We are having problems getting P to have hardly any of her last feed before bed and i wondered how much others are having. P's meals are basically: 8.30 - cereal or fruit and approx 5oz formula 12.30 - solid meal and approx 5oz formula 4.30 - solid meal and approx 5oz formula 8.30 - last formula feed which up until recently was 8oz I seem to remember G having milk before bed until she was much much older and i thought it was the last one she dropped?? I go to give her the 8.30 milk and she starts off keen then pushes it away. 4 nights ago this started after about 4oz and its gradually got less and less. Tonight she has had 1oz!! What are your little ones up to?!

Hi MM, neither of mine are around 8 months but didn't want to read and run. If it helps E is nearly 18 months and has a beaker of milk before she goes to sleep (this replaced the bottle) Some nights she drains it, other nights she doesn't want to know and pushes it away after a few sips. If its not P's sleep too much I wouldn't worry. I always remember my HV saying with the bottle that she would let you know when she was ready to give it up. Sorry can't be more help x

F is 7 months and still has most of an 8oz bottle before bed although he has fallen asleep a couple of times after 3oz. He's a chubster though and I've rarely seen him refuse a bottle. I think they are supposed to have 20oz in total at that age but this can include milk on cereal etc so I wouldn't worry as long as she is getting enough calcium.

Thank you both! JRJ my worry is that because P is allegic to cows milk she isnt getting any dairy through cheese etc, just what she drinks.

You're giving milk at the same time as the meal?

I'd stop that 4.30/5pm milk and ride it out til bedtime.

Our day goes something along the lines of
7am Milk
8.30 breakfast
11am Milk
12.30/1 lunch
4pm Milk
5pm dinner
7pm Milk and bed.

Have you seen a dietician? I just want to reassure you re the dairy. The dietician said to me "bears have bones of steel and they eat no dairy". There are loads of ways to get calcium in. Look at your green veg and boney fish etc.

I can promise you my Matilda grew just fine without eating dairy.

Are you giving a supplement?

B is 8 months and we're doing pretty much as Rusty's timetable. Still BF so can't compare there but some nights she does feed less and just wants to get to bed it seems.

Our schedule is

7/7.30 - cereal (ready brek or weetabix)

9/9.30 - 8oz bottle

12-1 - lunch

2-3 -8oz bottle

5/5.30 - dinner

7 - bedtime 8oz bottle

W gets water as much as he wants during the day too. He doesn't always take the whole bottle at every feed, it depends on how much he ate at lunch. W is 7 months tbough, so not sure what difference that would make.

8 porridge

10 bf (no idea on quantity but it's very little as he only feds for a few mins)

12 lunch

2 bf (again only a few mins of a bf)

5.30 dinner

7.15 bf

His milk intake has reduced drastically since weaning and he went from half hour feeds to a few mins. Sometimes he point blank refuses to feed.

I would also suggest offering milk separately to meals, especially at this age when milk is more important than food. We used to do something like this at around that age...

6.30/7 - milk

8.30/9 - cereal/toast

10.30/11-snack

12.30/1 - lunch

2.30/3 - milk

5 - Dinner

7 - milk

F is allergic to. I alternate food and milk and also give him porridge with 3oz of milk. Do you put formula on her cereal?

Thanks everyone. I was told by my hv not to give milk at different times to food as they should be gradually replacing milk with food now? I think i will drop the milk feed with her tea today and see if that helps. She had 7oz this morning and 6oz at lunchtime so thats already 13oz so as long as she has at least 5oz before bed that would be fine as they are meant to have 18-20oz a day........

I've always offered milk inbetween meals and then gradually swapped the milk for a snack. They don't need to replace milk for food until they're one, certainly not at 8 months when weaning is still so new. S is also milk intolerant and the dietician said as long as she has 15oz of milk a day, that's fine for her calcium intake. (This was once she'd turned 1) If it helps, my eldest was never fussed on milk and dropped her night bottle not long after 1 - it was her morning milk she's kept.

Our routine is this:
6ish 8oz milk
8ish weetabix or porridge with half banana
12 lunch
2ish 8oz
5 dinner
7 8oz
10 8oz
He is greedy and huge though

I have been gradually reducing F's middle of day feeds and offering snacks, as he gets better at eating finger foods I will drop the milk further.

I need to change his routine completely though as his nursery gives lunch at half eleven?! So the plan from next week will be

6am - 8oz bottle

8am - porridge made with 4oz formula

9.30am - snack (nursery offer toast which he doesn't manage to eat a lot of yet)

11.30/12pm - lunch

2:30pm - nursery offer further snack plus 8oz bottle

5pm - dinner

7pm - 8oz

I'm not sure how well this will go as I tried it today and he was looking for his normal bottle at 11 :(

The whole weaning thing is a headache!

Well from yesterday i tried dropping the 5pm milk and giving more solids and so far its going well. I agree JRJ weaning is tough sometimes. See my hv has said 18-20oz of milj a day but not too much more as it can affect iron absorbtion??? Anyway our new routine is

8.30 - porridge made with formula and the rest of an 8oz bottle after.

12.30 - lunch and 5oz bottle

4.30 - tea

8.00 - 8oz bottle

she got grotty around 6pm yesterday so i gave a snack and she was happy and she is now draining most of her bottles. She's had 21oz milk today so seems to be working for now!

X