My beautiful little strong willed baby girl has suddenly decided that she is much too busy to drink a bottle. She is almost 9 months. She can drink from a straw cup but will not drink formula in one - only water (we do not give her juice). She eats a lot of solids, but she also will only eat like 3 varieties of baby food (one is a veggie and the other two are oatmeal blends) as she prefers to eat table food. That is another struggle in itself because she wants to self feed but only gets about 20 % of it IN her mouth. So what do I do if I can only get her to take like 15 oz of formula a day? The table foods she does eat are mostly fruits and vegetables so the calories being consumed are definitely not what they were with 32 oz of formula. I feel like it has made a difference in her sleep as she sometimes wakes up at like midnight to eat (at this time she will take a bottle) when she hasn't been doing that for months. Which brings me to my next request of some higher calorie but still healthy food suggestions to fill this deficit. She does eat cheese but other than that pretty much everything is a fruit or veggie. I gave my other daughter whole milk at 9 1/2 mos but now I read all over the place that that is not a good idea. Any ideas? :)
If you're trying to add calories to her fruits and veggie diet, go for sweet potato, avocado, and even brown rice. It seems like she needs some starches, so instead of the processed ones, these are a better choice.
my middle son started drinking whole milk at 10 mo and my ped. said that was fine. he is now 18 mo and has had no problems from it. i would try holding her while she drinks the formula my son will drink more if i am rocking him. good luck.
Baby's do go through this phase. You could try giving her a bottle first thing in the morning before she eats and when she is tired. I would check with your Dr. but try giving her pedisure they come in "juice box" containers or putting it in a cup with a straw. They have several different flavors you could try. As for food just keep trying a variety of things I had one child who wouldn't eat baby food went straight to table foods. You can mush just about anything. As long as it is small enough let her try things you are eating. As for the night try giving her some oatmeal or rice cereal before bed it will be more filling and help her sleep and if that doesn't work have that night time bottle ready and when she wakes use that time to get more formula into her system. It won't be forever. Good luck
spread her formula out in smaller amounts. like only 2-4oz at a time when she up and about. then when she sleeps try to get a normal bottle in her. as for the food start to feed her what you eat. just cut it up very small. at 9 months you should concentrate on letting her finger feed herself. try a variety of finger foods (puffs, wagon wheels, gold fish, fruits, veggies, crackers, baby cookies). meal wise try cutting up whatever your having and put it on her tray to eat. maybe also try to only assiciate formula with eating in her high chair and sleep then water the rest of the time. i see you dont give her juice but maybe you can try a small amount here and there (my daughter is 2 and still only gets 2-3oz of juice in a 10oz cup). her dr okayed 2oz juice with 2oz water when she was 6 months. but im not here to pressure you to give juice thats your choice. ooooh i almost forgot speaking of juices my at that age i started my daughter on low salt v8 juice. i would water it down at first because it was thick but it got extra veggies in her and she drinks it still to this day. hope this is helpfull!
This is normal... my son also did this and I was all shades of worried because he was already on the thin side and didn't want to eat. However, trust that your daughter will eat what she needs. If she is hungry then she will eat. You might have to get up at night for a few nights until she regains her structure. It's part of being a M.. Don't rush solid foods... the more you rush them and the earlier things are introduced the more likely she is to have allergies. My son is 16 months (almost) and still doesn't drink milk. I've tried all sorts of combinations and methods and nothing... so to replace the fat I give him cheese sticks and whole milk yogurt. I basically give him the things that i won't eat since I do a low fat diet for myself! lol
(and I hear you about your fantasies about when the high chair, etc are a thing of the past.. but I'll add all the blasted drooling!!!! ugh!) :)
