Decrease in milk...

[munchkin1982]

I'm a little concerned at Layla's intake of milk since I started weaning her at the beginning of the month...

She normally has 4 or 5 7-8oz bottles but I am finding that she is now struggling to get past 6oz 4 or 5 times (more often 4 times) a day. She is perfectly contented etc and I have no problems but is it normal for them to decrease the amount they have because they are taking in "foods" now aswell?

Not only does she seem to take less, she also seems to take forever to drink it too? Especially her bedtime feed...

Getting rather confused her again! Any advice most welcome Thank you xx

 

[Annie050408]

Same here, Ella now will only take her bottle in the morning and evening now and wants food rather than milk all day. I try to get more milk in her through her porridge though! X

 

[munchkin1982]

aaawww, it's madness Annie. They say they should still be getting all their nutrients etc through their milk and thats what worries me! Layla has a breast feed in the morning from me at the moment (not sure how much obviously but enough to be able to bring it back up due to over-feeding - ie not simple positing). Then she has porridge... she is now on 2 dessert spoons of it and would quite happily take more at the moment but I don't want her having too much iykwim? After that then, she will take her bottles, just not as much as normal, and I try her out on various fruit and veg and fromage frais for lunch and tea with the bottles to "wash it all down" so to speak. She cannot get enough of the "food" lol. I know I read that for her age anything between 19-35oz depending on each individual baby is what they should/will have etc but it's still a worry when they either take double the amount of time for a milk feed or take less... (sorry for my waffle - hope I've made sense lol) xxx

 

[xxbeckyxx]

Lizzie is the same and I was worrying too! But then I worked out that a normal porridge feed for her (which seems to be more than recommended on the box lol) comes out at about the same amount of calories as a 5oz milk feed (breastmilk is apparently 20cals per oz). Also the baby porridge has added vitamins/iron etc, so I don't feel too bad giving that instead of milk

 

[munchkin1982]

oooohhh, that's good to know. didn't even think about looking at the calorie information for them - oops! Due to my problems with breast feeding, Layla is only now getting the one breast feed in the morning which I am giving her for the rest of this week (if I can) although, I feel i may need to stop that feed now too from next week and switch it to formula too. It's so sad, but I really need to do what is best for her now. She had 2 months exclusive breastfeeding, then introduced the 1 formula feed at bedtime. It's only been the last 2 weeks now that she has been having more formula... (2 formula feeds, maybe 3) and this week I've now dropped down to just the one feed. Personally though, to get to 5 months and her still to have "some" breastmilk, I feel, is an achievement. xx

 

[emma_85]

I asked my health visitor this and apparently up to 6 months (if you wean from 4 months, like me) you should mix the food with their milk, not water.

So for example, Elliot has porridge in the morning at the moment and I use 2 oz from his 6oz bottle. Eventhough on the pack of porridge it says to mix with water. Elliot happily eats his porridge then roughly 1/2 an hour later will take the 4 oz bottle (now and again he falls asleep after 3 oz though)

I wouldn't worry, if your baby is happy and content I'm sure they are getting what they need.

 

[munchkin1982]

Thanks Emma. Layla has two porridges that she has. She either has the Cow and Gate Creamy Porridge (made with water) or the Cow and Gate Porridge with Strawbery & Banana (made with milk). Think I might try her with the Creamy one again in the morning now but make it with milk. As I said earlier - I usually make up 2 dessert spoons worth of it. If I do the 2oz of milk, do I just add enough of the porridge powder until it is at the right consistency for her? I'm guessing that would be about 4ish dessert spoons? I haven't yet managed to feed her the porridge until she says "no more" so to speak. I'm scared of her eating too much of it too young when its only a "taste" of things at the moment. Maybe I should just make up some more porridge for her if she seems to want more? I don't know... I guess with the porridge though, making it with the milk still adds to their daily consumption etc! xx

 

[Squeakz]

joshua did the same and now only has 17fl oz milk and then 5fl ox mixed in with porridge in the morning. so 22fl oz every day hes not 8 months yet and iwas realy worried that he wasnt getting enough nutrients so i made an extra effort, that he has brekkie, and then a snack mid way through the morning of fruit/veg etc and then lunch and then a snack in between then a bottle and then a large meal with a fruit dessert....

Basically i try and compensate for the fact hes eating less milk by giving him lots of fruit and veg and meat/fish every day and try and vary it each day so in theory i hope that means hes not missing out on anything. xxxxxxxxxx

 

[Baby Bean]

Ella is the same - we're down to 3 short breast feeds a day but she eats a healthy 3 meals a day and has plenty of water to drink. I wouldn't worry about it - my mum said that when I was small the advice was to wean them off their milk feeds at 6 months as they would het their nutrients from food and we turned out ok! I think as long as they are happy, healthy and growing then it should be fine

 

[munchkin1982]

It's amazing how things change huh?

Well, today, I gave Layla 6oz milk (bottle) and she had a further 2oz mixed with her creamy porridge. She then had another 6oz bottle, she ate about half a jar of parsnip and potato and then had another 5oz bottle. I then tried her on a jar of apple and pear pudding - she had just over half of that too! And then she had another 6oz bottle for bed. I'm only really giving her "tastes" at the moment rather than "proper food" as such. The only "proper" meal she has at the moment I would say is brekkie - her porridge. I'm gradually trying to introduce more things for her but I'm also trying to go with the flow so to speak with how she is too. Whatever I do give her food wise, she appears to love and at the moment rarely eats less than a 3rd of a jar (don't know if that is good or bad really) but we are learning together and all that!

I don't feel quite so bad now thank you again girls for putting my mind at rest! xxx

 

[Minchin]

glad to hear that. It's funny how they go off their milk and go through phases. I think teeth have a lot to answer for too!