How much milk for a 7 mo?

[matana]

My DS was weaned around 23 weeks and is now 29 weeks old. He's taken to it brilliantly and was on 3 very good sized meals per day within 3 weeks. My only concern now is that he's eating solids at the expense of milk. He really just plays with his bottle mid morning and it's an effort to get him to take 2 ounces. I breastfeed him first thing, mid afternoon and bedtime so don't know how much he's having then but he definitely doesn't feed for as long as he used to - maybe 10 or 15 minutes. He eats very healthily - loads of different food groups, home made, and milk in his meals etc. How many milk feeds should a baby this age be on?

[Seona1973]

a minimum of 20oz is recommended between 6 and 12 months. That includes milk in cereal, in foods and dairy products. At that age ds still had 5 feeds but one of them was in the night. He dropped to 4 day feeds around 8 months. If he is rejecting milk then continue making up his intake through his food

[matana]

Thanks for the advice. Thinking about it, he does also have a feed in the night so perhaps he is getting enough after all. He has milk with his morning cereal and quite a lot in the things i'm cooking too. He has a good bedtime feed usually too. I might give him bottles for one day so i can see how much he's actually having.

[RitaMorgan]

20oz a day is just for formula fed babies though, breastfed babies take less as the content of breastmilk changes as they get older.

Are you still breastfeeding on demand? If so you just have to trust that they take what they need.

[TittyBojangles]

Giving him bottles for a day won't really tell you how much he is taking from you iyswim as babies drink differently from boob or bottle so that might not help.

[matana]

Yes, still feeding on demand and he's demanding much less these days. I have substituted one feed per day with formula though.

[DialsMavis]

My DD is the same, I am just slowly starting to phase out BF. She is 7 months and has BF on waking, late morning, a 7oz bottle mid afternoon and BF at bedtime. Today she refused the late morning BF totally. This feed was the next one i was going to change to a bottle so now I am confused whether to, or just to drop it. I am going to see what happes over the next few days. She also usually has about 4oz of milk in porridge or a good dollop of Greek yog for Breakfast, there is also usually some cheese in one of her meals too.

[matana]

DialsMavis - i swapped the mid morning to formula and now he's dropped his mid morning feed and can happily go from 8.30ish till midday without milk. Next one to swap to formula will be mid afternoon, probably next week. The amount he's eating i would imagine it won't be too long till he drops that too. When i return to work in August i'll give him formula in the morning (so DH can feed him while i get ready), but continue to BF at bedtime for the time being, perhaps till he's one. We both enjoy that one and it really calms him. I'm reluctant to drop that one because it's such a special time and if he's seeing so much less of me when i'm back at work i'm hoping it will ease the transition by keeping us close.

[DialsMavis]

DD has not been interested in mid morning BF all week so not going to bother offering a bottle. It's funny how they suddenly change isn't it? I never imagined a few months ago she would ever, ever turn down milk and suddenly we are all worrying if they are having enough

[DialsMavis]

I forgot to say DD's feeding has suddenly got much more efficient again too. She rarely feeds for more than 15mins even at bedtime or in the morning when she hasn't been fed for 13hours. But she sloshes when I pick her up after a feed so I assume she is taking lots but quickly [smlie]