Almost 8 month old only drinking 15oz of milk per day

[Lollibert]

Hi my baby will be 8 months old next week she only drinks 15oz per day if that, she’s never been a big milk drinker we’ve battled with bottle feeding aversion with her etc she really seems to prefer solids, she has her breakfast in the mornings (I try give her a bottle before but it’s refused point blank) so if she refuses her morning bottle I make her weetabix with a sippy cup of water but I can make it up with her formula (3oz) with a little bit of maple syrup (just a tiny minut amount) and I spoon feed her that meal, if she does drink some of her morning bottle I usually give her a different breakfast probably eggs and toast that she feeds herself (usually eats most of it) then she has her snack usually around lunchtime with is usually some melty sticks and some fresh fruit she feeds that to herself and has a sippy cup with about 1oz of water in it and usually eats it all and wants more, then I will try to get her to drink her bottle she’ll usually drink 1-3oz and I just keep offering every 10-15 mins because if I don’t offer she won’t cry for it or even seem bothered then she has her dinner usually whatever we are eating, she feeds herself I sometimes help her she has some water if she wants it , if it’s mashed potatoes then I will mash hers with her formula through it. But at the end of the day she only seems to total 15oz of formula, and sleeps through till around 8 or 9am (goes to bed at 7pm) we do dream feed her but we only manage to get an extra oz or two into her that way as she turns her head away from the bottle, I have tried to offer bottle before solids she refuses, I have tried taking solids away until she is hungry enough for her bottle she still refuses I don’t if it might be a taste thing if she just doesn’t like the taste of milk? I don’t know but from day one even as a newborn she was never a big milk drinker and getting her to drink enough formula has been a battle since day one but she seems to love solids and will eat and eat I just don’t understand it

Use milk in cereals, yoghurt, cheese, cheese sauces, etc to make up her intake.
Would she take some of her milk in a cup alongside a meal?

@dementedpixie sometimes she will sometimes she won’t and how will cheese up her intake if it doesn’t have formula sorry if I sound stupid I’m a first time mum x

I wouldn’t worry you can’t force it. I’d make sure breakfast is cereal made with 3-4oz of formula. As others has said increase amounts of yogurt and cheese too

@Itsthemostwonderfultimeoftheyear yogurts and cheeses don’t have formula in it? I know I probably sound really dumb

As others have said. Mix in formula with porridge or weetabix. Yoghurt counts as fluids. Mixing maple syrup in formula isn't a great idea as she'll only want sweet things. As long as she's having plenty of wet nappies and putting on weight. She's fine.

Cheese is good for calcium.

The cheese and yoghurts, etc have calcium, protein, vitamins, etc that she gets from formula so you can use dairy products to increase her intake if she won't drink as much formula. She doesn't have to drink as much formula if you are making up her intake with other dairy products.

And if your lo is having less than 20oz of formula she should be taking a supplement of vitamins A,C and D as well.

@dementedpixie where can I get these supplements please ?

You can get them in the local chemist or boots or superdrug. Holland and Barrett. Probably in supermarkets too.

There are nhs healthy start ones or branded ones like wellbaby, abidec, etc

I wouldn't worry too much if she is eating well. As PP have said, try to give her cereal with formula, or make a cheesy pasta sauce with formula so she gets a bit more of it during the day. Can you offer formula instead of water at meal times? As PP have said, add abidec drops to the one small bottle of formula she does drink each day so you know she is getting enough vitamins. And maybe add a bit more cheese to her daily diet so she gets the benefits of calcium etc - maybe unsalted cream cheese on toast soldiers or bread sticks dipped into cream cheese; pasta with a bit of grated melted cheese on it.

I personally wouldn't worry too much if she's eating well and following her centiles.

Like the PPs have said though, she needs a daily vitamin if she's having less than 20 floz a day.

If would t bother making her food with formula either, it's fine to make her food, like fish pie, pancakes, lasagne, cauliflower cheese, Yorkshire Puddings etc with full fat cows milk, then you can share it as well.

You don't say which formula she's on but I wonder if you've tried a comfort formula to see if she handles one of those any better?

