HV told friend DS should only be on 3 bottles a day by 7 mths - is this right?

[spongebrainbigpants]

Two of my friends went to see their HV today at clinic and both got a real telling off by her because their 7 mth old sons are still having too much milk!

They both waited til 24 weeks to wean, both weaning with purees. Their LOs have only been eating for about four weeks but she says it should be no night feeds and only 3 bottles a day and that they should be really strict about it, offering only water at other times and definitely no night feeds.

She also said fill them up with things like sponge pudding and custard in the evening to make them sleep through!

Please tell me this is crap. My DS is nearly seven months, he is BLW and probably still has 4 bottles a day plus a night feed.

My friends are both now really stressed so I thought I should check with others and get some alternative views!

Thanks.

they are talking crap. so much crap. it's unbelievable.

some babies sleep through by 7 months. some don't. some just need cuddling back to sleep. some need milk.
it's OK to feed in the night, and it's ok to offer as much milk in the day as they want.
in fact it's important that they do.

food is fun until they're one. milk should still be the main form of nutrition.

ffs HV's telling people shit like this makes me SO angry

ds1 was still having 4/5 bottles a day at well over a year lol

It's crap.

Milk is the main source of nutrition until a baby is one. That means as much milk as they want, as often as they want it.

Tell your friends to ignore the HV and listen to us instead

ds had 5 bottles up to 8 months with one being in the night. He didn't get to 3 bottles till he was about 9 months. I'd ignore the hv and tell them to follow what their lo's want.

Ignore HVs! Mine were all useless and none of them had any kids themselves! go with the flow (pardon the pun)!!

thats unbelievable, sponge pudding!
mine was on three bottles at 7 months but only because he rejected the 4th himself.

In fact when my ds started eating properly he actually slept worse than when he was just on milk.

How can the HV expect them not to give them milk in the night if they are screaming for it, they obviously need it if they are.

I'm with K999, mine were useless. I listened with half an ear. Mine was on 5 bottles till about 11 months and I decided I was fed up with it. Go with your instincts. Give them what you think they need. My dd now gets 3 bottles 20 oz/ 600ml a day, but that used to be the same amount in 5 bottles.

If she eats well (14 mths) then she may leave some. She has a bad cough at the mo and wont eat so I am giving her more milk which she will take.

HV's what a waste of space (in my locale anyway).

Hi sponge - ok we're not yet at 7 months here but DS is still on 4 bottles plus at least 3 bf per day!

I never even see my HV so thankfully never get unwanted advice

Bloody hell! Why can't these people read their own NHS guidelines and maybe update their levels of personal research, say, every decade??

Utter rubbish. Why on earth would you want to fill a baby up with sugar-laden sponge pudding rather than custom-produced breastmilk or forumla? And really, it's none of the HV's business if a baby sleeps through the night or not. It's going to happen, or not, regardless of what the baby eats before going to bed.

My dd is 6 months and still on 5 bottles no way would she be happy been on 3 bottles in a months time. She no where near ready to be dropped a feed even now so i am carrying on regardless of what anyone says.

Milk is the most important thing in their diet for first 12 months anyway and SPONGE CAKE [SHOCK] no bloody way.

Am with you Mama - tbh I did stick loosely to a feeding routine (usually every 3 hours) but if I thought that they needed more then I gave them it! Especially with bf - some days it felt like dd2 was permanently clamped to me!!

By 7/8 months dd2 was on about 5/6 bottles - never worried me - she was happy and that was all that mattered!

Thanks everyone - I will let my friends know. They were both really quite stressed about it which is such a shame .

It's made me feel more relaxed too as I know DS is nowhere near wanting to drop to three bottles or let go of his night feed!

And they wonder why we have an obesity problem in this country-why on earth does an 8mth old need sponge pudding and custard????

my dd was on 5 bottles and 3-4 meals a day at 8 months as she was a hungry animal! (i weaned her at 16 weeks)...by the time she was about 1, she was on 3 bottles a day plus foods.

CRAPOLA.

My DD same as biglips. BLW at 6 months but same sort of time frame.

And she is 23 months now and still drinks a pint a day. And is currently eating like a horse.

i think babies can be a bit bigger than is necessarily good for them

mine are all beefers but my older ones nearly broke my back 27lbs at a year imo unnecessarily large

if baby is eating well it does not need food plus bottles and bottles of milk

yes it does need a pint...

like others say - weight is an issue in our society

Ria - my dd1 was 29lbs at one year old. She was a very solid baby and still is now at 4 yrs old is 50lb but she always had been very tall.

No way!

My DD is almost 6mths and still feeds about every 3 hours... and that includes during the night unfortunatly!

I cant see her being able to survive on 3 bottles at 7mths!

Im amazed at all the wrong things these HV's come out with!

My Dd sropped the night feed at a little over 7 months (although she doesn't sleep 7-7 and still needs a cuddle.)

She also went to only 3 bf at about 7 and a half months. She did this all by herself by simply refusing the mid morning Bf

I also weaned at 24 weeks.

Does this mean my baby is a hv textbook baby? I followed her lead and didn't force anything on her, by the way

My DS is now 9.5mo. Took him until about 8.5mo to be only 3 feeds a day - dropped lunchtime feed for only solids at around 7.5mo, then 11pm feed was going at same time if he'd had a lot of food in the day, but didn't completely go until about 8.5mo. Still wakes at night for comfort, although def not for food. He is BLW so may have taken him a bit longer to start taking in enough solids to drop milk feeds than it would if he had been puree fed.

There was a big improvement in his sleep and his solid intake between about 8mo and 9mo.

The majority of babies I know were on 3 feeds a day at around 7mo and also sleeping through, so I don't think the HV is completely wrong that this can happen - is the norm in my experience, albeit not with my baby - but it certainly doesn't mean there is anything wrong with your friends' babies and certainly doesn't mean her advice on sponge pudding and custard should be listened to!

sunshine, lol at HV textbook baby - all HVs seem to give different advice so not sure how that would work!

HQ, that's really helpful as my RL puree friends' babies are mostly on 3 bottles a day (from their own choice - the babies choice that is!) but the BLW ones aren't. It does stand to reason that they would eat less to begin with but reassuring to hear from you that this does improve! He seems to eat hardly anything some days which does worry me!