7 mo not taking enough milk

[Annabokobza]

My 7 mo LB was EBF for the first 4 months and then combination fed since then.
He's now on 3 solid meals per day and despite never having been a big formula lover, these last two days he's taken very, very little and I'm concerned he's not getting enough and that this may be one reason for his EW/NW.

Our typical day usually goes like this:

I BF first thing around 6.30/7am and he's usually keen and will feed for a good 10-15 mins
Breakfast 7.30/8am
FF 10.30/11am (rarely takes more than 4/5oz and that takes a LOT of persuasion)
Lunch 12/1
FF 2.30/3pm (today was at 3.30 to ensure he was definitely hungry and I couldn't get more than 1oz down!)
Dinner 5.30pm
BF before bed 6.45pm

I estimate that, inc what goes into his food, he's had about 18oz in total today which I know is not enough.

Aside from giving him plenty of calcium rich food and plenty of water, is there anything else I should do in case this bottle refusal continues?

I'm going to get him weighed next week to check he's gaining weight ok, which I think he is.
We've tried a different formula today to see if that helped and it didn't :-(

Any advice warmly welcomed!

[Lolly]

How much solids is he eating at each meal? The usual reason for refusing milk at this age is because they are having too much in the way of solids.

What flow teat are you using for the bottles too?

Laura

[Annabokobza]

It's hard to quantify but I'd say 3 large heaped tablespoons x 3 meals.
I'm using the avent size 3 teats still. Yesterday I tried a size 4 to see if he'd like it to flow faster but it just went all down his neck and made him choke :-(
I may try winding back the solids a bit and see if he'll take more milk.

[Lolly]

I may try winding back the solids a bit and see if he'll take more milk.

I would, scale right back and then he should take more milk. Once he is taking a decent amount in those 2 day bottles you can slowly increase the solids again. It's a common issue around this age!

Laura

[Clowey]

Hi, I'm having the same problem. I'm still feeding him once overnight mainly because if I don't it takes me an hour for him to get back off to sleep but he doesn't always take much. I know this isn't the answer and I need to stop feeding him overnight.

The our routine is as follows
6.30-7 BF but he isn't always bothered
7.30-8 b'fast
10.30-11 BF but again barely interested. Might be on for about 5 mins maximum
12pm lunch
2.30-3pm FF, this varies sometimes he'll take 4 or 5 oz, today only 2 oz
5pm tea
6.30 BF but not very interested
10pm dream feed only takes about 4 oz

Maybe he's having too much to eat at meal times. I'll try reducing what he's having and see how it goes

[Martini~]

What kind of food do you give for solids? Some like avocado, banana or cereal are very fullfilling and block appetite for hours.
I would also offer solids closer to BF(even just after), so he is less hungry and would take less.

[Clowey]

Hi, I do give him avocado sometimes but it's usually things like sweet potato or cauliflower cheese. Then I try and give him meat or fish at tea time. The past few days I've delayed his milk til about 11am & 4pm and he's taken it all.
I'm slowly weaning off the BF as we're going away for 4 nights in a few wks.
Gutted because I love BF him. Might see if I can express a little while we're away and pick it up again when we get home.
Should he be down to just 3 milk feeds now at 7 1/2 months old? When should these be?

Thank you x

[Martini~]

He could be at 3 full milk feeds as theoretically as LOs need min of 20-24oz a day in milk and other calories can come from solids, but! For BF it's rather rare to squeeze needed intake it 3 milk feeds, as it would mean each feed should be around 7-8oz.
I would say take a lead of your LO here, still offer milk as first. When he will be closer to 9mo and he will be refusing solids at all I would start to think about leading him into dropping a feed, but right now - don't worry:).

For sharing my schedule (DS is also 7 1/2mo) looks like that:
- 7:15am 170-240ml FF
- 7:30am 2tbsp of fruits and 1tbsp of oats cereal on milk
- 11:00/11:15 100ml FF (I limit) and veggie/meat lunch 6-8tbsp
- 2:30 240ml FF
- 4:45 baby rice with fruits/veggies (40ml of milk mixed with rice, 2 tbsp of fruits)
- 6:30pm 200-240ml FF