7 month old no longer finishes bottles

[GeorgesMummy5224]

I need some help as I'm so undecided what to do for the best. My boy turned 7 months 2 days ago and started weaning and teething as soon as we hit 6 months. He now no longer finishes bottles. If he has 5-6oz we've done lucky. You could always rely on the bedtime bottle being his best one but last night was the worst we've ever had. My husband thinks we need to drop him to 4 bottles (currently has 5) now he's having 2 meals a day but I'm so undecided what to do. I want to make sure he's getting enough milk but I can't force him to have more than he wants. Part of me thinks he's struggling to finish because of teething, part of me thinks it's because of weaning. I just don't know what to do for the best.

How much does your 7 month olds drink? I need some reassurance that it's the right thing to do!

From 6 months a minimum of 20oz is recommended (around 600mls) alongside meals. How much is he taking in 24 hours?

When are you giving meals and milk? I used to split them so the milk was given at least an hour before food e.g. milk at 7, 11, 3, 7 and food at 8, 12, 5. My ds had a night feed until 8 months old too

They do gradually drink less as more of their nutrition comes from food. As long as he seems well and hydrated dropping a bottle is absolutely fine. A lot of the time your baby will show you what they need.

He has been taking between 30-35oz over 5 feeds. I think he finished on 31oz yesterday.

He tends to have a bottle around 7.30am, then breakfast around 8.30/8.45. Bottles at 11, 2, food around 3 and then bottles at 5 and 7.30 before bed. He's slept through since 8 weeks.

When I see that the minimum is 20oz it seems like he is still drinking a lot (I've had mixed information about how much he should have) but I think my main worry is I'm not sure on the reason he's cut back. He's gone from around 7-8oz every feed, 9oz at bedtime to 5-6oz at each feed.

So I suppose we could try 4 bottles and see how he gets on and as long as he has 20oz a day with his food he should be okay.

I feel like I don't know what I'm doing at the minute!

Either put less in each bottle or cut back to 4 bottles. At one stage I gave larger bottles in the am and pm and less in the ones during the day as they'd be getting solid foods during the day too.

Some of your bottles are quite close together so maybe that's why he doesn't take so much in them especially if he's had food recently too.

Milk will drop naturally as he takes more food. Think by about 10 months they might take around 400mls and by 1 year its 300/350 mls.

Be guided by your baby as they are all different. You're doing great 🙂

I've always thought he could go longer between bottles but we'd struggle to fit them all in the hours he's awake. He hasn't shown hunger cues for months so that's why we just offer a bottle every 3 hours or so and we had to pull his bedtime forward when we dropped his 4th nap hence the 2.5 hour gap.

Not going to lie, it will be so much easier on 4 bottles, I just hope it works out. I think we'll give it a try tomorrow.

Thank you 😊

He tends to have a bottle around 7.30am, then breakfast around 8.30/8.45. Bottles at 11, 2, food around 3 and then bottles at 5 and 7.30 before bed. He's slept through since 8 weeks

What times are his naps?

He has a nap around 9.15/9.30, again around 12/12.30 and his last around 3.30. He's very inconsistent with the length of his naps at the minute but it's usually around 40-45 minutes.