Dropping the 2.30pm bottle.

[Flossie69]

Hi there - advice needed.

DD is almost 11 months, and quite small ie on the 25% centile. She is on 3 good meals a day, and has a 8oz bottle at 7am, a 6oz bottle at 2.30pm, and another at 6.45pm. However, she has recently been losing interest in the 2.30pm bottle, and is only taking a couple of ounces at most.

Should I drop it altogether, or perservere. I am concerned she wont be getting enough milk. She does have a yougurt most days mid-morning.

She will starting nursery in June, when she will be 1 yr old, and will need to go to a beaker for milk mid afternoon then anyway.

Any ideas? Is 14 oz enough at her age?

Many thanks!!!

both mine were on 2 bottles by 11 months. From 1 year the recommended amount drops to around 350mls (approx 12oz) so your lo would be taking the right amount. That amount also includes milk with cereal, in foods and cooking and any other dairy she has, so if she cuts down on milk as a drink you can make it up through her food

So how much should they get before 1 year? and do things like yogurt and philly count?

20oz is recommended up to 1 year but not all of that needs to be in drink form as milk in cereal, yoghurts, cheese, cheese sauces, custards, etc all count towards that total too. You could try offering her the afternoon milk in a cup along with a snack and get her slowly used to the idea of taking milk from something other than a bottle ready for when she goes to nursery.

Just wanted to add - it's not neccessarily a problem that she is on the 25th centile - after all, someone has to be and really 25th is not that small - 1 in 4 girls would be smaller than her.

I am surprised that nursery expect her to be off bottles by 1 year, when my DD started at about 13 months they were agog that she had cow's milk from a cup in the afternoon, kept checking with me that she didn't need a bottle. What will they do if she isn't good with a cup by then? Withhold milk?