HELP-Going from 4 to 3 bottles?

[Mom2one]

My LO is 7 months old and is currently on a 4 hour EASY.  Our schedule looks like this,

7am-wakeup 6-7oz
8am-breakfast
9am-nap
11am-5-7oz (most times 4-5oz)
12:30pm-lunch
1:30pm-nap
3-3:30-6-7oz
5pm-dinner
7:15pm-bedtime 7-8oz

The thing is lately the 11am bottle is hit and miss.  She was pretty consistently drinking 7oz, but most days for the past week or so it's more like 5oz.  As well, at bedtime, she was drinking 8-8.5oz, but it too has been varying from 6-7oz.  Is she too young to drop to 3 bottles?
I realize that her schedule will have to change slightly as well, so any suggestions.

[* Paula *]

Hi,

My DS moved to 3 bottles a day at 6 months of age as he had lost complete interest in the 11am bottle.

If your lo is showing no interest in this bottle then it may very well be time to drop it.  If you did drop this bottle, I would definitely move luch closer to say 11:30 - 11:45, so that your lo does not get too hungry.

Are you offering dairy yet?  You could also offer a yogurt after lunch to make up the extra oz.

Let us know how you get on.

Paula x

[Mom2one]

Well, today she outright refused the 11am bottle altogether, (but I'm not sure if it's a teething thing or not) so I had to alter her schedule a bit today, which seemed to work.  So, today it went like this,

E  7:30am-7oz
A
E  8:30am-a bit of cereal & fruit for breakfast (not much though, but something)
S 9:15-10:30am

E-11:30am (2tbsp meat, 2tbsp veggie, 2tbsp fruit)
A
E   1pm-8oz
S-1:15pm-3:30pm

E-5:00 (3tbsp cereal, 1.5 tbsp meat, 1.5 tbsp veggie)
A
E-7:30pm-8oz
S 7:45pm

I'm slightly concered with the drop in oz however.  She had been drinking 25-27oz, but now today she's only had 22 (but 24 if you count the 2oz to mix her cereal at 5pm).  I pray that she sleeps through the night, we have a photoshoot tomorrow for Xmas photos.

Should I stick with this same schedule tomorrow, or revert back to the previous schedule to be 100% sure that she really wants to drop the 11am bottle.  Or should I go with this sample schedule, where formula is first and solids are second.  I know that formula should come first, but if she's drinking at 3 bottles a day of 8oz for a total of 24oz, does it matter?  I know that they are supposed to have at least 24oz of formula per day, plus solids.

E: 7.00 wake up and feed 8oz
A: 7.30
E: 9.00 breakfast (cereal & fruit)
S: 10.00

E: 12.00 lunch (meat, veggies, fruit)
A: 12.30
E: 1.00 (8oz)
S: 2.00

E: 4.30 dinner (meat, veggies, cereal)
A: 5.00
E: 7.00 (8oz)
S: 7.30 bedtime

[LŠuren]

At this age Calum was on a 4.5hr EASY

730/1200/1630/1930 - milk

800/1230/1700 - solids

[Mom2one]

Thanks Calums_Mum,

Today, we altered her schedule a bit, which seems better, but we'll see how it goes.

So, this is what we're doing today,

715/1200/400/715-milk
850/100/515-solids

Hopefully it all goes well and she'll go back to sleeping until 7am as well.  She's been waking anywhere from5am-6:30am lately, I'm guessing because of the sudden drop in oz.

[LŠuren]

how much is she taking at her last feed?

Have you tried giving milk before and after the bath to tank her up

[Mom2one]

She consistently takes 7-8oz at her last feed for the night, has been like that for months.   We used to give her a bottle at 5pm, but once she started only drinking a few oz, we introduced the solids, but no later then 5:15pm.  If it's any later, and she has a bottle at 7:15pm, it's too much for her little tummy and she ends up vomitting all over the place.

Anyways, she drank 5.5oz at 4pm, and then her solids at 5:15 she had 1tbsp meat, 1tbsp veggie and 1tbsp cereal.  That's all she would eat. 

[LŠuren]

Can you try have dinner at 1630 instead for a few days and see how that goes?

Remember milk is her main source of intake until a year old.  It may even be you need to cut back on solids.
Is she filling up with water during the day as well?