Author Topic: Am I doing the right thing?  (Read 2033 times)

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scucci1979

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Am I doing the right thing?
« on: June 28, 2009, 23:57:48 pm »
My DD is almost 8months and she is currently drinking between 24-27ozs of milk a day. We are still struggling with her second bottle of the day. She drinks 3ozs out of 6.  I am thinking her cereal is causing this decrease.  I do sneak some milk in there.  :P Anyhow, I don't want to drop this bottle yet. Honestly, I am a little scared. I have moved her 5pm bottle before her pm nap because she was waking up hungry.  Besides that, there are some nights when she doesn't want to finsih her last bottle before bed. She just pushes the bottle away.  So I put her down for the night then go in her room 20 mins later to finish her feed. Is this the right thing to do?

Offline ~*Nicole*~

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Re: Am I doing the right thing?
« Reply #1 on: June 29, 2009, 00:37:13 am »
How many bottles does she take in a day? A little younger than this DD dropped from 4 to 3 bottles and did 8 oz for each which gave us 24oz a day. Before that she would fuss and not take much of each of the midday ones, so combining them made it easier and we wasted less formula!

If she is getting 24-27 oz you are fine. You are giving some in her cereal which is great. Does she eat solids well?








Offline spanna

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Re: Am I doing the right thing?
« Reply #2 on: June 29, 2009, 02:56:44 am »
Hi,
 Our lo was down to 3 bottles at around this time and I found that where she would have previously only drunk ?half of her bedtime bottle, she then drank it all....... I dropped the 11am as she lost interest and gave her a dairy snack instead, (cheese, yogurt....)

Don't be worried, sound like she is headed in the right direction of she is taking more solids and wanting less milk...... ;)
What times does your lo have bottles currently?
I also combined the 11am & 3pm and offered it initially around 2.15pm...seemed to work, she didn't even notice......

HTH ;D
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Offline *Becky*

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Re: Am I doing the right thing?
« Reply #3 on: June 29, 2009, 11:44:08 am »
Hi,
Hijacking this thread as have similar questions. Have recently dropped from 4-3 bottles but unsure when to give the 2nd bottle. At the moment the day looks like this...
6.30am - 8oz milk
7.30am - bfast

11.30am - lunch

2ish - 8oz milk

4.30pm - tea
6.30pm- 8oz milk.

Does that look ok? We seem to have a big gap in the morning when he is not eating and he is quite a fussy baby so want to be able to rule out hunger...also does the timing of the 2nd bottle look ok? Sometimes it is before his nap, sometimes after depending on the day but 9/10 it is after he wakes up.

Thanks
Becky x




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Offline spanna

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Re: Am I doing the right thing?
« Reply #4 on: June 29, 2009, 12:27:26 pm »
Hi Becky,
We were doing pretty much as you do adn giving Eva her 2nd bottle at around 2.15pm though it was sometimes as late as 3.30 depending on her sleep for that day!
What you're doing sounds great.
Are you asking cause you're having issues? Or is your lo happy with this routine? This was suggested by Paula on here and seemed to work well for us.
In fact we have just dropped that bottle and I give her a snack instead and she's fine with it.....well at least she has been sin ;)ce Saturday anyway!

HTH
Anna :-*
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Offline Mashi

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Re: Am I doing the right thing?
« Reply #5 on: June 29, 2009, 12:44:13 pm »
When you drop from 4 bottles to 3 very often LO takes MORE milk in on just three bottles then they did on 4.  Mainly because they are hungrier for it and so guzzle it.

I found that when I cut the 11am bottle, I offered lunch 30 minutes earlier than normally (ie/ it was normally at 1200 so I moved it to 1130) and made the milk feed at 100ish.  This was also a time for nap time transitions and getting schedules sorted so it just took some juggling and balancing and not being too stressed out over the times. Some days DS would be really tired and so his milk came 20 minutes after his solids, other days he eat a good huge lunch and so I pushed the bottle to 1.5 hours after because I wanted to make sure he was hungry for it.

I offered a snack as soon as he woke from his afternoon nap at 3pm ish as well - bit of fruit or some rice cakes, as it's a long stretch to go from that bottle until dinner time.

Some people prefer to give lunch and then a snack, and the milk feed after the nap. It's whatever works best for you and your LO!

scucci1979

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Re: Am I doing the right thing?
« Reply #6 on: June 29, 2009, 13:51:25 pm »
She is on 4 bottles.

