When to drop from 4 to 3 bottles/day

[ladymugg]

Hi everyone

Looking to switch feeds for my DS (9 mo) from milk-first to solids-first in terms of feeding order... which I think will end up resulting in 3 bottles a day.

I can't remember from my previous baby - is this too early for 3 bottles?

He's a good feeder (always has been) - 3 full meals (plus have introduced a few snacks mostly for fun, keeping him busy, eg: gnawing on a rusk or a large piece of apple).  Milk feeds currently around 32 oz (1000ml) a day which I think is kind of on the high side even though he's a big boy 27lbs.  The child-health-nurse advice in my country (New Zealand) tends to be milk feeds of around 600ml (20oz) per day.

Eating a great variety of food - meat, fish, fruit, vegetables and starting to introduce bread/grains.   

Any advice would be appreciated.  EASY is currently:

6am WU
6.30 am bottle
7.30 am breakfast
10 am nap
12 pm WU bottle
1 pm lunch
3 pm cat nap
4 pm WU - try him on a bottle now but not always interested
5 pm dinner
6.30 pm bottle/bed/bath etc

Has finally stopped night waking (hurrah!).

[Haribo2012]

Hi we dropped to 3 bottles around 9.5 months just replaced mid morning bottle with a snack....so our day was
WU bottle 6.30
Snack mid morning just before nap
Lunch
Bottle pre afternoon nap
Tea
Bt bottle

Sounds like he's doing great

[melmor]

My son is doing the extract same schedule and had become less interested in the late afternoon bottle. Should I get rid of that one or the late morning one? Or does it matter? Thanks

[ladymugg]

I don't think it matters which one you drop honestly.

We are still on 4 bottles a couple of weeks down the track... the hunger of this kid is a little insane.  I was going to try to drop the morning one so I can do the "solids first" thing but he just is too hungry and impatient for solids.  But I have switched his second bottle to before his 10.30 am sleep so he kind of does "solids first" from there on in.

[creations]

My son is doing the extract same schedule and had become less interested in the late afternoon bottle. Should I get rid of that one or the late morning one? Or does it matter? Thanks

I would switch the late afternoon bottle to a solids snack with a drink of water if he is not so interested in taking his milk.
The other (mid-late morning) might stay a while yet or in a month or so (I am guessing your LO is around 10 months based on another thread).

I always kept the same times rather than trying to move to solids first, it naturally becomes more focused on solids anyway as appetite increases and snacks are introduced.  I'd only consider switching the order if it was really necessary.

[ladymugg]

Thanks creations.

Should I be feeding more solids and reducing bottle size?  Most bottles are around 8oz so he's at 32oz a day still. 

Healthy appetite for both, but now he's at that "I only want to feed myself" age sometimes its hard to tell what from the original portion went in his mouth!

[creations]

There's no need to reduce bottle size unless:
- LO is not eating solids and showing no interest due to large amounts of milk AND LO is getting closer to 12 months
- LO is taking lots of NFs for milk rather than taking the greater amount of calories in the day in which case I'd reduce/drop NFs, not day feeds.
I don't think either of these things are the case so I would just continue what you are doing.
Milk will naturally drop as solids increase or when you switch one or two bottles to a solids snack with water but there is no hurry for this yet...some are going to do this around 9 or 10 months but others are barely interested in solids until 9 months.
As milk intake is good/high you can offer as much solids as LO wants and be led by him - so not limiting but also not trying to increase his meal size by encouraging him to have "one more bite" etc.
If he is a great eater finger foods and family meals will be the focus now and move away from purées if you are using them.

[ladymugg]

Thank you.  DS is 10 months on Sunday, so that's why I am thinking he should be a be more pro-solids.  But hoping that it happens naturally cos this guy gets hungry