Too much formula?

[WithRosesAroundTheDoor]

DD is almost 10m.
She has 4x7oz bottles of formula daily (about every 4hours) and will occasionally have another if she wakes in the night.
She has 3 solid meals a day, mainly blw but occasional pouch and eats really well. . I always do milk first and then solids about an hour later.

I got a bit of a telling off from the HV at her 10m review yesterday as she said that DD should only be having 3 bottles of formula in a day. When I explained that she is clearly hungry at the times that it is given but gets upset if solids are offered first the HV said that DD would 'just have to get used to it'.
It just didn't quite sit right but I don't want to do it wrong and set her up for food issues, as the HV implied that I would.

Could anyone advise me please? Surely she will just drop the milk when she is ready and making her do it before is cruel.

You could try offering a bit less in a daytime bottle. Our mid morning one was the first to go and was replaced with a snack and drink of water.
By the time they get to age 1 they only need about 300/350mls (10-12oz).

We dropped one around 10months, the mid morning one also.
Tbh I just didn't give him it one day and gave a small snack and he was fine.

Just remember HV go from 'the book', babies ain't read the bloody book. In that stage as long as Ds was eating solids well I didn't give a fig if he had over the amount of formula. He wanted it he got it. Same with other D's who was breastfed. You can introduce snacks, more water but if he wants the bottle why not give it?

What you are doing sounds fine to me. I'd say that if you and your DD are both happy, her weight, growth and energy levels are fine then ignore the health visitor.

I remember when my DD1 was about a year old. She would not take lumpy food from a spoon until she could manage the spoon well herself. She loved finger food though, any stuff she could pick up and chew. She ate a lot that way and still had purée from the spoon. She still loved her formula milk too. She was eating fine, but you wouldn't have thought that if you had heard my health visitor. I got a real ticking off for not forcing her to eat lumpy food from a spoon.

I left that session very irked and continued as we were. Absolutely no issues at all, and I never saw another health visitor until 3 years later, after the birth of DD2. By then we were living in a different area and this one was totally different. Much better, and more realistic.

Do what works for you. It sounds as though your DD is fine.

Take no notice . I always fed them when they were looking for it. Some babies take more and some less.

I wouldn't even count down her milk now she clearly wants it.

She'll drop it when she's ready.

Thank you all. I may try reducing the volume of a couple of feeds tomorrow but I am not going to worry if she wants it.
I am especially aware that she has gone from just sitting to crawling, standing and cruising quickly within a two week period so must be using more calories than she was.
Thank you again

If you were BF on demand they wouldn't say anything 🙄 (and I say that as a Bf mother). If your daughter is hungry then feed her. She sounds happy, healthy and busy so she needs the energy! If it starts to affect her weight then reconsider but I'd ignore the HV. I doubt they've been much use to you over the last year anyway. Mine haven't!

I was going to say, I doubt anyone would say anything about breastfeeding. Ds2 is 8.5 months and still feeds about 6-7 times a day!

That's a very good point.