Here is our routine
E 7:25am 5-6oz
Solids 8:40 cereal with 2oz milk
E 12:30am 3ozs THis is where I am struggling. Should I just offer solids first?
Solids 12:50pm 2tbspn veggies or fruit. Haven't introduced meats or dairy yet.
E 3pm 6-7oz before her pm nap
Solids 5:15pm 1-2tbpsn of fruit or veggies. I just introduced this meal
E 7:15pm 8-9oz
S 8pm

So should I try to skip her second bottle. I am afraid she will lose those three ounces and will still continue to drink her other usual amounts in her other bottles.  I know it is not much.

Offline Mashi

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Re: Am I doing the right thing?
« Reply #7 on: June 29, 2009, 14:23:05 pm »
What I did was move lunch (as in solids) 30 minutes earlier, so in your case to 1200. Then her bottle at about 100ish, and a small snack before her afternoon nap. Keep the bedtime bottle at the same time.

I know the worry is that she may continue with her normal smaller amounts, but after a day or two, she will most likely increase to taking closer to 7 - 8 ounce bottles at all three milk feeds. 

scucci1979

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Re: Am I doing the right thing?
« Reply #8 on: June 29, 2009, 15:55:01 pm »
I am going to try it today.  Should I then move her pm bottle up?  I am sooo scared. I don't know why?

**update: I gave her sweet potato around 12:30pm, instead of milk and she didn't want it so I gave her crrts and she ate 2tbspns.  She then had some A time and was getting a little fussy. I think I messed up here. I was planning to feed her bottle around 2:30pm but because she was fussy I gave her milk at 2pm. She only drank 3ozs. So I then put Baby's first Tv on and she drank another 3. I think the distraction helped her drink. I know she was hungry because she makes this high pitch call for milk. I am going to give her another 2 ozs before her nap.  This is very frusterating. I have no idea what she wants.
If I move her bottle up at 1pm, I doubt she will drink it all. I suppose I have to try. If I do move this bottle, do I still give her bottle at 7pm. It just seems such a long time.
« Last Edit: June 29, 2009, 19:38:25 pm by scucci1979 »

scucci1979

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Re: Am I doing the right thing?
« Reply #9 on: June 30, 2009, 00:19:05 am »
UPdate: I fed her another few ounces before pm nap, which came to a total of 8ozs. That's good, right? I fed her solids around 5:30pm(1tbspn of fruit) she then drank another 8 ozs at 7pm and 3more before her 8pm bedtime. Today it has been a total of 27ozs.

Offline Mashi

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Re: Am I doing the right thing?
« Reply #10 on: June 30, 2009, 09:18:59 am »
27 oz is absolutely FINE for an 8 month old. The recommended amount is 20 - 24.

By splitting her feeds into a few ounces here and a few ounces there, you risk her taking even less as time goes on. She starts to learn that there's no reason to fill up NOW because there is more later. There's not really any harm in that, I don't think, as long as you don't mind making bottles that many times a day and offering small amounts. But, if you want her to take a few GOOD milk feeds of 7 - 8 ounces each, then at this age now that she is showing signs of taking less at her milk feeds, then it's a good idea to only offer it to her 3 times a day - morning, midday and bedtime.

The first day or two she may still take a smaller amount at the breakfast and midday feeds because she doesn't "know" what's happening yet, but in a couple of days she wills most likely start taking three good 7 - 8 ounce bottles.  Even a 6 ounce is fine - a 6 in the morning, a 6 at lunch and 8 before bed is still 20 ounces! If you get 2 ounces in cereal in the daytime then you've got 22 which is even better!

By offering babies fewer feeds they really DO start taking more at each feed. The same thing happens at about one year, when they stop taking much in the morning and at lunch time, it's a sign to get rid of the lunch time bottle and just offer two per day....fewer feeds = more milk. 


scucci1979

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Re: Am I doing the right thing?
« Reply #11 on: June 30, 2009, 16:05:21 pm »
That makes sense! I worry too much.  We just found out that she has an ear infection. I doubt that would cause the decrease in the second bottle. It would of affected all of her bottles.
Today is day two and I will be moving her solids up and then giving her milk earlier. Now here is where I am confused. I used to give this bottle at 3pm and would like to move it up to 2:15-2:30pm.  Is a two hour gap after lunch o.k?  Also, should I then move her last bottle up or leave it at 7pm.  Her bedtime is 8pm.  It just seems such a large gap from her morning bottle to her mid afternoon bottle, but I understand what you are saying, she will drink more ounces because she is more hungry.  My PED recommended we introduce yogurt at 10 months so I can't give her this as a snack to tie her over.  Should I try fresh fruit in a mesh feeder or cheerios?