Dropping bedtime bottle

lmbrandt

Our son is 9.5 months and gets 4 bottles a day, all 7 ounces.  For about a month now he rarely finishes any of them, usually leaving about 2 ounces behind, except for his bedtime bottle where he has been drinking only about 3 ounces of it, sometimes a little more.

His rough schedule for bottles is 7 a.m., 11 a.m., 4 p.m., 7 p.m.  He also gets 3 meals a day consisting of some combo of fruit/veggie/meat purees, yogurt melts, oatmeal, puffs, chunks of fruit or avocado.  

The hardest bottle of the day is his bedtime bottle, he seriously wants nothing to do with it.  He usually eats his dinner between 5-5:45, and then he gets his last bottle at 7ish as part of his bedtime routine.  Almost every night recently he ends up twisting and turning, pushes it away, won't open his mouth, cries, etc.  We give him a break and read his story and then offer it again, at that point he MAY drink a few ounces.  Last night he wouldn't even take one sip of it.

I'm wondering if we should just drop his bedtime bottle and go with 3 a day?  I'm always so nervous he won't sleep well because he isn't drinking that last bottle, but I'm assuming he's just not that hungry.  So last night he didn't take one sip of it and slept through the night.  He drank his first bottle this morning and finished it, and ate breakfast like a champ.

Once they turn a year old and bottles are done, is their last meal/milk at dinner time anyway?  Or do they get a little snack or milk right before bed?

Just trying to figure out what to do.  I don't want to stress him out with forcing this bedtime bottle on him, and also want to stop wasting SO much formula every day that he ends up not drinking.

Thanks ladies!!  

ElleMF728

I drop that one last.  You have a big period of time between bottles 2 and 3.  Could you shift that earlier? Is it possible to do an earlier dinner? Or maybe offer less in bottle number 3? 

Maybe try a few different options before deciding to go that route? I think its common for them to want a little less but it seems really early to expect LO to go 15 hours without a bottle (4 pm -7 am) 

shelbydd

Honestly 3 7oz bottles is plenty at 9 and 1/2 months old. Anywhere between like 16 to 24oz of formula a day is considered normal at this age. That said, if he's fighting it that much I would personally drop it. That's just me, though. I would probably rearrange the times of the other 3 bottles, though. As pp mentioned 15 hours is probably too long to go without formula. My LO is down to 3 8oz bottles a day. He gets on about 7:30AM, one about 2PM, and one about 7:30PM and his solid meals are between those feedings with breakfast around 9AM, lunch around 12PM, and dinner around 5:30PM. Plus snacks in between.

vibarra27

With DD like @ElleMF728 said, it was the last one i dropped. & even then when she turned one i would give her a cup of cows milk before bed until she was about 2/3. 

Right now my boys drink
 6oz @ 430/5am
2oz @9
4oz @ 2pm
&8oz @ 745pm

They have solids breakfast, Lunch, & dinner.
Breakfast 845am 6.5-7oz 
Lunch 12pm 3-4oz & a small snack (animal cracker or puffs etc.) & 2.5oz of water or pear juice.
Dinner 545pm 4-5oz & a small snack & 2.5oz of water or pear juice.

When they're ready for it ill be eliminating that 5am feed & maybe add 2 oz to their 9am bottle

So i agree to not eliminate that night feed & spread out the bottles or give a little less. I think LO will just start waking up for a night feed because hes gone so long with out it. I would play it safe & keep that night bottle & give less on the other feeds.

dmbfan46835

Mine fights the last bottle of BM but it is also while he is fighting sleep too. He wiggles and protests and acts like he wants nothing to do with it. But once he calms down we offer it again and he finishes the whole thing, and sometimes half of another. So I wouldn't drop it right away. Like PP said, that's a long time to go without food and I would imagine you'd have some night wakes because of it.