5 months old, weaning, and only drinking 15oz per day

[Lara310809]

We started weaning LO at 5 months because she was reducing her milk intake, and she went from the 50th centile to the 15th centile in a month. She basically wasn't getting the calories she needed to grow at the rate expected, and so she was slipping behind. We weren't too worried, because she's still happy and healthy, but we didn't want her lagging any further.

Because of the lack of calories, we were told her to wean her straight onto 2 meals per day; so I've been giving her porridge at mid-morning (made with formula), and a puree in the afternoon (also padded out with formula).

We've now been weaning for 2 weeks, and she absolutely loves her solids I love seeing her get excited about something, finally. But the past week has been so stressful, becuase she's dropping even more ounces.

The average intake of a 5 month formula fed baby is around 35oz, but my LO's average intake, pre weaning was about 20oz. Now her average is 15oz; and on some days she only has 11oz!

We boost her fluid intake with water, which she's always happy to drink; it's just the milk she refuses. If she's very tired when we feed her, she will fall asleep on the bottle, and she can drink up to 9oz; but it's only been a couple of times. 90% of the time she only takes 3oz per feed, and now that solids are introduced, she may only have 4 feeds a day.

It's driving me mad; is there any way I can increase her intake? I've padded out her purees with extra formula as much as I can, but aside from overdosing her with baby rice, I can't think of anything else I can try. I'm reluctant to put her onto 3 meals while she's taking so little milk, but I know we will need to eventually.

I would ask the advice of the dietician that's been advising us so far, but she's on leave for another week, and I don't really trust my HV, because they've given me crap advice so far. Any suggestions, or tips to encourage them to feed would be greatly appreciated.

 

[OmarsMum]

Hi hun. Did u try offering her formula frm a sippy cup while shes having her solids? We were in the same situation at 5mnths. Check if she's ok with taking her formula out of the spoon. Our problem was with the bottles as he was teething & refusing to suck, & he prefered to be spoon fed. Omar was taking around 10-12 oz at that age & he was really off his fomula. He never took more than 24 oz in 24 hrs, his average before weaning was always 18 -20 oz. At 6+ mnths once she's on 3 meals, all she needs is 18-21 oz with her solids. Only 2 weeks to go. Once she's fully weaned u can start offering her food with more calories. At 6+ mnths she can eat everything except shelfish, nuts, & honey. Keep up with adding formula to her solids. It's trial & error at this stage hun. I never had a big drinker or eater. He started to take 3 meals @ 8 mnths with 3 bottles (4-6 oz each). Today he was off his milk & solids & he only took 10 oz in 24 hrs + little yoghurt for breakfast, & small piece of bread in the afternoon. Hope it gets better hun xx

 

[Lara310809]

Thank you; it's nice to hear that there are other babies like her. Well, not nice, but reassuring. I offered a sippy cup a few days ago, but it came out so fast that she wasn't able to keep up with it. But she takes the water okay in a regular bottle, so I know she's okay with the sucking from a teat; it's just the milk she doesn't want. I keep trying her with the milk, and with perserverance I can get another couple of ounces into her, but it takes a lot of time, so some days I don't get much else done, other than feeding her. Which is okay, but obviously not ideal.

 

[lynnikins]

do you warm the water when u give it or give it cold, caus if she will take it cold you could try making up the FF then cooling it to give her

 

[Lara310809]

The formula she's on is a prescription one (she was moved onto it when she started going off her bottles, because it was suspected she either has reflux or lactose intolerance), and it can only be made and served at room temperature. But previously we were on Aptamil, and she was happy to take it warm, room temp, or even chilled, so I don't think the temperature bothers her.

 

[OmarsMum]

Did u try feeding her with no distractions? Omar will only take his bottle in the bedroom with the blinds down & lying on our bed with a pillow to elevate his upper body. I always give him his bottles after his play time & before offering him water. If I give him water 1st, he won't take his bottle. xx

 

[Lou+Bubs]

Hello, lucie was the same nerver a big milk drinker i was feeding her little and often this seemed to work. She nerver took the daily amount they advise. I think the key is not to count how many oz's she is having, i spent many days worrying she wasn't taking enough milk. Lucie is now a fab eater will eat anything i give her and has 3 bottles during the day. Lucie is still not too keen on her bottles she likes her bed time bottle but if she doesn't want any of the other bottles she will actually knock the bottle out of my hand. Hope this helps, if you have any more questions just ask!!!

 

[Lara310809]

I've tried feeding her with and without distractions, but I don't see much of a difference.

She's easiest to feed when she's falling asleep, but these days she very rarely falls asleep with the bottle.

Thanks. I am a bit obsessed with counting the ounces, but only because she has so few, and is already underweight. Over the past 24 hours I've worried myself sick about her She's happy enough, and if it wasn't for the nutrients side of things, I wouldn't care how little she was having; but I know formula is packed with everything they need, and purees aren't.

 

[Lou+Bubs]

I used to wait till Lucie was sleepy and then give her milk so she would drink it. Have you tried feeding her when she is sleepy with one of her bottles so she drinks it all. What times are you offering her her bottles?

 

[Lara310809]

I've been demand feeding since she was about 2 months old, so there's no real schedule to her feeds. We started DF because she was never lasting until the next feed when they were structured. She did really well in the beginning, feeding smaller amounts of formula more frequently, but at about 4 months she started dropping her intake, and it snowballed from there.

