7 mth old not drinking much milk but loves solids

[LittleDoe]

Hi there,

My 7 mth old DS seems to drink very little milk now during the day. He seems to be loving solids so I am sure he is getting sufficient calories, but do you think I should I be reducing his solids so that he takes more milk?

I reckon he probably gets close to 18oz in 24 hours but that includes his overnight feeds as well which leads me to another problem! Because he doesn't take much milk during the day I feel that we should feed him when he wakes during the night (usually twice between 7pm and 7am) but don't know if we are in a vicious cycle whereby he takes milk overnight so as a consequence doesn't need it during the day....

A good day is something like this:

7.30am - 3oz bottle
8 / 8.30am - breakfast (porridge)
10.30am - 3-4oz bottle
12pm - lunch (normally a savoury course followed by yoghurt/fruit)
3pm - 3-4 oz bottle
5pm - tea (try to just give one course so he is hungry for after bath milk)
6.30pm - 4oz bottle
Overnight - 7oz bottle plus sometimes one breastfeed too

Today however he only took 1oz at his 10.30am feed and 2 oz at his 3pm feed (took 3oz after bath). Maybe I'm just giving him too much solids.

Am just conscious that milk is still meant to be their main form of nutrition at the moment.

(PS I was breastfeeding him more until he got teeth and started biting me!! Not fun.)

Sounds to me like he's doing really well.

Definitely having enough milk (average 21 oz including milk added to food)

You could try adding second course at tea time, but I would still think he will need a bf at night for a bit longer.

I would make the 7.30am & 6.30pm bottle bigger. At least 5oz, maybe 7oz.

At 7 months they should be getting more nutrition from milk, than from food.

I know what you mean about a vicious circle re: feeding in the night - you're probably right that he is then not as hungry for it during the day.

Have you tried watering down his night time bottle? Its interesting that that is the only "full" feed he is taking in a 24 hour period - all the other bottle feeds during the day seem quite small for a baby his age. To water down the feeds do it over a week long period to eventually drop the feed. Start with 7 ounces water mixed with 7 ounces formula. On the 2nd night give 7 ounces water mixed with 6 ounces formula; on the 3rd night 7/5 and so on until baby refuses the watery mixture and can drop the feed and hopefully make up for it in the day. This worked for my 7 month old dropping his bedtime (10.30pm) bottle. Hope this helps. x