Feeding routine - 9 month old

[Leah04x]

Whatever I do, I just cannot seem to get the timings for his feeding right! For the past week or so, he's been point blank refusing his bedtime bottle (has always been a bit fussy with this bottle though). Well, he takes a few small sucks, then pushes the bottle away and starts kicking off! He's still been sleeping through the night, so he can't be hungry but I really need to get him to take that bedtime bottle as he only has 2 bottles a day anyway (morning & bedtime).

This is his routine now:
7:30am - 6oz bottle (usually takes 4 or 5oz)
8:30am - Porridge/weetabix (made with 4oz cows milk) & fresh fruit
100-12:30 - Nap
12:30 - Lunch - Finger food & fromage frais
30-40 - Nap
40 - Dinner - Whatever we're having & sugar free angel delight
7:30 - 6oz bottle (before this past week, he took about 4oz, now nothing!)

He also drinks about 5oz water a day.

Due to him not having much milk anyway, I try and top him up loads during the day with fromage frais/angel delight etc - not ideal, but it's the only way I can get him to have milk.

I've tried:
- Giving him dinner earlier (was 5pm, now 4pm), to make him hungrier for bedtime bottle
- Giving him less for dinner
- Switching round lunch & dinner so he has finger food for dinner instead of spoonfed, as he probably eats a bit less this way

Made no difference at all!

Today, for example, he's had 13oz milk, but only 5oz of that has actually been drank, the rest has been in cereal/yoghurts etc.

Any advice appreciated!!

xx

 

[Lynds77]

no advice really, but I know in other countries that sometimes porridge is given just before bedtime. (Hipp do some goodnight food ranges in other countries, think you can buy it on Amazon)

can you maybe make up some porridge using baby milk (Plum is Freyas favourite at breakfast time) and then he is still getting milk, and going to bed with a full tum?

just in case he is wanting food instead of milk?

 

[Leah04x]

no advice really, but I know in other countries that sometimes porridge is given just before bedtime. (Hipp do some goodnight food ranges in other countries, think you can buy it on Amazon)

can you maybe make up some porridge using baby milk (Plum is Freyas favourite at breakfast time) and then he is still getting milk, and going to bed with a full tum?

just in case he is wanting food instead of milk?

Thanks Lynds.. Yeah, I could try that, I'll have a look & see what I can find! He won't have formula in his cereal anymore though, so he's been having cows milk instead.

Just wish he was better with his milk! Stubborn little monkey xx

 

[Mum2betash]

My lo doesn't take as much as night time than her other 2 milk feeds, so I try feeding her her dinner earlier so she has longer to get more hungry. Sometimes it works others it doesn't. X

 

[Tanya4beauty]

I don't really know what to suggest Hun, we feed Mia at 5 and then she has a 9oz bottle at 6.45 before bed at 7 and she's never been a hungry baby or a great milk drinker so I'd say maybe he just doesn't want it anymore!!! I'd just keep trying.
Is he teething? That was the only time Mia almost point blankly refused any milk. Just a thought!!
Did he used to have an afternoon bottle? Did you drop it or did he? We still offer a bottle around 2.30-3 before her nap. Sometimes she has 7oz other times 4oz but just wondered if you could offer him that then do tea at 5. May be a way of getting more milk into him if he won't take a bedtime one. Xx

 

[clairebear22]

How about offering it in a beaker instead of a bottle? Jack loved his Nuk beaker as a baby and Harry drinks water from his now at only 14 weeks. Boots sell them and they have squishy mouth pieces. Or Nuby beakers are good too. Worth a try? x

 

[Leah04x]

I don't really know what to suggest Hun, we feed Mia at 5 and then she has a 9oz bottle at 6.45 before bed at 7 and she's never been a hungry baby or a great milk drinker so I'd say maybe he just doesn't want it anymore!!! I'd just keep trying.
Is he teething? That was the only time Mia almost point blankly refused any milk. Just a thought!!
Did he used to have an afternoon bottle? Did you drop it or did he? We still offer a bottle around 2.30-3 before her nap. Sometimes she has 7oz other times 4oz but just wondered if you could offer him that then do tea at 5. May be a way of getting more milk into him if he won't take a bedtime one. Xx

I wish Ethan did that! He has 3.5 hours between his dinner and bottle & won't even take an ounce!
I never really know when he's teething or not.. He's only got one tooth (came through about a month ago), but it came through no bother. He doesn't show the 'tell tale' signs of teething so it's hard to tell..
Up until about a month ago, he had a late morning bottle as well as morning/bedtime. He started refusing that so no longer has it. At the time, I tried giving it to him in the afternoon instead of late morning, but it made no difference.
I hate keep having to mess about with his routine, because he's blatantly a healthy & thriving baby but I do worry about his milk intake. Tomorrow, I'll try bottles at: 7:30am and 2:45pm (on the off chance he'll take some), then offer a bedtime one which no doubt will be refused! lol


xx

 

[Leah04x]

How about offering it in a beaker instead of a bottle? Jack loved his Nuk beaker as a baby and Harry drinks water from his now at only 14 weeks. Boots sell them and they have squishy mouth pieces. Or Nuby beakers are good too. Worth a try? x

I mentioned this to my HV, but she said as he's only just started drinking water out of his beaker, it's best to keep the milk in bottles & water in beaker to distinguish between the two?!
He's just using a tommee tippee first beaker (free flow) one at the moment as it's the only one he gets on with. I haven't tried the nuk one, but I have a nuby one and he won't drink out of it. Plus, he only takes tiny sips from his beaker throughout the day, so I'm not sure that he's at that stage where he could manage to feed himself much milk at one time. But it's something to keep in mind & try if it continues! Thankyou xx

 

[Hope81]

How about you do bottle at 4 and dinner at 6.30?
I know people usually give a bedtime bottle but it dosent have to he that way for everyone.

