Question about bottle

[karebear2]

I've been feeding my LO mostly solids now but I still give him a bottle of formula 3 times daily; once in the morning, at lunch and then before bedtime. How often do you still give formula/BM to your LO? Should I drop the lunchtime formula feeding and replace with solids? He only usually drinks about 4 oz and usually snacks on fruits.

[nbateman5]

We do solids 3x a day with water at mealtime and 6oz formula bottles 4x a day, every 4 hours or so. She'll drink anywhere from 4-6oz. 16-20oz of formula is normal until a year old from what I've read.

[rayray007]

My guys are almost 11 months. They eat 3 meals and 1-2 solid snacks, with water or milk at each of those. They only drink a total of 1/4-1/2 cup of milk yet. They nurse 3-4x a day on top of that. If they have a bottle of formula, they rarely take more than 4 oz. they might take more at a first morning feed but I've never tried that. So my best guess is that they get 12-16+ oz of BM a day. I think that's on the lower end of what they should be getting but their eating and gaining well otherwise.

[erien22846]

Three solid meals a day that include a protein and a fruit or veggie. Sometimes an afternoon snack. (4) 6oz formula bottles. I'll keep it at that until a year when she will transition to a cup and her milk intake will decrease.

[karebear2]

Thank you. I suppose I'll wait until he's 1 then. I wasn't sure if that was the norm or not. So in total he gets about 20 oz of formula a day,3 meals one of which includes yogurt and 2-3 solid snacks that are mostly fruits.

[rayray007]

DePending on your kid and their health and how well they're eating solids, in my opinion it's OK to start transitioning away from formula or BM (a bit) before one. So that by 1 they're off formula and completely or almost completely on milk. It takes a long time in my experience to get them used to milk and a cup or sippy cup to a point where they are consuming enough to replace formula. My boys start daycare at 11.5 months old where they will have milk in a sippy during the day. I wouldn't want to suddenly take away nursing or formula and expect them to start drinking enough milk right off the bat. That being said, I will keep the bedtime and first morning nursing session for the first little while. With DD I dropped the bedtime one at around 12 or 13 months and she dropped the morning one on her own around 14 months. If I was doing formula I would probably keep the morning and bedtime bottle until at least 1.

[amiee]

My lo has refused to take a bottle or sippy cup at daycare so they mix breast milk in her cereal. She still nurses about 5-6 times a day. We also feed three meals a day and a snack or two. I am OK with her not taking as much milk at daycare because now I only pump once. Trying to decide when to drop the last one.. prob around a year, but plan to nurse at home for awhile still.

[stampingqueen]

Oct 17, 2015 7:19:28 GMT -5 Miss Killjoy said:

Oh yeah, that's really fine, rayray007. Lots of babies start transitioning on their own when they get better at eating solids, too. You don't want to just suddenly stop, it's true.

My daughter has been transitioning on her own as well. I was still sending 12 ounces to daycare. But she'd only drink 8. So then I started sending 3-3oz bottles and she'd drink 9. Then she started drinking only 6. We're still nursing 3 times a day as well. I don't see our nursing relationship changing any time soon.
I don't think I'd purposefully try to change something. But if you make a 6 oz bottle and your kid consistently only takes 5, I'd personally drop it down to offer 5.

[path75]

Ok I had the same thoughts. My son just dropped down from 6 bottles to 5 bottles on his own. He does drink well out of a straw sippy cup. He does not do well with sitting up and getting milk out of his bottle. He had 2 1/2 ounces left yesterday in his bottle so I put it in a sippy and he drank it up fast. I might start using a sippy once or twice a day. Usually it is just a bit up water in a sippy with solids. He only eats 2 meals mostly in the late afternoon/evening but does get 1 to 2 snacks as well. I can only get my husband to feed him cheerios in the morning so I don't consider that a meal, I consider it a snack. I also don't feed him much fruit, mostly veges, meat and cheese. He used to get fruit puree on toast for breakfast but I moved to sweet potato puree and he loves it.

Edit: my phone hates me or I am that dumb

[karebear2]

So this topic actually got me thinking about sippy cups as well. We haven't started using one yet but I think I need to go out and buy some. I have the 360 cup but my LO doesn't seem to know how to use it yet. He doesn't like to hold his own bottle of formula but when I give him something to drink like water or diluted juice he snatches the bottle and gets it all over himself. what type of sippy cups have you guys transitioned to?

[rayray007]

We have like 4 different kinds of cups. Straw sippy cups- F picked it up right away but C took a while; regular sippy cups with handles- took a while for F to figure out you have to lift and tilt it because he was used to the straw, but C picked it up quicker; take n toss sippy cups- F picked it up quickly because he already learned from the other sippy cups, C had trouble without handles; munchkin 360 cups- took them both a little while to figure it out. They now drink fairly well out of any of these cups. We've been using them since around 6 months (edit: we started with straw and handled sippy cups around 6 months, the others came later). Although sippy cups (vs straw cups or open cups) are not really recommended anymore, I prefer the take n toss cups because they're easy to wash.

[jesster88]

DS takes 5 bottles (5-7 oz each) and eats 3 meals, but he doesn't always eat more than a few bites per meal especially at dinner. I am not making any move to reduce formula right now because he is so tiny and doesn't eat a ton of solids. He does drink water out of his 360 cup. I wasn't going to transition to milk in a sippy until after his 1 year Dr appointment.

[path75]

I just have the munchkin straw weighted cup and regular sippy. I would say pick up a couple and see what sticks. My son picked up the straw right away but each LO is different. Good luck!

[eliz77]

This thread has been on my mind. We had a Dr appointment the other day and I brought up meals/formula/WCM since LO really isn't eating as much as some of the other Dec babies. A big day of meals is: wake up 6oz bottle, breakfast 2oz yogurt, lunch 2-3oz puree, after lunch/pre-nap 8oz bottle, snack 4oz bottle, dinner of 3-4oz puree and a few bites mommy's food, bedtime 8oz bottle. I also offer 3oz water in sippy cups with meals and I think he probably actually drinks like 2oz a day.

LO is almost 11 months and weighed 24lbs, and measured 30.75" so obviously he is growing!!

Dr said that was all fine and to continue offering what he likes and some new things to try. She said not to worry about switching to milk yet. I've gotten impression from the beginning she wanted LO on formula/BM until he was a year old anyway. She would like him to eat oatmeal/rice cereal but he won't. I know every Dr and baby is going to be different, but it's nice to hear what everyone is doing and what their Drs recommend, gives me more ideas!