500-600ml milk/day for 7mth old - is this right?

[jodesy]

Hi,
I've read on a few sources that at 6-7 months old, a baby should be having at least 500-600ml of milk per day which is 18-21oz.

I have been worried because my DD is hardly taking any milk, but when I tot up what she's having, she is BF morning & night plus will have a bottle at night (dream feed) of 6oz, and approx 5oz during the whole day. I have been concerned that the 5oz during the day is not enough, and keep trying to feed her although she only takes 2oz here and there as I thought she was holding out for breast in the evening.

Her eating pattern tends to be:
7.30am Breastfeed
8am breakfast (very small amount)

11.30 milk, 2oz
12pm lunch approx 1-2 dessert spoons

3.30pm milk 3-4 oz
4.30pm dinner aprox 2-3 dessert spoons

6.30pm breast feed
10pm 5-6oz bottle

Does this look appropriate for her age? It seems such a small amount of milk during the whole day, but it does fall within the 500-600ml guideline.  She drinks lots of sips of water throughout the day (approx 2 oz a day) so I make sure she's not thirsty.  She occasionally has apple juice too if she has any foods that clog her up, due to a propensity for constipation!

Anyone's thoughts on her feeding (esp milk) intake is much appreciated!

Thank you!!

[Texomamama]

DD2 is 6.5 mo and takes 5 bottles per day, 2 of about 5 oz each, and 3 of 7 oz each, that is a total of 31 oz.  With what she leaves behind in the bottle, I would say she consumes 28-30 oz per day (no water or juice).  In another week or two, I am going to combine her two a.m. bottles into one.  TBH, 18-21 oz sounds a little on the low side.

She eats solids (purees) 3 times a day about 1.5-2 tbsp each time.  You indicate that you feed "dessert spoons", which is not a particularly big serving, so I doubt it is interferring with her Breastmilk/Formula intake.

Maybe she is just not a big eater.  My DD1 wasn't (and still isn't).  As long as she is growing, happy and reaching milestones, I would not worry.  You can always up the amount of purees, mix cereal or formula in them etc.

[*Liz*]

Look fine to me as the 2 BFs are likely another 6 oz each.

I think perhaps it is time to wean the DF so that your LO starts to take more milk during the day.

What do you think?

[jodesy]

Hi Liz

When I say 'dreamfeed', it's more like she wakes up 1-3 hours after bedtime and I give her a bottle which she takes no problems.  I think she wakes up because when I b'feed her, I don't have very much milk and so she is hungry.

I have tried offering her less solids to see if she takes more milk, but because I'm offering bottles and she prefers breast, I think she is holding out for the evening feed.  I'm sure if I breast fed her, she would drink more milk - but since we are doing combination she is not drinking much via bottle.

As long as what she's having isn't too low, then I'll keep doing what I'm doing otherwise I would have to think of other ways to get more milk into her.

Thanks for your replies.!

[*Liz*]

Is her weight gain OK??

[jodesy]

I haven't had her weighed since 4 months, but she looks very chubby and healthy. In fact, it's often commented on how healthy she looks, and she has enough wet/dirty nappies.  I will go and get her weighed this week (7 months) but I'm pretty sure there is nothing to worry about there. 

In fact, I've been recording what she eats, and it's true she eats very little during the day with bottle, but then will wake up several times a night and feed - so she is getting at least 25oz a day. (26-28oz usually).  Obviously, I'd prefer her taking the extra milk during the day and NOT night!!

Tonight, I bf her at 6pm and that was a decent sized feed.  Then she woke up at 8.45pm and took 6oz.  Hopefully that's it til morning, but I never know. She doesn't wake up at the same times either, so I don't *think* she wakes from habit.

How many ounces do you think is not enough to qualify as hunger? 

Last night she woke up 3 times in the night and I made up bottles of 5.5oz @ 9.30pm / 3oz @ 1am / 4oz @ 4am which she drunk all, then had a full BF in the morning.  I'm quite sure she would hve drunk more than 3oz at 1am, but that's all I made up as I'm still figuring out if she's hungry or not and have so far, wasted so much formula with her drinking 1-2 oz then throwing away the rest!  Any advice?

Thank you!!

[*Liz*]

I think basically she is hungry at night as that is when she has got used to taking in most of her calories iyswim? So it is genuine hunger - but she could take more during the day at this age.

I think perhaps you may need to tackle the night feeds to improve the day feeds - and I know that isn't easy.

Are you planning on BFing or bottle feeding overnight?

Personally I was always a dreadful wimp about tackling night feeding with both my kids (with the result that DS finally STTN at 11.5 mths and DD at 9 mths). What I did was dilute the final bottle with DS, which was at aboit 4am by the time I did it. DD dropped her nights feeds herself as soon as I stopped BFing her  (I had to stop for medical reasons - not by choice - but she STTN within days of me finishing - little monkey!).

