Is it too early to move to 3 bottles a day at 7.5 months?

I'm becoming very fustrated with trying to feed my DD...today my DS started doing the same thing so I am really hoping he isn't following in her footsteps BUT she really has been like this since she arrived (full term BTW) Hard to get her to drink and she could go for long periods IF I didn't feed her right after I fed DS to keep them on the same schedule. She doesn't cry to oftan to be fed so I've always fed him first and then her.

Anyways, on a good day I can get 18/20oz's in her. Most days it's a struggle. Normally I make a 6/7oz bottle and she might drink about 4/5oz...it's a great day if she actually drinks 6oz at every bottle feeding. Today has been the worst! She drank her 6:30am bottle (5oz of a 6oz bottle) her 11am bottle she drank 3oz BUT this was from 11 to 12:30 with me trying every half hour to get that oz or two in her. She only drank 1oz from her 3pm bottle and I TRIED for 2 more hours to get her to finish the rest but she wouldn't have any of it. At 6:30pm she drank 6.5ozs of a 8oz bottle. I wanted to see if I could get more ozs in her. This is an ongoing thing. Today was by far the worst cause DS started doing the same thing. Took him 2 hours to finish a bottle at 11am and 3pm.

It makes for a long day and I'm wondering about seeing about giving them 3 bottles (6:30am, 12pm and 6:30pm) of 8ozs. In a perfect day they would take in 24ozs. What's the minimum they should be drinking?

Also is it possible that solids are doing this? I would think she would be hungry BUT she usually refuses breakfast of cereal/fruits (7am)...will eat half jar of veggies/fruit for lunch(12:30pm) and will usually eat cereal/veggies for dinner(5pm)

Sorry this is so long it's just been fustrating with feeding today. Felt like I did nothing but try to get them to drink. I worry about dehydration :huh:

 

Do they have reflux? I was going to mention teething too, but you said it has been a struggle all along, right? To answer your question, we were on 4 bottles until 10 months.

 

I was still doing about 5 bottles a day at 7.5 months, and then down to 4 at 10 months. Maybe there is something else going on with them. My Kevin was not diagnosed with reflux until over 6 months old (silent type) so it could still be something like that. :hug99:

 

Sarah, how would you know about silent reflux?

She's never been a spitter (although DS has been and still is though he doesn't have reflux and is just a major spitter upper ~ enough so that I always bring a change of clothing for myself LOL) and never looks like drinking is uncomfortable and is a pretty happy baby. There are times she seems easily distracted...wanting to look at everything so I have resorted to feeding her in a dark quiet room. Some times it works and sometimes it doesn't. I worry because I know that most of their nutrition comes from the formula and I also think of dehydration ALTHOUGH she still has lots of wet diapers and poos 3/4 times a day.

We just made the transition to 4 bottles a day at 6.5 months (every 4 hours)

I wondered about teething too as sometimes she will only chew on the nipples but not drink anything. She's been doing that for a few months though.

I just wasn't sure what the minimum they should be taking in?

 

We didnt have the same issues going on but around 8 months mine just were not interested in their bottles. So I thought I would go to 3 a day and see. It cant hurt to try. Well it didnt work for us that day. So I tried again the next and they really wanted that 4th bottle even though it might just be 3 ozs instead of 6. So it wont hurt to try for a day to see if you can increase the amount per day by dropping a bottle.

I have no info to back this up but I was told that about 18oz is the minimum per day. But I am not sure what age that it for--because the older you are the less they drink. Mine are 9 mo and my doc said between 16-20 oz. is fine but they also get 3 meals too. Solids to interfere with intake at some point. Some days mine eat a ton of solids and their formula intake is about 16 oz and then other days they will take in 24ozs. So go figure. I think as long as you are getting lots of wet diapers I would not be concerned for dehydration.

Rachel

 

Are you using fast flow nipples? I was still using level 1 nipples until about a month ago....(yes, I'm clueless!). That made a big difference with how much they eat! Just a thought....

 

Thanks Rachal, I just started 3 meals a day and was wondering now if I should cut back..I'll try not to worry as she is pretty good at wetting the diapers. We do have occasional good days and that always surprises me.

Littletwinmom, yes I made the transition to fast flow nipples at 6 months. It was actually working for a week or two but now it's back to the same. It just doesn't take us the same amount of time. On the days where she actually will finish a bottle it's gone in under 10 minutes and then there are times that it can take her whole awake time (1.5 to 2 hours) with me trying off and on to get her to finish.

It's hard not to worry as I know that all the nutrition is coming from the formula but she's caught up to her brother weightwise...she was 2.5lbs smaller then him at birth.

 

We are doing 4-5 still!

 

mine were doing the same at that age so I just gave them what they wanted to drink and then at 8 months dropped a bottle.
now their schedule is:
630 bottle- 7 oz
730 breakfast
9 nap
11 lunch
12 nap
2 bottle 7 oz
4 dinner
6 bath, bottle-bed 7 oz
and there are still times they don't finish their bottles. I just go with the flow. My guys are above 97% and 75% for weight so I'm not worried about them