Do I cut down milk to increase solids???

[Mum of girl, boy, boy]

Hi there,

My little one is 7 months old. As a baby he took very few feeds. Slept through from 12 weeks  with a cluster in evening. Then he went to 4 feeds (Sometimes even 3). He suffered from a bit of reflux and overfeeding but that eased off in months 5/6. Just past 6 months I introduced some solids which he seems to love but this last week his reflux has come back up. I eased off the solids to see if I was giving him too much and he just took even bigger milk feeds. In the morning he takes a huge feed (both sides) and doesn't get hungry for 5 hours. He will take breakfast but this will just come back up. Today he did his usual big feed in the morning at 730. I had another breast feed around 1pm with solids at 3pm. Wasn't interested in anything at 5 (toddler distracting him and the bee buzzing in his ear I abandoned the feed). 715 he had a small feed. The first feed of the day can be so big it affects his appetite whether its for boob or solids. However he won't refuse solids or turn his head away to show when he's had enough. Can anyone give me some thoughts or direction?

Cheers

J

p.s I have missed solids for a day and he still sleeps through it would take at least 2/3 days without solids before he got hungry for them.

pps He seems on so little compared to the other babies. DD was always hungry and DS seems the opposite but he is gaining well and very contented.

[tylersmommy]

I don't know that I would decrease breastmilk intake in favor of solids, since that's should be his main source of nutrition. How much solids is he eating? Is it the reflux you're concerned about or the amount of solids he eats?

[Mum of girl, boy, boy]

Hi ya,

It's a bit of both. He seems to be able to overfeed with both breast milk and solids and this makes the reflux worse - as soon as he's on his tummy he chucks up and he doesn't like that feeling (he doesn't cry but just a little whinge). I reckon it's about 3 tablespoons of solids when I do it to him sometimes less. He definately would take more and is still looking for it when it's all gone (I've moved the solids to late morning or I do it in the afternoon).

Over here in the UK they told me I had to start solids at 6 months (got a frown because I hadn't started) due to iron and they say they that it's important to get as many tastes into them as the window closes as they get older. I am aware that it isn't recommended over in the states that milk feeds are dropped. Even without solids he can sometimes only take the 3 feeds.

I don't want to overload DS with the solids but also want him to get some learning experiences with them. I don't see too many babies going the slow route to solids and ones with the feeding pattern of my little DS. I guess if he was bottle fed I could monitor how much he was getting. One of the thoughts I was having was perhaps only offering 1 side at his first feed and then follow by breakfast but then I am cutting his milk intake for him to take the solids. This is where I get confused as to what is the right thing to do?

J