Feeding FAQ: 6-9 months – Formula Feeding

My 8-month-old daughter is beginning to refuse her milk, even when not teething

Our baby girl of 8 months had started to go off milk whilst she was teething. She improved somewhat over the past few weeks (with us compensating with milk in her food etc) when her first two teeth appeared, but for nearly the whole of last week she has refused the formula milk (via bottle or beaker) and it is becoming very stressful. She isn’t suffering with her teeth at this moment.

We are desperate. What should we do? My doctor had said I should persist with ensuring she takes the milk (show who is boss so to speak) but is very difficult spending 15-20 minutes with an extremely upset baby when she doesn’t want her milk. She will eventually take some when tired. Should we be persisting like this? Will it get better?

I am very concerned as I know her intake of formula milk should be 600ml per day. For the last few days the intake has only been in the 300ml region (this has been with mixing only as she will not drink the milk) and the week previous to that in the 500ml region (this has been a combination of mixing and drinking).

Also she won’t settle for a nap in the afternoon at all and is very unsettled which results in my having to give her 100% attention doing different things until my husband comes in at 6:30pm to take over. Is that just the way she is as she develops?

At present my daughter feeds at 7am – she used to take 1-2ozs formula and a further 2-3ozs in cereal, but now she is refusing the bottle and cereal but will eat a couple of fromage frais. At 11.15am she has a 125g jar of protein meal and 125g dessert. She is offered watered down juice and if still hungry then a 50g fromage frais. To help her milk intake I have been offering pure baby rice with 3ozs of milk and fruit added but no fromage frais. She doesn’t like the rice and even with fruit you can see it is not that enjoyable.

At 3.15pm I offer formula, which she is now refusing so I’ve offered it mixed with baby rice or something similar and made runny so she will take it. If I really persist with the bottle she will take it 5-7ozs, but gets tired and upset and it takes a long time. At 5.15pm she has 125g baby food with grated cheese added, 2 fromage frais and if still hungry a dessert. Small amount of water given with solids. 6.30pm formula offered, sometimes will take 4ozs, but often refused so given baby rice or dessert given mixed with 3ozs formula.
My daughter naps from 8.45-10am, 12.30-2pm and is settled by 8pm. She weighs 19lbs 14ozs.

Although milk consumption does begin to drop away towards the end of the first year your daughter seems to be replacing it with food rather quickly. Getting the right balance of solids and still taking enough milk can be tricky. Aim for giving your daughter 500mls a day, which includes milk used to mix with cereals and in cooking.

Looking through your daughter’s notes it would seem she has grown to like fromage frais a lot. It can be easy to keep giving these little pots as you know your baby will eat them and it is a way to get some milk into her. Check the labels on the pots as many of them contain sugar. Some can be as much as 1/2oz in a 4oz pot. If these highly sugared ones are given too often, a baby will begin to lose her appetite for other foods.

To try to get your daughter’s milk intake higher you may have to make a few changes in what and when you feed her.

Offer her a bottle of milk at 7am. See if she will take 3-4ozs. Do this away from the kitchen so she is not in the place where she knows there is solid food. Let her have a break until 7.30am before offering her cereal, no matter how much or how little milk she has taken earlier. Give her a simple baby cereal such as baby oats or porridge. Check the labels on the box to see if there is any added sugar, and try to find one with little or no added sugar. Mix this cereal with formula and home-prepared fruit purée. This will give it some natural sweetness. Look in Gina’s Weaning Guide for recipes for simple purées such as apple, peach and pear.

Now your daughter is 8 months old and has some teeth, begin to offer her some finger food at each meal to encourage her to feed herself. Make a slice of wholemeal toast, lightly butter it and cut into fingers. Offer this to her and see how she gets on. It can be a bit messy at first, and she may not “eat” much of it. Keep giving her this at breakfast as well as one or two slices of a peeled, well ripened pear. Offer her some milk in a beaker at this meal.

It may take a few days for your daughter to drink more milk again, once you have begun to change the things you feed her with, but don’t be tempted to keep giving her fromage frais or baby rice mixed with fruit or desserts even if she seems to have eaten a very small breakfast. These are filling her up and she will just go on refusing milk.

