Drop a feed?

[Sydney]

Hello

dd is 8.5 months and I am starting to wonder if I should drop one of her feeds.  Here is our current schedule:

6 am 6 oz bottle (drinks all 6 ounces)
7:30 oatmeal cereal w/fruit and 1 mini pancake
10:00 6 oz bottle (drinks usually 4-5 ounces)
11:30 3 tbsp fruit/3 tbsp veggie
2:00 6 oz bottle (drinks usually 4-5 ounces)
3:30 snack of pear in mesh feeder and some cheerios
5:30 dinner (finger foods of pasta/vegetable) 2 crackers, 2 tbsp meat/veggie out of jar
6:30 6 oz bottle (drink 2 ounces, 3 if I am lucky)

Within the last couple of weeks, she doesn't really take much of her last bottle and rarely eats the full 6 oz bottle at her 10:00 and 2:00 feedings.  She gets in around 18-20 ounces of formula a day, counting the couple of ounces I use in her cereal.

When dropping a bottle, is there usually a feed in the day that is more popular to drop than others?  I would think that her 6:30 pm feed would be one of the last to drop, but she would just rather go to bed!

Just trying to get some ideas from you guys.  I wonder if I gave her 10:00 and 2:00 bottles later (wait 4.5 to 5 hours maybe) that she would be hungrier for them??

TIA!

[Mom2katiebug]

Hey Aleisha!  We just dropped one of Katie's daytime bottles and were so close to dropping the overnight bottle before she got sick (still with the DF though).  Her feeds got to be a battle and she wasn't eating as well.  We just watched her one weekend for her hunger cues and she went 5-6 hours and we knew it was time to cut one of them out.  Her intake went up a bit, but mostly with solids.  Before she just got sick, her bottle intake was about 20 oz with another 6 oz. of formula in her cereal.  I think most folks combine the middle of the day bottles into one, so you'd have a breakfast bottle, one midday bottle and a evening/bedtime bottle.

[LŠuren]

Aleisha,

We currently do;
Milk 0730/1330or1400/1915ish
Food 0800/1200/1630

Drop Sydneys 10am bottle and move her 2pm bottle to 12noon, so it is in the middle of where the 2 bottles used to be. You will find that the oz in the new 12noon bottle will increase.

Are u still doing the 1730 feed later because you can do it after daycare (or am I confusing you with someone else??)

Sorry for the rush, gettting ready for work - will catch up soon. 
Lx

[Sydney]

Thank you.  I will try to move her bottles around. I have a long weekend coming up so we will try then. 

Yes, I am the one doing the feed later because of daycare (good memory)!

Thanks again.  I will let you know how it goes.

Aleisha

[Sydney]

Hey Lauren

So, here is the new schedule for Sydney that she has been on for the last few days:

7:00 am 6 oz bottle
8:00 breakfast
9:15 nap (1.5 hours)
12:30 6 oz bottle (only takes around 4 ounces)
1:30 lunch
2:00 nap (2 hours)
4:30 dinner
7:00 6 oz bottle (only takes around 4 ounces)

So, what do you think?  I can't get her to take more than 4 ounces at her 12:30 feed and 7:00 feed.  Not sure what else to do here.  So her total formula intake, counting her cereal that she has for breakfast) is around 16 ounces.  I have offered her 7 ounces in her 7:00 am bottle, but she only will take 6 here as well.

TIA!

[LŠuren]

Aleisha

Do you think she is giving up because she is bored?
What solids are you offering?
Is she too tired for her bedtime bottle? What time is bedtime?

L x

[Sydney]

I don't think it is because she is bored, she just puts up a fight and turns her head away when I try and have her finish the last couple of ounces or so.  For lunch today, she ate 5 ounces of her 12:30 bottle and I had her finish the last ounce in her sippy cup with her lunch.

For breakfast, she gets 3 tbsp of oatmeal cereal mixed with about 1 1/2 ounces formula and 2 tbsp of fruit mixed in.
Lunch is 1 tbsp each of veggie and fruit (finger food) mixed with 2 crackers (she likes the crackers as it doesn't make the finger food too slimy), and 2 tbsp of veggie with meat (jar food).
Dinner is 1 tbsp each of veggie and pasta finger food (mixed with 2 crackers) and 2 tbsp of fruit from jar or fruit in her mesh feeder.  I may offer her little bits of cheese or meat as well, depends on how hungry she is.

She goes to bed right after her 7:00 bottle, so normally around 7:15.  She is tired at bedtime.  Do you think I should try 6:30 bedtime with a 6:30 wake up?

[LŠuren]

Even try and give the bed time bottle slightly earlier so she is not as tired.

[Sydney]

Sounds good.  I will try 6:45 tonight

[Sydney]

Lauren - Tried 6:45 last night and she ate 2 ounces   I give up!!!

She has some teething going on, so maybe that is to blame.  She seems interested in solids, but not so much her bottles.  This morning, she only ate 5 ounces of her 6 oz bottle and she normally will guzzle that one down.

Stacy - My new schedule is toward the middle of this thread where I cut out the snack and moved dinner to 4:30 instead of 5:30.

[LŠuren]

Aleisha is she on a fast enough teat flow?

[Sydney]

Yeah, she has been on fast flow for a few months now.

Do you think I am giving her TOO much solid food?  She eats it, so I figure she is hungry for it.

[LŠuren]

Try cutting back on solids for a few days and see if it makes any difference

[Sydney]

Just and update - after about 4 days of Sydney taking < 13 ounces a day, yesterday, she FINALLY decided to drink ALL of her 3 bottles .

I didn't really change anything, she just finally decided she wants them now.  These lo's sure keep you guessing, don't they??

Thanks to everyone for their help!