HV says ds should be having 5 milk feeds a day until 9 months !

[workingmom2000]

Surely that must be wrong. At least the formula box says, 3 feeds from 7 months. So does the Gina Ford book.

Has anyone else been advised not to cut down on milk until 9 months? 3 meals plus 5 feeds sounds a bit excessive to me.

Well my ds is 7 and a half months and on 5 breast feeds a day as well as 3 months, and my HV has advised me to start cutting down on them! She said as long as he's getting the milk in cheese/yoghurt etc then it should be fine.

It will depend on the child really - some like milk a lot and some arent that fussed. DS had 4 feeds from 8 months up till he was about 9 months and dropped to 3 at 10 months. He was down to 2 by 11 months. A minimum of 20oz is recommended up till 1 year but this can be made up by milk in foods and other dairy products so doesnt all have to be in drink form. Did she say how much each feed had to be? i.e. 5 feeds of 4oz is a bit different to 5 feeds of 8oz

It sounds a bit odd to me. We were on 3 feeds a day from 7 months (ie once she'd started eating 3 meals a day and reasonable quanties of food). Now at 11 months she has a beaker of milk with her breakfast, another at 2pm after her nap (which she isn't that interested in - so perhaps we'll drop it soon) and a bottle just before bed. It's only about 14oz a day but she really enjoys yoghurt and cheese so it all works out.

my 9 month old often has 3 in the day and one at night

it depends on the day though! could be less, could be more!