Our baby boy is 7 months old. We changed his pediatrician recently because we were very dissatisfied with the former one as he used to give a lot of conflicting advice and had our baby do a lot of unnecessary tests “just to be sure” when our baby is perfectly healthy but simply on the smaller side.
We did a lot of research before landing on this new pediatrician. We were impressed by all the 5-star reviews on Google and thought that this is the doctor we want for our baby as all the reviews mentioned how attentive to baby’s needs this doctor is.
Yesterday we had a first visit for the doctor to see him for the first time before his 9-month checkup since he’s a new patient. The doctor asked me whether I was feeding him formula or breast milk. I said only formula. I did not have enough supply to sustain my baby, so at 3 months we started exclusively formula feeding. I grieved the end of my breastfeeding journey but made my peace with it and we were very happy with how things were going. My little one is happy and healthy and growing healthily and meeting all his milestones.
The doctor then asked me how much he’s drinking. I told him 25-30 ounces a day. He cautioned me to not give him too much to drink and that he should be getting more of his nutrition from solids as formula has no nutritional value and that if I keep going like this, my baby will end up anemic.
I was absolutely flabbergasted by what he said because I keep checking the internet and Reddit regularly to learn about other parents’ experiences and everything that I’ve read so far seems to be telling me that 25-30 ounces is absolutely reasonable for a 7-month-old and that a baby’s main nutrition comes from milk (either breast or formula) until he’s 1.
My little one also does not eat a lot of solid yet. I feed him a little purée that I make myself every day and he eats maximum 4-5 tiny spoons and then he’s done. I don’t force him as I read this can damage his relationship with food down the road, so I’m super careful about not forcing anything. I listen to my baby’s body and respect his cues.
So many other parents on Reddit have mentioned that it’s normal for babies to not eat actual full solid meals until even later, sometimes 8 or 9 months, one parent even mentioned 11 months. So I was really reassured by that as at the beginning I was stressing out a lot about why my baby was not eating more since his former pediatrician told us he should have been eating since he was 4 months old.
Since yesterday my mind has not been at peace. Am I doing something wrong? My intuition is telling me that this new pediatrician is wrong and that this was probably his way of shaming me for not breastfeeding. It is normal for my baby to not be eating full solid meals yet, right? And it is normal that most of his nutrition is coming from his formula, right? And formula IS absolutely nutritional, isn’t it? I am so confused at this point.
We did a lot of research before landing on this new pediatrician. We were impressed by all the 5-star reviews on Google and thought that this is the doctor we want for our baby as all the reviews mentioned how attentive to baby’s needs this doctor is.
Yesterday we had a first visit for the doctor to see him for the first time before his 9-month checkup since he’s a new patient. The doctor asked me whether I was feeding him formula or breast milk. I said only formula. I did not have enough supply to sustain my baby, so at 3 months we started exclusively formula feeding. I grieved the end of my breastfeeding journey but made my peace with it and we were very happy with how things were going. My little one is happy and healthy and growing healthily and meeting all his milestones.
The doctor then asked me how much he’s drinking. I told him 25-30 ounces a day. He cautioned me to not give him too much to drink and that he should be getting more of his nutrition from solids as formula has no nutritional value and that if I keep going like this, my baby will end up anemic.
I was absolutely flabbergasted by what he said because I keep checking the internet and Reddit regularly to learn about other parents’ experiences and everything that I’ve read so far seems to be telling me that 25-30 ounces is absolutely reasonable for a 7-month-old and that a baby’s main nutrition comes from milk (either breast or formula) until he’s 1.
My little one also does not eat a lot of solid yet. I feed him a little purée that I make myself every day and he eats maximum 4-5 tiny spoons and then he’s done. I don’t force him as I read this can damage his relationship with food down the road, so I’m super careful about not forcing anything. I listen to my baby’s body and respect his cues.
So many other parents on Reddit have mentioned that it’s normal for babies to not eat actual full solid meals until even later, sometimes 8 or 9 months, one parent even mentioned 11 months. So I was really reassured by that as at the beginning I was stressing out a lot about why my baby was not eating more since his former pediatrician told us he should have been eating since he was 4 months old.
Since yesterday my mind has not been at peace. Am I doing something wrong? My intuition is telling me that this new pediatrician is wrong and that this was probably his way of shaming me for not breastfeeding. It is normal for my baby to not be eating full solid meals yet, right? And it is normal that most of his nutrition is coming from his formula, right? And formula IS absolutely nutritional, isn’t it? I am so confused at this point.
) - here we only advise multivitamins if baby is having less than 500ml of formula a day.