Struggling with my 8m old on enough formula

[theomatician888]

Baby is just about to be 9 months. Suddenly this past week has been HELL trying to bottle feed her. Normally she’d drink 6-8oz of formula 4x a day with 3 meals. Now she’s flat out refusing a bottle and cups with milk in them. Pediatrician not concerned and said not much I can do if she’s not wanting the bottle and I can’t force it. Not good advice. It’s a battle to even get her to drink 4oz without her screaming and turning her head away and pushing me away. I’m worried 15oz of formula in a 24hr period is not enough.

She has no problem with solids and will happily sit in her chair and eat whatever I give her, formula just seems to be the issue. Even after sleeping for 11 hours at night she will only drink 4oz upon waking in the morning. It’s stressing me the F out any advice welcome!

 

[azmombb]

@theomatician888 I have the same issue with my 8 month old and I will tell you what we have done!

He won’t eat if anyone else is in the room. He won’t eat anywhere that has a lot going on. To remedy this part we always feed him in the nursery alone.

Whenever he starts to cry or refuse the bottle I give him a minute, sing to him until he calms down and reintroduce slowly.

The best advice I can give is yes don’t force it. Try and then try again after 30 minutes. The more agitated mine becomes the worse it gets for future feeds!

I have also tried, giving him a toy in one hand (works 70% of the time). He will get distracted with that and let me feed him.

 

[rebeccajoy72]

@theomatician888 I went through this with my LO. I found letting her hold the bottle while propped on pillows on the ground in front of sesame street or hey bear was the only thing that helped. She was so distracted otherwise and just wants to move and play. She also does better with smaller, frequent bottles then larger volumes. She normally gets 5-6 oz first thing. I give her 2-3 oz before every nap and 4-5 oz before meals (whatever she doesn't drink, I add it to her baby cereal). Then we give 4-6oz before bed. Totalling about 25-30 oz/day. This has been working for us for about a month. Hope this helps!

 

[cotessagratowski]

@theomatician888 So this will probably make me seem like a horrible parent… but my baby has struggled since the beginning to eat. Now at 7mo the only way to get a guaranteed 16oz in is on the way to daycare. Strap them in the car seat and prop a blanket to help keep the bottle in place and my kid will happily drink 7-8 oz instead of screaming at me the whole 30-40 min drive to daycare. Same thing coming home. This usually gets us to the 20’s for the day and we don’t force anything else. Use your judgment though, my child holds their bottle on their own already, just needs a little help keeping it steady.

 

[christianseamstress]

@theomatician888 Don't stress!!! Mine did this too at the same age! I feel like it's pretty common around the 8-9 month range, but it's usually a phase and will pass.

My LO lost a little bit of weight, like less than one pound, but pediatrician wasn't concerned. Told me to keep weighing him every few days and if he doesn't pick up the pace or continues losing weight, call him. I think it lasted about a week and a half, maybe two, but we're back up to where we were before.

We also just went through another phase where he wasn't interested in solids, but he had just started crawling so I'm pretty sure it's because he'd rather be using his new skill than eating.

 

[faither]

@theomatician888 I’ve noticed my baby starting to drink less formula too as he’s been eating more solids. It seems normal but I get worried too if he doesn’t finish at least 25 oz a day. Maybe try offering small amounts more frequently or switch to 6 oz every 4 hours when baby should get hungry. I let baby watch tv too so it keeps him still. I’ve hold off on dropping his one feed at night so he could hit his intake of 25-28oz.

It’s true you can’t force a baby to take the bottle, forcing it can cause bottle aversion. Babies are also good at telling you if they’re full. I’m sure your pediatrician will be concerned if she dropped weight. If she’s gaining or holding steady, it should be okay.

 

[much2know]

@theomatician888 Can you try putting it in a cup? My baby was like that for a week, a month after we transitioned to milk. We put it in a straw cup then he was back to chugging his milk. Guess he wanted to drink it at a faster pace and was frustrated by the slow pace of a bottle.

 

[theomatician888]

@much2know Yeah. She kinda drinks an ounce or two more from the straw cup/open cup on occasion. I think she’s just full and I need to follow her lead and stress less about it!

 

[patrotter]

@theomatician888 Try going up a nipple flow level.