9 month old only having 4/5oz at a time

[redfox14]

DD is 9 months old and up until about 8 months was having 7oz bottles every 4 hours through the day; then one 6oz a bottle through the night. For the past few weeks she’s been very on and off with how much of her bottle she’d drink, but for the past 3 days or so she will only have 4 or 5oz of milk at a time and sometimes it takes her a full hour to drink it with breaks between drinks.

She does eat solids but not huge portions. For example today she had 4oz when she woke up, a petit filous yogurt an hour or so later; then 5oz at midday; some rice cakes in the afternoon, and then it’s taken her over an hour to have 4oz for her late afternoon bottle. I’m a bit worried she won’t be getting enough calcium, calories, vitamins etc if she’s not having enough milk. I had phoned my HV last week and she didn’t seem bothered at all and didn’t really have any advice other than to keep trying with the bottle. I had asked if the HV could come and weigh her and she said she would the following day but never came. DD seems well otherwise and happy, but I am just a bit concerned.

Is it normal for babies’ appetite to decrease when they have solids throughout the day? DD doesn’t eat large portions so I’m not sure that would be impacting her appetite for milk. Grateful for any tips or similar experience!

At 9 months she should be on 3 meals a day. From your OP it sounds like she is just having snacks? One sugary yogurt for breakfast and just rice cakes for lunch. She needs 3 real meals a day.

If she is having less than a certain amount of formula then she needs vitamins. The NHS website will tell you how much.

If she has suddenly eating less then it will probably be due to illness or teething. Pain killers will help for teething.

@Jinglingallthewaytochristmas we have tried giving her larger meals and she just won’t eat them at the moment. A couple of weeks ago she would have a bowl of scrambled egg for breakfast, now she’ll barely have a couple of spoonfuls. The same for lunch and tea - we normally just give her a smaller portion of what we eat, but she doesn’t seem interested in it at the moment. She’ll have a really small portion but then gets frustrated if we try to give her more and will push the spoon away.

We did think it could be teething but can’t see any more teeth coming through yet (she already has two bottom ones). Although maybe they’re just coming very slowly?

You need to keep persisting with offering real food and not just sugary snacks. She might not eat much but it will get her used to different tastes and textures. I'd offer a small amount of milk on waking and then breakfast 30/45 mins later.

Is she just 9 months or is she almost 10 months? Only asking as from 10 months she only needs 13.5 floz a day.

I'd take her to your local weigh-in clinic, if you have one and take your Red Book. Get them to record her weight and height.

I'd probably give her some Calpol around 10am if you think she's teething and see if she eats her Lunch any better.

And there are some good suggestions of things to offer her, along with sample menus and portion size information in this guide from the Caroline Walker Trust.

Can I ask which milk she's on too? It's just that if you've swapped to follow-on milk that could be the problem as the added iron can reduce their appetite.

@Clotheshorses we do usually give her “proper” food as opposed to snacks, that was just what she’d eaten that day. She has previously been really good with different textures etc but at the moment she just doesn’t seem to want a lot.

@SiouxsieSiouxStiletto I am going to try and get her weighed soon as it has been continuing this week, she is only drinking sometimes 3 or 4 oz at a time. She has been a bit better with eating solids but still isn’t drinking much milk at all. She will be 10 months at the end of December. And she has Hipp formula, not follow on milk 😊