If I was going to tackle it from where you are now though I would feed that bottle at the first wake-up but then resettle the feed after that. Hopefully if you get rid of these feeds she will be more hungry during the day, and more likely to accept her mixed feeding.

If she remains a monkey about the daytime bottle you can add milk to solids, and perhaps combine the 2 feeds into just one bottle so that she is hungry enough to take it more readily. That is what a 9ish mth FF baby would do - but some older BF babies never really get over preferring their BFs - and this way may result in less battles and less wasted formula.

[jodesy]

Thanks Liz, your advice runs parralel with what the HV told me to do when I had DD weighed yesterday.  She's gaining weight fine plus a wee bit more, which the HV put down to all the extra milk at night which she doesn't need.

Apparently, I shouldn't worry if she's not drinking too much during the day as long as she's getting calcium in other forms such as yoghurt/cheese and adding milk to purees etc.  Plus, I shouldn't feed her every night waking (which I totally agree with - but I'm in your camp, being a wimp with NF!! Glad I'm not the only one. :-)  So the plan is to up her solids as I am not giving her enough and if she's having 3 full feeds a day of milk then that is adequate.

I've noticed with the NW though, that I haven't *always* given her a feed only if I felt she could be genuinely hungry. However, DD will wake up 2-3 times a night anyway, regardless - and it's all at different times - but is it possible for babies to wake out of habit but at different times?  Sometimes all I do is give her some ashton & parsons powder with a sip of water and she goes straight back to sleep. I'm wondering if she just wakes up and has a litle tantie just so I come and give her some attention.  She always smiles like a loon at me regardless of what time of night it is, but she does go back to sleep easily after I tend to her.  If I don't do anything with her she will escalate from grizzles to crying (and I've always caved in at this stage), but if I give her a sip of water, A&P powder or a small feed, then she's happy as larry and goes back to sleep.  What do you think?

Thanks again for your help! Your advice has been really helpful and spot on with other advice I've been getting!

[stanley's mummy]

I've got a lo just the same as this! He has sttn on a number of occassions but the last week or so he has been waking and when normally I can resettle the last few nights I have given him a feed as its the only way I can resettle him. I don't want this turning into a habit though as we had managed to drop the night feed!
My little man is terrible too with his day feeds, 7 am only 2oz or so I try and top it up at 9.30ish before nap and he'll perhaps do 4oz. Feed at 11.30/12 5 oz feed at 2.30 5oz and feed before bed 7pm lucky to get 5oz. Dream feed at 11pm however full 6oz and if he wakes in the night (last few nights) he'll drain what ever I give him! I don't think he's getting enough in the day but will take what ever is given at night! How on earth do you change this?!

[jodesy]

Hi Karen,
How old is your little man?    I've been having some success with my LO's NW since upping her solids during the day.  She still doesn't take that much milk during the day (it will vary from 3oz - 6oz) but she is still getting BF morning & night plus I try and give her other milk products during the day.  I read that some babies just don't drink that much milk while others drink lots even into toddlerhood, so I think mine is in the former category! 

However, back to the sporadic NW - since I've upped her solids her 3-4 NWs dropped to 1 straight away. The other night, she even slept 7pm-7am - so we're on the right track.  The weird thing, which I can't quite understand is that she wakes up all different times.  Up until 4 months, she was clockwork with her NWs but in the last week she hasn't woken up the same time twice.     When she wakes up I give her warm water, or if I think she might be hungry I will give her 3oz milk to tie her over til morning.  I'm hoping our multiple NW is sorted at least until the 9-month regression phase!   

[stanley's mummy]

He's 7.5 months and this has been happening the last few weeks. I've tried droppinga feed today an dhe has taken more at each feed but still only 6oz. I have thought about increasing solid food but to be honest he's been dead fussy with this recently too, when he started weaning no problem and usually scoffs anything that is offered to him.

My little one is also waking at strange times and before we dropped the night feed (about 2 months ago) he wa slike clock work. The change in time of nw is what leads me to believe he is genuinely hungry.... at the moment! Just don't want to start a bad habit when I know he can sttn. To be fair though he only ever wakes once so I shouldn't really complain. We'll see if dropping a feed helps... watch this space!

[jodesy]

Where did I get Karen from??!!  There isn't even a Karen who posted on this thread! Sorry Stanley's mummy -- I'm glad you knew what I meant! ;-)

Good luck with dropping the night feeds. x

[stanley's mummy]

Oh no! Don't worry my name is Karen I changed my username!!!! You'r enot going mad!

5am wake up for us this morning, he went back down after a 5oz feed though until 7.45am. Just don't know what's causing the early wake ups!