FertilityZone

Hiya,

They should start to reduce the feeds themselves when they start eating more food.

We do baby led weaning and we have only just got down to 3 feeds from 5 and my LO is 10 months. They will start to reduce the amount of milk they take and eventually drop a feed.

My LO was on the 25th when born and is now almost on 98th.

How old are they now?

To be told to reduce the feeds when you're only a week in and they're not eating much is a bit irresponsible to me.

I totally agree with flic, that seems not right to cut their milk!!
To start with I treated it that milk was their number one nourishment then any solids was a bonus.
I worried about when they would drop milk and they did it a long time after all their (normal term) baby friends.
Try not to put pressure on the situation, If baby is screaming for normal milk then give it, You are only a week in and its a long old process that neither of you need to be stressed about.
But of course that is only my opinion, Good Luck xx

Hi, i have also been told by health visitor to reduce milk intake as we have been weaning for a month now. LO is 7 months nearly and i think is doing well with the weaning but i always question if sh is having enough. She has always drained her bottles and before weaning was having 4x 9oz bottles a day, and these she finished (i sometimes thought she would drink more if offered - she seemed happy enough though). Until yesterday she was having 2x 7oz, an 8oz and then a 9oz to bed, so suppose she is cutting down slowly herself. Yesterday she stopped of her own accord at 6oz on 1 bottle, the first time she has stopped herself. She is eating well i think, a couple of ubes of lumpy home made food and she loves frit, will eat nearly a whole pear for pudding !!! - chopped in to cubes of course!!!!
My health visitor said i was to aim for 6, 4, 4, and then a 6oz = a total of 20oz per day, and that i should start to cut an oz a day to meet this and in turn increase her solids. This seemed a bit dramatic to me so i have mae a plan over the next 4 weeks to sowly cut but i think i will keep the bed bottle as i don't want her going to bed hungry, well i don't want her to go hungry at any time, i'm questioning myself again. What is the right thing???!!!
I thinkshe told me to cut down as i did say about me going back to work in March and wanting LO if possible to be having bottles in the morning and evening with other milk in a cup during the day - if possible, perhaps in hindsight a little optimistic and too soon really. When and how have others made this transition to using a non spill cup, and am i right to think this is the next step???? Also do you sterilise the cup?

Sorry Pushoz i don't seem to have answered your questions probably only confused you even more. Loads of thoughts are also going through my head too, so just show that we all don't know what we are doing really !!! but hopefully we can take advice and kind words from others and we will get there in the end with our lovely LO's.
Loop

OK, my LO is 10 months now and has only JUST cut down to 3 bottles per day. A 4oz in the morning before breakfast, a 4oz about 3-4pm and a 6oz at bedtime.

The 20oz can be made up of yoghurt, cheese and dairy products as well as milk.

At 7 months my LO was still on 5 feeds per day.

We use a cup with a soft spout and we use it for water because you should be offering water with meals. My LO will not take her milk from it though.

It seems that a lot of HV's think its so important to cut milk down when baby will do it themselves when they take enough. Until your baby is 1 year old all they really need is milk anyway as the milk will have far more calories in it than the food.

Also being just a month in is nothing Loop. Don't forget their stomachs are still small so they won't be able to go for long gaps without a feed after food.

Hi Zoe - I had a similar situation with Georgie - she leapt up the centiles too from the 9th to the 99.7th! I've been met with various responses from different health professionals -my HV said I should cut her bottles down dramatically, while the paediatrician wasn't at all concerned. The standard growth charts that babies are measured against are for single babies, not multiples. A twin is far more likely to be born at a lower birth weight than if they were a singleton and therefore are bound to leap up the centiles to their potential when they're out and growing. Nobody seems to acknowledge this though, which is so frustrating!!

I agree with the others, to cut down that much so quickly and so soon into weaning just seems silly. Babies do tell you when it's time to cut back but it might take a while to see the signs (or that may just be me ) At the moment their primary source of nutrition is milk - I'd be led by him and your instinct rather than advice from the HV on this occasion. Just keep practising with the food and things will naturally progress x

I went to see my HV this morning and asked her about milk feeds and she said that baby will reduce the feeds themselves. She said that they are very good at regulating their appetite and to just go with it.

I'm sure 7oz to 6oz won't make any difference to them and is probably a good idea so don't feel guilty at all, I think it is worth experimenting (but not in a drastic way). I did cut down mine to encourage them to eat more and it worked for me. One of mine was quite happy to live off milk and no solids so I had to do something to progress with the weaning. We were on four 7oz feeds a day at 6 months, now we have 5-6oz, breakfast, 4-5oz mid morning, lunch, snack and tea, and 6oz at bedtime, but it has taken a few months to get to this point with the milk and solids. You'll get there I'm sure x

Hi

My little one is 7 & half months old & we started weaning him just before he was 6 months. He was on 4 x 7oz feeds at the time we started to wean him as he had cut himself down from the 8oz we were giving him. He now eats three meals a day and we have reduced him down to 3 milk feeds a day.

My little one only usually wakes after 9am (although this needs to be earlier for when I go back to work) so I try to get the following into him:

upon waking in the morning an 8oz bottle;
around 10.30am baby porridge (made with 3oz of formula) or baby breakfast yoghurt;
around 1-1.30pm lunch & fruit or yoghurt (with water in free flow sippy cup);
around 3.30pm a 7oz bottle;
around 5.30pm tea with fruit or yoghurt (with water from sippy cup);
around 7.30-8.00pm a 7oz bottle

He doesn't always have the full bottles at the milk feeds so that is why I try to get the yoghurts in & I make the porridge with formula too. I have also started giving him dairylea sandwiches & also have bought other cheese to start giving him to feed himself with.

He has only been going to bed after 8pm as my DH usually only finishes work after 7pm so wouldn't see him otherwise but he has got a new job offer which means Dan can go to bed earlier & so will wake earlier which will be better for him & his feeds.

I spoke with HV about the fact he doesn't always drink his milk & she said that if he is on 3 meals a day now & I am including yoghurts & cheese into his feeds then its not the be all to get so much milk in through his bottles. I have decided that so long as he doesn't seem hungry & his weight gain is satisfactory then he can eat/drink as much as he likes within reason & I am not worrying anymore. He has also jumped from 50th% to 91st% since I started weaning but I think this will even out when he gets more mobile