If I feed her when she's sleepy, she will either drink the whole lot, or she will stop after 1 or 2oz. I try to rouse her enough to drink again, but it doesn't do much. That's if the falls asleep at all though; at the moment she's being really fussy before her naps, so most of the time she insists on staying wide awake for her bottle

 

[little_em]

Is there any alternative prescription milks that can be prescribed for you? Charlie has recently been dropping oz and we changed his milk and he's back up to normal. Especially if she used to take Aptamil fine - could be that she doesn't like the taste of the prescription milk. xxx

 

[Lara310809]

She started dropping ounces when she was still on Aptamil, and that's why we swapped to this new milk; in case she has reflux or an intolerance. But TBH I don't see any difference in her feeding, except that now she has even less of an appetite

 

[RainbowDrop_x]

I just started weaning Olivia this week and have noticed the exact same thing..Where she was taking 7oz and moaning for more she's now taking 3 or 4oz a bottle! I've been worried sick but all I seem to hear is "well she obviously doesn't want it"

She's also been getting really worked up at bottle time aswell. I mean screaming blue murder! Last night she missed out on her bed time bottle because she refused point blank to take it..I kept her up till nearly 11pm trying to feed her but in the end she was so worked up that I just put her to bed with her last feed being 5.30pm She still slept through to normal time though ...How long have you been weaning?? I'm thinking maybe it's just something that happens at the start of weaning? People keep telling me to stop and "try again in a few weeks" but I've already done that once..She's still still happy and healthy but like you I'm panicking about the nutrient side of things where no one seems to understand that and just thinks "well if she won't drink her milk give her puree's"

 

[Lara310809]

I just started weaning Olivia this week and have noticed the exact same thing..Where she was taking 7oz and moaning for more she's now taking 3 or 4oz a bottle! I've been worried sick but all I seem to hear is "well she obviously doesn't want it"

She's also been getting really worked up at bottle time aswell. I mean screaming blue murder! Last night she missed out on her bed time bottle because she refused point blank to take it..I kept her up till nearly 11pm trying to feed her but in the end she was so worked up that I just put her to bed with her last feed being 5.30pm She still slept through to normal time though ...How long have you been weaning?? I'm thinking maybe it's just something that happens at the start of weaning? People keep telling me to stop and "try again in a few weeks" but I've already done that once..She's still still happy and healthy but like you I'm panicking about the nutrient side of things where no one seems to understand that and just thinks "well if she won't drink her milk give her puree's"

The dietician that's helping us with LO said that as long as she's getting 15oz per day, she should be okay for her nutrients, but that you should ensure they get at least 20oz of liquid per day, so if she only takes 15oz of milk, offer another 5oz of water. If your LO is having 15oz or more, she should be okay. But obviously your HV will know more about your LO than me. Trouble is, my LO sometimes goes down to 10oz per day, when the average intake for a 5 month old is about 35oz. She's 6 months in a couple of weeks, and again, you're supposed to step up the calorie intake then too

We've been weaning for 2 weeks now, but the problems were there before we weaned. We started giving her solids to increase her calorie intake, because she was taking so little formula, but now she's taking even less formula, and I doubt the purees make up for it.

 

[Jkelmum]

My daughter struggled to take any milk and the bit she took she threw up , all i can say is dont stress too much on facts and figures if shes ok on solids then give her plenty of diary when she is 6m she can have more or less anything yogurts cheese all have milk in ...my daughter stopped baby milk at 10m and now has 2 beakers of cows milk a day plus lots of dairy in her diet she is 16m happy and healthy x

 

[StarBlueUK]

In my experience it's easier to go with what the baby wants. My daughter is the same as yours. She loves solids and hardly has any milk. In part though, that's because she has silent infant reflux and is more prone to vomiting up the milk, plus... she's on soya milk due to lactose intolerance which tastes foul.

 

[Lara310809]

In my experience it's easier to go with what the baby wants. My daughter is the same as yours. She loves solids and hardly has any milk. In part though, that's because she has silent infant reflux and is more prone to vomiting up the milk, plus... she's on soya milk due to lactose intolerance which tastes foul.

Yeah, we're on Nutramigen in case the problems were due to a lactose or soya intolerance. The formula is disgusting, it's sour/bitter... I dont' know how to describe it. My OH says it "tastes of death"

It's a pity because I would like to give her the Aptamil again, because at least that was a sweeter flavour, and it may encourage her to have more

 

[Lara310809]

The dietician has said to wean her up to three meals a day, and just add the formula to her solids so that she at least gets 3oz on top of her bottles. She's 6 months on Wednesday, so I'm going to start giving her dairy in her diet

We'll see how she goes.

 

[OmarsMum]

The dietician has said to wean her up to three meals a day, and just add the formula to her solids so that she at least gets 3oz on top of her bottles. She's 6 months on Wednesday, so I'm going to start giving her dairy in her diet

We'll see how she goes.

Good luck hun. Let us know how it goes

 

[ellie27]

Think thats the best thing- add formula to the solids and give dairy products too.

And dont even think of that 35oz average - Anna has never EVER took more than 24oz a day.

I make Annas mashed potatoes really thick so that I can add milk. I give pastas with cheesy/milky sauce. And I now make her baked rice pudding with whole milk too.

Let us know how you get on