Advice needed re quantities of milk/food for a 7 month old.

[hotmama]

DD is just over 7 months old and so I have progressed to 2nd stage weaning. I know that she is supposed to have the equivalent of 20ozs of milk a day - but I wonder if I am attempting to give too much.

DD won't drink much/any water at mealtimes so I am getting paranoid about her fluid intake - although nappies are fine etc so I know she is not dehydrated at the moment but I am worried if I cut down the amount of milk given.

Feeding goes like the following:

Breakfast: Porridge made with milk for breakfast, then offer a full 7 oz bottle - she will probably leave up to half of both.

Lunch: Savoury and sweet and a drop of water if I am lucky - usually scoffs the lot.

Mid-afternoon: 7oz milk feed - usually has the majority.

Tea: Savoury and sweet - may leave some.

Bedtime: 7oz bottle - usually has most of it.

Should I give her the bottle at breakfast,? I do at the moment as she always leaves loads of her breakfast and I think that if I didn't she wouldn't be having enough milk/fluid intake during the day. Or should I perhaps try to cut out the brekkie milk feed in the hope that she will start to drink water?

DD's weight is fine if a little rounded - don't want her to be overweight ( but this is my hang-up as I always have had a weight problem).

Any advice would be really gratefully received.

Thanks

hotmama afaik the milk guideline is as much to do with calcium as liquid iyswim. If yr dd is having eg yogurt, cheese, cottage cheese etc then you can count that towards her milk intake. What you are givign her sounds fine. Just make sure to keep it varied, and perhaps try introducing a cup? You may find she drinks water and milk better from this.

My dd2 is 8 months ish and has similar to yours:

Breakfast - 7oz bottle then Weetabix/Ready Brek mixed with fruit puree - sometimes leave the cereal

Lunch - savoury dish then more puree. Sometimes has a 5oz 10 mins after, more often not.

After nap (2.30ish) - 7oz bottle

Tea - savoury dish

Bedtime - 7oz bottle

I wouldn't worry about the water if I were you, dd2 mainly just chews the cup, but it gets them used to holding it etc.

Also DO NOT WORRY about babies being overweight, mine is a 23lb tub of lard. And gorgeous.

hotmama - don't cut down on milk - at seven months, that's where most of her nutrition is coming from - also, at 7 months, really the food thing is just experimentation and getting her used to the process, texture, feel etc - it is not until after the age of 1 that most of their nutrition starts to come from food

also, don't worry to much with the water intake, as long as nappies continue to be wet - my son took quite some time to come around to water, and at 7 months was really just looking at the beaker inquisitively - now, at the age of 1, he probably only drink 100 to 140 mls a day of water

ps. stick to what you are doing - it sounds just fine and you are doing a great job

pps. try not to worry about the weight thing - when the babies start crawling and walking, it just falls off them

ppps. good advice from Clary re the dairy thing

Thanks girls - I'll carry on with what I am doing then - this motherhood lark doesn't half get my knickers in a twist.

You stars!

Hope you don't mind me muscling in on this hotmama as my almost 7-mth old is refusing to eat much if anything, but loves her milk. When should you drop the mid-morning milk feed - at the moment DD has a feed or, if at CM has a full 7-8oz then. She is not eating much if anything at lunch and HV said to drop that feed and offer a snack and water instead to get her to eat. Any views - I thought it was a bit early to do this???

Florenceuk - my dd started refusing food a couple of weeks after I started weaning her. I received some good advice from mumsnetters see under Food - weaning a 28 week old.

I have only dropped the mid-morning feed when dd reached 7 months - so only for a couple of weeks. Now she does eat all her lunch - sweet and savoury - I just think she wasn't that hungry when she was having a mid-morning feed. I would have thought she would have been starving at brekkie but this is the one she is least bothered about - bizarre. HTH

hotmama, everything sounds great what you are doing, can I offer you two suggestions though

1. I would give her, her breakfast bottle before her solids, and offer her, her breakfast about 20-30 mins after, this should encourage her to finish both

2. cut down her mid-afternoon bottle to 5 -6floz max, this will ensure she will eat her tea .

She will still be having 19floz plus her milk from yoghurts and cheese.

( I'm a Maternity nurse/baby consultant, by the way, not just an annoying no it all!!!)

Crazy - thanks for your advice - anytadvice is gratefully received.

I don't give her cheese/yogurts everyday esp as yogurts have sugar in - prefer to give her fruit puree etc.

DD breakfast i (Organix Banana Porridge - still give her a 4 month old portion as she doesn't eat all of this) is made up from 4ozs milk plus bottle = 11ozs. If I then reduce afternoon feed to 5ozs and then bedtime feed this will come to over 23ozs - going to give this a try. Usually give brekkie before bottle so will try bottle when dd wakes up and then brekkie a bit later.

hotmama - i don't give yoghurts with sugar in either, but i buy natural greek yogurt ("Total" I find it the best as it is not tart), and mix it with fruit puree - my son loves it

Hi, not hijacking (I hope!) but I also have a 7 month old, and had a question along the same lines - I know people have said not to worry about babies being over weight, and although our ds is v heavy, he's also v tall for his age, but was just wondering, he eats loads - presumably it's not possible to over feed him? I mean, if he was full, he's refuse food surely? He's on 3 meals of solids a day, and yet we haven't cut out any milk feeds yet, and he's still pretty much finishing all of them! Just worry every now and again that we're stuffing him too full!

my sister in law told me to keep feeding them until they turn away - it worked for us - i think they know when they are hungry and when not

ps. if he's not being sick, i guess he's not too full

That's pretty much what we figured, thanks! We don't try and force anything down him, and he's not sick really, so guess he's OK, just got a good appetite I guess!

Message withdrawn

HELLO I AM NEW TO MUMSNET BUT HAVE FOUND SOME OF THE INFO USEFUL, WITH REGARDS TO FEEDING I WANTED ADVICE ON WHAT MY 8 MONTH OLD IS EATING - HE IS AT NURSERY 3 DAYS A WEEK AND THEY HAVE STARTED GIVING HIM CHILLI AND JACKET POTATOES ETC? IS THIS OK FOR HIM TO EAT? HE IS ALREADY 23LB!!!

hi greeny welcome - is it respectable nursury? are they giving the babies different food to todlers? i would have thought potato and chili slightly advanced for a 8 month old (my 1 year old would have trouble), but i wouldn't worry about the weight at this age - they eat when they are hungry, and the weight falls off when they start crawling/walking

Yes they are a highly rated nursery, they cook everything fresh in their kitchen i believe they still mush it up but he seems to have liked it and wanted more!! I was just worried it was a little early, I suppose he wouldn't eat it if he didn't like it!

well, i suspect there's not much chili, so if he liked it, ate it, and it had no side effects, i wouldn't worry too much