Time to drop a bottle?

[wendy1948]

My 9 month old is currently on solids and has dropped formula from 35 oz/day to 22-25 oz/day. Other than his first and last bottle of the day, it is an absolute struggle to get him to drink his bottle, especially in the afternoon. He much prefers his solids but I know formula will remain his primary source of nutrition until he is 1 year old. I’m wondering if I should drop a bottle to hopefully encourage him to drink more/consolidate his formula feeds (so I can wash less bottles)

His current meals/bottles look like:
7am - 8oz
8:45 - solids
11 - 5-6 oz
1:15 - solids
2:15 - 2-4 oz
4 - 2-4 oz
5:30 - solids
7 - 6 oz

Im thinking of dropping either his 2:15 or 4 pm bottle and adding in a solids snack. What would you do?

 

[david1987]

@wendy1948 Legitimately went to the pediatrician about this issue today at 8.5 months. My son will drink 2.5oz from 6am-2:30pm and scream any time a bottle comes near him but will GLADLY and easily eat solids. The advice we were given was to make sure he is getting liquids in other ways, ie still giving purees but watering them down, giving oatmeal made with formula, adding a bit of water to his meals (ie like with chicken and rice). Her concern was that he was getting adequate iron and vitamin D. We are lucky if we get 22oz in him and that's mainly because we get 14oz in him spread across two bottles after daycare when he's sleepy from playing all day.

 

[melchizedek]

@david1987 We give my girls some vitamins drops, they have iron and other vitamins in them. Mine are toddlers, so I add it to chocolate milk to hide the taste. But maybe you could hide it in something else? Just makes me feel better knowing they are getting the vitamins that they need.

 

[canedunkan]

@wendy1948 Same going on here lol. My son is 10 m old and overall takes ~18 oz in the whole day along with 5 solid meals. Bottles kinda make him lose it and he gets angry. I make up for his reluctance to take bottles by prepping purées with formula, making oat cereals in formula and occasionally do pedialyte. Just watch out for diaper output and if it’s in the right range we’re ok.