Weaning - milk and meal times

[Gigi89x]

Hi all

I need some advice, my DS is 8 months and has never been keen on eating meals. He is very hit and miss on if he will eat or not.
When he hasn't a bottle for 3/4 hours he is much better at eating. He

He has 4/5 bottles a day of formula currently and on 2 solid meals

7am 8oz Bottle
8/8:30 breakfast
11am 8oz bottle
3pm 8oz bottle
4:30/5 dinner
7:15 8oz/9oz bottle (bedtime)

Am i giving him too much milk? Im aware the guidelines around his age is around 24 oz per day

Any advice would be appreciated

He often holds his mouth shut and refuses to eat, but if its been quite a while since his last bottle he is more willing

I don’t think you’re giving him too much formula, and I wouldn’t worry at all about how much he’s eating at this age. But, I would suggest that he isn’t eating much solids because he isn’t hungry. My baby is the opposite way to yours, she refused milk early on, and has:

7am solids
9:30 milk
11:30 milk - (but she often refuses this bottle)
1pm solids
3:30 milk
5:30 solids

Babies between 6 and 12 months need about 500ml to 600ml a day of milk. Maybe your baby is having a little too much.
Milk in cereal, cheese, yoghurt counts so you could cut down on the amount of bottles he has. It would be better to give milk in a cup (free flow) actually instead of a bottle as it's recommended that babies stop drinking from a bottle by 12 months. You may find that he will want less milk this way.
Try giving food he can pick up and feed himself for at least one meal.
The 3.00pm bottle is too close to dinner time. Instead of that bottle, I'd give lunch with a drink of water around 1.00pm. Aim for dinner no earlier than 5.00pm.
It will all work out in the end.

@MonkeyHarold milk in cheese yogurt wouldn't count , only formula or breast milk counts

Did anyone find their baby started getting more interested in food as they got a little older?

According to NHS website, milk in foods like cheese yogurt etc does indeed count towards daily milk intake!

Maybe cut out an oz or two of milk before a meal and see if he eats a bit more? It's still very early days so I don't think you need to worry yet. Just tweak his diet slightly and keep encouraging him to try more

You could try offering food before milk or reducing milk to 7oz and see if that helps.

Mine is 10 months and still loves his milk but eats his food too, he’s obviously that little bit older though.

Right now his milk/eating routine is:

7am - 7oz bottle
7:30am - breakfast
11am - 7oz bottle
12pm - lunch
3pm - 7oz bottle
5pm - dinner
7pm - 7oz bottle

@UnravellingTheWorld wow i didn't think cows milk in foods counts!

Personally I think your routine sounds perfect for 8 months. My DS didn't really start taking a proper interest in food until around 10 months. Then it just suddenly switched and he wanted solids more than milk.

At 8 Months he was 'tasting' ie chewing and spitting it out and just playing with it. It's good to offer it but I wouldn't worry. I used to see these tok tok videos of 6 month olds eating full meals with spoons and think what am I doing wrong? But he got there and your DS will too in his own time.

I follow the Nanny Louenna method. It works really well.

Thank you all for your advice , always helpful

Absolutely yes, with all four of my babies.
They all do it in their own time so don't worry too much.

Mine won't drink water (!) so I offer a 4oz bottle after food just for hydration, he only has a bit of it! I don't know if that's the right thing to do but it's working for us.

7am: 7oz
10am: Breakfast + 4oz offered
1pm: Lunch + 4oz offered
4pm: Dinner + 4oz offered
7pm: 7oz

I'd say if you're giving 8oz at 7am and then offering food an hour later he would still be very full up?