6 month old not wanting milk in th day.

[KitKat1985]

Hi all. My DD is 6 months (nearly 7 months). We started weaning just over a month ago. She's loving her food and is eating really well. I'm also in the process of trying to move her from breastfeeding onto formula, but it's been difficult as she won't take a bottle so I'm giving her sips of formula from a beaker instead. But since she's eating so well she's hardly taking any milk in the day at all. I'd say she's probably only taking between 2-4oz all day, (although she is also having some cows milk in her morning ready brek). I've tried offering her a breastfeed instead in the day but she isn't interested in that either. I've also been giving her sips of water as I'm worried she is going to get dehydrated, especially with the weather being so warm. However she's been perfectly happy and bright, and only gets annoyed because I keep bothering her to drink more milk! She's still passing plenty of dirty nappies etc. She is still accepting a breastfeed before bed, and she wakes about once in the night for another breastfeed, but that's pretty much it (but eventually I'd like to offer her formula instead at these feeds too, but I've just been trying to stop gradually). Is it a problem that's she's having so little milk? How would I know if she was getting dehydrated?

Soaking wet nappies I think? Mayb your offering too much food at this stage? Mine is a similar age and I only do breakfast and dinner. :)

My son did this. Exclusively breastfed to 6 months, started on solids and within a week he was refusing the breast. No big deal I though, I'll move on to formula - but he was having none of it, however I tried to give it.

In the end he literally stopoed drinking milk at 6 m9bths old. Full stop. He is 11 years old now. He has never liked milk as a drink. Not even special milk drinks like milkshakes or hot chocolate. He does not like drinking milk and I think his refusal at 6 months was just part of that.

So I made dairy a huge part of his diet. Every meal had a dairy aspect - milky cereal at breakfast and always a yoghurt for pudding after lunch and dinner.

Toddlers are supposed to maintain milk in their diet, but that can take the form of dairy in their diet instead of milk to drink. The main issue is maintaining the calories baby would get from milk. But this is easily doable with bigger portions and high calorie foods.

Your DD may have got more efficient at taking milk so she's taking more at each feed but having fewer feeds. Or it could be a nursing strike, not uncommon at this age.

If she was dehydrated you would notice fewer wet nappies.

If you were looking to continue breastfeeding her then there are things you could do but if you are wanting to move her to formula anyway then I wouldn't really do anything.

Depending on what your reasons are for wanting to move to formula, I would maybe consider continuing breastfeeding-particularly the bedtime and night feeds. You've done all the hard work, you may as well get the benefits of breastfeeding in the night where you don't have to wake up properly to make a bottle, etc! An older baby is often really quick and easy to feed so can be great when you are out and about.

Maybe you are giving too much solids, breastmilk should be main part of their diet still at this age. Kellymom is worth a read
kellymom.com/nutrition/starting-solids/solids-how/

kellymom.com/ages/older-infant/babyselfwean/

I know how worrying this can be.
I weaned my son at 5 months due to a reflux. By 6 months he was on 3 meals a day and snacks. He refused all milk other then his bedtime bottle.
We ended up at the doctors worried and stressed having spent a couple of weeks trying to force him to drink his milk, as everyone was telling us he must have it.
GP advised that as long as there is dairy in his diet and he is getting fluid from water we have nothing to worry about. Some babies do wean very early, and if we were that concerned about him loosing vitamins to give a multi vitamin. He suggested offering milk at breakfast and at his afternoon nap, if after a few attempts he is still refusing don't push it, you can end up giving a complex. He did say get him weighed at least monthly to make sure he is gaining weight.
My son is now 9 months old has between 2-7oz in the morning and 7oz in the evening. He is a happier baby now we don't keep pestering him for milk. He has a huge appetite and has jumped another percentile line in the last 2 months.
Listen to what your baby is telling you :) they may just prefer food. (Even though everything inside you is telling you they are a baby and therefore must have milk)

I agree with you Redken but I'm not sure I can cut back from 3 meals a day now, since I think she's notably getting hungry around meal times.

Hello Fate! [waves] Oddly enough my MIL tells me that my DH did exactly the same as your son. He stopped breastfeeding at 6 months and has refused milk ever since, and he's 36 now! I wonder if my baby DD is just the same. She does like yogurt etc so maybe I just need to give her plenty of dairy based foods instead, and make sure she is getting plenty of water so she's not getting thirsty.

I thought babies aren't meant to have cows milk? (I may be completely wrong sorry if I am) maybe you should have a chat to your HV when you get DC weighed because I've read food is meant to be secondary to milk until they're one. You may well be giving her too many solids, I was doing this to my DD and my HV said to only give her solids within an hour of feeding her so she's not as hungry ?

Well totally up to you :) my kid is the same she would enjoy chomping all day if i let her.
If she's more hungry but won't take milk are you just offering food instead? I sometimes have to stop dinner if I think not enough milk through the day. Only because a few days of more food less milk meant more wake ups for me. Couldn't hack it lol

Littletwofeet I kind of want to drop the pre-bed feed because when I go back to work I'll be at work in the evenings so she needs to be used to not being breast-fed before bed if you see what I mean.

And thank you for that reassurance 2016mumma.

Neverknowing my understanding is that they can have cows milk if used in cooking / food but it's not supposed to be their main drink before they're one.

Thanks Hercules. The funny thing is my first daughter was the exact opposite and only wanted milk and no food until she was 9 months, and even then for several months would have happily still had several milk feeds a day if I let her, so this behaviour with DD2 is pretty unknown territory for me!

I should say that I haven't been giving her snacks, and the milk I've been offering her has between meals as I was thinking that if about 3 hours had passed since her last meal she would be hungry enough to take milk, but it hasn't made any difference.

Do u say - wake up - milk then food?