refusing bottles of milk and then waking at night

[molynekl]

Hi there,
My 9-mo.-old DS has recently started refusing his bottle when it contains formula.  He is still on 4 bottles a day (7, 11, 3, & 7).  Last week, I tried switching him to three and he still refused it.  He seems hungry and fusses/cries as though he is, but will not take the bottle when I offer it to him.  To get his 24 oz. down him, the only ways I have succeeded are to set the bottle in front of him and then he sometimes takes it.  It seems as though he wants to be in charge.  Or, if that doesn't work, I hand him a bottle of water (same kind of bottle and nipple) first, which he'll drink and loves, and when he is taking a breather from the water, I trade with him, giving him the formula.  He will suck a couple of times, look at me like he realizes what I've done and then proceeds to drink his formula just fine.  I'm tired of having battles and thinking of every instance when I might be able to get some milk in him.  I'm afraid he's getting fed more often than he should and now he's been waking at night and downing formula (after the same battles) because I think he went through a growth spurt, but I don't know where to fit more food in him during the day.  I feel like he's always eating.

Should I try going to three bottles again?  I get the impression from other posts that it would be okay if he was on less formula than 24 oz.  Do I just fill in with solids--he does well with those?  Could it be that he doesn't like the taste of formula (which I haven't changed); he's exerting his dislike in other foods as well? 

Here's his schedule right now:
7 a.m. wake up and will drink no more than 4 oz.
7:45 breakfast (1T cereal w/1 oz. formula, 2T fruit, 1T yogurt)
9-10:30 nap
11 6 oz. bottle (has been dropping to more like 4, but it depends how well he did w/first a.m. bottle)
12 lunch (3T vegetables, 1T fruit, finger food that he plays with but doesn't eat & water)
3 6 oz. bottle (now more like 4 oz.)
4:45 dinner (3T oatmeal w/2 oz. formula, 1T vegetables, and more finger food & water)
7:30 6-7 oz. bottle
At around 11:30 the last week or so, he's had around 5 oz.

Any suggestions would be much appreciated.

Thanks.

[LŠuren]

Kristen at 9months Calum feeding underwent a change as well.

We had dropped to 3 bottles by then and he increased his solids. Calum eats lots of potato, rice, pasta, cheese, veggies, finger-foodsetc...    What solids are you offering?

I think it is well worth a try changing to 3 bottles, take a look here for a sample routine; https://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=67398.0  You may not see an overnight change but stick with it.

Here is also a link to possible reasons why your LO's intake has dropped; https://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=67403.0

Have you tried offering water when he wakes at night rather than milk, because he may get into a habit of waking for milk at night.   LO's generally take bottles easier when they are tried and relaxed.  Also by taking his bottle at night it affects the intake for the following day.

I would try not to worry to much, there are loads of us here who have had similar stories to yours and their LO's are still thriving and healthy.  Here is a guide on amounts of formula; https://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=67569.0

HTH's