6 mo eating too much solids... have told OH to limit her, am I right to do so?

[1catherine1]

This thread could go here or in Breast & Bottlefeeding so I picked one...

My DD doesn't really like the bottle. She refuses it unless really hungry. At the moment though she doesn't take any of her EBM during the day but according to my OH she is eating loads of food. She has lots of porridge for her breakfast and will eat a 4oz tub for her dinner and 2oz tub of pudding. I thought milk was supposed to be her main source of nutrition until she is one, surely the amount of food she is taking is meaning that isn't the case?

Watching with interest. DS is 7 months and is qradually decreasing the amount of milk (formula) he drinks, at the moment he has about 18 oz a day, and this includes the milk I add to his food. He has less and less milk in the morning and also mid afternoon.

The HV said some babies are "milk babies" and some other "solids babies", and it's not a problem in itself if they have less milk, as long as you give them vitamin drops. They should have dairy for calcium though... She said I shouldn't limit the solids as DS is clearly striving and loves them, but to add vitamins when his milk intake drops.

Does your LO feed in the morning and evening then? Are these long feeds? If she eats so much porridge, can your OH make it with EBM? Also, maybe he could give her milky puddings (with EBM as well)?

catherine Does she wake at night? How many breastfeeds does she have a day? Could you squeeze 2 in the morning and 2 before bed? Ie 6am, 8am, 5pm, 7pm?

My HV said they need about a pint of milk a day after 6 mo and 2 fromage frais was 1/3 pint so make good snacks. Of course this may or may not be true... my HV has told me some rubbish before.

She can't have cows milk as it makes her sick. So its EBM or formula only. This means I can't give her yoghurt.

She has a feed at 5:30am, then a really small feed at 7am (kinda forced by me right before I leave for work). She then has a feed when I get home at 4pm, then a really long feed at 6:30pm before bed. She has now taken to waking between midnight and 1am for an extra feed. Does this sound enough?

I have told him to make food with my milk rather than water (as I'd told him before anyway) since he seems unable to make up a bit of formula.

I would think if she's having either EBM or formula on her breakfast plus 4 1/2 feeds that's probably fine. My HV said 4 breastfeeds if there was no other dairy as an approximate rule.

My DS had only breastmilk for 4 months, we started him on solids then and although he did still have breastmilk he obviously preferred 'real food'. A week after starting solids he had three meals a day and milk in between. By 6 months he was having 3 proper meals (two wheatabix and a banana for breakfast, sandwich and fromage frais for lunch and about half of what we were having for dinner) and although I gave him milk he wasn't asking for it unless tired. By 9 months I realised if he wasn't even asking for milk at bedtime I'd stop and see what happens. He's now 14 months and still not interested in drinking milk. I asked the health visitor and her response was 'he's healthy don't worry'. So, don't worry! If she's happy and still getting her vitamins it's not a problem. On the plus side, they sleep better too....

Perhaps if you're concerned about the amount of solids she's eating maybe you could cut the pudding and replace with other stodgy food to fill her up - my DS ate mountains of unsweetened rice porridge made with breast milk - but he also guzzled masses of milk - he was still having eight breastfeeds per 24 hours at 6 months as well as eating lots of veg, meat and fish in mixture of puree and BLW. I didn't limit it, but I also didn't introduce puddings/anything with added sugar inc. savoury packaged foods/honey or any sweetened yoghurts/fromage frais until he was about 18 months. He still eats masses - some people are just hungrier than others I guess. (And some people aren't nearly so puritannical about sugar as I am, of course!)