Solids.. and how much formula??

Hi,

DS is now 7 months and going well with his solids (combination of puree and BLS). He is having 3 meals a day and they are all pretty much about a 1/2 cup each. My question really is about how much formula he should be having??

Before solids he was having 4 x 240mls a day, once started solids he wouldnt drink anymore than 4 x 180mls. He is now lucky to only have 4 x 100-120mls a day (plus a little water with each meal) and I am worried about this not being enough. As much as I try he just isnt interested in drinking anymore than that. Could it also have something to do with Step 2 formula?

His weight gains are fine, and he is sleeping really well. The MHCN isn't worried, she said he will drink it if he needed it. I guess I am just after some reassurance that this is ok, or if I should be reducing the amount of solids??

anyone.. :bump:

jng1977, I am afraid I don't have an answer for you, but just wanted to say that I am in the same boat! I saw that you posted your question today, and usually Friday through Sunday is a bit slow on BB. Perhaps bump it again on Monday morning?

I am quite concerned about my boy's lack of interest in milk, too, and often rely on a dream feed to get a good full bottle into him! According to the book "Baby Love", they should be having upwards of 180ml 3 times a day plus 3 solid feeds. My friend was told 180ml 4 times a day from her GP - so i honestly don't know what to believe. I am due to take our little boy to the paediatrician in 3 weeks time but am actually considering bringing the appointment forward to later next week because of this very issue! I will gladly pass on any information I can to you once I have seen the doc.

When my boy doesn't drink enough I try to remind myself that if he was breastfed I would have no idea how much he was getting. I also figure that I cannot force him to drink, so there isn't much I can do, really (short of restricting his solids, which I really don't think is a smart thing to do).

I hope to have some news for you soon. If I lose this thread subscription, feel free to PM me in a week or so.

Yeah I started doing the dreamfeed again too, just to make sure he was taking a full bottle. He always seems to drink all of it when its a dreamfeed. Yeah I have Baby Love too! Great minds think alike :)

I was also wondering if its just that he is getting much more distracted?

Thanks for your message, good to know someone else is in the same boat. Sometimes I feel a bit silly posting things..!

anyone else :redface:

My baby girl is 7 1/2 months and we are starting to get the same problem even though she only really have a full solid meal (around 125 - 150ml) a day. At dinner she has finger food and honestly i don't think she eats much. IN the past 2 days we struggle with the morning feed which I only manage to get 100ml into her and then the afternoon meal she would only take up to 100ml. The early morning feed is normal low like this but her late morning and afternoon is never like this. This is out of her norm for she would normally take between 200 - 240ml during the day.

I am interested to find out what others experience as well. I feel like stretching her feed to 5 hourly and see what happens. I have been giving her 5 feed a day but I think it is time to cut down to 4 feed a day.

I have an appointment with our paediatrician next Wednesday afternoon and will ask him for some suggestions and the total amount that they should still be drinking. I will get back to you then.

Thanks Sambo. I was told that with 3 meals a day formula could be as little as 600ml. Would be interested to know what the figures should be if bub only have 1 meal a day.

Just cutting and pasting this from another thread - apologies for the repitition:

I asked my paediatrician today about the minimum formula requirement and thought that I would relay what he said, as promised. Obviously I could only really ask him questions in relation to our boy, but it should give people an indication, anyway. I just want to preface the following by saying that our bub's height and weight are in proportion (albeit both in the 100th percentile!!) and he got a 100% bill of health. Different weight vs height issues or dietetic requirements could result in the following being inaccurate:

Firstly he said "always ignore the can - that is for babies who are not on solids"

Secondly he said that once baby is on established solids and having a balance diet, i.e. 3 meals per day, they require 800mg of calcium per day which is derived from the formula (particularly for my bub who is milk protein intolerant and cannot ingest calcium any other way). So I suppose that can be reduced if your bub is guzzling yoghurt, cheeses etc.?

Thirdly he said that the absolute minimum for a bub on established solids is 500ml per day BUT that you should be aiming for between 600 and 700mls.

I hope this helps.

Thanks Sambo! Yes it does help.. and makes me feel a lot better :)