8 month old refusing food and formula

[Katie272]

My 8 month old still has 5 bottles a day each 7oz of milk. For the past week or so he's not finished one single bottle whereas he used to drink the whole bottle in minutes. Sometimes he's literally drinking about 3oz and leaving the rest until it needs to be thrown.

Since about 6 months we started weaning, he was doing well and was also feeding himself some foods. The past week he's completely gone off his food too.

He's had a few sips of water in his sippy cups and munchkin 360 cup so I thought maybe he doesn't want the bottle anymore so tried formula in the cup and he doesn't want this either.

He doesn't have any teeth yet and isn't showing any signs really of teething so I don't think it's that. But for about a week now he's had a cold and also had a rash and doctors just said it was viral. His nappy's are still wet so I know he's not dehydrated but I don't know how I can get him to drink more when he's suddenly dropped down to such a little amount. I wouldn't want him to start suddenly loosing weight since the formula contains majority of his nutrients.

GP didn't seem too concerned about the fact he's been refusing feeds, but how long can I let it go on before it actually becomes a problem?

It is absolutely normal to be off food when unwell. Keep offering but don't fall in the trap of offering rubbish food (melty puffs, sweets, wafers, ...) in the hope he will eat something because this is could make him refuse normal food and only accept processed food.
Offer cold slices of watermelon, a yoghurt with some berries for cold alternatives, have him in you arms while you prepare (with one hand) some food for yourself and he might become interested.
Even if you have to throw away the bottle, keep one nearby and offer while you read a book or are sitting in the garden playing .

He is still taking his milk, even if less, and this isn't worrying