Author Topic: Dropping a BF and DF  (Read 1475 times)

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Offline Adelheid

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Dropping a BF and DF
« on: September 19, 2014, 16:36:12 pm »
OK, so my 7.5mo old takes 4 BF a day plus a DF (formula)
I would like to replace his Bedtime BF with formula and begin to faze out the DF.
My husband loves doing the DF so I thought he could take over doing a Bedtime bottle instead, hence giving him more baby responsibility (yay!!!) and one less BF for me.
What I am wondering is if this is a good or bad idea since I know that Im suppose to drop a daytime BF soon-ish. I'm not dying to keep BF-ing, in fact, I'm sick of it. ;D But, I'm trying to keep going as long as possible.  :P

Offline MasynSpencerElliotte

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Re: Dropping a BF and DF
« Reply #1 on: September 19, 2014, 16:59:42 pm »
Hmm I wish my memory was better as we did a bt bottle of formula from 5 months and then slowly added more until 10 months were on formula all the time. She was having a nf or two up until 9 months though so not sure if moving the bt feed to formula will make a difference with dropping the df! Worth a shot though I guess.
Heidi




Offline Adelheid

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Re: Dropping a BF and DF
« Reply #2 on: September 19, 2014, 17:58:34 pm »
Oh interesting. I sorta chickened out this evening. Wanted to give him a bottle instead of BM but then my husband started second guessing the idea (dropping it could mean my period starts again which is what I am hoping for, but that would mean we could get pregnant and though we both are hoping for that it was just a little too quick of a change. :) ) . So, I think I will faze out the DF and as soon as we are done with that we will do the bottle for Bed time. Cant wait to drop it all together though....  ;)

What about the mid-day feed? When do you do solids only? It's usually the hardest one to get him to take. I give milk first, but he seems soooo distracted and usually won't drink as much as the other times.

Offline *Ali*

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Re: Dropping a BF and DF
« Reply #3 on: September 19, 2014, 18:43:08 pm »
Most BF babies are closer to a year before dropping to 4 daytime feeds especially if they aren't having a NF. It's much harder to get all the calories and such required from milk in 3 BFs than it is from 3 FFs as it's unlikely they would get 8ozs from a single BF, yk? Some drop the fourth feed early around 10-11mo if they are good solid food eaters.
Cadan Dec 2009 and Colby Aug 2011


Offline MasynSpencerElliotte

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Re: Dropping a BF and DF
« Reply #4 on: September 19, 2014, 19:02:24 pm »
Actually we just cut out the midday feed (formula) and went to a solids only lunch last week! So basically from 4 feeds at 12 months down to 2 now at 13 months...just did it very gradually. No way she was ready for a solids only lunch any sooner, she just started takng less of that sippy so I stopped it.
Heidi




Offline Adelheid

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Re: Dropping a BF and DF
« Reply #5 on: September 20, 2014, 13:17:19 pm »
It's much harder to get all the calories and such required from milk in 3 BFs than it is from 3 FFs as it's unlikely they would get 8ozs from a single BF,

So doing 2 BF and one FF a day is not enough calories? He's an excellent solids eater.... I usually limit his solids but I think that if I let him, he'd gobble down a whole lot more than what I'm giving him.

Offline MasynSpencerElliotte

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Re: Dropping a BF and DF
« Reply #6 on: September 20, 2014, 13:36:16 pm »
Until he is one he needs the bulk of his nutrition from the bf and ff not solids. Here the recs for formula feeding for this age are 24-32 oz and then from 9 months on 18-32 oz. Not that every baby is the same, but even take the lower number and subtract the oz he currently gets from formula - I cannot imagine he could make up the difference in bm in two feeds and what could happen is more nw from hunger.
Heidi




Offline *Ali*

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Re: Dropping a BF and DF
« Reply #7 on: September 20, 2014, 14:52:57 pm »
It's much harder to get all the calories and such required from milk in 3 BFs than it is from 3 FFs as it's unlikely they would get 8ozs from a single BF,

So doing 2 BF and one FF a day is not enough calories? He's an excellent solids eater.... I usually limit his solids but I think that if I let him, he'd gobble down a whole lot more than what I'm giving him.

Not at this age no. It's not all to do with calories either but rather getting the correct balance of nutrients. So while breast milk and formula are balanced correctly for a baby under 1yo the solids he eats will not be.
Cadan Dec 2009 and Colby Aug 2011