7-month-old prefers solids and is taking very little milk

[edeluna]

DD is just over 7 months and doing really well on solids (I started weaning her around 4 1/2 months). However, she is much less interested in BFing now, which is worrying me.

From what I've read, they should get around 500-600ml/day at this age. I think she's getting a lot less. She feeds well before bed and sometimes once during the night, but otherwise, she'll usually only latch on for a few minutes at a time (if that) and is fussy taking a bottle during the day, too.

The nurse at my local baby clinic said I shouldn't worry about how much milk she's getting, but I am concerned. She is on a super healthy diet, is growing like a weed and is very healthy (has never been sick at all), but I still feel like I should be getting more milk into her.

She has gone on nursing strikes before, so maybe this is just another one. Or maybe she's weaning herself off BF?

I'm wondering how typical this may be as babies start to take more solids. She's having three full meals a day, each about 4?6oz of solid food.

Could you add some milk to her food, i.e porridge? can you express some BM and put that in instead of water?

That could put your mind at rest that she is getting a little more. [hsmile]

Thanks for the suggestion. I'm already adding milk to her food, so she is getting that little bit more every day. And I offer her the breast or a bottle of expressed milk several times a day.

I also try BFing before solids but that doesn't usually work.

I've also tried smaller portions of solids, but I don't think I'm giving her massive amounts to begin with.

my dd did this at the same age (the opposite to my 4 boys who all loved their milk) i added milk to her food and gave her natural yog with fruit and also cheese to up her dairy intake.

you could also try feeding her somewhere quiet when possible and maybe then she will take more milk. fwiw my dd is now 10mths and likes her milk again and has the recomended amout, for a while she didnt tho and she still grew well :)

also remember that she will be a very efficient feeder by now and can get a good amount in a short feed :)

DS (8 month) is gradually cutting down on his milk too, but he is FF so I know how much he is drinking. Some days he drinks lots of milk, but some others he is just having between 400 - 500mls, including what I add to his food.

The recommendation is that if they are EBF or drinking less than 500mls of formula a day, they should have vitamin drops. My HV said that some babies are "milk babies", and some others "solid babies", and the quantity of milk in itself is not a problem, as long as they have vitamin drops if needed and of course dairy for calcium.

www.bda.uk.com/foodfacts/BabyChildVitamins.pdf

My DD is exactly the same!! Glad I'm not alone in this as I was getting myself in a right tizz about it. She will mostly take the recommended 500mls a day but some days not, so I just try to add milk to her food and count that in with her intake too. I think she's just a food baby and not a milk baby! She never took more than 4-5ozs at a feed even before weaning!