Full fat milk...ideas pls.

[L76]

My LO is coming up 8 months and really not taking much milk during the day now that she is eating 3 good meals. Some days she'll only take a couple of ounces mid morning and another couple mid afternoon (I BF morning and night so no idea what she takes here but does about 6mins in the morning and I do a really good calming feed at night of 10-15 mins) Anyway, as I have no real idea what milk she is having altogether I want to make sure I get some into her in other ways.

She eats plenty of cheese and yoghurt already and I do make her cheese sauces but was thinking of giving her rice pudding made with full fat milk... is this ok at this age?

Also, I currently make her porridge with water - could I replace this with full fat milk... is that ok?

Any other ideas welcome.
Thanks

Leanne x

[jess, lukeys_mom]

Hi Leanne,
Her milk during the day, is that formula or EBM? Or full fat milk?

My first thought is that she is pretty young to be getting much of her nutrition from solids, she still really needs the nurtition that comes from formula or breast milk.

What does your feeding routine look like? If you are doing solids before bottles, maybe you can switch this around so you can get the milk into her first and then top up an hour later or so with the solids?

For the porridge, I would replaced this with formula or, if you have enough, with EBM. You should be able to do it the same way but be careful only to warm it, not let it boil and if using ebm. I'd try to get as much formula/breast milk in her foods as you can and do this rather than full fat milk until she's a year old.

HTH x

[lilysmommie]

Hi Leanne,

I agree with the pp in that 8 months is quite young to be eating mostly solids. Here in Ontario, Canada they do not recommend introducing milk products until 9 months. Not sure where you are though...maybe it's different.

My DD2 is also almost 8 months and (just as a comparison) she eats 2 solids meals a day. One at around 12 noon, which is 3 tbsp cereal with 3 tbsp fruit. Then she gets another meal around 4:30 pm or so where she gets 3 tbsp cereal and 3 tbsp veggie.  Her bottles are at 7am, 11 am, 3 pm and 7pm. So you can see that I feed bottles first, then an hour or so later feed her solids. Also, I add about 2 ounces of formula to her cereal each time.
In total, she drinks about 24 ounces of formula a day plus the 4 oz that would be in her cereal.

I've tried doing breakfast too but she is just not interested so I'm waiting to introduce that again.

I know all kids are different and you have to do what works for you but I thought I would put in what we do just as a comparison.

If you're breastfeeding, do you know of a breast feeding clinic in your area? Maybe they could help you figure out how much milk she is getting at a feed. Maybe she is getting more than you think! They weigh baby before and after a feed to determine how much they are getting. You can also buy these baby scales at Costco (you need an accurate one that measures just a few ounces). I didn't BF my kids, but I think by 8 months they are pretty efficient feeders. My DD2 can down her 6 ounce bottle in about 2 minutes, no kidding! So maybe just a few minutes BF is giving her enough.

Here is a link to the scale I was talking about...
http://www.costco.com/Browse/Product.aspx?Prodid=11072222&whse=BC&Ne=4000000&eCat=BC|589|28429&N=4010069&Mo=5&No=2&Nr=P_CatalogName:BC&cat=28429&Ns=P_Price|1||P_SignDesc1&Sp=C&topnav=

Hope this helps.

Lilysmommie

[L76]

Hi there

Thanks for your replies. She is having 2x formula bottles each day at 11 and 3 and then BF at 7am and 7pm. Each day is different though with how much formula she takes - the BF length of feeding are v.consistent so think she gets the same amount of BM each day. Our worst days are 2-4 oz formula but our best (like today) she'll take 2 x 6oz bottles no problem at all. I wanted some ideas so that on the days when she doesn't take as much milk, I could supplement her intake through food.

She loves solids BTW and in particular dairy products like the cheese and yoghurt (she has yoghurt every day). She has been on solids since just before 6 months and gobbles up all three meals and is actually now getting a bit irritable before breakfast and dinner in particular as I think she now knows the routine and if I am a bit later, she's wondering where they have gotten to! She is a complete angel / textbook baby - no trouble with sleeping, naps or eating so I know when there is something wrong!

Anyway, her solids are always at least 1 hour after milk with our daily routine looking like this for food / milk:

7am BF
8/8.30am breakfast
11am formula (bottle)
12/12.30am lunch (a bit earlier when at nursery)
3/3.30pm formula (bottle)
5/5.30pm dinner
6.45pm BF

Thanks Lilysmommie for the comparison... our LOs are only a few days apart - mine was born 21st Feb. Great to see how they compare. You are right in saying they are all so different - not only that, how different they can be from one day to the next!

xxx

[lilysmommie]

Hi Leanne,

I think your DD is doing fine! On the days that she takes less formula/BM, I wouldn't worry too much. Their appetites fluctuate so much. My daughter is the same this way. I just keep sneaking it in her cereal.  I know moms who have sneaked it in their fruits and veggies too!

My DD1 was born on the 17th of feb. They are very close in age!

lilysmommie

[jess, lukeys_mom]

Yup, I agree that your routine looks good and I think is quite similar to what my ds' was around that age. I would say keep doing what you're doing but then rather than using the full fat milk go for formula or ebm instead. Typically you would change to 3 milk feedings/day when she's around 10 mo. Try to hold out if you can, but I'd say that when you stop having the "good" 6 oz days and they are all the 3 oz days, maybe it is time for a switch to 3 feeds/day.
xx

[Goldmum]

My DS is the same - loves his solids and is less keen on big milk feeds these days. I try not to worry - he holds out for his solids and just won't take a sip more milk than he wants. I give lots in his cereal - Weetabix is great as it just soaks the milk up - and also yogurts and rice pudding. I made one with full fat milk and he really liked it. I would think making porridge with milk would be fine too. My HV said full fat milk was fine from 6 months as long as it wasn't as a drink - so fine for cooking, adding to cereals etc.

[L76]

Thanks Goldmum... bought myself some pudding rice yesteday and going to attempt to make my own rice pudding today!!!! Thought it would spice up her puddings as we do yoghurt every day... having said that, I think I will always be giving yoghurt at bedtime as the first time we gave it to her at dinner time (no other solids at this time at that point) she STTN!!!!!!! We haven't looked back since so don't want to jinx it IYKWIM!!!!!!

Have given weetabix but used formula so am assuming ok to use FFM sometimes too? Or do you use formula milk?

Leanne x

[Goldmum]

I tend to use FFM as my DS seems to prefer that to the formula. I swear he thinks he's missing out on something if I give him formula as he sees his sister getting different milk on her cereal!! We tend to offer a lot of yogurt too, but I've started giving milky puddings at lunch too to help with his milk intake. Otherwise just try to go with the flow and remember that he's not fading away - he's 22lb at 8 months!! Not far behind his 3YO sister!