Hi my son who is 9 months old had to go to hospital for an operation yesterday and stay overnight. He had to fast from 7am and and didnt come out of recovery until 4:30pm. After he had come round a little I was advised to give him a bottle. He has 3 8oz bottles a day but over the past couple of weeks has been taking less of his 3 oclock bottle. I gave him a bottle but he only took 3 oz. An hour later he was more alert and I asked a nurse if there was any food he could have. She asked what formula he was on and she would get him a bottle. I said that he had already had a bottle and was there any solid food he could have. She looked at me strangely and said you do know that milk is the most important thing for babies. I said I did but he would be having a bottle before bed and as he hadnt eaten all day I felt he needed a solid meal. She came back with a 4 - 6 month baby jar which is less that he would normally eat but he ate it. The next morning he woke up and had a bottle. I asked a nurse if there was any breakfast for him. She said she would get him some formula. I told her he had a bottle but he usually has cereal e.g weetabix and toast for breakfast. She said there was some weetabix in the kitchen but asked if he was not too young to be eating toast. I explained that as he was 9 months he had been eating finger food for a while and as he had 7 teeth he was fine with it. At lunch time a nurse came round to ask the children what they wanted for lunch but didn't ask us. I asked if my son could have some and the nurse said 'does he not have a bottle now?' I told her he has a solid meal for lunch. She offered us a 4-6 month jar but I said he usually has something more and she reluctantly gave us a plate of fishcakes and mash which was stone cold and my son refused to eat. They wouldn't allow us to warm it up but said they would get him a sandwich. After 20 minutes my son was getting restless as he was hungry so I asked about the sandwhich. They told me they had to order it from the kitchen and it could take upto 2 hours to get to the ward and she said 'if hes hungry just give him a bottle'. I tried him with a bottle but he only had 2 oz so in the end we took him to the cafe and he had a sandwich.
Sorry this is so long winnded but they have really confused me. I thought we were doing really well with weaning and my son eats most food and has a varied diet .This was a childrens hospital so they have a lot of knowledge about children. but they made me feel that he should be having mostly formula and less food. I would really appreciate peoples opinions on this.
Thanks

Sounds a bit funny to me, like they were treating him like a younger baby. I suppose when you're not the one actually raising a child, you can forget how much they change in a few months - I know that Lily at 6 months old had a completely different diet to when she was 9 months old. And now at 13 months, she's changed a lot since 9 months.

It's like they just had him classed as 'baby' in their minds but forgot how much difference a few months can make in terms of food.

Honestly, that confuses me too? I thought around 6mos you start weaning? I know they still take bottles up to a year before going to cows milk... but strange to me they would seem so reluctent to offer your LO proper finger foods to eat? Even more purees would have been nice...

I'm no expert though... so maybe different hospitals have different outlooks on this? Or just error on the side of caution? I'm not sure.

Sounds to me like your are doing just fine with LO hun.

i agree my son is fully weaned and only as 2 bottles if i took away his food and gave him a bottle he'd kick off big time. i think if ur lo is happy with food then u no wot best there is nothing wrong with being fully weaned at this age imop

I see what they mean about milk being the most important part of a baby's diet, because it is until one, but not old enough for toast? That's bizarre, a 6 month old baby can eat toast, and certainly by 9 months. I would see solid food as an important part of his routine, to keep things as 'normal' as possible while he's away from home. It sounds like you're doing great, giving lots of textures. My LO is 7 months corrected and if you gave him a jar of purée nowadays he'd look at you like you had two heads.

You would think they have 9mo in there all the time eating food tho? Seams very odd?
Does your lo look a lot younger than 9 mo maybe? It's still no excuse as they should know lo's age but maybe they didn't realise??

You're doing just great love. Yes milk is still important until they are 1 but as long as they are getting 16-20oz a day then they are fine. Fran was on 2 bottles a day from about 7.5 months old and my hv said it was ok because she got plenty of dairy in her diet. By 9 months old most babies will be on 3 meals a day and if your hv is anything like mine will be telling you they should be eating pretty much what you do! Sounds to me like they were forgetting just how old your LO is xx