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Cutting down bottles!

Hi girls! Me again.....



I was just wondering, I'm introducing a 3rd meal to my LO's routine this week! She started weaning at 17 weeks and has been on 2 meals since 20 weeks, she's now 25 weeks!



What I was wondering is when and how do you start cutting down bottles? She currently has 4 6oz bottles!



Ta

Becky

Xxx

Replies

  • I wouldn't worry too much about cutting down bottles - they often start to cut back on their own as you increase the food.



    She will need at least 20oz of milk each day until she is a year old and she isn't far from that now.



    My little ones are defo cutting back their bottles by just leaving what they don't want. If this happens at the same time for a few days, I have been putting less in the bottle.



    xxx
  • I'd leave her on that - they're meant to have at least 18-20oz a day, which is about a pint, and I left Jak on 24oz a day until he was about 8 months, (4 6oz bottles, just like Eve!) then cut it down to 4 5oz bottles a day because he'd started to leave a bit in the bottom of the bottle at each feed. They still get the majority of their nutrition from their milk, and it was peace of mind for me because we were BLW mostly. That said, Jak had fallen off the bottom of the chart at around 5 months, which was another reason I was worried about him 'getting enough' once we started weaning. We then switched to 3 6oz bottles a day when he was about 10 months, and now he's over 12 months he is on 2 drinks of cows' milk a day, plus a bit more in his food.



    HTH hun, give Eve a squidge for me! x x x
  • I've found that they generally cut them down themselves. Once your LO is getting enough susitnence they will start to drink less (probably in the morning first) and so then you drop the 11am bottle. But I would wait until they show signs that they don't need it before enforcing a bottle drop. Also if you drop one bottle you'll need to be a bit more in the others i.e. 4 x 6oz will become 3 x 7 oz.
  • we've been weaning for a month and half and I find DD very variable in terms of what she wants milk and solids wise during the day, each day the balance is slightly different. She is 6 and a half months and I have decided to totally take her lead with it all - she does a mixture of finger foods (really moving to mostly baby led now as she doesn't like being spoon fed as much as before) and being spooned yoghurt/soup etc and takes anything between 20-28oz a day depending on hunger levels/colds/how much solids she's had.

    Having led the baby led weaning book I decided I liked the idea of just letting her tell me when she was ready to cut down on milk, so that's what I'm going to do and I'm much less stressed about it! If she's had a big dinner she'll take a few oz less milk, so I know as she gets more skilled at eating and hungrier she'll probably carry on in that direction. Paed told us when advising us to wean early to concentrate our big milk feeds on morning and bedtime and see what she wanted in between. The only slightly 'non baby led' thing I do now is try to make her 3pm milk feed smaller than the others ie I tend to offer 5 oz as opposed to 7oz, or 4oz and a wee snack, so she's hungrier for her tea at 5pm, but even then if she cried for more at 3pm I'd give her it! xx
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