9 Mth Old - Do I need to adjust her feeding schedule?

[Farigiss]

My 9 Month old baby girl has always been a great eater. She was EBF until 2 weeks ago when I introduced the bottle for 2 of her 4 feeds since I would be returning to work soon (her lunch and supper feeds). However, we are now encountering another issue.

Her feeding looks like this:

BF: 7am
Solids: 8am (breakfast)
Bottle: 11:30am (after her nap)
Solids: 12:30pm (lunch)
Bottle: 4:15pm (after her nap)
Solids: 5:30pm (supper)
BF: 7:15pm (nightcap)

My issue is with the bottle at 11:30 and then her lunch solids at 12:30. She can drink anywhere from 2.5oz... or 6.5oz - it always varies and she has slowly begun to refuse solids at lunch even when having a small bottle. Yesterday she denied eating lunch solids completely.

At this point I am wondering if I should bump up her bottle or swap to solids first... or even drop one liquid feed. I know this maybe mess up my "EASY" routine since she won't E right after her S but I think we might be at that point. Any suggestions or advice would be great! Thanks! 

[RothE]

Hi there! I am having the EXACT same issue on the same feeding schedule...although because DD takes so little at the 11:30, I try to give a little before her nap (not feed to sleep) and DD takes only a few oz and then try again after her nap and DD takes only a few oz.

I am considering dropping the 11:30 bottle, moving solids up and then giving a bottle before nap time (not feed to sleep)...so 3 bottles in a day more spaced out.  9 months seems young for 3 bottles, but if they are refusing the bottle, perhaps consolidating the bottles will encourage more drinking?

I'd like to follow along and see what responses you get

[~inbalance~]

Hmmm....and interesting one because if you were exclusively BFding then you would not want to drop a feed, but if you were exclusively bottlefeeding then many moms start dropping feeds around this age, but since you are doing both I'm not quite sure!  My instinct says don't drop a feed just yet.  Maybe try swapping first and seeing if that improves some.  You might have to juggle milk feeds and solids a bit to figure out what works, but at this age it's ok if it's not a perfect EASY so you just kinda work out what's best for your LO.  

[Farigiss]

Thanks for the suggestions - it is a odd situation for sure. I hope some help comes from this post for you RothE.

Today I am going to try offering Solids first and aim for eating a small jar (I always offer finger foods at every meal as well). If it goes over well, after she is done, I will offer her a bottle. and keep the rest of the routine untouched.

I'll keep you posted of my progress. 

[Farigiss]

So we changed my LO's schedule to look like this...

7am - Breastfed
8am - Breakfast (cereal with fruit)
12 Noon - Solids for Lunch
1pm - Bottle (4-6 oz)
4:30 - Bottle (4-6oz)
5:30 - Solids for Supper
7:00 - Bedtime Breastfeed

So far it has been working really well for us. She is more inclined to eat at lunch time and has even shown a bigger interest in her finger foods. I suspect we will be dropping one of her bottles soon - maybe in the next month? I think I might just play it by ear since she still seems to be drinking well at both times.

[~inbalance~]

Glad you've found something that seems to be working!  You can always pop over to bottle feeding for more advice about dropping bottles.  Here's a link:  http://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=67398.0
Since you're doing mixed breast and bottle feeding I'm not sure when you should start dropping feeds, but you could always post there and someone might be able to help you out. 

[Farigiss]

Thanks for the link!

Turns out the new schedule did NOT work out AT ALL! She started waking up at 5am hungry. The two feeds so close together tanked her up and she had little to no interest with her supper and bedtime feed. So I dropped one bottle and POOF! She is stuffing her face at supper time, taking a good feed before bed and is a happy camper.

So it looks like this now...

7am - BF
8am - Cereal and fruit for breakfast 
12noon - Solids for lunch (includes finger foods)
2:20pm - bottle (no eat to sleep but her nap is shortly after at 2:45)
5pm - Solids for Supper (includes finger foods)
7pm - BF before bed

Again the change improved her interest in solids. I made her carrot and potato pancakes last night and she ate 3 of them (baby sized of course and cut up). Also her middle of the day bottle is a solid 7 oz.

Thanks for all the help!

[~inbalance~]

Glad you figured out something that works!!