11m old has cut back drastically on formula

[jordanbanks]

My daughter is a week shy of 11m and has been 99% percentile for weight for about 2 months now (25lbs). She’s what I’d consider a great eater and loves solids. Three meals a day with crackers and pouches to keep her happy inbetween.

My concern is that she’s cut down drastically on her formula feeds. When she was 7m she’d drink 36oz+/1 L+ a day. Now I’m lucky if I can get her to have three 4oz bottles in a day.

I give her formula before her solids, but she just doesn’t want much and pushes her bottles away. She won’t take a sippy cup with formula at all.

I’ve talked to my GP and a peds dietitian and they didn’t seem concerned since she has a good weight but I can’t help but worry that she’s not getting enough of the nutrients in her formula. She eats lots of eggs and veggies and dairy, but I just worry.

Anyone have exp with a 10-11m old cutting back on formula or refusing feeds in favour of solids?

 

[cindlee]

@jordanbanks At that age I'd be completely fine with it. By then she should be fine to have less formula. And after a few months of solids you should be offering them first and formula should be offered after anyways.

I'm in Canada and many of the doctors recommend weaning to start at 9 months and be completed by 1 year so you'd be right on track for that.

Honestly I wouldn't worry at all about the I take unless your pediatrician says so.

 

[jordanbanks]

@cindlee Okay this is great. I’m actually in Canada, too. I didn’t know about the formula after solids thing! I think my brain is stuck in 6 month mode when we first started solids (I was super stressed about it and seem emotionally stuck there haha).

Thank you for this!

 

[cindlee]

@jordanbanks No worries! Yea I can't believe that we aren't at 6 months anymore either lol I totally get it.

 

[cassmith]

@jordanbanks My daughter was also always 90% plus, started solids at 4 months because she was obsessed with our food lol. She was eating three solid meals by 6 months, I can't remember exactly how much formula she was taking but I remember by 10 months she was having one 8oz bottle first thing in a morning then I was offering a second bottle in the afternoon which she gradually started refusing. I kept the morning 8oz until a year but I definitely could have dropped it. She has never liked cows milk but eats lots of cheese and yogurt for calcium! Let them tell you what they need, I say

 

[jordanbanks]

@cassmith Wow! Okay that gives me hope. We went from five feeds a day to three very quickly and she’s refusing her last bottle usually because she’s full from dinner. Kid loves to eat. Thank you for sharing that!

 

[cassmith]

@jordanbanks Yeah I also remember dropping from 5 to 3 over a matter of weeks!

 

[kpm1118]

@jordanbanks We stopped formula at 12m cold turkey and replaced with whole milk.

 

[chicago51]

@jordanbanks My recently turned 10 month old is doing the same thing. She has always drank on the low end of the total recommended amount of formula, and now I'm lucky if I can get her to drink 20oz total.

 

[jordanbanks]

@chicago51 That’s interesting. Do you think she’s just happier with solids at this point? Teething? What’s your hypothesis?

 

[chicago51]

@jordanbanks I do think she is happier with solids. She started having a lot of interest in foods when she was 5 months old and hasn't slowed down. She would constantly watch me when I had food, and it didn't take her long before she kept trying to take what I had. So far, teething doesn't seem to impact her bottles or solids.

 

[malloriesdad]

@chicago51 My son is in the same boat. Out of curiosity are you doing purées or BLW or both? I haven’t tried BLW yet but I’m thinking to try now that he doesn’t really want formula. I’m nervous he will lose weight.

 

[chicago51]

@malloriesdad I am doing both. I use the solid starts app to get info about the age range and how to serve foods. It's been really helpful with how to cut things up.

 

[malloriesdad]

@chicago51 Thanks for replying. I have the same app. I think i am just nervous about him choking. But I have tried banana and avocado how they recommended in the app.

 

[chicago51]

@malloriesdad I use it as more of a guide line when cutting things. My daughter loves to shove food in by the handful, so if it's something I am nervous about I will leave it big so that she has to be aware of the size of the bite she took.

 

[hluben]

@jordanbanks No help, but solidarity. I have a 10.5 month old who's also about 25lbs who recently started not drinking as much formula. Like wants to drop a bottle feeding all together and doesn't finish all the others. He's sleeping fine, and he's a little cranky, but he's also getting teeth, so I've kind of chalqvked it up to partially teething and just trying to say what he wants.

 

[jordanbanks]

@hluben This is comforting to know! But also I am sending you hugs. My baby has been hella teething for like four months now and she has three coming in at the moment. I was wondering if teething is playing a role too.

 

[hluben]

@jordanbanks Three at a time is rough! Mine already has his bottom teeth and his top two have erupted. He wont stay still long enough for me to have a good look in there to see what else is going on though!

 

[homohabilis117]

@jordanbanks I remember at that age my daughter started having some loose stools; I think it was her body’s way of saying “too much formula!” If her weight gain looks good I’d say try not to worry and just replace those calories with food or cows milk/alternative!

 

[jordanbanks]

@homohabilis117 That’s a good gut check for me. Thank you!