Reducing milk feeds

[EdinburghMummy22]

Hi everyone,

My little boy is 9 months old and currently has 3 bottles a day. One in the morning, an afternoon one and a night time one. I am looking to drop the afternoon one as he is eating bigger portions of food now. I offer him water in his cup with every meal but he very rarely takes any, a couple of small sips at the most. Obviously cutting out a bottle will reduce his fluid intake but I'm a bit worried he won't be getting enough fluids if he doesn't drink any water throughout the day. Any tips?

Hi,

I am wondering about this too. My boy is 8 months old and also on 3 bottles a day. Gulps down his milk, but not his water!

X

DD is almost a year old and a great bottle drinker (milk only, she turns her nose-up at water from a bottle), and still has three bottles a day.

She'll drink the odd sip of water from the cup, she much prefers it when we take the lid off her sippy cup so she can sip like a grown-up (obviously we have to be involved in that).

I worry about reducing her milk intake for the same reasons as you, but I suspect that:

1. A large proportion of their water intake comes from food, so as long as they're eating fruit, veg, yogurt etc. they should be getting a decent amount of hydration

2. they're more likely to drink more water when their thirst isn't already quenched with milk

She'll drink (diluted) apple juice better than plain water (this is what we give her if she has D&V to re-hydrate), but obv. not a good long-term solution due to the sugar (and always in a cup, not a bottle, due to the teeth).

If you drop a bottle now, will LO still be getting the 20floz that is a minimum recommendation for their age?

Does he still drink all of that afternoon bottle or does he refuse it? If he is happily taking it, I would carry on with it until he loses interest or stops eating dinner after well (usually that's a sign you can skip straight to the solid meal). At 9 months, mine was still on 5 a day. She wasn't down to 2 a day until 14 months. We knew it was time to drop them when she stopped drinking much or them or wouldn't eat any more later if she'd had the milk. If he is happily drinking and eating well, I'd carry on, especially as he isn't having much water yet.