6 months - decreased milk intake after solids?

[ash84]

My LO will be 6 months old in a week. He started solids when he was 4.5 months old. We've slowly worked up to 3 meals/day and he is doing great - enjoys every meal. He also get breastmilk 5 times a day:

7:00 BF
8:00 Solids
11:00 BF
12:00 Solids
3:00 BF
5:00 Solids
7:00 BF
11:00 / 3:00 BF (dreamfeed/night waking)

When he is home with me, he nurses and usually takes about 10 mins to get done. This nursing time has decreased from the 20-25 mins he used to take when he was 4 months. But my understanding is that this is okay, since babies get more efficient as they are older?

Anyway, my concern is with the 2 bottles he get while he is at daycare. He used to drink 4.5 to 5 oz of pumped breastmilk. But his DCP says he is now only drinking 3.5 - 4 oz. Do I need to be concerned? He has regular wet/BM diapers, is putting on weight fine, and is a happy, playful baby.

[Shiv52]

3 meals a day at 6 months is quite a lot and I would probably cut back to preserve milk intake at such a young age.  Milk has the right balance of nutrients and calories that they need for their growth and development until they are 1.  Can they give slightly less lunch to encourage more milk at the 3pm feed. 

That being said he is still getting am, bedtime, DF and NF aswell as two bottles then he is probably getting adequate milk. But I worry you will struggle to drop your DF and NF in a few months if milk intake throughout the day is too low. 

Or maybe its something simple like needing a bigger teat size on the bottle? What size are you using now? 

[ash84]

Thanks. He isn't getting DF and NF - its usually just one or the other. But in total, usually 5 feeds/day.

He's on the NUK Size 1 Medium nipples. That's a good suggestion, I might try the next size & see how he does.