottles by 11 months.

Evidence- thanks, so it seems that your charges where also eating lots and having a fair amount of milk, but using cups rather than bottles. That makes me feel a little better but I still need to work on getting rid of the bottles themselves.

A lot of you mention milk only at mealtimes? Obviously this avoids drinks spilt everywhere but DD likes to pick up her TT sippy cup as she is playing and have a drink, so that rules out a doidy or similar for now.

I'm glad I'm not the only one who thinks it's ok to get rid of bottles by a year old.

milly I hate seeing toddlers with bottles.

Bottles to me are for babies snuggled up having a feed, not for a toddler walking around. Also as a room leader in a 1-2 room I have seen many 13 month olds drinking out of a cup/beaker so it seems odd to me to have a toddler drinking from a bottle.

I also think the removal of the bottle/dummy is easier to do under a year than to an older toddler. I know most people think I'm mean though.

Ask any dentist what they think about bottles. Dental decay in toddlers is at an all time high in this country and dummies and bottles after a year old is cited as one of the main reasons.

All drinks at table here only even now they are primary school age. You can keep water at table and offer regularly to her when she sits at table. I wouldnt too much milk even in cups eventually as it's filling if you want meals eaten more.
At 1 year mine breastfed still. Fed morning and in evening so twice a day, then just water in the day usually with occasional milk in cup after afternoon nap

I think this is one of those things that seems impossible but generally isn't. My two were having similar milk @11months and were relatively slow to take large amounts of solid food. But I just switched out a bottle at a time -and by just after 12months both were on morning and night time bottles only and by 13-14 months having no bottle at all - despite DD feeding to sleep at night still at 11months. Neither of mind really liked formula in a cup for some reason so had cows milk and water to drink. Gradual is fine - you will get there and it probably won't take that long.

Oh and I serve cows milk not formula after a year.

Ric- how did you break the feed to sleep habit?

Thanks all- today is day one, DD did not get up till 7.30 and had 4oz formula (In a bottle) rather than her usual 7oz, we then had porridge and a slice of granary toast, the porridge was eaten with fingers so I'm not sure how much went in!?

She would usually have another bottle at about 9.30, I am going to offer a snack instead and see if it is missed!

I completely agree with molly. I'm perplexed at why you think she's being harsh. Ditch all bottles and replace with Tommee Tippee cups and her milk intake will plummet. They're not hard to clean either - in two children I've never done more than run hot soapy water through the lids, or just chuck them straight in the dishwasher. She definitely shouldn't be feeding to sleep off a bottle at her age because it will wreck her teeth as I assume you don't brush once she's asleep.

Bottles are also not a particularly healthy stand-in for separation anxiety, either. It's comfort eating, essentially. Cuddles plus dummy if she has one?

She has never had a dummy so I'm loath to introduce one now also the advice is to start removing a dummy from 6 months so I find that odd advice.
I find the tommee tipped cups with valves quite hard to clean as the valves need taking apart, the ones with the flip spout (I assume this is what you mean) most often end up thrown on the floor and leaking.

I thought the guidance against feeding to sleep was because their mouths can be full of milk while their asleep? In DDs case she drinks the milk and then pushes the bottle away before going to sleep- but 2bh I am trying to crack one thing at a time.

Sorry only just checked back in.
Initial 2 days were fine, nowhere near as bad as feared. It was one of those things that I'd built up in my mind and was dreading it, and it was fine.
She was a bit grizzly for milk once or twice but that was it. We already didn't feed to sleep at bedtime so that was ok. I thought she'd be grumpy about having her milk in a cup rather than bottle before her bath but she really wasn't (we used the munchkin weighted straw cup at that point).
So glad we did it all in one fell swoop. DD1 had her bedtime milk in a bottle until 18 months and I was keen to avoid that again as I dislike toddlers drinking out of bottles. DD2 hasn't had a bottle since 11 months.

Milk before sleep isn't great as her teeth should cleaned in between milk and bed. I would feed milk in living room, then teeth cleaned and pjs on. Then introduce book before bed with dimmed lights in bedroom.

Cook her porridge a little longer and it will be thick she can use a spoon easier

Well feed to sleep became rock / cuddle to sleep - just without a bottle so I don't think that I solved that the best way...

I stopped feeding to sleep at around 7 months... learned from my 'mistakes' with DD1!

Ah ok.... we already do bath/book/chill but once placed in cot if she doesn't have a bottle she is up on her feet or climbing out! She sleeps through so can self settle but seems to struggle to chill out at bedtime.
I won't leave her to cry so I don't know how long it would take for her to fall asleep without- and she won't let me rock or cuddle her- she just twists until you put her down and then runs away!

Try water in a bottle after teeth? Or gradually water down milk until she loses interest?

I said dummy 'if she has one'. I wasn't suggesting you introduce one.

And yes, the Tommee Tippee cups with valves are a PITA to clean if you're doing it by hand, but they need to be sucked on so I wouldn't use them if you're eliminating bottles anyway. The flip top ones you do need to keep an eye on, but are deliberately free-flow to avoid sucking and are ideal at her age. Yes, they're messy at times, but babies are generally messy, I've found.