6 month old refusing milk feeds in favour of solids - advice please!

[geisha]

My 6 month old ds has been weaning for about 5 weeks now. Doing really well with all foods but is refusing most daytime feeds (bottle). Still takes 4 hourly feeds over night, of about 4oz each, so not huge. Never refuses solids. I have tried letting him get really hungry & offering milk before solids. Also tried offering milk after and in-between solids. He just seems to prefer solids, which is great but I am aware he still needs his milk for nutrition. Weight-wise he is 9th centile and having wetish & dirty nappies. Any advice or experience of this would be greatly appreciated. I'm puzzled as to what to do! Thanks!

I should add he is having 3 meals a day. Moderately sized portions, not huge.

Think the advice is to give milk an hour before solids, so say if he's having breakfast at 8am he should be having a bottle at 7am.

i would also try to reduce the amount of solids you give him if possible.

Thanks JJJ. Reducing the amount of solids feeds isn't the answer is it?

That doesn't read very well! I mean reduce the portion sizes rather than the number of meals offered?!

I'd say the problem is the night feeds. A six month old does not need to be fed four hourly at night like a newborn. I'd cut the night feeding out and the days will sort themselves out.

Might be tough, but do it for long term gain!
IMO

I agree Thatlldopig. I'm sure the night feeds don't help. I've been kidding myself he needs them because he only wakes for feeding and goes straight back down afterwards. We do try settling him with dummy, comforter etc before giving milk. I'll offer water only between midnight and 6am tonight.

Good luck! I'm sure he'll put up a fight, but just remember that he doesn't need milk at night anymore. What he does need (and you too) is a decent nights sleep.
If I was you I wouldn't even offer water. Can be confusing.
I've got a six month old and he has 6floz milk at 6.30 ish pm and nothing then till the 6.00 am bottle.
Let us know how it goes tonight.

Will let you know. I halved the amount of his solid lunch and he has had a most of hs bottle at 4pm. I normally pride myself with having lots of common sense but I haven't been able to see the wood for the trees with this issue. I feel so silly that I didn't think to reduce the portion size. I guess I thought it's quite a tiny portion. Embarrassingly, he is my 3rd dc so I should really have it cracked by now! He is definitely my worst fr night feeds though. Both dc 1 & 2 slept through before I went back to work at 6 months, but I guess I have been a bit lax ths time as a sahm! Will report back tomorrow! Thanks.

A 6 month old can need milk at night so I;d be wary of a hardline approach here. I think no milk between midnight and 6am is fine but maybe keep a pre-midnight feed for now.

Mine needed milk at night at that age, and still had 4 hourly night feeds - think we managed 11pm-6am just after 6 months. He still had the 11pm feed til 8 months despite eating loads/feeding loads in the day.

DD was still having milk in the night at 12mo

Hi, how much milk is he having in total? I was advised by the HV that if a baby is eating solids they also need between 375-500ml of milk (13-18oz ish). Although some people on here say more like 20oz so as usual advice differs! But 20oz would be a bit much for a 9th centile baby I would have thought.

Was also advised to be led by the baby in terms of amount of food, so let them pile in if they want to!

Re night feeds we have only just cracked 11pm-6am at 7 months.

Thanks for sharing your experiences everyone and sorry for late update, have had a manic day with elder two dc! Night did not go at all well. He fed 3 hourly, taking 5 or 6oz each time then straight back to sleep. Have persevered with the milk feeds to day before solids, but there have been stand offs! He has also refused to sleep today which means we're both exhausted now. Both elder dc went through the night by this age for at least one night, after which they were never offered milk again and never put up much of a fight. Ds on the other hand will not settle at all and I'm afraid of him waking up the others if I let him cry for too long. Have tried settling him in all the usual ways, bar taking him out of the cot and in with me and I really don't want to go there.

My sensible mind says that if he is growing well, having a balanced diet and enough milk for wet nappies then I should just be led by him and stop worrying. My worrying mummy mind is panicking that I may do him some long term harm by not ensuring he gets the recommended amount of milk.

Thanks for the pointers re recommended amounts southlondonlady. Left to his own devices, he is managing about 15oz per day in 3 feeds, plus 3 solid meals. With my persistence he has managed 25oz today......

Will update again tomorrow. Grateful for any thoughts.

Update: Better night. 5oz feeds at 7pm, 1.30am, 7am. I can live with that. Will update again later. Grateful for any thoughts or suggestions!