Transitioning 9 month old to formula - how much?

[Gillian1980]

Hi all,

DS has been ebf and is nearly 9 months old. He’s on 3 x meals per day and bf on demand, probably about 6 bf a day? But some for comfort rather than hunger or thirst I’m sure.

In anticipation of going back to work soon and him starting nursery for 3 days a week, I want to transition daytime milk to bottle / cup. He is willing to take either - preferring bottle when tired & cuddly and a cup with meals.

As he’s always fed on demand and no set pattern, I’m not sure when or how much to offer.

So, I’m interested to know size & frequency of bottles for your babies who are on 3 solid meals per day

(I plan on continuing with bf morning and night).

Thanks 😊

My ebf DD was transitioned to day time formula at 8 months in preparation for me to return to work. She was having 3 meals at the time, but wasn't bf on demand. Apart from the wake- up and bed time feeds, she was bf mid-morning and mid-afternoon. I just swapped the latter two for formula. We initially started on 7oz bottles, but quickly realised that she wasn't finishing 7oz in the morning and dropped that to 5oz.
Once DD took to formula (she was an absolute bottle refuser when she was being ebf) I found it quite easy to be led by her. In weeks that she naps less during the day, she often has a third bottle early evening.

It'll be trial and error. Get a bottle of ready made milk for the fridge and offer him 2-3 oz when he's looking for milk, if he needs more you can add to it. Alternatively you can try to engineer a situation where he's taking a lot in one go as per pp routine.

Thank you, always useful to hear other people’s experiences.

I’ll try for a bottle mid-morning and mid-afternoon and see what else he seems to want. May go for about 4 or 5 oz and adjust from there.

I think we went for 7oz because that's what the back of the tin suggested for a baby her age. But starting with a smaller bottle is probably more reasonable. Good luck!