8 month old won't drink milk anymore

[Shadowboy]

My 8 month old won't really drink milk anymore. If I'm lucky she will take 10-12ounces over 24hours. She loves her solid food but the saysing is food before one is just for fun- so obviously I'm really worried she's not getting enough calcium and the vitamins in the milk. She's putting on weight fine. All the health visitor suggestions of making meals with formula aren't working.

How often is she having solids? According to the NHS is should be 2 or at most 3 times a day.

Personally I think the food until one thing is a generalisation - some kids take to solids like ducks to water and some still aren't eating much at one. I'd only be concerned about what's she's missing from milk - if she's eating a good and varied diet and also getting a decent source of calcium (yoghurt/cheese etc) I wouldn't worry too much. Easy to say now I've weaned my second (with my first I probably would have panicked). I'd keep trying as there's also a chance it's just a phase - in my experience a month changes everything with young kids and things they hate become a favourite and vice versa. Only other thing I'd try is changing the times you offer it and/or having it in a different cup/or just having a cup of milk around like you would water

I've written she through this post and then realised I'm not sure if you said she or he so sorry if I'm wrong - can't see the original post in the app

It was twice a day but we've upped it to breakfast, lunch and dinner because of the lack of milk intake.

She has
Milk 7am about 3.5ounces this morning
Toast 7.30am

Milk 11 (totally refused today's)
Sachet 12pm

Milk 3pm took 5ounces today
Dinner 6pm -pasta

Yet to try before bed- just about to do it

I usually dream feed at 11pm and she usually takes 3-4ounces but sometimes only 2

DD2 did this, unfortunately even younger at 6 months. The HV advised she needed 17-20oz of milk per day, and this could be made up with yoghurt and cheese too so I would do weetabix or porridge for breakfast (3oz) with fromage frais (2oz), vegetables in cheese sauce (3oz) and rice pudding (2oz) for lunch and a pasta with a cheesy/creamy sauce wity veg (3oz) amd another yoghurt (2oz) for dinner. It still wasn't quite enough but by the time she was your little ones age she could snack on cheese on toast, formula ice lollies,drink smoothies made with formula etc too.

I had so many sleepless nights about it and for months constantly tried to get her tp drink milk, from every receptacle we could find, but she just wouldn't and both the HV and her paed said it really wasnt a problem. I gave her a daily multivitamin to make me feel a bit better too.

Shes 2 now and really healthy and will drink cows milk now, has done for probably 6 months or so.

DC3 is 7 months and his interest in milk is also dwindling, has been offered 30 odd ounces today but only drank 14 of them bloody kids lol!

We do offer yoghurt which she loves and cheese- again which she loves and I put laughing cow spread on the toast. She did take 5oz before bed so 13.5oz today so maybe some in the dream feed and we might make 17oz which is better than some days but not ideal. I persevere!

Thank you so much!

17 is good, any more than 17-20 is just a bonus my paed said so try not to worry. Calcium rich foods and a mutivit for the amino acids etc in formula and she'll be fine!

My daughters interest in milk is dwindling too. She is older though, 10 months. She has approx 600ml milk a day plus three meals. If you're worried you could try multivitamins? It's hard not to worry but I believe that babies generally know what they need and will take whatever food or drink they need. If baby is well and has plenty of wet nappies, it's likely all is well.

You've got nothing to worry about......food before one is just for fun is normally just relevant for those who aren't eating!

After 6 months you're attempting to replace milk with solids, which is working in your case

My only suggestion is to only give milk first and last thing.....your other bottles can just be dropped. I do 6 oz first thing and last thing . He has dairy in other forms during the day with normal milk

I meant to ask why are you dreamfeeding her?! If she's on solids regularly there's no need for this. That'll also be a reason why she's not taking as much milk during the day

We found she stirs every night between 10-11pm so from about 4monthd we used to 'catch' her before she fully woke and would scoop her up and give her a bottle. She them never seems to wake- sleeps through until 6.30am
I don't know if I didn't give it to her if she would continue to sleep through?

I would think she'll be stirring to anticipate the habit of the feed you give her

We just offered water instead for a couple of nights which soon got the message through !this also meant his first bottle would be drained and more food during the day!

Exactly this happened with ds3. I bf him until I had to go back to work at 6 months and then weaned him on to formula, giving breast milk in mornings and evenings. But he decided he didn't want any milk at all. Ate solids like they were going out of fashion, was quite 'bonny' shall we say, and enjoyed a very varied diet with a lot of yoghurt and cheese. He's now 14 months and absolutely fine. I didn't worry too much as he was my 3rd but he really did not want milk and there was nothing going to change that. Don't get too hung up on guidelines as they have to be one size fits all. In reality, they can't!

My DD always hated milk, she had silent reflux and I dreamfed her every single bottle from about 4 months. Even once the reflux was controlled with medicine, and after it went at 7.5 months it was a struggle to get milk into her. People used to say 'she'll eat when she's hungry'... she wouldn't have! She was really slow to wean too, and was taking a medication at the time for an unrelated issue that meant she HAD to eat regularly and well. It was so stressful. I think from memory by that age I was feeding 5x bottles a day. I used to cuddle to sleep, then feed each time. It did the trick she'd normally take 4-6 oz at a time. It was restrictive though, meant we could t get out much!

Can you sneak in a couple of other dreamfeed in day naps until she's a bit older? Otherwise yes, a good multivitamin, plus lots of cheese, yoghurt and formula milk in porridge and cooking will all help. DD dropped her last bottle at 13.5 months and has never drink cows milk. She has a bit on her cereal and in cooking but that's it. After age one, it's not necessary as long as they are getting their calcium and fats elsewhere in their diet. Also once she's a little older you can try a free-flow cup? The novelty might be enough to get her drinking a bit more (though this didn't work with DD, she'd drink water fine but milk she spat out - still does if I try to put cows in it!)