Not sure my 7month old is having enough milk as she has naturally cut out her afternoon bottle?

[kathleenhannah1]

Hey there, I'm new to this site but could do with some advice . I had waited 6 month before starting to wean my little girl the was told by my hv to go straight to finger and lumpy foods . My little girl has taken to it like a duck to water and has now cut out her afternoon bottle so I'm concerned she isn't getting enough milk.
Her routine goes like this:
7ish - 6oz bottle
8ish - creamy baby porridge 5tbsp mixed with water
10ish - 1/4 slice of toast with butter
12ish - baby yogurt or pureed fruit
2ish - baby powder mix 3tbsp mixed with water and added veg
and meat.
5ish - same as above but using 5tbsp of powder mix and a biscotti.
7ish - 6oz bottle
throughout the day she drinks juice approx. 6/7oz
should i add another oz to her two bottles?
hope that all made sense .
Thank you!x

[ilovepowerhoop]

does she really only have 2 bottles a day? At that age mine stll had 4 milk feeds. A minimum of 20oz is recommended between 6 months and 1 year. She seems to have a lot of meals per day - could you give milk instead of one of the meals e.g. mid morning? Could you give water rather than juice as juice is not good for teeth?

[5madthings]

She should be having 20oz a day, her yogurt will count towards that but really most of her nutrition should still come from milk at this stage.

I would cut out a snack and give her milk instead and I agree juice is not great, ius she having it in a bottle or a cup? I just offered a tommee tippe cup with water in at meal times etc.

[5madthings]

What is baby powder mix is it like porridge or baby rice?

You could make her porridge up with milk to increase her milk intake. :)

[Whatevertheweather]

My DD is also 7 months and her day is generally:

7.30am - 6ozs bottle
8.30/9am - Porridge or Fruit and Yoghurt or Toast
12pm - Lunch - finger foods plus yoghurt or fruit
2.30pm - 5ozs bottle
5.30ish - Dinner - generally what we're having mashed down or veg+fish or a pouch/jar
7pm - bedtime milk 7ozs

Some nights she wakes and has 4ozs milk in the night, others she doesn't so I expect it balances out to 20ish ozs a day over the course of a week. She drinks water from a tommee tippee cup during the day too but not loads.

Could you drop a snack and offer milk instead as 12ozs doesn't seem a lot? Is she having a night feed? Would she drink say 2 x 8ozs bottles morning and evening?

[MajaBiene]

She seems very young for juice - maybe that is filling her up and it's not very good for her. I would cut out the juice and give her another 7oz bottle of milk.

[kathleenhannah1]

yeah two bottles as she just isn't interested in her afternoon bottle, so would make sense that cutting out a snack might make her want it...its all so confusing, on one hand your told to wean off milk but then their milk holds their nutrients needed. She never wakes through the night (lucky me) . The porridges and baby food are powders from a heinz packet and mixed with water so no milk there either...this is why i was worried when she stopped wanting her usual 6oz afternoon bottle. The juice i use says from 4mnth + and although ready to use, i always add cool boiled water as if it was undiluted and given in a cup never a bottle . So 20oz is about the right amount of milk she should be having daily?x

[MajaBiene]

The juice might be suitable from 4 months, but it still isn't very good for them and should be an occasional treat rather than an everyday thing. I also wouldn't give biscuits every day, sounds like a lot of sugar.

[kathleenhannah1]

yes reading back what she has in a day sounds like a lot. I'm also conscious of her sugar in take so will try cool boiled water and take out the biscotti. I'm also thinking of removing her 2pm solid to a 6oz bottle. This would mean her daily in take would be 3 - 6oz bottles and 3 - meals with a snack. Reducing her sugar i think will do the trick...thanks!x

[ceeveebee]

You are feeding her solid food roughly every 2 hours so mo wonder she isn't wanting milk!
At that age I used to always offer a milk feed 1 hour before solids. So a bottle/beaker at 11am with lunch at 12pm maybe. Then bottle/beaker of milk at 3pm with tea at 4pm. And you can use milk to make up her porridge
You don't need snacks between meals at 7 months old.
I would avoid biscotti and powdered food - maybe just offer some fresh fruit or steamed vegetables? Or whatever you are eating for lunch or dinner yourselves?
Btw, you don't need to boil drinking water after 6 months, tap or filter is fine

[kathleenhannah1]

thanks I'll keep that in mind

[5madthings]

Also re her baby porridge you could just give her regular porridge or even ready brek and make it with cows milk, will be much cheaper than buying special baby version.

And you dont need to boil water other than for her milk obviously. She can just drink plain old tap water.

Re juice i think baby juice is a con tbh. She doesnt need it. If you want to.give her some juice i would dilute proper fruit juice, make it very dilute tho and as others have said an occassional treat rather than everyday.


I agree with ceevee milk first then food. A good phrase to remember is 'food is for fun until they are one' weaning at this stage is about offering her different tastes and textures etc. And yes she can just eat what you eat, mashed a bit if necessary.

[mollysparks1]

thank you all for your advice and tips. much appreciated.

[Abigail9580]

I would cut out her snacks. My 7m routine is
7am milk feed
9am toast or weetabix made with cows milk
10am milk feed
12pm lunch- some sort of sandwich, like cream cheese or ham etc
1pm milk feed
4pm milk feed
6.30pm supper, what ever we have
8pm milk feed and bed
10pm dreamy feed

DS is bf, so don't know how many oz he has. Hope that helps

[Whatevertheweather]

Glad I read back - I thought it was cooled boiled water until they were a year. Pleased to see tap water will be fine now