Dehydration???

[korky]

DD (seven months) started solids just over a month ago and took to food with great gusto - she eats pretty much everything and anything (pram wheels, plastic toys, her own feet...) and the only problem is not being able to shovel it in fast enough! But since she discovered solid food, she has lost almost all interest in her milk. Now I know she's supposed to gradually have less and less milk but all the experts seem to be saying she should still be having a minimum of 1 pint (20 fl oz) a day. I'm lucky if I can get 15 fl oz into her - and that really is a good day. Yesterday she had just 13 fl oz and it has been as little as 12 fl oz. She has a few sips of water with lunch and sometimes with her tea, but I'm worried that she'll get dehydrated. She seems well and happy but on days when she only manages 12 or 14 fl oz she definitely wees less than usual. Is it normal for babies to go off liquids like this?

[wrinklytum]

Hi there,is she alert and full of beans? If so don't worry.Both mine seemed to drink less when they were having solids.Yoghurts and fromage frais,fruit and sloppy foods will provide some fluids equivalent.The only thing I found was whren I stopped bf ds he did get a bit constipated but not for long.Keep offereing drinks regularly but dont worry about that 20oz figure unless she seems ill or listless.HTH

[mumfor1standfinaltime]

Try to give other drinks such as juice watered down this may help, I did this with ds.
You can also give milk in other ways such as yoghurt, cheese, and mixed in with her cereals.
If she has large feeds (ie 9oz or similar) maybe you could try giving her milk in smaller amounts but more often?

[korky]

Er, that figure INCLUDED any milk mixed in with cereals! She IS full of beans, though, and certainly alert - always babbling away and covers the entire room by rolling over and over. And she isn't constipated at all - four or five poos a day is quite normal - so maybe I am worrying over nothing. She has plenty of other dairy, too (absolute cheese fiend, she is) so hopefully not missing out on calcium too much. What are the symptoms of dehydration anyway? I presume I would actually notice?

[mumfor1standfinaltime]

She sounds healthy and 'regular' to me!
Food also has water in don't forget. What sorts of food is she eating? Are they 'mushy watery'kinds of foods? Maybe try some fruit like grapes which have 'water' or jelly? if it worries you.

[korky]

She eats everything but I make sure she has lots of fruit (probably why she's so regular!) - banana in her weetabix, raspberries in her rice, blackberries in her yoghurt, that kind of thing. As for her meals, my extraordinary HV told me DD should be joining in with family meals exactly three weeks after she started solids. Naturally, I ignored this bizarre advice and just started adding lumpy bits to DD's purees - it's supposed to progress gradually, as far as I'm aware, this journey from milk to solid food...!

[mumfor1standfinaltime]

3 weeks after starting solids, weird!
Sounds to me like she is doing really well and getting good nutrients from her food. I can't remember how much milk ds had at this age (he is nearly 2 now). He has always been a big milk drinker though so probably not a good comparison, he has about a pint and a half a day at the moment! As long as she is putting on weight, regular and weeing ok then I personally wouldn't worry.

[mistlethrush]

I had similar worries with my DS. When he stopped bfs during the day, he didn't seem to substitute any liquid for them - either water or milk went down in very small quantities. However, I have found that he is much more likely to drink watered down juice (I mainly use an organic concentrate that is sugar free, but sometimes use apple juice, and always water them down (the concentrate about half normal strength)). However, he does eat a lot of fruit and yoghurt, both of which are high water content compared with other types.

He is also quite fussy about what type of beaker - whilst he likes the Tomy Tippee ones he tends to push the spout part of the way down so that he is mostly sucking in air, and this doesn't help matters.

He did start eating the same food as us quite early on, although we did puree it then chop it up fine etc.

He did get very dehydrated at about 9 months - he couldn't keep anything (even water) down and what little did go down came straight out the other end. He went from an alert, robust, bright baby to one where I had to hold his head for him and he went completely listless and floppy. Luckily, due to some good advice from a Doctor, just managed to avoid hospitalisation, but close-run thing. In case this seems to be happening to any other child, the solution was 1oz rehydration solution (you can get sachets from pharmacies) every 15 - 20 mins - this amount only, but repeated small amounts meant that most of it stayed down and he gradually started to rehydrate. Horrible situation to be in, and took him about a week to start eating properly again.

[laundrylover]

Just popping in in defence of your HV - never thought I'd say that. She was probably talking about Baby Led Weaning where babies eat the same as you from the start, i.e. 6 months. No need to puree just give in large holdable chunks. I have done this with DD2 and it's a revelation!
Not much advice on the milk front as I BF but I wouldn't worry about it too much as long as you baby is active etc. like you say.

[korky]

More on this - took DD back to clinic today and although her weight has gone up into the 50th centile (previously she was straight as a die along the 25th), HV - different one to last time, seem to be about 500 of them down there - insisted DD still has to have at least a pint of milk a day. And if I can't get her to drink it from a bottle, I should add it to her food. How exactly does that square with getting her to join in with our meals?? Or should I be adding formula to my gorgeous chicken tarragon stew? Anyhow, guess I'll just have to stuff her full of creamy, cheesy sauces...