Help! worried about DS milk consumption whilst weaning

[BotBotticelli]

DS is 6mo this weekend and I have been weaning him for 4 weeks now.

It has been going quite well and he is now having a small amount of pureed food 3 times a day (baby porridge and fruit at breakfast time, homemade veg puree at lunchtime, Ella's sachet at teatime, witha bit of fruit for pudding). BUT he is getting less and less interested in his bottles of formula.

I am doing what all the advice suggests: offering a bottle 30 mins-1 hour before food, but he is just not bothered. Even after waking up, he is now only taking 4oz, having previously taken 7oz.

He doesn;t seem to want any milk at all in the late morning anymore. He will maybe have 3-4oz late afternoon, and at the moment seems to only want 6oz at bedtime. We are still giving him a dreamfeed at 10pm (used to be 8oz, now only taking 5-6oz)....i really wanna drop this dream feed cos he is so deeply asleep now at 10pm and my gut feeling is he doesn't need it to sleep....he's not hungry or bothered about milk when he wakes up for the day at 0630am, so I definitely think I can sleep through the night without it. But if I drop that bottle he will be nowhere near his required 20oz for the day.

Do you think if I drop that bottle he might pick up extra ounces of milk elsewhere in the day?? Maybe have a big guzzly 7oz bottle at breakfast?

Anyone got any tips for encouraging DCs to drink milk whilst weaning? I offer water in a tippy cup at lunchtime and teatime but he mostly just spills it down himself. Some must be going in but I am worried about him getting dehydrated....his poos have gone really solid like dark brown adult poos and I am really worried that I am dehydrating him. If he was thirsty, he would drink, right??? If I just keep offering him milk regularly?

definitely think he* can sleep through the night without it. Sorry, freudian slip of a typo!!

cut down on the solids

if he fills up with fruit/veg purees, he will not be getting enough protein and other nutrients that he needs to grow

introduce some cut (banana etc.) fruit rather than purees, and he will be able to regulate how much he eats more

he needs milk as his main source of nutrients for a few months more

HTH

Agree that he needs the milk much more than he needs the solids and atv6 months he shouldn't be dropping any milk feeds. I'd drop the breakfast and dinner for a few weeks and see if his appetite for milk increases. Bi know there is a lot of pressure to get babies onto 3 meals a day but it really is more important to get the milk into him at this age.

Drop some of the solids. Milks more important.

also, just to be clear, when we all say "milk" we mean formula

Yes it's recommended to give first stage formula as the main drink until one, the minimum is 20floz a day

Once Lo reaches one, you can ditch the bottles and the formula and swap over to full fat cows milk.

My HV said yesterday that I shouldn;t worry too much about the milk and I should fill him up with food! Gah, this is all so confusing. Do you think I should call another health visitor (my more regular one wasn't at the clinic this week) and see what she thinks?

ps - as an aside, having a bad day today: DS only had 4oz milk at breakfast (despite us cutting the 10pm dreamfeed down to 5oz), and then 4oz midmorning, and at both breakfast time and lunchtime (an hour after each bottle respectively), he cried actual tears - usually reserved for when his grandad tries to cuddle him (!) - and wasn't having any of it.

Seemed to cheer up a bit when i let him feed himself with a loaded spoon

Anyone heard of a 6mo refusing to feed unless holding the spoon themselves before?

pps - needless to say, I am only just checking mumsnet now so didnt see you lovely ladies advice about dropping breakfast/dinner for a couple of weeks :)

Yes I can vouch for babies who have to feed themselves and refuse any help :)

Yogurt and soup is very messy

My boy is doing something v similar. Ds1 dropped bottles v quickly when he started solids, but rather than dropping whole bottles, ds2 is just taking 3 oz here, 2oz there... He will take 5 or 6 ozbefore bed and reliably takes 5 or 6 oz at 4 in the morning (!!) but during the day it's really hard to get anything in. He loves his food, has been on solids 3 weeks and just guzzles it and shouts for more- similar sort of diet to your lo and some finger foods too. Not great with a cup yet. I reckon so long as he gets 20oz that's fine- he can get calcium etc from yoghurt etc- this is the advice my HV has given me. Harder poos could be dehydration but also poos that roll of the nappy are pretty common once baby is established on 3 meals per day. I say go with it, keep a log of how much milk he is having, and go back to regular HV if consistently under 20oz. Good luck- it's v frustrating, isn't it?!
PS my ds1 who dropped milk v quickly when started on solids is now 2.5, a fab eater, drinks water, cows milk etc... In other words, he turned out fine with no issues!!

PS re dropping the dream feed I would do nothing for a few weeks til everything settles down (hopefully!) into some sort of pattern.

The advice given by the HV is shocking a little outdated. Could you ask her what she is basing this on? The NHS guidelines are really clear, 6 months to 12 months if the baby isn't having any BM they should be having a minimum of 20floz of first stage formula each day.

Could you skip his evening meal tonight or is it too late?

As for the constipation, is he uncomfortable or in distress? If not I'd just try some water rich foods like soup, water melon, homemade ice lolly, broccoli and cauliflower are all good.

Id definitely cut down on the solids though and try some more finger food so that he can regulate what he eats better