How much baby milk formula is enough

[Ell2022]

My LO is nearly 8mo and weighs about 10kg / 22lbs. According to feeding guidelines he should be "on average taking in about 2½ ounces (75 mL) of infant formula a day for every pound (453g) of body weight" i.e. 1650ml, but he is only having a 120ml bottle 5-6 times a day and is often unable to finish the bottle. His daily formula intake can go from 300ml to 700ml. I breastfeed him only once a day.
He does not seem to have a problem in putting on weight, however, since we switched from breastfeeding to formula feeding about a month ago, he has dropped about a pound in weight but is still in a high percentage ( >80%) in proportion to his height.
I am keen to know how much other formula-fed babies drink?

NHS guidelines say around 600ml of formula in 24 hours is typical from 7-9 months. At 8 months my DD was having around 700ml.

The 2½oz per lb is for babies only on milk.
From 6 months around 20oz/600mls is recommended alongside food.

How much food do you offer? I only do once a day as i find making food and the clean up a lot of work but i know i should be giving him more solids. 🫣

Give more solids, 3 x a day. Buy food for breakfast eg porridge and fruit and lunch. Mash up your food for dinner or mash things like sweet potato, potato and tuna, avocado or banana.
Add extra formula to food eg porridge.
Don’t push the bottle, feed on demand, or you risk making him aversive. Give vitamin D drops if not having much formula.

The Solid Starts page is excellent for feeding info. Here's their feeding schedule recommendation page:

feeding schedules

I only do once a day as i find making food and the clean up a lot of work but i know i should be giving him more solids.

That's an awful attitude.

At 8 months you need to be offering 3 meals a day. The clean up is part of being a parent.

And at 8 months you can be giving finger foods too so give them some of what you're eating if its suitable. They should be on more than 1 meal a day at 8 months

I put a similar ish post on last night as my DS is 6 months but on 3 meals and is starting to reject some of his bottles. I’ve had a bit of a research and it looks like when they are on 3 meals they should have about 20oz a day so from today I’m going to still offer his bottles but not panic as much if he doesn’t finish them or want them. I’m just going to count up how many oz he takes and so long as it’s more than 20 then I’m going to try not to worry! I know it’s hard as my son has terrible reflux so I panic if he doesn’t have all his milk. Before solids he was having over 30oz per day. How much food is your LO having?

To be honest, your attitude is terrible. Giving him fewer meals per day because you CBA to clean up - wow!

The bigger the variety of foods you can give baby now, the less likely he is to be a fussy eater when older and the less likely to develop allergies and intolerances if you give a wide range. Stop being lazy and feed him more solids.

In the nicest possible way please consider doing a parenting course, or engaging with some online state sponsored resources as the attitude about mess is alarming.

Weaning is very messy and it is an incredible part of their physical development. There are steps you can take to reduce the mess - a full sized bib, a plastic wipe clean mat under the high chair and a wet flannel ready at the end of the meal to clean them before you move them.

If you have specific issues with mess I would suggest you seek support as this stage is long and potty training will be a nightmare for you.

If you’re only offering food once per day and he isn’t drinking that much formula, that’s why he’s dropping weight. He should be on 3 meals per day at 8 months.

Someone posted a link solid starts schedule which recommends 1 to 2 solid meals a day so i don't know why it is such a sin to be giving him only 1 solid meal a day (i did not count snack like biscotti/wafer/puff or fruit!)

I should have mentioned that my LO is not yet hut nearly 8m so i was referring to schedule for 6-7m

Not feeding. Baby because - your words - it’s a lot of work - is very different to not feeding a baby becasue they don’t need it.

That’s why people are alarmed.

If he's nearly 8 months then it would be sensible to use the 8 month feeding schedule, which is a minimum of 2 meals a day, and it's absolutely fine to offer 3 or 4.

amounts

I posted above but this might help- page 17. Should have 600ml. (As I said above of less than 400 give vitamin D)

I would pick up the pace with weaning now.
I used a tied muslin as a bib and then used it to wipe up. Let him get messy and have his own spoon.

Thanks so much!

8mo should be offered solids 3x day plus you have no idea how much is being taken in the bf. Could be way more than a bottle.

Help me!! My baby started on SMA pro from birth infant milk. He has always struggled with tummy ache. I swapped him onto hipp organic recently slowly but surely. It turned out it wasn’t for him. He was being sick alot and his stomach pains were worsening. I then tried to transition him back onto SMA until I found a replacement. He has been having 5oz in total. 3 SMA & 2 hipp. Today I made the decision after researching & reccos that id try cow and gate comfort milk for colic & constipation. I gave him 3 SMA & 2 cow & gate. So far he seems to have even more stomach ache but he has been to the toilet twice! Do you think I should change the measurements to 4oz SMA & 1 cow & gate. He also has gaviscon & colief.. I am unsure what to do with these as well moving forward !! Mum in need xx

Why are you giving him 2 different milks ?

Because SMA wasn’t working for him so the health visitor advised me to change gradually which I did. The hipp didn’t agree with him so I took it back to SMA & less of the hipp to see if that helped which it did but I knew I couldn’t keep mixing the two which is why I chose to move to the colic and constipation milk today after speaking with the health visitor. They told me to continue the mix and gradually take him off SMA. But I’ve started this today and it seems to be hurting him. That’s why I’m wondering whether I make it 4oz of SMA which he is familiar with and 1oz of the new formula and gradually up it to allow him time to get used to it…

It if was me I would just change all babies milk to cow and gate my dd had silent reflux and changed her milk to cow and gate and if u think the meds that u are giving ain't working go back to gp and ask for something else I did and all tummy pains stopped within a few days x

My just turned 8 month old is on 2 meals a day but that's only because since starting solids she's been really off her milk and I worry that if she has dinner too she'll take even less! She maybe has 3x 150ml bottles in a day and one overnight. But I have been adding the remainder of the bottles or cow's milk to her meals in weetabix/mash etc. I do agree with PPs that you should be doing at least 2 meals a day as they need less milk at this stage and it'll help later on with reducing fussiness and encouraging self feeding etc.

Thank you for your experience! I just worry it may be too soon to just switch it all at once. I know he can handle the SMA that’s why I thought maybe do it gradually & carry on with the colief drops in each bottle? It’s such a mind field..

Have u tried gripe water for his tummy pains as it could be trapped wind x