8 month old not interested in milk

[OliviaL9530]

HELP!
My little girl has just stopped being interested in milk!
She’s almost 8 months old and at the moment only has lunch to eat as if I didn’t give her milk in the morning she wouldn’t have any all day.
She suddenly just seems uninterested.
She usually has 8oz every 4 hours but I’m lucky if she’ll have that all day now. She is teething (loads of saliva, pulling at ears and fingers in her mouth) she’ll take about 6oz in the morning then she’ll have lunch made with her milk but then not really that interested in the evening feed.
I dream feed her at 10 and she finishes that every time but I’m so worried she isn’t getting the nutrition she needs.
We’re lucky she’ll eat anything but given her age milk should still be her main source of nutrients.
Any advice greatly appreciated!

Maybe incorporate more dairy products into her diet if she won't drink milk itself

Following x

Is she still having lots of wet and dirty nappies?
Is she gaining weight still?
How is her sleep - is she sleeping more than normal?

It might be worth swinging her past the GP as she might have an ear infection or something that is making sucking and swallowing hard or painful (chewing and swallowing solids doesnt generate the same kind of pressure)

If she is also sleeping more and/or not gaining/less wet nappies then mention this to the GP aswell as they can be red flags along with not wanting to drink

Lots of babies go off milk when they are on food. They need 1 pint a day but that can be on cereal in food, yoghurts etc. If they are eating and drinking, I wouldn't worry.

@SeaToSki

Yes plenty of wet and dirty nappies and she sleeps right through but has done for a while now.

I did think of a possible ear infection but it isn't really accompanied by any other symptoms but we'll see how we go tomorrow and I'll phone them money if I'm not happy with her improvement x

That sounds quite normal, at that age my son was the same. I used to give porridge made with milk for breakfast or other baby cereals. I used to give him yoghurt as well. Just try to incorporate calcium in meals.

Is she 8 months and only having 1 meal a day?

You need to up the solids if that is the case. She should be dropping milk feeds in favour of foods by now.

Yes she might have an ear infection but girls can also be advanced. We have twins and they have massively gone off milk in favour of 'hand food' (baby led weaning) which they consider the epitome of cool. It was about 8 months for our girl twin and 9 for our boy.

We had to step it back on solid food and stick to milk first, plus we found they will still chug it back as a sleepy night feed. Otherwise I think they would have been massively dehydrated. Our nanny likes the flavored spring water you find in the baby aisle and says they will drink more of that with meals, but I prefer to make up a weak formula mix and just keep trying.

Maybe try dropping the dreamfeed and she’ll be hungrier during the day?

@Cranberryclover

I would but this is the only whole feed she gets. She feeds at 10 and doesn't wake up until 8:30 so she's still going 10.5 hours without a feed.

I'll try it though. It's just going to be trial and error I think at this stage haha

@Moneypanicker

She'll have scrambled egg and yogurt for lunch and/or porridge or weetabix with fruit made with her own milk.

I will incorporate

@Moneypanicker

I will start incorporating cheese too

@Twizbe

She is.

The issue is she only wants solids and not interested in the milk.

That's fine. Pop some yoghurt into her diet. Use her formula to make cereal. As you move through weaning you should be decreasing milk and increasing food. It's not unusual to be on 2 or 3 milk feeds a day by 9 months.

As pp has said, I would cut the dreamfeed. It's fine for a baby to go 12 hours overnight without a feed as long as they have had enough calories in the day.

My 8 month old has 3 meals and 3x 7oz bottles a day.

Up the dairy in the food and I'm sure she will get back to a normal milk routine soon

I was probably lucky as mine went down at 3 months and did a solid 10-12hrs (I stayed up all night that first night thinking they’d wake!). I was told not to wake at all costs, so I never did a dream feed. At 8 months, they are pretty sturdy, so if they don’t need it, then they’ll be fine and will soon let you know if they need something! It changes so much, mine was like that, and now at 14months they are having more milk (think it’s the weather as we’ve been away and it was 40 deg!). Please don’t stress, you’ve done a great job, and they’ll let you know if they need anything.

@OliviaL9530 Did your DD eventually start taking her milk feeds again? We’re having milk refusal but he isn’t taking much by way of solids. I’m hoping it’ll stsrt to pick up again soon!

my first was bottle fed and was terrible at drinking milk even from a young age and just got worse and worse as time went on don’t worry, she is now 3 and perfectly fine.

My little boy is 8 months is breastfed but he has also gone off that too since on solids, only feeds well before bed and at night so I think it’s pretty normal

@Glitterstars That’s reassuring - did it affect their weight gain at all when they went off their milk? Did you just offer things like yoghurts and milky cereals (like porridge) instead? X

With my eldest she was always small but had no effect on growth she has stayed on 9th centile. She had loads of yoghurts as she stopped milk at like 10 months she would scream if we tried
my 8 month old is 50th centile don’t think it’s having an effect on weight gain as appears to be growing just haven’t got him weighed for a while but he is having lots of wet and dirty nappies so I’m not worried.