How much milk does your 7-9 mo. old drink?

[Laura-Ku]

My 8 1/2 mo. old only drinks about 20-24 oz in 24hrs (including 1 nighttime feeding). I heard that they should be drinking 32 oz.

How much milk do you think your 7-9 mo. old is drinking?

[sarahmae1]

Well, 24oz. is the recommended minimum (and/or bfing at least 6+ times per day) ... but remember all babies are different. Slightly less, and of course more than that is fine too.
If your baby is eating solids you could try to cut back a bit and/or mix breastmilk with her solids if you don't already, to see if that helps. However, I wouldn't worry too much. Some babies are just smaller eaters and 20-24oz. is still a pretty good amount and pretty common as babies get older. Also, if your baby is on solids you could offer her a bit of water from a cup after her "meals" if you wish, though you don't have to either. (Breastmilk has plenty of water, but it could help to increase your baby's total liquids per day if you're worried about that.)

[Piglet68]

I voted "no idea". I've never kept track of ounces, and she's never had a bottle. Frankly, I couldn't even tell you how often she nurses during the day...

My advice is to forget about ounces. Many, many of us never give it a thought and do just fine. If your baby is happy and healthy and growing then she's getting enough. Let her eat until she says no. My child is very clear when being offered solids when she is hungry and when she isn't. I never, ever try to force her to eat solids. And there are even times when I offer her the breast and she says no, but these days she can ask to nurse so it's not really an issue.

[Laura-Ku]

The problem is that Kayla had a problem taking a bottle when she started daycare and refused it for 2 mo. while at daycare. She went from the 60% in weight down to the 20th in 1 1/2 mo. She now takes a bottle, but only drinks enough to take the edge off her hunger (2 1/2-4 1/2 oz in a feeding 3 times during the day) when babies her same age are drinking 6 oz.

I want to make sure that she is getting all the benefits of milk even though she isn't drinking 32 oz.

[MissMisha]

On weekends, DS nurses about every three hours and eats 1 or 2 solid meals every 24 hours. He is 6.5 months old. During the week, daycare provider goes through 3 - 6 ounce bottles and 2 to 3 ounces of rice cereal and 2 servings of fruit, about 8 ounces total -- in 8 or 9 hours.

This drives me crazy! I feel like she is just feeding him to placate him rather than him being hungry. We've talked about it on several occasions, one time when she gave him formula (I told her to call me at work and I'll come get him rather than feed him that yukky stuff!) and on other occasions when she felt there was not enough pumped breast milk for him. I feed him twice in the morning before he goes to her house - once RIGHT before we go and I've tried telling her to not feed him after 4:00 because we pick him up between 4:30 and 5:00 and it's OK if he's a little hungry because I'll be there to feed him. Nothing works!

I know there is another thread for pumping problems, but, please, someone tell me that I am not nuts to think that pumping three bottles and two or three feedings in 24 hours is LOTS of milk for a 6 month old!

[Laura-Ku]

it also drives me crazy when they give her a bottle at 5:00!!! I want to be able to nurse her when we get home and again before bed, but sincve they wait until 4-5 to give her the third bottle, she isn't hungry!

Misha - doesn't she nurse when she is with you? Surely she gets more milk than the 3 bottles at daycare?

[kofduke]

Wow- 3 6-oz bottles sounds like a lot to me! My DS is 6.5 mos. and takes either 2 5 oz bottles plus 1 oz. fruits & 1 Tbsp. cereal, or on days when he's rejected his solids, 3 5 oz. bottles. He nurses 5-6 times when he's with me at night. I'm taking him for a weight check today to be sure he's still gaining!

On the days I'm off, he nurses much more often, but I doubt that he's taking 5 oz. at a time!

If you're concerned about the amount of the bottles, you can go to a lactation consultant - she can do a weight check right before and right after a feed to estimate how much he's taking in at a time. I didn't have this done, but the LC we see offered it as a possibility.

[MissMisha]

Laura-Ku:

Baby nurses with me at home in the mornings, usually at 5:30 a.m and 8:00 a.m. and then again in the evenings around 5:30 pm and every two hours or so until bedtime, usually 9:30. He usually wakes up around 3:00 a.m. for a snack, too. So, say he nurses 6 times plus the three bottles PLUS solids. That's alot of work on Mommy's poor chest!

Kofduke, your DS eats and drinks about as much as I expected to be feeding my little boy. Hence, the reality check. Thanks for the tip from the lactation consultant. My daycare provider always insists that you never know how much they get from a breastfeeding session. She implies that he gets more from my breast than less, which is why he is running through the bottles and food at daycare. Or that he drinks more from the bottles because it's "easier" than nursing. Is that a contradiction or what? :

BTW, he went to the doctor's on Friday and hadn't gained any weight in the last month, but grew 2 inches. Just call him California Slim....I guess I know where all that food and breast milk is going.

[natashaccat]

Originally posted by Laura-Ku
The problem is that Kayla had a problem taking a bottle when she started daycare and refused it for 2 mo. while at daycare. She went from the 60% in weight down to the 20th in 1 1/2 mo. She now takes a bottle, but only drinks enough to take the edge off her hunger (2 1/2-4 1/2 oz in a feeding 3 times during the day) when babies her same age are drinking 6 oz.
I want to make sure that she is getting all the benefits of milk even though she isn't drinking 32 oz.

nak...

I was never able to get my dd to take a bottle either. I'd go home and spend the whole night nursing, didn't get much housework done, lol.

would your dcp be willing to give bm in a sippy cup at mealtimes? Are you cosleeping, could you pursuade your dd to take another night feeding? is it possible that the weight loss was from increased mobility?