Massive reduction in milk intake.Worried mumma!

[mrssat]

Hi there,
I wonder if you guys would have any advice for me. My 6 month old has always been a little fussy with his feeds. We put him on Aptimil Anti Reflux milk to see if it would help and since then he has been doing great with mil, taking about 7ozs per feed every 4 hrs and a DF of 5ozs.
We introduced solids at 5 months 3 weeks so pretty much 6 months. He took to them straight away. I have been doing a mixture of purees and baby lead weaning he has been good with both. I had been giving breakie and dinner until a few days ago when he was fussing in the afternoon and he swiped some food off my plate and gobbled it all up. I thought ok you want lunch now as well. Following his lead I introduced it.
Now in the last 5 ish days I have seen a massive decrease in his milk intake. He just is not interested. I thought it was the teats so I went up a size, no difference really. I thought maybe this was still not fast enough so I stretched a teat and no still no good. I had some other bottles and thought I would give them a try and he played with the new teat but didnt take much more milk from them.
He has gone from having 30-33 ozs per day to having 20-23 ozs but with a lot of persuasion from me. I have also been adding milk to his food to get the stuff into him.
I understand that milk is the best thing for him, but this boy loves his solids.
DO you think backing off from solids would make him take more milk? Is he holding out for solids and therefore not interested in milk? I know the amount of milk he is taking is ok but I am being very persistent if it was up to him he would have half the amount.
His behaviour with the bottle is interesting as well. he bats it a pushes it with his hands I think he is trying to hold it himself.
I am quite worried and frustrated with this. Dh keeps telling me to chill out!
Maybe going to full BLW would be better for him.....
Any thoughts, thank u in advance.

[mrssat]

Forgot to say, do you think it would be a good time to wean the DF? He has refused it a few times recently....I put it down to teething but now I dont know.
Thanks again.

[mrssat]

I have just been on the bottle feeding board and seen a sticky about amounts of milk, 6-9 months and it says 18-20oz per day is fine when on solids.
Think I need to relax about this!

[Buntybear]

Hi,

Could you post your EASY? How many bottles does he get now? Maybe it is time to drop one. He may take more but on less bottles if he is starting to 'snack'?

How long as he been on solids now? You say you started at 6 months but he is still 6 month so maybe he has gone from having no solids to 3 meals a bit soon? I don't know though - just an idea?

x

[Shiv52]

I have just been on the bottle feeding board and seen a sticky about amounts of milk, 6-9 months and it says 18-20oz per day is fine when on solids.
Think I need to relax about this!

I think though that is the absolute minimum and more related to the older end of that age group.  You really want to be aiming for 26-28 oz.    At such a young age I would cut right back on the solids until he is taking milk feeds better again.  Formula or BM has the right balance of nutrient, vitamins etc whereas solids at this young age do not. 

Are you doing milk first then solids later?

[*Kara*]

Hello

I agree with Shiv and Bunty hun... too many solids far too quickly for his age.

He may well love them but as Shiv pointed out, they are not a balanced source of nutrition at this age...

If I were in your position, I would cut back to solids only twice a day and hang on to the DF.

Like this:

7am Wake and bottle
8am - solids as part of A time
11am bottle
12 noon - solids as part of A time
3pm  bottle
630/7pm bottle and bed
10/1030pm DF.

Solids will not keep him fuller longer, so don't worry about losing the dinner solids... if he is really wanting to be at the dinner table with you and DH, offer some finger foods like Cheerios/rice puffs etc... they give him practice but have so little in terms of content that he should still take his milk

[mrssat]

Hello & thank you lovely ladies for all your help.
The last couple of days we have seen an improvement, not massive but better, he was still not that interested during some feeds. Yesterday and the day before he had around the 27oz mark. With 2 tbsp of fruit at breakie and 2tbsp veg at dinner. He would take more if I let him. I was out last 2 nights and gave DH strict instructions not to give him anymore, my hubby loves his food and loves seeing his children enjoy their food.
I had hoped to do more BLW with him but we have been really busy and unorganised and I had fruit and veggies made up so thats what we gave him.

Bunty - yeah sorry he is 6.5 months now. I though this about reducing the bottles but I read everywhere its too soon to drop bottles... Here is our easy

7am wake
7:15 milk 6 ozs
8:15 solids fruit
9:45 nap for 1.30hr
11.15 wake bottle 5ozs
a time
2 pm nap for 1.30 hrs
3;30 bottle 5/6ozs
4;30/5 solids veggies
6 bath
6:45 bottle
7 bed 6/7ozs

10:30 DF 5 ozs

Do you think we would be better giving lunch instead of dinner, in terms of milk intake?  Defo too early for 3 meals, I was thinking well he is taking it so he must be ready, but its all new and exciting to them so they are bound to take solids over boring old milk!
My DD1 was BLW completely so we just sat her with us at every meal, although because she was self feeding she didnt really eat this early. So I was thinking the same - to have him sit with us at every meal but I was feeding him!
When I have given him finger foods he has known straight away what to do with them (he has been watching us for ages!) I liked the idea of him having dinner because DH is home and we can all sit together, but yeah maybe I can give him a few munchies so he is at the table with us. He loves the table and his little cup.
I have to remind myself there is no rush he will be at the table, eating with us for the next 18 yrs (hopefully more!)

I am so grateful for all your replies I have only just started to post here, I normally just scan the boards and find posts that relate to my problem. I am glad i posted the support and advice has been great. (I have been on the sleep boards as well we are having lots of fun at the mo!)

Thank you! xxx

[mrssat]

Just thought i'd pop back & mention the 11 o clock feed is the tough one today he only took 3 ozs from it. Although overall he has done well if he has the dream feed he will have had 28ozs today. Which is great.

[*Kara*]

I wonder how he would react if you started reducing the DF a bit...

I have always read that you do solids starting with breakkie, then add lunch, then add dinner.. gives that tummy a rest when they are just starting out... so off to bed with just milk in the tummy to give a rest.

[Buntybear]

Hi, it does sound like things are getting back on track. It could well be a bit if teething effecting his feeding. Some Los seem to prefer milk some solids when teething.

I seem to remember dinner being the last meal to add In so you could cut back on that first.

[mrssat]

Thank you ladies for all your help. He does seem to be back on track now.  I have cut out on the dinner times solids & he is taking a good 27-29ozs per day. I am sure he will be ready for foe more solids soon enough. I can see he was eating way too much too soon. Its tough when he is looking longingly at us at dinner time!

[Buntybear]

Ahh, it won't be long before he is fully participating and covering all and sundry with his dinner!

[*Kara*]

Enjoy the neatness at dinner It won't last long!