7.5 months formula / food quantities

[julesdq]

Hi, my LO is 7.5 months and we've been doing BLW since 6 months. She has suddenly started eating A LOT and so I have been offering her more at each meal. Sometimes she moans at me if I haven't put food on her spoon quickly enough!  She eats finger food and uses the spoon to feed herself things like risotto, yoghurt etc. Now that she has become an eating machine, she has suddenly reduced her 11am and 3pm milk intake. Some say that you should work towards dropping that morning feed but also read that milk should not be reduced until 1 yr. Do I then offer her less food?
This is what i've been doing so far but not sure about it so please feel free to comment....

6.30am offer 210ml formula (usually drinks 180ml)

8:00am nap

9:30am breakfast

11am offer 150ml formula (now only drinks 90ml)

11:30am nap

1pm lunch

3pm offer 150ml formula (now only drinks 90ml)

3:30pm catnap

5:30pm dinner

6:30pm 210ml formula

Thanks,

Julie

[~inbalance~]

Hi there,

So if I'm correct she is now drinking a little under 20oz formula per day?  That is a bit on the short side.  You would want her to be getting between 20-30oz plus some dairy with solids, although I think ideally 24+oz would be best.

I think that with bottle feeding many moms will drop down to 3 bottles around 9mos, but that doesn't mean the quantity drops, just that they are consolidated into 3 bottles rather than 4.

Milk intake will start to decrease after 9mos as LOs eat more solids, but it should be a gradual increase and I would say before 9mos you really want her to maintain the proper amount of formula. 

I would see if you can back off on the solids just a little to get her drinking a bit more formula again.  But it does sound like she is doing great, and remember too any dairy in her diet (i.e. yogurt or cheese) will count towards her milk intake as well, so since she is eating that stuff I wouldn't be too worried if some days she doesn't drink much more than 20oz. 

[julesdq]

Hi Martina
Thanks for your advice. Yes, she does eat youghurt and cheese and has formula with her porridge but I will offer a little less food and see if she is willing to drink more milk :-)