Dropping a milk feed at 6 months?

[HeidiKat]

We started weaning DD a few weeks ago and she is really getting the hang of it now and starting to enjoy her food. At the moment she is on 5 feeds a day of 7oz of follow on formula, the side of the box says that at 7 months you can drop down to 3 7oz feeds a day. She has always been a poor milk drinker, took a lot longer to move through the increase in milk volumes than the guidelines said, and now that she is getting solids she is taking less of the feeds which she gets after them. I am thinking about removing a milk feed just now, she is 6 and a half months at the moment, possibly the one she gets at around 6 pm and maybe making that solid feed 2 courses rather than just one to fill her up a bit more, a savoury course and then a fromage frais or bit of fruit or something. If we get on fine with that then I will think about removing the lunchtime bottle in a couple more weeks and doing the same with that meal, does this sound okay?

what are the timings of her other feeds? I would get rid of any night feeds/dreamfeeds before dropping a daytime feed. We didnt drop to 4 feeds till 8 months when ds dropped his night feed and he went to 3 feeds around 9 months when he lost interest in his mid-morning bottle. By the time he was 10 1/2 months he was down to 2 feeds - 1 at breakfast and 1 before bed. I also gave milk at a different time from food so that the milk intake didnt drop too quickly - I gave milk and then an hour or more later gave the food. There is no rush to drop milk feeds and milk is still very important so be guided by your dd - if she is cutting back then make up smaller bottles and then judge when she wants to drop a feed completely. It is not set in stone that they should have only 3 bottles by 7 months as that is just a guide given on the box to indicate the minimum oz required between 6 and 12 months.

She doesn't get a nightfeed any more, the timings are around 8.30-9am, 12 midday, 3pm, 6pm and 9pm.

Personally, I'd aim to cut the 9pm feed before the 6pm one but it depends on when wake and bedtime is. Is the 9pm a bedtime feed or more of a dreamfeed? Our day started around 7am and ended around 7.30pm and the day went sort of like this:

7am - milk
8am - breakfast
11am - milk
12pm - lunch
2.30/3pm - milk
5pm - dinner
7.15pm - milk and then bed
in the night till 8 months - milk

The first feed to go after the night feed was the 11am one (about 9 months)and it was replaced with a snack and drink of water at about 10/10.30am. Next to go was the 2.30pm one around 10 1/2 months (again replaced with a snack) and we were then left with the 7am and 7.15pm.

The 9pm feed is her bedtime feed, I'm starting to bring her bedtime routine forward a bit so that she is finished and in bed for 9, but I don't think she would sleep through the night without that feed and she always seems ready for a bottle after her bath.