Very little bottle intake

[Anonymous]

My ds is 6.5 months old and within the past 1-2 weeks has significantly reduced his bottle intake. He only takes 15 ounces of formula by bottle a day. He had been taking about 30 but has just started flat out refusing them and pushing them away with his hands. He is eating 5 jars of baby food and 2/3 cup of oatmeal with an additional 6 ounces of formula so he is getting 21 ounces each day. I have tried not giving him any solids and he still refuses the bottles. Any thoughts? WE go back to the gi doc on Friday as he is getting congested again but…

[Anonymous]

My son went through a phase like that about a month ago (he’s a lot younger than yours however). he dropped his intake to 7-10 oz a day for about a week or so…then it sprang up to 20 oz all of the sudden. It may be a phase, but I’d take him to the dr. to have his ears checked, with my olderson, the only way to know if he had an ear infection was for me to watch his bottle intake..a lot of the times when it dropped he had an ear infection ( I think the sucking hurts their ears but some babies never show any real signs of having one, no pulling on their ear, crying, etc).

[Anonymous]

My son is the same age and only takes about 16 – 18 ounces per day by bottle with about 2 jars of food and about 1/2 cup cereal (with 4 more ounces of breast milk or formula) total for the day. Some babies just don’t need as much. Ryan is eating quite a bit of solids, so he probably just doesn’t need as much formula.

Is he happy? Sleeping well? If so, I wouldn’t worry too much.

[Anonymous]

My daughter is almost 11 months and has VERY rarely gone over 20 ounces. She used to take 16-18 ounces, and now, after dropping her morning bottle for the most part, she is taking 12-15 ounces…and NO SOLIDS! She’s not dehydrated, and no one is concerned (yet). Hope that makes you feel a bit better. Sounds like your son is eating a lot of solids which is probably why he doesn’t need much from the bottle.

[Anonymous]

Thanks ladies. I just worry because the congestion came on around the same time. He isn’t sleeping great but never has. He is happy but his nose seems to be driving him nuts. I will definitely ask the doc to just check his ears real quick on Friday.

[Anonymous]

We used to get Hailey’s ears checked a lot too when her eating went drastically down. She also went through periods where very little formula was fine for her. She stayed in the 25-50% on about 15-18 oz a day after 6 months and that included any additional formula in cereal.

[Anonymous]

My son eats less (and my other two did, too) when they had stuffy noses. It’s probably exhausting and frustrating for them to coordinate sucking, swallowing and breathing when their noses are stuffed. Poor babies!

His intake is probably fine anyway, but he may start taking more from his bottle once his nose is clear again.

[Anonymous]

Isaac is now 10 months old and only eats 18 oz of formula at the most. He only eats 2 jars of baby food a day and a handful of veggie puffs. They say as long as they are acting satisfied then don’t worry.

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