9 month old not dropping any milk feeds

[MariaDingbat]

My 9 month old had been on 3 meals a day since she was 7 months but she's still not dropping any milk feeds. It feels like my entire day is spent feeding her or cleaning up after feeding her! Any ways I can help her reduce get milk feeds? She seems in no rush at all and I would really like some time back in the day to go do things with her.

My son moved on to bottle feeds at 6 months but continued to have not far off a litre of milk until we went cold turkey on bottles at 18 months. For him it was purely comfort. However, until 1 year their main source of nutrition is still milk so I'd either be looking to add in some bottle feeds to speed up the process or just accepting she likes her food (no bad thing!)

How many milk feeds are they having?
Mine still had 4 at 8 months, was on 3 at 9 months and 2 by 11 months.

How much solid food is she having? As it increases milk tends to decrease

She's still on 5 bottles a day, and drinks about 700-900ml depending on the day. Plus the meals of a mix of cereal/porridge/fruit/ nut butter at breakfast, bread/dairy/veg at lunch and veg/pasta/lentils/meat at dinner.

We're working on transitioning her from feeding to sleep at the moment so that might be a reason she's still taking so much milk. She's now only feeding to sleep at her afternoon nap, but hadn't dropped any of the bottles yet.

I had to force the issue. I replaced it with a snack and my DS didnt care. I think he just wanted a full tummy!

Milk should still be her main source of nutrition for the next 3 months so she should be having more milk than food.

I'm not sure I agree with that. Nhs says that by 10 months they will probably be taking around 400mls of milk which is about 13oz so not the main source of food. (From 7-9 months they suggest they may take around 600mls).

At about 9 months I introduced a mid morning snack and drink of water

Can you post your full routine OP?

My 14 month old has 3 8oz bottles still and has 3 good meals too. I think he was on 4 or 5 at that age and just dropped naturally. I feel like he’ll be dropping another one soon.

Is she tracking on the right centile OP? If she is maybe try and reduce a couple of them down a bit and try and increase water intake and snacks? We reduced DSs lunch bottle and then later his afternoon bottle down and he copes fine and is now on 2 bottles at almost 11 months. It’s hard to fit it all in!

@dementedpixie

I'm not sure I agree with that. Nhs says that by 10 months they will probably be taking around 400mls of milk which is about 13oz so not the main source of food. (From 7-9 months they suggest they may take around 600mls).

At about 9 months I introduced a mid morning snack and drink of water

This is what I was told by a paediatric dietitian. I was also told snacks shouldn’t be introduced until 12 months.

I worried about this with my second baby who just turned one. He still had 4 bottles a day until 10 months and then wasn’t interested in them much from 11-12 months so cut down to 2.

The first one I got rid of was the mid afternoon and replaced it with a snack.

Can you post your full routine OP?

I was just going to ask the sane thing

Thanks for your replies everyone. Her average current routine is:
7am - wake
7.20am - bottle (140ml)
8/8.15am - breakfast (porridge/cereal/fruit)
9.45am - bottle (110ml)
10am - nap for 45mins
12.15pm - bottle (160ml)
1.15pm - lunch (bread/wrap/dairy/fruit/veg)
2.30pm - bottle (160ml)
2.45pm - nap for 1 1/2 hours
5pm - bottle (120ml)
6pm - dinner (pasta/lentils/veg/meat/yoghurt)
6.45pm - bath
7.15pm - bottle (180ml but sometimes 230ml)
7.30pm - bed

It's not leaving me with a lot of time to take her out and do things at the moment. I thought once she was up to 3 meals the milk would reduce, but not at far. Any idea?

You need to offer meals before milk.

Give her lunch at 12 and dinner at 5 instead of bottles. You'll probably see her reduce her intake significantly just from that.

At this age both of mine had a bottle first thing and a bottle before bed. With three meals the rest of the day.

I would try to reduce/remove the 12:15 bottle, she won’t need that for sleep and if she’s having lunch shortly after, move lunch forward a bit and see how you get on.

I would have suggested removing the 9:45 bottle straight away but if she needs that to feed to sleep try reducing that one down rather than remove completely. The morning nap is usually the easiest one for them to go down for so might find she’ll drop that bottle easier. Just suggestions. X

Id gradually reduce the morning bottle and introduce a snack. Then once thats done you can do the afternoon bottle.

Once my DS had given up those two, it was just milk with breakfast, lunch and then bed. He lost interest in the lunch milk so I replaced it with water. Hes 17mo now and having milk from a 360cup with breakfast, and still has a bedtime bottle.

You can see from peoples answers theres a load of ways of doing it, you just need to pick the right way for you!

This is what I would do:
7am - wake
7.20am - bottle (140ml) => offer 180ml
8/8.15am - breakfast (porridge/cereal/fruit) => move to 8.30 and make it substantial
9.45am - bottle (110ml) => drop this bottle
10am - nap for 45mins => do a 30 min pram nap on a walk
12.15pm - bottle (160ml) => change to a protein-based lunch at midday
1.15pm - lunch (bread/wrap/dairy/fruit/veg)
2.30pm - bottle (160ml) => offer a small milk feed at 1pm and a solid 2 hr nap until
3pm
2.45pm - nap for 1 1/2 hours
5pm - bottle (120ml) => dinner at 5pm, no protein just carbs
6pm - dinner (pasta/lentils/veg/meat/yoghurt)
6.45pm - bath
7.15pm - bottle (180ml but sometimes 230ml) give as much as she wants, 260ml is fine
7.30pm - bed

I have a two year old who is a fabulous eater and honestly I think I need my own cow to keep her in milk. She just loves it. Obviously I'm no help to you but all children are different and people are always surprised that she asks for it so much during the day

It was 10 months before my LO dropped a bottle, mid afternoon was the first to go then mid morning. So by the time he was 1 he was just having the morning and bedtime one.
I would also move lunch and dinner an hour earlier than you do.

I would cut the 9:45am and 5pm bottles. You can reduce slowly and then cut one at a time if you think she'll react badly to a sudden stop.

Also, you can give her a bottle while you're out. Or feed her while you're out. You don't have to stay in the house because your baby likes milk!

My 9 month old has 5 bottles and I agree that all the food and bottle prep and clean up is a total faff! Feel like it takes ages. Can you do lunch as a picnic in the park? We do that to have a change of scene most days, and there is less clean up required. Sorry if I missed it but is it formula? And if so are you using the readymade bottles?