Bottle routine (formula) 7 month

[DaddyPig2018]

Hi I hope you can help work advice for life first child.

My wife and I have recently managed to get our son of 7 months old to take a bottle, it took a few days of persistence and now he loves it.

This was so I and others could help feed our boy especially as his mum will be going back to work a few days a week so could rely on the breast.

So our son John now takes the bottle and it is formula, however me and my partner are lost with regards to the daily routine in feeding.

Our boy is taking solids althouh we have noticed now that he is on the formula he doesn't always eat his solids as much as he perhaps should.
He has (we try to feed him) porridge for breakfast and mushed up meat, veg, fish etc for lunxh/dinner.
Has anyone got advice for a 7 month old regarding:-

How many bottles per day should we give?

How much ml/measurement should we give per bottle?

What times (around solid food) should we give a bottle?

Anyone's basic milk formula/solids daily routine for a baby at this kind of age (7 months) would be most appreciated and a saviour, we presume he is taking more milk easier than he did the breast so is becoming fuller, should we reduce the milk down perhaps?

Cow and gate formula instructions say a baby when onto solids should take a pints worth of formula.

Also we are wasting a lot of powder as he doesn't always drink a full bottle then other times we don't give him enough, obviously every baby is different but we are trying to gauge the ml volumes needed and get them right for the right time of the next bottle.

Nightmare really, mum is doing a great job but when I am at work during the day this can take its toll as I feel mothers can often beat themselves up when they are the full time parent.

I can't wait to see people regimes / routines etc in typical day for a 7 month baby.

Thanks so much
John senior

I did milk at around 7,11,3,7 and solids at 8, 12 and 5. Can't remember amounts but judge it by how much they take for e.g. at one point mine took more in the am and pm bottles but less in the 2 daytime bottles

I offered milk after every wake up, so first thing in the morning, after morning nap, after afternoon nap and before bed, before bed and how how many times she wanted it durring the night (normal 2 to 3 times).

The bottle should always have some milk left in it when the baby has finished. If the baby drink it all then you need to offer more. At that age my DD would often have only to 2oz for breakfast but then have 11oz at a time over night. There is no right or wrong just a hungry baby. Just like breast feeding try to work out what is best for your baby, some days they will want more or less than others and focus on out puts (per, poo and weight) rather than input.

Formula is more calorific than food and 7 months is young so don’t worry is younthink weaning is going slow. That is not a problem. We did blw and DD often only had two meals a day due to her sleep pattern. At this age if they sleep through a meal it is fine.

I think 7 months is one of the trickiest time as you are giving milk and food.

At 7 months mine had a bottle of around 6-7oz formula every four hours, including a dream feed and occasional night feed.

Meals were bowl of weetabix/porridge for breakfast and then only had an evening meal. This was later replaced by toast and cup with water as they refused the cereals. Started introducing lunch as they approached 8 months.

Here we did 7oz at 7am, 3pm and 7pm. Solids at 8am, 12pm and 5pm.
Before weaning we also had an 11am feed plus a 10-11pm dreamfeed.

It's hard because as you say all babies are different! My 8 month old has about 100-120ml per feed every 2-3 hours during the day, totalling between 650-750ml a day. This can include one feed overnight sometimes. She has porridge at about 8am and then one other meal of toast/veg/rice cake none of which she swallows. I give solids immediately before she is due her next bottle. This has been the same routine since 7 months. Do you use a tracker app? I use baby manager to log feeds.

Don't worry about wasting formula. Better to put too much than not enough. I am not sure about reducing milk feeds yet - I think your son is just learning to eat solids so is still learning to eat, so it's normal if he doesn't eat all his solids yet. It might take a few more months until he gets the hang of it.

Thanks all your all really helpful

My DD has 5-7ozs, 4 times a day. The rkutine depends when her first bottle is but usually its first at 7, 11, 2-4 (depends on nap and if she wakes up before school run) and then the last bottle between 6-7.

Routine!