Amelie refused solids this afternoon so I gave her a bottle with some vanilla and cinnamon inside and drunk 7 oz!!! So then i did solids at 6.30 instead of bedtime bottle and she had a pancake and an egg with done bread. Then gave her some water and bed. No bottle as she had that earlier

 

[Leah04x]

How about you do bottle at 4 and dinner at 6.30?
I know people usually give a bedtime bottle but it dosent have to he that way for everyone.

Amelie refused solids this afternoon so I gave her a bottle with some vanilla and cinnamon inside and drunk 7 oz!!! So then i did solids at 6.30 instead of bedtime bottle and she had a pancake and an egg with done bread. Then gave her some water and bed. No bottle as she had that earlier

Ooh, I didn't think about that, thanks Hope!
I don't know with that, whether he needs the bottle as a trigger to realise it's bedtime or not? Because he's been having bath, bottle, bed for the past 7 months, knowing my luck he would wake up after an hour thinking it was just a nap
Will give it a go if all else fails xx

 

[Hope81]

Well you can always make him one more small bottle after dinner immediately lol. He will refuse it but he will get the idea ha ha and if you have great luck he may drink one more oz if he is thirsty after solids

 

[Leah04x]

Well you can always make him one more small bottle after dinner immediately lol. He will refuse it but he will get the idea ha ha and if you have great luck he may drink one more oz if he is thirsty after solids

Haha good idea! Anything's worth a try at the moment xx

 

[Tanya4beauty]

Hun try not to worry about milk intake, they throw all these facts and figures at us to worry us!! If you we're breast feeding you'd have no idea. He is getting what he needs from all the cheese and yoghurt you feed him and as long as his weight gain is good that's fine. Someone told me to follow what Mia wants as they do take what they need. We can't force them to have anything so just try to go with him. You're offering it and that's all that matters. What hope says is a good idea to try too xx

 

[Leah04x]

Hun try not to worry about milk intake, they throw all these facts and figures at us to worry us!! If you we're breast feeding you'd have no idea. He is getting what he needs from all the cheese and yoghurt you feed him and as long as his weight gain is good that's fine. Someone told me to follow what Mia wants as they do take what they need. We can't force them to have anything so just try to go with him. You're offering it and that's all that matters. What hope says is a good idea to try too xx

I know! I'm just a massive worrier full stop lol.. I do my best to give him a varied diet with as much milk as possible, but he's obviously not a fan of it!
He was weighed last week and is 22lb 5.5oz and has only put on 4oz in a month. HV said that was normal though as he's crawling now so burning it all off. He's still following the 91st centile though so I shouldn't be worrying!
Will try and re-plan his day though and see if it helps xx

 

[tweetyfoo]

I'm constantly changing Aarons feeding routine as he genuinely likes to mix things up. As soon as I think I've got it right he decides he doesn't like milk, or food, or cheese.

I can't find a time in the day to introduce snacks either.

I'd try what hope suggested, and try not to worry too much, my days of worrying about Aarons milk intake are behind me - he can take what he wants as far as I'm concerned now

 

[Tanya4beauty]

How has today gone Hun? X

 

[Leah04x]

How has today gone Hun? X

He's done quite well today! I tried giving him his spoonfed meal at lunch time and just finger food at dinner time again. He took a full 6oz this morning (he was starving due to not having his bedtime bottle the night before). Then he had 4oz cows milk in his brekkie, 2 x fromage frais (think there's about 2oz milk in each?!) and then 2oz before bed! Totalling 16oz - better than normal! But still not taking a lot before bed, so gonna try some of the things suggested tomorrow xx

 

[Tanya4beauty]

That's great! It's bizarre he doesn't want a bedtime bottle, that's normally the favourite one! He's obviously getting what he needs/wants tho because he sleeps through and is gaining weight so you're doing a great job x

 

[Leah04x]

I'm constantly changing Aarons feeding routine as he genuinely likes to mix things up. As soon as I think I've got it right he decides he doesn't like milk, or food, or cheese.

I can't find a time in the day to introduce snacks either.

I'd try what hope suggested, and try not to worry too much, my days of worrying about Aarons milk intake are behind me - he can take what he wants as far as I'm concerned now

I'm the same tweety!
No idea how I'm gonna be able to find the time to introduce snacks. Plus that means he'll want even less milk.. He seems pretty happy with his three meals a day & two bottles at the minute - not sure when you're supposed to start giving snacks though? I already feel like I'm constantly feeding him lol.. xx

 

[Gayle30]

Do we need to give snacks? I have no idea cause Daisy is a late starter. Xx

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