8mo still on 3 hourly feeds as well as solids D:

[TheOldDear]

Hi

My dd is 8 months old. We are doing mostly baby led weaning and she is formula fed. A few other babies of friends around the same age are on 3 bottles during the day, however mine is still on 5 (3hourly)! I was infomed she would 'drop a bottle' by herself by the HV but it isn't happening, she continues to knock back every bottle very quickly. Our usual day goes something like this:

8am - 7oz bottle
9am - Breakfast
11am - 7oz bottle
12am - Lunch
14.30 - 6oz bottle
15.30 - Little snack
17.00 - 7oz bottle
18.30 - Dinner
19.45 - 7oz bottle

Its becoming slightly frustrating as it leaves little time to go out or do anything as I'm always conscious that theres another feed due (and she makes us more than aware when a bottle is due). She has always maintained a good weight between the 50th and 75th percentile, so appears not to be overfeeding. Her solid intake isn't fantastic, but some days she will have more than others.

Does this routine seem okay, or does something need to change?! Is there any way I can encourage her to drop a bottle, or should I (as the HV stated a month ago) just wait until she drops it herself?

Your HV is wise. You know your LO aren't being difficult by having all that milk! He must be hungry and needs it.

My dd is also 8 months old and has 3 bottles a day of around 7oz each. Sometimes she does have extra and other days it's a struggle to get that into her.

How much does your dd eat as far as solids go? I would say it's only been in the last few days my dd has really started to enjoy her food and is a pleasure to feed.

Our routine is roughly this:

7am - 7oz milk
10 ish - ready brek with peach purée
12-1ish - lunch with a yogurt afterwards
2.30ish - 7oz milk
4-4.30 - tea with fruit
6.30-7 - 7oz milk

Sometimes she has a bottle mid morning. Or I break up the afternoon bottle and give some in morning and some in afternoon. I felt just like you a few weeks ago and felt I was constantly feeding her.

I am going to increase her morning and night feed to 8oz and see how she goes without it during the day. She never cries for the daytime bottle, I feel I give it to her to make myself feel reassured she's not hungry.

My DS was the same. He began to take less at each feed at approx 10 months, down to a few ounces a feed during the day, but still fed fairly frequently. He began to guzzle milk again overnight (though he'd always had a night feed, but he started downing 7oz bottle or sometimes two overnight) when he had a growth spurt about 11 months.

He turned one just over a week ago and suddenly seems to have decided food is better than milk during the day - actually came on this sectionto look for snack ideas- and is going through without a bottle at all most nights. Has a few oz in the morning and/or afternoon sometimes but not regularly as it was a few weeks ago.

They seem to sort themselves out quite well!

Its reassuring to know she isn't the only one! Don't get me wrong, I don't mind feeding her at all, but I'm being made very aware that she is having more milk than others her age! I guess I'm just worried that she'll be still be having more milk than solids at 12 months and I just don't know how to encourage her take more solids.
In terms of what she eats, she has a good go at her food, grabbing everything and taking a few bites before dropping it, but doesn't actually eat a lot. I usually give her a yogurt after lunch and some fresh fruit after her evening meal, which usually goes down better than her main meal.