9 month old no longer interested in solids.... help!

[HenaV]

Hi My DD is 9m old and I think the title of my post says it all, but I am not sure if my query is for this forum or the bottle feeding forum?

She has always eaten well, but not had a huge appetite when it comes to solids, but seemed to enjoy what she has.

I started with purees at 6m (in line with the BW guidance) and have introduced texture, flavour and finger foods as we have gone on. She's been off her food for about 2 wks- that is she will eat her breakfast no problem (cereal and fruit), usually eat her lunch and is generally not interested in her dinner. I am acutely aware that she is cutting her 1st tooth and so this may be affecting her appetite but she is also still taking 4 bottles per day. She is showing no real signs of wanting to reduce her milk/up her solids - should I be waiting for her to dictate the pace on that, or should I be reducing her milk in take to see if she ups her solids? If so, is there an average age where she 'should' be dropping/showing some signs of wanting to drop a bottle?

I have not posted until now because I have put it down to her teeth. But this morning she wouldn't eat more than 2 spoonfuls of her berakfast which is unheard of - hence, it seems to be getting worse. Also, I wasn't sure if it was jst her age - ie sitting in a high chair eating is probably a farily dull way for her to spend her time. I have noticed since about a month or so ago (7.5/8m), she fussed more in the high chair and would need something to distract her (usually a bowl and spoon of her own to bang!) for her to eat. I don't if this is a bit of AP on my part, but I have friends with babies of a similar age who have found the same?

Our food day usually goes something like this:

7am - 7oz
8.30 - breakfast

11/11.15am -5-7oz
12.30/45 - lunch

4pm - 7oz
5.30 - dinner
7pm - 7oz


Any thoughts?

Thanks,

H

[Buntybear]

Hi there,

It could well be the tooth coming through - probably there are more moving under her gums too.

I am not sure about the bottles so have asked someone else to have a look for you.

x

[Lolly]

You could certainly drop to 3 bottles to see if that helps, babies usually drop to 3 bottles around 9/10 months and then 2 bottles around 1 year. She needs a minimmum of 20oz with her solids so with 3 7oz bottles she would be getting what she needs, does she ever take more than 7oz? You can also increase the dairy in her food as cheese, yoghurt etc count towards the minimum needed.

When dropping to 3 bottles a common pattern is to do a wake up bottle, lunch a bit earlier then a bottle just before the afternoon nap (but don't feed to sleep!) and then a bedtime bottle. You can offer a small snack and drink after the afternoon nap if needed or bring dinner a bit earlier.

What do you think?

Laura

[HenaV]

That's great, thanks very much to the both of you. I think it may well be worth a shot. She usually won't take more than 7oz, hough to be fair, it is a while since i tried. We had a time where her bottles varied between 5-8oz depending on the feed (when we went really from breast to bottle at 6m) to settling happily at 7oz per feed.

I guess i've been nervous to drop the '11am' bottle incase she wakes in the night hungry given she's not a big eater - equally, she may not be eating as much because she is still on 4 bottles  Oh what fun!

I suppose what I am trying to work out is whether I am fussing over nothing - if she happy on 4 bottles and not as much re: solids, should I rock the boat? Equally, I don't want her to be so reliant on her milk that it becomes a problem down the track - does that make sense? Am I just fretting over nothing? What do you think?

My DD's A time is around 3.5h. She wakes from her 1st nap between 11/11.15 and has her 2nd nap between 2.30&2.45pm depending on WU from her night's sleep.

So would this kind of thing seem about right?

7am- 7oz
8.30am - breakfast
Nap 1 9.30/45-11/11.15

11.45 - lunch
2pm  - 7oz (or perhaps try 8?)
Nap 2 - 2.30/45-4pm
Dinner - 4.30
7pm - 7oz (or perhaps try 8?)

The other thing I am acutely aware of is that I have the 2-1 transition coming up, so from a practical level, it would be helpful not to have the 11am bottle to worry about.

Any thoughts?

Many thanks xx

[Lolly]

That routine looks great and pretty much what we did with DD from about 8 months! I would definitly increase those bottles to 8oz so she can take as much as she wants and if it does help her to eat a bit more solids while keeping the milk intake up she shouldn't wake hungry!

Good luck - let us know how it goes, remember too it can take a few days to settle into a new routine!

Laura

[HenaV]

Thanks Laura, I will do x

[HenaV]

Hi!

I thought I'd give you a little update....

I have started by cutting the '11am' bottle down to 3oz - just really to see how LO faired re: lunch and also to only being given 3oz. In a nutshell - she hasn't batted an eyelid at only having 3oz and is eating all of her lunch. My plan was to do this for 3 days (today being day3) and then cutting it out - I have noticed a slump in the last couple of days re: her eating dinner, so I think the plan to cut the '11am' bottle out altogether and try the EASY I posted is definatley the way forward. And I think, yes I will definatley make the other bottles 8oz to ensure DD can have more than teh usual if she wants it. I'll report back in a few days and let you know how we are getting on.

Wish me luck!!!

H

[Buntybear]

Good Luck H! x

[HenaV]

Hi just wanted to check in and update. Droppimg the '11am' bottle has worked a treat. DD is absolutely fine on 3 bottles (not waking hungry as I feared) and is really enjoying her solids again and is more open to new foods both on the spoon and hand held... so woohoooo!!

Thanks so much for the advice and support guys xxx

[Buntybear]

Great news