If you think she has a bottle aversion, you may find Rowena Bennett's book helpful.

And lastly don't forget that as well as giving her calcium rich foods you'll also need to replace the fat and protein that she'll be missing from the formula so I'd make sure you offer her oily fish twice a week (the most a baby girl can have it).

So try her with things like these fishcakes.

Hope things get easier for you Op

@PinkMimosa i went last night and got some calcium rich snacks for her like yogurts, cheeses (cottage cheese, cream cheese) got her ready brek which I made up this morning with 3oz of formula after her bottle was once again refused Andshe had 2 petits filous afterwards and also ate some raspberry’s and then ate half the vanilla custard that my husband was eating this morning after she spotted him eating LOL she’s got a really big apetite when it comes to solids just not so much milk I don’t know if it’s a taste thing for her I offered the milk at meal time instead of water but she refused and wanted water and drank the water instead I think she thinks water is special or something because it’s new i plan to go today and get the vitamin drops for her as everything closed early yesterday due to being Sunday

@OwlWeiwei she loves Mac and cheese so I will make some today with her formula I’ve never home made it before so I’ll have to Google a tutorial LOL

@PinkMimosa HV has just gotten back to me and said she doesn’t need a multivitamin unless she’s consistently drinking less than 500ml per day

But it sounds like she isn't having 500mls of formula per day?

You can use regular full fat milk rather than formula for cheese sauces.

Hi OP, babies who are having under 500 mls (approx 17 oz) need additional vitamins. You can get these from a chemist.
From 6 months you can make any cereal/food with full fat cows milk. They need to carry on with formula until they are 1 year to drink, but in food cows milk is fine. If she is growing well she will be having enough. By one year she should be down to a couple of bottles a day.
The maple syrup won't be good for her teeth and will encourage a preference for sweet tastes.
First steps nutrition have some good info on foods for babies, and the NHS website too
fhttps://www.nhs.uk/start-for-life/baby/weaning/

Petit filous and custard are very, very sugary for a 9 month old baby. She shouldn't be eating that much sugar. You can use whole cows milk in food from 6 months provided it's been cooked - so warming up baby porridge or oats or weetabix with some whole cows milk is fine, to up her intake. I'm not fussed about kids having sugar but 9 months is young for petit filous and the like.

Cows milk doesn't need to cooked to be used in cereal after 6 months so you can have it cold too.

You really don't need to make it with formula, food made with full fat cows milk is absolutely fine after 6 months

@dementedpixie i told the HV that she was drinking 15 oz so when she said she didn’t need multivitamin I assumed 15oz must be over 500ml but when I actually checked I realized it wasn’t today she drank maybe 8oz in total got her some multivitamin plan to give to her during her dream feed hopefully can get her to drink it all I’m also worried about keeping her hydrated she really doesn’t drink that much water during meals or between meals

@tempnameforadvice hi I was just trying to up her intake I just got everything I could think of in the shop that had milk in it or dairy as she’s getting worse with formula as days go on today she only drank 8oz of formula in total it’s only 6:51 she’s just been put to bed so I’m gonna wait for her to get in a deep sleep and try dream feed her with her multivitamin and more formula

Hi, just jumping onto say that my 9month old sounds v similar and doesn’t seem to drink much some days. I’m not worried about her formula intake because she is eating 3 meals and has plenty of wet, dirty nappies and is a happy baby. I breastfed and then combi fed her until v recently and so I had no idea how much breast milk she was getting but just went along on the basis that she seemed satisfied. Some babies get to eating loads of solids much quicker than others which is much better than them not taking to eating imo. And you can drop formula completely at 12 months anyway - personally cant wait to save the money and stop washing bottles!! Some good advice RE vitamins (note to self to start giving this to mine) and upping dairy on here. I cook with cows milk rather than formula. I wouldn’t incentivise her to drink formula by adding anything sweet to it either. Sounds like your daughter loves her food, good for her!

How long do you leave it between solids and then offering her a bottle?

@Yesso Usually half an hour but since she’s started to not drink her formula i try to draw it out to an hour or two to try get her to drink her bottle before solids but she been winning that battle and I then give in to her and feed her solids instead