Growth spurt? Hungry baby? Or what???

[MrTumblesCrackWhore]

I started weaning dd a couple of weeks ago right on the day she turned 6 months. She has always been a bit tricky on the milk feeding front but I had hoped once she started eating solids, she might settle down a little. However, she, if anything, has been drinking more milk than before - and I've stepped up the solids to three meals a day. Anyway, does this sound normal? If not, any suggestions?

6am ish Wakes for early morning feed (7oz)
7.30/8am breakfast of mashed fruit/baby rice followed by a few fingers of toast for her to chew on
Between breakfast and first nap (9am ish she then cries again for another bottle (usually downs at least another 5/6 oz)
Nap - long sleep usually until 11am
11- 11.30am 7oz bottle
Lunchtime - I can usually get around 2 ice cubes of pureed veg down her
mid afternoon - 70z milk feed
5pm ish - another solid feed, during which she usually cries for more milk so in addition she has another 5/6oz
Between then and bedtime she usually demands another 7 oz before she goes to sleep. If she hasn't had enough, she will occasionally wake up half an hour or so after going to sleep for more milk.

So...on an average day, she will take around 35oz of milk PLUS 3 solid meals. She is big for her age (18 Ib) but it still seems rather excessive! We dropped the dream feed quite a while ago as it didn't seem to make much difference to her wake up time. I just wonder whether we should start it again - although I am loathe to as I like going to bed earlier than the time the dream feed would normally be given.
Anyone got any advice??? Thanks.

Does she have s dummy? Maybe she is using the bottles to soothe herself rather than due to hunger. Do you offer water? Maybe she is thirsty.

But I am no expert!

DD is due to start weaning in a couple of weeks, I'm no expert so take my advice with a pinch of salt, perhaps someone with some real experience will come along! The first thing that springs to my mind that is that maybe she needs more milk at each feed. DD is mostly BF but I do give her a few bottles so just had a quick look on my box and is says (as guidance only) that a six month old (approx weight 16.5lb) should be having 4 x 8oz feeds a day. Perhaps as your DD is 18lb she needs more? Also is she not having an afternoon nap, that might account for her being hungry? Perhaps she's tired? I know some babies don't take more than one nap though.

Looking at your schedule if I were in your shoes I would try out the following:

6am Milk (8oz)
7am Breakfast
9am Milk (8oz) followed by nap (when she wakes perhaps play with her in her cot to kill some time before next milk.
12pm Milk (8oz)
1pm Lunch
3pm Milk (8oz) could you give her a nap after this?
5pm Tea
Bedtime Milk (8oz)

So overall you would be giving her 40oz of milk throughout the day, I've just gone onto a calculator online and it says for an 18lb baby they should be having between 36 - 45oz per day. Bear in mind that in the early stages on weaning you don't reduce their milk anyway so I wouldn't worry that she was having too much. Make sure you give her a couple of oz of water with her meals too in a sippy cup and she'll be getting enough. By the look of what you have said she needs bigger feeds but less of them. Why not try it for a day and see how you get on? :-)

Thank you! Yes, she seems to have settled down a wee bit the last couple of days, although,randomly, she has started waking up again for a v early morning feed.

I ll definitely try the water again - I have before but she didn't really take it. However, I may try warming it up slightly as she's always been extremely fussy about cold or even room temp milk.

Thanks again

From 6 months to 12 months she should be having 20oz a day. How tall is she MrTumbles? Is she in proportion with her height and weight?

Oh and have you tried hungry baby milk? It hasn't got anymore calories but takes longer to digest so should give her a fuller feeling for longer.

They do have a growth spurt at 6 months though so it might all pass over in a couple of days.

She's actually got a cows' milk protein allergy so is on a special prescription formula- which does look much thinner than normal formula so maybe therein lies partly an explanation. She is also on the 75th percentile and has been since she was born. I think she is all in proportion!

I've only been weaning her for 2 weeks so hopefully when she's more used to three meals a day she may take more food. She is also ridiculously active during the day. When she's awake she is always on the go, rolling around, babbling and singing etc, so she may well be burning more calories that way.

Don't really know then if she is having a different formula, does the carton say how much she should be having a day?

Agree though that if she's all in proportion you don't have much to worry about, and as she starts moving more she'll burn off lots of calories too.

Well, that's why I was wondering whether she was having too much in the first place- the tin says 4x 7oz bottles a day. On an average day she would be having two more bottles than that, although probably not the full 7 oz.