6 mo refusing bottle, only takes solids

[alarose]

Hi there,

My 6mo has begun to refuse the bottle during the day and will only take solids except for the bedtime bottle and DF. I have no idea how to fix this, or if I should even worry about it. My gut says it's not right...

Help please!!

[Ima shel Alon]

You are right in that that his main nutrition should still come from milk, in your case formula.
How many times a day are you giving solids and how much at each time? Maybe he is so full from the solids he doesn't want the bottle.

[alarose]

Well, that's what I thought too so I had cut his solids down to 15.tbs rice cereal (prepared with 2oz formula) and 1tbs veg or fruit. I offer the bottle first and he will only take 1 or 2oz then if I try to feed solids he will eat up to 6oz prepared! So I know that he's hungry, he just doesn't want the bottle.

When I tally up all the formula he's getting between the cereal and his bedtime + DF bottles he's getting about 30oz, but 16 of that is in bottles and the rest is cereal. What to do??

[Shiv52]

So you are using 14oz of formula in his rice? 

[alarose]

Yup, about that much today since he hasn't taken the bottle at all!

[Shiv52]

Sorry i think i am being daft/

if I try to feed solids he will eat up to 6oz prepared!

So of this 60z of solids how much is formula and how much is rice? 

[alarose]

It is 4oz of formula and 3 tbs rice.

[Shiv52]

Your LO needs 26-30oz of MILK in a day at this age.  If he is cutting his milk I would personally scale right back on the solids until he starts drinking them properly again.  Then do solids (a couple of tsp only) an hour later so he's not thinking he can refuse he bottle and get solids instead.  

Rice cereal can be really rough on a little tum and I'd worry about the amount he is eating and it can lead to a lot of constipation issues.   I would only be giving it once a day at most. 

IMHO I would cut back to one cereal meal (we took upto 8 months to be upto 3 proper meals anyways) and offer it a good while after the bottle.  Your gut is right...mummy gut is never wrong.    I had to cut back on solids when my DD2 was 7-8 months as she was cutting her milk and once we were back on track we slowly upped the solids again.  At other meal times offer fruit and veg for sure but I would concentrate on the milk intake without needing to make it up with rice.   

HTH x

[Ima shel Alon]

I second what Shiv said. We also give cereal (and not rice) at breakfast and the rest is very easy to digest fruit and veg. I even don't give potatoes because it's seems too heave to me , but I give apple, pear, courgette, carrot, etc.

[alarose]

Thank you SO much for your answers ladies. Just to update, this is what he has taken so far today:

4oz formula
1 tbs pear with 1oz formula and 1/2 tbs cereal

6oz formula
2 tbs sweet potato with 2oz formula and 1/2 tbs cereal

6oz formula
2 tbs carrot with 2oz formula and 1/2 tbs cereal

Soooo we are doing  MUCH better today! I have almost eliminated the cereal and am really only using it to thicken the veg and fruit a bit. He should take his 8oz bedtime and 8oz dream feed as usual so it is looking like a way better day today with 32oz of formula taken from the bottle.

Thank you again!!

[Shiv52]

Excellent!!  That sounds much better overall!  Well done!!

[*Kara*]

Fantastic!!!

Are you making your own baby food?  If so, you shouldn't need to thicken many things at all... I do pears without any addition of water/cereal... just steam and puree... same with apples... some veggies do need to be thinned a bit, but I use water to do that...