question about milk reduction at 1..

[hellosailor]

Thought it best to start a new thread so as not to hijack Jennyh's thread about bottles / beakers, but can I just ask, is it roughly 14oz (420ml) milk a day that babies are supposed to reduce down to from about 20oz (600ml) a day which is what we've been giving our daughter who has just turned 1? I can't find anything that actually clarifies this, but think I vaguely remember the figure 14oz from somewhere...?

My daughter has been having 3 bottles a day until now which seems to be what lots of babies are having at about her age, (7oz each, maybe leaving an ounce here or there) so in order to reduce the amount, have most people / do people plan to simply cut out the afternoon bottle entirely, leaving morning and bedtime milk only, or keep 3 milk feeds a day but reduce amounts so as to reduce daily intake?

Plus, if you start giving morning milk in a beaker or doidy cup and they throw it around instead of drinking it, do you just go with that and not offer them a bottle, even if they are going to end up drinking much less than even 14oz a day because of that?

And lastly, did people reduce milk at age 1 even if their baby had in fact become a worse eater over time, not a better eater, and you felt that the bulk of what was sustaining them was their 20oz of milk? did you still bite on the bullet and cut right back on milk even if the amount of solids they ate was pretty dire, in the hopes it would motivate them to eat more?

Thanks in advance!

[Mathilda]

Hi, I have cut down my daughter's milk from around 550-600 to 450ml, HV advice was it should be around 400 (14oz) so might try to cut it down a bit more.

She has 3 bottles a day - I reduced the morning feed (this resulted in her eating loads more breakfast, yay), and the afternoon one, I haven't dared touch the evening one, the biggest, in case it affects sleep!

I tried giving the afternoon feed in a cup but it was not well received so leaving it for now...

[hellosailor]

ah, wasn't dreaming up 14oz from nowhere then, thanks for clarifying!

Anyone else got any advice? xx

[slh2009]

Hi am interested in this too but have no advice I'm afraid!

My 15 month old still has 3 bottles (won't drink milk from cup) a day, so 600 ml plus wakes most nights for another (think this could be a habit). I've not cut out the afternoon one yet as he is not eating much at all at nursery, he's a bit fussy re food and is still settling in to the new routine.

It's hard to know what to do isn't it!

[JessB]

With both mine (3 and just 1) I stopped really counting when they turned 1. They both switched to beakers and cows milk - three drinks a day (morning, afternoon and evening) because they both like milk as a drink. I think it's less and less important to keep track of it as they get older, but I'm lucky that mine both seem to enjoy their drinks of milk so I know they're getting a fair bit of calcium etc. I know some who refuse to drink any milk and they are fine especially if they eat plenty of other good stuff.

Good luck!

[Pickle]

From memory I started by reducing the morning bottle, which had the knock on effect of increasing their food intake. The mid afternoon bottle became redundant soon after, they seemed to naturally wean themselves from that one. I kept the big ol' bottle of milk before bedtime for as long as I could, wasn't brave enough to upset things at that time of day :)

I found with both children that once we eliminated bottles (around 2ish) it meant they stopped having milk as a drink completely, neither have ever been willing to drink it from a cup. However they get plenty during the day on cereal, yoghurts etc. so I've never really worried about it.

[wonderwoman]

Hellosailor, I was going to tag onto the other thread and you nipped to post...so sharing all your thoughts, my babe is 19mths and has been bf, I introduced milk and other drinks along with food. It started with formula then onto cows milk, but I've always worried she never really drinks that much, not a pint a day as recommended by HV. However she is still bf in evenings a lot when I return from work (another story), eats loads and appears v.healthy and happy so not forced issue too much about milk. I try cheese with her, not keen, yoghurt is better and butter hidden in other foods. She has milk with cereal and light tea/hot chocolate...so I suppose she is getting enough calcium

[KateW]

From what I've read, the minimum daily intake should be 12oz, max 20oz, and this can include milk on cereal, cheese, yogurt etc. Afternoon bottle was always the smallest amount DD had so I just gradually reduced it over a few days then stopped it altogether by about 11 months I think. She now has 6-7oz at bedtime (in a bottle) and 3-5oz for breakfast, with lots on her weetabix plus cheese and yogurt at mealtimes. She has had a cold recently and her blocked nose has meant she has hardly drunk any milk for breakfast and this morning (with no blocked nose) only drank 3oz so I think she's gradually wanting less in the morning. On the flip side, she's eating like a horse and has weetabix, toast and cheerios for breakfast so I think she's just naturally switching more to solids than milk. When she was ill a few weeks ago I just upped her milk intake as she wasn't eating much. Like JessB, I don't really worry that much about her milk intake now as she's get lots of calcium in other forms.

[snowboarder]

Argh I was about to ask similar (in our parallel lives hs!) but I'm moving from only ever bf and never worrying about quantity of milk. My nearly 1 yr old has 4 feeds a day - max 10 mins each and pretty snacky - but he's starting to fuss and pull off and protest and wants immediate let down so I've decided to try a cup of cows milk (which he has never had) after his naps. Although he seems to quite like it he drinks maybe 20ml? With my older son I didn't stop daytime feeds until he was a bit older so didn't really worry (and he never drank ANY milk at all after weaning at 17m). Smallest snowboarder is sturdy so am not worried about weight.

I do know that it is possible to get overly obsessed by milk and amounts and in actual fact there are plenty of other sources of calcium (eg orange juice?) etc. Trouble is am clueless about what and LO isn't always a fab eater (although this week has decided he likes fruit!). I am trying not to worry but it's hard with a cup/bottle not to just study what they have or haven't had isn't it. BF is fab for taking that worry away - you never know and I'm pretty sure a 5min bf is not 7oz!

[hellosailor]

Thanks everyone!

Snowboarder, I do miss the fact that with bfing you do not know how much they're drinking! Ignorance is bliss in this regard I think!

To be honest it's not so much the calcium, nutritional side of things I'm worried about as will deffo still be ploughing yoghurt and cheese and other calcium rich foods like certain veg into her as much as poss, it's more that unless her eating takes a major upturn as a direct result of reducing her milk, she'll be getting by on fairly minimal amounts if I knock down from 20oz to 12/14ish oz, and she still doesn't eat much, so simply can't see where her energy is going to come from or how she will continue to sleep soundly, and not be permanently hungry..guess I have to have faith that she will start eating more solids like she used to before seemingly narrowing down her list of things she will eat from about 50 to about, er, 4. ::o

[BellendenBear]

I think with my first daughter we stopped the morning bottle first which meant she ate much more breakfast with about 5-6oz of milk anyway. As someone else has said she seemed to self-wean the afternoon feed and seemed to take or leave it for a while until stopping completely at around 12 months. The night feed continued until after she was 2. We used a cow cup from about 14 months which holds about 7-8 oz I think so she still had the same amount it just took a lot lot longer to drink.