tweaking milk intake for 8 month old?

[linussally]

My LO just turned 8 months today.  Ever since birth he's never really been a fan of his milk - formula.  Never really hungry.  He was gaining weight nicely, until recently...  Not sure if it's a combination of teething/ solids, that he's taking less milk.  His total formula intake a day is around 17-20oz.  Here is our usual routine:

wake up 6'ish
7:30  E  around 4.5-6 oz formula
8:30  E  1.5 tbsp rice cereal + 2 tbsp fruit puree (He doesn't really like the rice cereal, but can eat more of it if mixed with fruit puree.)
9:30  S  for 1 hr 15 usually
11:30 E  around 4-5 oz formula, these days may be 2-3 oz
12:30 E  2 tbsp veggie + 1.5 tbsp rice cereal + 2 tbsp fruit puree (mixed with rice cereal)
1:45  S  1.5-2 hrs
3:30  E  2-3 oz formula, probably b/c of a lot of solids at noon?
4:30  E  2 tbsp veggie + 2 tbsp fruit
6:30  A  bath
7:00  E  5-7 oz formula
7:30  S  bedtime

Am I giving him too much solids?  It seems like his daily max capacity is around 25 oz.  But he seems ok with it.  His formula intake today is 17 oz, 24 oz in total including solids.

I'm wondering if I can just skip the 11:30 formula feed in the morning, so that maybe he can have more formula in the afternoon 3:30 feed?  I'm planning to give him porridge + fruits at around noon if I skip the formula.  And then 3:30 formula, 5:00 porridge dinner + fruits.  Bedtime bottle as usual.  Or is 8 months too early to skip a formula feed?  Not sure if that matters b/c he's not eating much anyway?!  So confused...  Glad if anyone has some suggestions.  Thanks!

[linussally]

bump...  anyone?

[First Time Mom]

Sorry, I'm not much help, I never did formula/bottles so I don't know amounts, but it doesn't seem like 17-20oz. is too much formula at this age (I know it's more with the cereal, but it doesn't seem too much). Sincehe wakes at 6:30, what would happen if you gave him his formula at 7, solids at 8, would he drink more at the 11:30 bottle? I would maybe try that. I know with the solids we are supposed to let them "tell us" how much they want and can eat. My ds is almost 10 months and eats much less than your ds but when my dd was this age she ate about that much- all los are so different!

Sorry if this isn't much help, hopefully someone else with formula experience will be able to help out.

[linussally]

I usually feed at 7:30am b/c I've to drive my hubby to the train stn if I'm taking the car that day.  I guess I can try that on days that I'm not using the car.

Today, he had 6.5oz at 7:30, 1oz at 11:30, 6.5 oz at 3:30, and then 4oz at 7pm.  So a total 18oz of formula for the day.  With solids, the total intake for the day is 25oz.  I'm not sure if I'm giving him too much solids that makes him too full for milk?!  But he can finish them.  He would grunt, but would still open his mouth and take the spoonful.  So I don't know if the grunt would be a "no" or "yes", since he would still eat?!  He's spirited, so he would grunt/ be vocal all the time. 

[First Time Mom]

Do you do the fruit puree added to each meal? I find my ds will keep eating non-stop if I add sweet fruit to a food, but if it's a non-fruit blend he will stop eating earlier. Wonder if he's eating past being full due to the sweetness of the fruit. I know babies are supposed to be able to stop when full, but my ds will keep going if it's a fruit mix. Try a non-fruit food and see if he eats less, then you'll know if he's eating past full.

[linussally]

I give him the fruit puree after the meal, and only 2 tbsp.  He could have more, b/c I guess of the sweetness, but I would just leave it at 2 tbsp.  Like you said, don't want him to have too much solids.

And when I was planning to cut his 11:30 feed, he started to eat more these days, around 4.5 oz at that time.  Sometimes he'll eat less at 3:30 feed.  Just never know what to do with his changing appetite.  I guess I should just leave it as is for now.  Thanks for your help!

[First Time Mom]

That's good that he took in more at his 11:30 feed. It's hard to monitor how much they are taking in, it's such a fine balancing act between the solids and milk intake. From time to time I actually count wet diaper output to make sure ds is taking in enough milk! I think if your lo cuts down on the formula again and you want to keep it up I would maybe cut back slightly on the fruit intake, they don't need to take in fruit at each meal as it is quite sweet. You might find that he maintains and then starts to increase over the next little while, my ds gradually ate more from that age until now and he just turned 10 mths.

[linussally]

So again, he didn't want any formula at the 11:30 feed.  Actually it was closer to 12pm b/c I fed him later to see if he would eat any more!  Just not hungry!  So I gave him some porridge at 12:30, 4 tablespoons with carrots and he finished it.  I didn't give him any fruits at lunch today.  He had more formula at 3:30 this aft, and hopefully he'll continue this trend if I don't give him fruits at a feed.  Thanks for your suggestion!

[First Time Mom]

How was his total milk intake by the end of the day?

Just thought of another thing- does he take a paci? When my dd was this age my dh was always giving her the paci (habit for him!)and I found that from all the sucking it took the edge off her appetite and she wanted to nurse less so I had to take away the paci and use it only for naps. Just a thought.