Where to put the df ounces?

[cavegirljmc]

My LO is almost 8 months old and we are going to start weaning the df. My question is where do we put the extra ounces. Here's his current schedule

630 8 oz bottle
800 2 oz solids
1030 8 oz bottle
1130 2 oz solids
1430 8 oz bottle
1530 2 oz solids
1830 8 oz bottle
2030 8 oz bottle df

I'm not sure I can squeeze in 8 oz during the day. He doesn't always finish every bottle or solids. Do I just add an oz to each bottle and hope for the best?

[Shiv52]

I don't think you'd need to add it anyways given you are on 3 solid meals and without it your LO is still getting 32 oz of milk which is on the higher end of daily recommendation.   I think the solid meals should replace the DF?

[~Sara~]

You can slowly reduce the amount of the DF, an ounce or 2 every 2-3 days.  That will give him time to redistribute (if he needs to) during the day.  I think he'll do just fine like that   As he approaches a year old, he'll consume less and less milk anyways and start taking more solids.  In the next month or so, I bet he'll drop a bottle, too.

[cavegirljmc]

He's only 7 months old but he's in the 98% for height and weight-always a good eater. I'm just worried because he always inhales his dream feed bottle that he may wake up  hungry. Guess just give it a go and see what happens thanks for the help!

[Buntybear]

Hi, does this help?

http://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=54662.0

If not I can move your thread over to the formula feeding forum for you 

[~Sara~]

I'm just worried because he always inhales his dream feed bottle that he may wake up  hungry. Guess just give it a go and see what happens

Then I definitely think a gradual approach is best (the one ounce every 2-3 days).  If he does get hungry again, then you can always go back to doing the DF and drop it later.

[Lemonthyme]

I have no idea about ounces because I breastfed but I was just thinking if you did breastfeed you wouldn't have the option of increasing other feeds or even seeing how much your child gets.  I was just wondering whether it's really necessary to be so hung up on the exact quantity throughout the day.  Surely some days he might be more hungry than others?

[~Sara~]

I completely agree, Lemon, that not every day is the same.  It's one of the hardest things I've had to come to accept as the mom of a toddler: some days he just eats more than others.

When it comes to the number of feeds, Tracy recommended that the DF start to be phased out by ~8 months, or really, when LO was comfortably on 3 solids meals a day plus bottles/bfs.  Just at some point, the calories should make the shift completely to daytime.  But yes, there will be variations from the day to day in how much your LO eats...plus as they get away from so many milk/bottle feeds and make an even great leap towards eating like a toddler, the exact number of ounces won't be that big of a deal.  At this age (and for a good while after), LOs are very capable of self-regulating, i.e. knowing when they're full/when to stop eating and when they're hungry.

[cavegirljmc]

So the past 2 nights, he's started crying during the dream feed. He hasn't been sleeping as well recently, not sure if it's teething or the fact that he recently learned to crawl. We've also upped his solids during the day, as he was always hungry. Hopefully we can drop that dream feed and he'll sleep better.

[~Sara~]

There's no rush to drop the DF by 8 months, so if it takes a couple of weeks, that's okay   Hope he feels better soon (and yes, both teething and crawling can affect sleep).

[Lemonthyme]

My son was feeding in the night up to the end of 9 months I think.  We never dreamfed because he just wouldn't do it and the first part of the night would be when he'd sleep best.  I wouldn't worry too much if the DF carries on tbh either, especially if your LO is sleeping through.  I think we were on two night feeds at that point.

[jcrivenbark]

Hi! With my first son when weaning off the DF, we just started by adding an extra ounce to the morning bottle and subtracting an ounce from the DF. We would stay at that amount for 3-4 days, then add another ounce to the 2nd bottle of the day and subtract from the DF, and so on and so forth. This worked great for us! He never missed the DF once we weaned off gradually. Hope this helps!