When do they eat more solids over milk?

[Spectra]

At what age do they eat more solids mostly and have the bottle as in between snacks?  And when that happens how much milk do they have instead of like now I have 4 bottles a day of 8oz.  Does that decrease and the solids increase?

[Jenna's Mum]

Spectra I'm glad your post is here as that's my question too, only my dd is 8 months old.  She still has 4 x 8oz bottles and isn't that interested in solid foods at all so I'm wondering whether she's getting too much formula.  Any advice would be miuch welcomed as to whether cutting down on her formula would help her to be more interested in solids... but I want her to get the proper amount of formula too as I know this is still her main source of nutrition.  Thanks.

[Kimberly®]

breastmilk/formula are still the main source of nutrition for LO's up to 1 year. However by 9 months you should notice a dramatic shift in the amounts of solids vs milk, for some 9 months is when they wean over for whatever reason. For the time being your LO needs more milk then solids.

HTH

[Jenna's Mum]

Hi Karita,

When you say there's a dramatic shift around 9 months, is that something they naturally move toward themselves by not finishing bottles?  Or do we have to help them along by cutting back on formula to say 6oz per bottle instead of 8oz?  I understand that formula is their main source of nutrition right now which is why I haven't been getting too upset that dd isn't eating solids very well, but at the same time I want her to eat more so that by 12 months we can drop the bottle and be on solids with cow's milk.  Thanks for the advice 

[Spectra]

Yeah... what Jenna said.     

[Kimberly®]

Thats the tricky part

See some LO's drop it on their own, like mine. She dropped to 7oz of milk a day and I had to increase food to compensate, and add whole milk. Others need more encouragment. You don't want to go to fast for your LO, follow their lead for it still, but slowly increase an amount of solids, add a snack or even 2 a day.  We switched her solids to before her milk at about 10.5 months so she would take more.

There is no right way to do this. The best you can do it watch and listen to your LO. They'll lead the way.

[Spectra]

Awesome!  Thanks!

[annary]

Hi I just caught this thread, and I can add some advice if you want it! I had the same question abou a month ago when my doctor tol me to drop bottles! My boy is 8 months next week. I gave him his early morning bottle as usual, and then after his nap, I gave him some rice cereal porridge made with half of the bottle he would normally have got mid morning. He loved it as it tastes like milk, but feels only just a bit different, I made it really runny< to start with........HEY presto you have dropped a bottle!Have fun!

[Mamastalawatt]

Hi,

Can I add my question to this thread please?  My son is 7 1/2 months old and I started weaning him at 5 1/2 months.  His schedule is as follows:-

0700  Wake & breastfeed
0800  Breakfast (cereal and toast) (This is at 0830 on nursery days)

1100  Bottle 
1200  Lunch  (savoury dish and dessert)

1500  Bottle
1600  Tea  (savoury dish, sometimes sandwiches, and dessert) (This is 1700 on nursery days)

1840  Bottle
1900  Bed

My main problem is that he is hardly taking any milk at 1100 and 1500, maybe just a couple of ounces.  I've just dropped the dreamfeed to see if that helps (he's been taking up to 6-7oz for DF) but without it I'm concerned that his daily milk intake isn't enough.  I can get maybe 3-4oz of milk into his cereal and food.  I reckon today he has had maybe 13 - 14oz plus a decent breastfeed this morning.

I am also becoming concerned that he is always sick after his meals.  He has Infant Gaviscon with his milk to stop him being sick but I'm worried that it's a sihn of an underlying problem or that he's just eating too much.

Any suggestions?

Thanks,

Mama

[debo620]

Stacy---you seem to have some great advice on solids/milk. I am wondering when I should start to wean the 5th breastfeed for my 7month ds. I am a bit confused as to whether I should be increasing the solids or weaning the feed first.  Can you have a look at my routine/feeding and offer any suggestions?

6:30am-bf
8:30am-3tbsp cereal, 1oz ebm,1-2tbsp fruit
9-11 (45min-1 1/2hour nap around this time)
11am bf
1pm-2tbsp cereal, 1tbsp fruit, 2tbsp veg
2pm-3:30 nap
3:30bf
6:45bf, bed
no dreamfeed
wake for bf btwn 2:30am-4am-----feed is shorter then during the day.

We have not introduced a 3rd meal as his last 2 bf are so close together. Should I maybe do some veg at this time? I am also thinking of adding protein rich foods within the next few days?---Did you do meat, legumes, or yougurt first? You are right---the thought of pureed meat doesn't sound too appealing.

Thanks Stacy,
Deborah
ps. like your new picture!

[summersusu]

Mamastalawatt, my DS is on 3 meals a day and has been.  He always drank 4 8oz bottles too but recently his milk intake has decreased.
So our lo's schedules look about the same
I was wondering if he is dropping milk intake because he is cutting his 2nd tooth.  I think he prefers the solids over the bottle.
What do you do in that case?