Dropping milk feed --how to make up calories?

[MomV]

Hi all-

My DS is almost 10 months old and currently takes four 8-ounce bottles of formula a day and three solids meals (breakfast/lunch/dinner).  I'd like to get him down to three bottles a day, but I'm really worried about making up the calories he would be missing from the dropped feed.  For a while he wasn't showing much interest in his 11 am bottle, so I thought dropping that one would be easy and the calories wouldn't be missed, but lately he has been guzzling down all four bottles completely! 

I'm trying to increase his solids, but we're also in the process of switching him from eating stuff like baby rice cereal mixed with formula to just regular rice, and regular rice just isn't as concentrated in calories as the baby rice.  I had also been using a combination of jarred baby food with food I made myself, and again, some of the baby stuff (which I am now trying to replace) seems more concentrated in calories than the "regular" stuff.  As a result, I feel like I need to STUFF him with the regular food to try to make up the calories as it is.

Should I try replacing the dropped bottle with a calorie-rich snack like cheese?  An 8-ounce bottle is 160 calories --that's a lot to make up with food!  In addition, should I hold off on eliminating baby cereal and other concentrated baby foods from his meals until we've successfully dropped a bottle?  Should I put more formula in the three remaining bottles?  I don't want him to start waking at 5 am because he's hungry.

Any ideas/advice much appreciated!

[NKmommy]

Hi!  I relate to where you are at right now.  DS is same age and we just dropped from 4 to 3 bottles.  This is our schedule now:

7 - breakfast
8 - bottle (though most people do this bottle before breakfast)
11 - lunch
1 - bottle
3- snack
5 - dinner
7 - bottle

I have a few questions.  Is he not eating his solids well?  If he is still guzzling all 4 bottles, and is eating solids well, then I would probably just keep things the way they are for a while.  If not, then maybe it is time to drop a bottle.  When I did this drop, I offered a snack instead of a bottle, and DS did fine.  We would offer baby yogurt or cheese and crackers with a sippy of water or juice.  I agree that maybe it is best to keep him on baby cereal until he has transitioned smoothly to 3 bottles without night wakings. 

Let us know how things go!!!  I think you are on the right track. 
 :wink:

[MomV]

He's kind of up and down with solids.  For a while he does really well, then he gets kind of cranky with them, and it goes back and forth.  Around the time he wasn't much interestd in the 11 AM bottle, he was doing really well with solids.  Now he's cranky with solids (and guzzling the formula).  I do think part of the problem with the solids right now is the transition from baby stuff to "real" stuff.  But I think I see what you're saying: If he's not eating solids well, he might be filling up too much on formula, so I should drop a bottle and just offer a snack instead.  Is that correct?  I think you're right about keeping the baby cereal for now.

It's funny --I was over on the EASY forum earlier today trying to find 10 month routines to see how people did the 3-bottle thing, and I remember being relieved to see your son's schedule and that he was still on 4 bottles a day (at that time)!  Your current schedule sounds like exactly what I'm looking for, though.

Thanks Sheila!!

[NKmommy]

Yeah, I think that if he is holding out on solids, maybe it is a good time to drop a bottle.  He is drinking 32 oz now, and that probably explains why he is picky with solids.  Can you try offering a baby yogurt for a snack instead of a bottle?  They have 120 calories in 4 oz, so that might make up some of the missed calories and prevent night waking. 

Let me know how things go!

[MomV]

Hi Sheila-

I just wanted to thank you again for your advice.  I dropped his late afternoon bottle and replaced it with a snack (usually cheese and some fruit), and it has gone really smoothly (knock on wood).  Much easier than I thought it was going to be!  I thought he'd be really grouchy without that bottle, but he doesn't seem to miss it at all.

Next I have to work on the late-morning bottle he gets just after his nap.  I tried doing lunch first and then bottle, but it didn't seem to work very well.  He would be very grouchy about not getting his bottle right after waking, and/or he wouldn't take much of it when I offered it before nap #2.  Anyway, I'm not too concerned about it right now since we're down to three bottles.  That will be the next challenge!

Thanks again!