To drop a bottle or not?

[SuperDuperTrooper]

My 10 month old has always been a good eater but recently he is eating his lunch and dinner very very slowly - often just holding the food in his mouth and not swallowing! Today he barely has half his lunch. It is really frustrating! He is on 3 meals a day and 3 bottles a day totalling about 600ml (21oz) a day. I was considering dropping his middle bottle to see if this will make him eat more of his lunch and dinner but some people have said the milk is more important. However, others have said the opposite - which is why I'm soooo confused! Really don't know what to do for the best. Any advice?

I'd go on what the NHS recommend which is 20 flow of first milk per day from 6 to 12 months. Once they reach one, the NHS recommend 300ml of full fat cows milk per day until they are 2.

If he only eats half his lunch it doesn't really matter, food is more about exploring tastes and textures at this age rather than seeing how much you can cram in them .

All you can do is give it a go for a few days and see if it helps. I think around 10 months, my dd dropped the middle bottle. You could even offer some in a cup with a small snack mid afternoon

Ok, so his current routine is roughly:

6/6.30am wakes up and has bottle

8am breakfast of cereal with formula

8.30 - 10am nap

Snack of fruit

12pm bottle

12.30pm lunch

1.30 - 2.30 nap

Snack of toast

5.30 pm dinner and yoghurt

8pm bed

This is a very new routine as he has just cut out a nap. The bottle followed by lunch is an attempt to get a bottle into him before he goes to the childminders at 1pm as he tends to be wriggly when anyone else gives him a bottle and doesn't take much from them. I used to do this with breakfast and he happily drank the milk and ate all his breakfast so I know he has had the appetite for that in the past.

Thanks for you thoughts!

Oops forgot bottle at bedtime!

Yeah a bottle at 12 followed by lunch will explain the not eating. Offer the bottle a while after the meal

Yeah a bottle at 12 followed by lunch will explain the not eating. Offer the bottle a while after the meal although offering the bottle is recommended before offering food until they are one and the OP is giving the recommended 20floz of formula a day.

OP I still think you should just follow the NHS guidelines and stop listening to your doubters .

What if you move the bottle to 10/10.30 when he wakes up? This is when my 10mo has her second BF of the day.

But if the op is giving a bottle then offering food right after, of course the child won't want to eat! They will be full on milk. There is no 'rule' to say this is how it must be done. As long as child is getting full quota of milk (which s/he is) will it hurt to play around with times that milk is offered? Op is asking about getting child to eat more, so I'm offering my advice on something to try. Guideline as just that, guidelines

So the general consensus this far is to not drop a bottle but to perhaps change when I offer it. The only reason why I happily offered the 2nd bottle right before lunch is because we have always done this and he has always had a big enough appetite to guzzle his milk and all his food. Most other mums I know had to stagger bottles and meals otherwise the baby wouldn't take it - but mine would. Anyway, clearly not anymore so I will try changing the time first I think and see what happens.

I'm reluctant to put it after lunch (2ish) as he is with the childminder and, as mentioned earlier, he is wriggly with other people and tends not to take much anyway. I was reluctant to do it at 10am when he wakes from his nap as we struggle to make it to any baby groups as it is and that will probably throw a spanner in the works in us socialising in the mornings. As I'm at work in the afternoons, and the childminder doesn't really take them out because of the school run, I was really keen on getting out to different centres in the morning. Still, I guess his feeding is more important so will try the bottle earlier and see if it helps his appetite for lunch.

Thanks for you comments and if anyone else has a view I'm all ears!

I was confused about offering milk before solids too. What works for my dd is to give half the bottle before solids and half after, just before her nap. She usually then has appetite for her solids but still wants at least some of her remaining half bottle afterwards when she's winding down. Maybe something to try if you haven't already (my dd is only 6 months though so am a newbie :)

Could you wake him from his nap a little earlier?

Ok, so I gave his 2nd bottle when he woke from his nap and he was considerably more interested in his lunch when the time came. Having said that I did wonder whether it was because of the food I gave. I know he likes sweet flavours and he had apricots in the chicken dish I made and sweet potato. Will do the same tomorrow and see how we go. Thanks again everyone.