So, WIC is giving us less formula now and she said “Since she’s 6 months now, she doesn’t need as much milk”. Now, I thought she needed roughly the same amount of milk but with the pureed food added. She’s been eating pureed food since she was about 4 1/2 months but she’s been getting the same amount of milk. She still wants milk every 4-5 hours and sometimes at night, usually just once but sometimes twice.
My question is, now that she’s getting a lot more food, should I be decreasing her milk and if so, how much?
Of course, just feeding tips in general will be appreciated.
[name_m]Ivan[/name_m]'s 10 months now, and he’s still eating almost as often as that age. He has maybe dropped one feeding, and that’s with two packets of pureed food (a third if he’s having trouble sleeping with just breastmilk), table food, and baby snacks added in.
Until 12 months, formula (or breastmilk) should be the primary source of nutrition. Food is really just for fun until age one. At six months, my son was eating one meal per day of table food. We just gave him table food from the beginning, whatever we were eating. We did this b.c it is what our parents and grandparents did, but it is actually a thing now- look up [name_u]Baby[/name_u] Led Weaning if you want to know more. If WIC is paying for purees, by all means, give her those. But if it isn’t enough, table food is a great supplement.
By a year, my son was up to three meals a day, but he was still drinking plenty of formula. The amount of formula he needed really did not seem to decrease, though I do not have an exact record of it. Once he turned one, we ditched the bottles and switched to cows milk in a cup (though many people delay this until age two- they make toddler formula, in fact.) My son naturally seemed to eat meow once we switched to cows milk, it wasn’t a difficult transition.
WIC may not give you enough formula though- I have heard people say that it was never enough formula, since it is intended to be supplemental. I highly recommend Up and Up formula, it is the Target store brand. They have imitations of all of the popular brands and different types, so if she is on, say, Similac Sensitive, you can easily switch her to the Up and Up imitation. It is about half the price ($20 for a large can) which is nice when WIC isn’t giving you enough.
Thanks you two. She’s on the Gerber Soy formula (if she drinks regular formula, she throws up so much it comes out her nose and she does it for hours until she can’t any more ). We make our own baby food and she usually eats it after every bottle feeding, I just thought it was weird that WIC told me she shouldn’t be drinking as much formula now because she definitely wants it. I’ve given her some real foods too, but those are more for fun
I appreciate the advice. Sounds like I was right in thinking I shouldn’t force her to drink less formula.
I think it really depends on the kid. My first really didn’t eat much until around 1. We started giving him age-appropriate table foods at 6 months, but he mostly just played and took just as much (if not more) breastmilk from 6-12m.
We did the same with my second and he took to food immediately, would eat whatever you gave him and then reach for more. Consequently I think he was more full and drank less breastmilk (although this is just a guess, I was no longer working at this point so he wasn’t getting bottles of pumped milk and thus no real gauge of volume.)
My advice is to allow her to explore food as much as she likes, but I wouldn’t force any transitions away from formula until at least a year. I found table foods/baby led weaning to be much easier on everyone than purees - both of my kids wanted to feed themselves and would just grab the spoon if I tried to give them purees.
Roo drinks almost the same amount of milk as she did before she started on the purees, but she really loves food so it’s a bit less. She still has the same amount in the morning, before her midday sleep and before her nighttime sleep, but she has less for the other feedings (breakfast, lunch and tea).
At the age she is, she should eat when she’s hungry, and eat until she’s full.
I go by what the baby wants. At 6 months they’re just starting to get into feeding, so may not be ready to drop milk feeds yet. Some take up to 3-4 months before they are eating enough solids to even consider dropping feeds. Listen to your baby, not the experts.
I don’t know what WIC is, so can’t help with that.
They’re all different but at 10 months [name_f]Felicity[/name_f] is having breast milk morning, evening and midday and five '‘solid’ meals a day with bottles of water if she’s fussy between feeds. I wouldn’t cut back on formula if she wants it but if she isn’t eating her food because she’s too full of milk I’d maybe offer water or half bottles of formula if it’s within an hour of her next meal.
). We make our own baby food and she usually eats it after every bottle feeding, I just thought it was weird that WIC told me she shouldn’t be drinking as much formula now because she definitely wants it. I’ve given her some real foods too, but those are more for fun 
