Baby refusing milk

[blvdbrokendreams]

My little girl is 7 months old. She eats any food whatsoever. She is on 3 meals a day. Mixture of purees, pouches and finger food. She eats everything we put in front of her. I cant get any milk down her. She is asking for bottles and taking 1 ounce and it's taking her ages to take it. She is having yoghurt and cheese. Her nappies are still full and regular. Shes drinking plenty of water. She seems more annoyed when we offer her milk. Im worrying because everywhere says milk should be her main source of nutrition

You could try dropping some meals. The NHS advises 3 meals a day from 9 months. Are you offering milk before meals? You can also try giving her formula in a sippy or open cup.

Check you are using the correct teat size on the bottles too.

Well firstly it's brilliant that she is a great eater. You will be the envy of many. Some of my friends have had absolute NIGHTMARES getting their babies to eat anything substancial before the age of 1. I would do as suggested above, perhaps a little less food, offer milk first before food and when she's sleepy just waking up from a nap i find they are more receptive to it then!

@Thatwentbadly its the right size. We moved it up recently. She has a bottle before food. I have tried dropping breakfast but she gets so so worked up screaming for food. We try offer her milk and she screams even more.

This sounds just like a bottle aversion, which we also dealt with at 7-8 months. I didn't think it was at first, but then when we treated it like one, she went back to 6-7oz bottles happily. Look for the book 'your baby's bottle feeding aversion' by Rowena Powell I think?
There is also a group on Facebook called 'baby care advice feeding aversion' which has a lot of very knowledgeable people in.

@brushlaptop I really hope it didn't come across braggy. That wasn't the intention. Shes just so so food oriented. She will eat anything. We started weaning her a day before 6 months and she just demolishes everything

Oh and as part of fixing it (we ended up paying for extra help) we had to temporarily stop solids and I was terrified about this but it didn't affect things at all and as soon as we restarted baby was eating like a champ again

Sorry - Rowena Bennett!

Maybe switch to a beaker and see if she'll take it or try her with a straw. You could also just add more milk into her meals so porridge for breakfast made with milk, plain yoghurt with soft fruits or similar

Mine did the same

Preferred her yoghurts to milk.

So I made her cereal/porridge in the morning with formula as a way of getting into her

Health visitors were happy with what I was doing even if she wasn’t getting all the milk it said she needed.

DS went off milk but probably not until 9/10 months - HV weren't concerned as long as he was having plenty of water and that we spiked all his food with yoghurt or cheese!

We came to the conclusion that he never really liked milk, he's started having it a bit at nursery now because the other kids do but he never drank loads of it (we never got to a bigger bottle than 7oz)

Maybe speak to the HV and see what they suggest?

My 8mo is exactly the same just now. My HV said just sneak some milk into her food, so porridge or weetabix has formula in it, mashed potato, pasta sauces etc. Plenty of other dairy sources like yoghurt, cheese, custard etc.

Have you tried giving her teething medicine- like anbesol liquid 10 mins before? If her teeth are hurting then that will be putting her off the bottle.

My DS was similar to this too. A very very good eater who ate anything (still does) but not that keen on his milk. As long as she's getting plenty of dairy from other sources (cheese, yoghurt, milk on cereal) I think it's ok. My DS is a healthy teen now. Have you tried a sippy cup rather than a bottle? (Although that didn't make much difference for my DS. But worth a try.)

I tried skipping breakfast. She had a meltdown and now she screams when the bottle comes anywhere near her. I've given her calpol. Shes had toast for breakfast, a full pouch for dinner and a yoghurt. Shes whinging now but she will not take the bottle. Weve barley got an ounce down her today

Try getting some baby porridge or even normal porridge and mix it with formula

Dd loved the Ella’s kitchen strawberry porridge which when mixed with formula masked the taste

DS was a good eater - 3 meals from 6 months and be dropped so many bf. HV said it was fine provided we were supplementing and offering dairy on top of bf - for him that meant 1 cup of greek yoghurt per day, and 1 cup whole milk with his porridge in the morning

Mine was the same, by 7 months she was having just the one 7oz bottle before bed. Her paediatrician was totally unconcerned and just said to feed plenty of diary add vitamin drops to her yoghurt. She’s now a healthy 3YO and weirdly loves drinking milk now!

If she won't take a bottle have you tried a beaker or a cup?

My little girl is 8 months (has cmpa and has always hated her milk) but is now on 3 meals a day exactly the same as your little one. LOVES food! However hates her milk. We still offer but now don't get stressed if she doesn't take it. We were getting so worked up by it. We spoke to our paed consultant who just said to make sure she's on multivitamins if she's taking under 500mls of forumla xx

@saffire I've tried. It worked for the first couple of feeds but now she doesnt want to know. She opens her mouth when she sees the bottle and latches but the minute she notices its milk she scrunches her face and cries..and its proper hysterical going bright red crying

Drop the bottle and try a beaker or sippy cup. As long as she's a having wide range of food and her weight stays ok I wouldn't worry too much. And yes to adding multivitamins.

Honestly try not to worry OP. There's nothing magical about formula in itself, if you can replicate the nutrients in other aspects of her diet.