Take a look at Gina’s Weaning Guide for some of the recipes suitable for her age. Prepared baby food can contain a lot of thickeners and fillers such as maltodextrin, sugar and other modified starches. Their texture is consistent and can be very smooth, even the second stage food which has ”lumps” added to it to encourage a baby to begin to chew. If you batch cook two or three of the recipes in Gina’s book such as Chicken Casserole page 75, Lamb Hot Pot page 84 or Red Lentil Savoury page 79 you can begin to offer your daughter some home cooked food at lunchtime. To begin with she may need to have the home cooked mixed in with the jars until she is used to the taste and texture which can be more pronounced than in jars.

If you feel she is still hungry after her savoury course then offer her natural yoghurt mixed with home-made fruit purée or mashed banana as a dessert.

It will take her time to get used to the tastes of these foods. Always offer them with a happy and smiling face, which will encourage her to eat. Babies can make the most incredible faces when trying new flavours, grimacing and screwing up their faces. This is not always a sign that they do not like it. Their taste buds are very sensitive so they will react to new tastes strongly. Offer her another spoonful, with an encouraging voice. If she opens her mouth then she is willing to try some more. If she turns away then don’t persist, but don’t give up altogether. Offer her the new flavour again in a day or two’s time.

Again, at lunch offer your daughter some finger food. An easy way to do this is to cook a spoonful of mixed, frozen vegetables. Allow them to cool and then place them on her tray. The colours and textures will intrigue her and encourage her to pick them up and try them. Always stay near to your daughter when she has finger food in case of choking. Find finger food which can be gummed by her to a soft consistency. This is an important stage of her development as it not only prepares her for chewing once her back teeth are in, but also it helps her practice moving her tongue and mouth, which she will use when ready to talk.

Until your daughter is taking a larger amount of milk in the morning and evening offer her a small top-up of 2ozs before she goes down for her lunchtime nap. Once her intake has increased then drop this. Once your daughter is eating a slightly smaller lunch and not filling herself up with fromage frais or baby rice as well as dessert she should be more willing to accept milk at 2.30pm. Don’t offer it to her later than this thinking she will drink more. To encourage her to have a full feed at bedtime your daughter needs to eat her tea at 5pm and will only do this if her afternoon feed is early enough. The 2.30pm feed is usually the smallest of the day so aim for her to have 4-5ozs.

Offer her tea at 5pm. Look in Gina’s Weaning Book for ideas. Thick soups, pasta and vegetable based dishes are all there. This meal can be things which are easy to eat such as jacket potato mixed with grated cheese and steamed florets of broccoli. Follow with natural yoghurt, fruit purée or a home-made milky pudding if you feel she is still hungry. Finish the meal with one or two pieces of finger food or make her mini sandwiches to eat along with her soup.

If you begin to offer some home cooked food to your daughter you can choose recipes which have milk in them, such as pasta in cheese sauce, cauliflower cheese or fish pie. If you begin to make thick vegetable soups you can always add some milk to them just before serving. Watch the amount of tea your daughter eats, as you need her to be hungry for her last bottle of milk. Cutting back on this bedtime bottle is usually due to eating too much at teatime. Offer her milk after the bath but before she is too tired. Even if she spends 20-30 minutes after her milk having a quiet play or chatting in her cot she is more likely to drink it when still quite awake.

Once you have begun to watch how much solid food you give your daughter, and offer her some home cooked food along with simple desserts such as natural yoghurt you should find her milk intake increases again. Her fighting the bottle and becoming distressed could well be nothing more than her trying to tell you she is not hungry, especially in the evening. Aim for two bottles of around 6ozs in the morning and evening and a smaller feed at 2.30pm as the rest of her daily intake will be in her cereals and food.

At this age it is not unusual for a baby to drop the afternoon nap. You could begin to shorten her morning nap to 30 minutes by starting it nearer to 9.30am. She may then sleep nearer to two hours after her lunch which will help her to get through the afternoon better. As she begins to get mobile and move around she will become tired but not always want to stop. Taking her for a short walk around 4/4.30pm may help her have a short cat nap if she needs one or at least having a rest in her buggy.