Scared to cut out formula in a month!

[lilac83]

It's been an uphill battle getting dd2 to gain weight ever since she was born but now crawling has really thrown a wrench in things. She started crawling 3 weeks ago and in the last 2 weeks has lost 1.5 pounds. She refuses to increase her table/solid foods, shows little interest in bottles or sippy cups and with her 1 year birthday looming, I'm nervous about taking formula out of her diet and replacing it with milk. I know babies won't starve themselves and a lot can change in a month, but any btdt ideas/advice? Dd1 was the exact opposite, she LOVED her food and her milk!

[Lana]

well my first one was quite a light weight (still is really) and when we made our transition to off formula at 12 months he was fine.  in fact he actually started to eat more. 

It is true though she will not starve herself. {{{{HUGS}}}}

[Buttonbobs]

I know it is harder to remain not worried about weight when LOs are smaller, but I would think it'd be pretty normal to lose some weight when activity levels increase through increased mobility.

I know this isn't he standard or recommended view, but we made a personal decision to keep DD going on formula for quite a while beyond 1 year. In fact she's only just given up her last bottle in the last fortnight and she'll be 3 in October! We obviously took steps to make sure her teeth are cared for and have never left her with formula at night, and she also eats well during the day, but she always seemed to just need the extra.

But as Lana says - she might just surprise you and really up her food intake. Go with your instincts xxx

[creations]

Quite a lot of people keep a bottle and formula longer than the 12 months, yes teeth need to be cared for, but when you consider some mums choose to continue breast feeding beyond 12 months then really why not continue with one bottle a day for an extended period?  One bottle swiftly down and teeth cleaned after is not the same as a child who has a bottle constantly at their lips the entire day which happens and which would be far more damaging to teeth.

I followed the guidelines to drop all bottles at 12 months (well, BT bottle at 12 months, WU bottle at 13 months) and also switched to cows milk. Although we never had a problem with weight gain my DS is small and only took half the guidance amount of milk, always a worry to me, but whenever I increased his dairy solids (cheese, milk puddings etc) his milk intake dropped, and when I reduced dairy solids his milk intake increased - in the end I had to accept he knew how much he needed and self regulated on each of his food groups.

I also noticed quite a drop in food intake around the 1st birthday and think it is quite common.

[lilac83]

Thanks for the reassurance! Thinking back, dd1 had a bedtime bottle of formula until she was 14 months old, but she was doing so great with the sippy cup and table food. I'm half debating putting dd2 back on 4 bottles per day to try to get her more calories and liquids. The weather has warmed up and her diapers are less and less wet. What do you guys think about her solid intake for the day?

Breakfast: literally 6-7 Cheerios, 3oz yoghurt mixed with 2oz applesauce
Lunch: just shy of 1 small chicken nugget, 7-8 green beans
Dinner: few pieces of pork chop, 1/2 peach slice, didn't want the mashed potato

Is that normal? It just seems like such a small amount, and that's with me spoon feeding things to her. Otherwise she would take 1 piece of each item and throw the rest to the dog!  Should I try going back to 4 bottles? Currently she has 3 bottles and drinks an average of 19oz per day.

[MasynSpencerElliotte]

DD3 is a month younger and almost to the point of going to 3 bottles...her food intake looks similar but she feeds herself mainly. I will probably keep her on formula a bit longer as she is mpi and so far has not been able to handle dairy well, though I plan to cut back to two bottles at 12 months so she will eat more solids. She hates any type of sippy cup so I am not ditching the bottle anytime soon - will probably just go to an open cup as she is getting quite good at drinking from the bath with her toy cups!

[creations]

Her milk intake looks fine.
Milk intake - what you can expect between 6 months to 12months +
If you take into consideration the 3oz of yoghurt she is taking 21oz. From 12 months the guidance is 12oz - 20oz so looks like she is the the higher end of this. It could well be that she needs less milk to enable her to take more solids.  That said, all LOs take different amounts of solids too and her diet looks pretty good, bit low on the carbs in the example you gave but it's better to look at intake over several days or a week rather than just 1 day because they can sometimes have a protein high day then a carbs high day and it all balances out.  In terms of serving size 7-8 green beans is a lot IMO, I would say that is about 2 servings of veg in 1 meal.  There's at least 2 servings of fruit and 2 servings of protein...it doesn't look like anything to worry about.

Have you tried a straw with a cup rather than sippy?

[lilac83]

Maybe I'm just expecting too much then. Dd1 was a big eater and quite chunky, dd2 is longer than dd1 was at 1 but weighs almost 2 pounds less! So do you think I should drop the midday bottle to start trying to encourage more solids? I currently give her bottles at what would be considered snack times (9 and 2:30) but I could cut the 2:30 bottle and give her a snack with water instead. For water she uses a straw cup quite well, she just never drinks much in one sitting, 1/2-1 oz maybe.

[MasynSpencerElliotte]

Personally I would wait until closer to one to bother dropping a bottle as they are getting what they need from the formula, especially since she is on the lower end of intake. I'm not sure if DD3 is drinking less due to her cold or just needs less - she was up to 28-32 oz a day but the last few days has done 22-26 oz or so.

[lilac83]

Yeah, at 8 months dd2 was around 25oz per day and at 9 months she started dropping rapidly. Some days she only drinks 15-16oz. It doesn't help that I keep hearing conflicting minimum amounts and when I asked the gp he just said she'll tell me how much she needs 

[MasynSpencerElliotte]

I guess to a point she will, though not the most helpful advice...I always heard 24 oz as a minimum, though tbh not sure where - possibly info from the health nurse. I figure in a few weeks I will see if DD3 will drop to 3 x 8 oz bottles and then to 2 x 8 oz at 12 months or milk if she can handle dairy.

[creations]

especially since she is on the lower end of intake

I'm not sure that she is on the lower end. Guidance does vary but the info we have on bottle feeding FAQs shows (link above):
6 - 9 months 18 - 20oz inclusive of milk used in solids
9-12 months as above but if milk intake drops too rapidly add dairy solids
from 1 year large volumes of milk are discouraged, 12 - 20oz inclusive of milk used in solid food

Based on that info she is at the higher end of the milk intake needs if she has 19oz plus 3oz yoghurt that's 23oz.  Even on the days she only takes 15 or 15oz, add a few oz of dairy solids in yoghurt or cheese and she is still comfortably within the range.

I'm not saying to drop another bottle, nor not to. I would follow Lo's lead on this.
hth

[MasynSpencerElliotte]

I double checked and I was remembering half right My info says 24-32 oz up to 9 months and then after 9 months 18-32oz.

http://www.health.gov.sk.ca/how-much-formula

There is no link to where the info in the FAQ is from though?

[lilac83]

Thanks so much for your advice ladies! I think I'm going to give it another couple weeks and see where she's at. Then perhaps start phasing the midday bottle out. Hopefully she'll start eating a bit more to compensate and keep her weight up.

[MasynSpencerElliotte]

Fx that it works out!