how much milk to have with solids? GF and AK are confusing me!

[nello]

I have been reading Gina Forde and Annabel karmel for suggestions, and they differ and i'm wondering who to 'follow'...(i do try and follow my baby too , but she is one of those LOs who never asks for food in the daytime, only the night time if i haven't got daytime right!)

both AK and GF agree that before 1 year they need 600ml of formula/breast milk a day to supplement meals. GF says at 8 months they can have just a milk feed in the morning and one at night which doesn't seem much at all to get all 600ml in there, and AK says 4 times, early morning, midmorning, midarvo and evening. I am breast feeding so no idea how much LO is taking at each feed, so can't judge by amount of milk, only by number of feeds. What do people suggest?

Also, can this 600ml include cows milk included in cooking, yoghurts, cheese etc, and if so what is the equivalent amount??

Thank yooou! :)

You probably could get away with just two day time breastfeeds at 8 months, but be prepared for your baby to need to make up for it at night! I was doing 4 breastfeeds a day at that age, and ds was just about dropping his night feed.

the real answer is, it depends on your baby. I kept DS on 3 bottles of about 200ml a day until he was 1, then he dropped to one first thing and one before bed. From 6 - 8 months I gradually dropped to 4, then 3 bottles.

ds was bottle fed and still had 4 daytime feeds at 8 months. He dropped to 3 at 9 months and 2 by 11 months.

Well my youngest 2 fed more when we started weaning. I was breastfeeding and I supplemented my milk with food rather then the other way around. DD3 who is 14m is still having around 5-6 bf's a day and at least 1 through the night.
Are you anxious to get dd off the breast? Or just want to follow a routine?

In the birth to 5 book, NHS advised ff mums to give at least 500ml of formula. Those who don't make 500ml and bf babies should be given vitamin drops.

Judging from that I think if you give vitamin drops, and give your baby a balanced diet, you should be ok. As for cows milk, it's mainly to give iron and calcium? Of it's very calorie rich too. I don't know how much a baby needs for calcium. Iron is also in other meat as well. The webpage does mention which vitamin you might lack if you don't do vitamin drops, and I think those are usually added into cereals like ready brek and weetabix.

I'm not sure I can advise as I have no idea how many times a day my 7.5mo dd feeds (breastfed too) - but she does let me know when she's hungry. It's probably about 6 feeds during the day (and a couple at night). I try to offer a breastfeed about an hour before solid food so she's not hungry and narky at mealtimes but not full up either, which seems to work. I wouldn't want to limit breastfeeds at the moment as it's my dd's main source of liquid - she is very enthusiastic with the sippy cup but ends up wearing more than she drinks. I think it depends on your baby and her diet/other fluid intake but twice a day seems like way too little for a breastfed baby at 8 months (and feeding less might affect supply as well).

I am FF my DD 6.5mo and was feeling similar to yourself, how much milk should she still be having etc etc. She is on 3 meals a day now (weaned earlier than the recommended 6mo) and really is not keen to take much milk at all, she's never actually been that keen on it tbh! Cue much stress on my part. However my HV advised similar to what's been mentioned above: less than 16ozs (sorry I'm still old school!) a day and they would require vitamin drops to supplement their diet. DD would happily take less than this but I am persevering, I don't think we'll have any problems dropping a feed in a couple of months time and probably before if she gets her way! If you are BF then I think just feed her as much as she wants to take and work meals around that. As long as she's thriving I don't think it's too much of a problem that they don't take exactly the recommended amounts. Every baby's different!
I count any milk used for cooking/making up cereal etc as her daily intake too and try to encourage her to drink water with her meals too, obviously that won't do anything from a calorific point of view but will help with hydration when she's refusing milk!