My almost eight month old son has recently decided that he only wants to eat food (rice cereal with pureed fruits or vegetables). He rejects his bottle most of the time and holds out until he's presented with a "real meal." Not that I can blame him... formula smells awful. My concern is that since babies receive most all of their nutrients from formula/breastmilk, I'm afraid my son isn't going to get enough now. Any suggestions you can offer on how to get him to drink more of his formula would be greatly appreciated.
Try giving him his formula in a glass or sippy cup - especially one that is decorative, unusual shaped, etc. Tell him what a "big boy" he is when he drinks his formula this way. One of my kids began losing interest in the bottle at 8 mo. but loved drinking out of a plastic glass shaped like a cowboy boot. Of course, at 8 mo. you'll have to help him hold it. Brightly decorated sipply cups are fun, also.
N.
This article has some pretty good guidelines: http://www.babycareadvice.com/babycare/general_help/artic...
Your doctor should also be able to give you some advice.
I always let my boys' appetites be the guide. They would drink when they wanted to and have always been healthy (excepting the winter illnesses that seem to be unavoidable).
Good luck!
He may be teething and the sucking hurts him. Or It just doesn't come out quick enough for him. Try putting it in a sippy without a plug, so the formula flows easily. Give him smaller amounts at a time and mix some of the formula powder he's missing out on with his ceareal/fruits&veggies.
Have you tried giving him formula in a cup (sippy cup or regular cup)? If he's rejecting it based on taste/smell, that probably won't work, but he may be in the "I want to be like the big people" stage and he may want to drink like the rest of the family.
You could also try some of the gerber juices that are augmented with many of the same nutrients as formula. It's not the same, of course, but will keep him from getting dehydrated and give him most of what he needs if he refuses formula all the time.
It sounds like he'll take the bottle after the meal. That's good, IMO. The goal is to wean him from the bottle anyway eventually and it sounds like he's taking charge of that process himself. Babies know what they need; as long as he's healthy and getting enough liquids during the day he should be fine, though I'd start giving him more varied foods to make sure he's getting the other nutrients he needs.
My oldest son started eating oatmeal at 8 months. He's 25 yrs old now and very healthy. My youngest son was the opposite. I think your baby will be fine with the cereal.
Try using a sippy cup instead of a bottle. See if that will help.
My son was the same way. We did a lot of the things you've already gotten advise on (vitamins, sippy cup). The other thing we did is added a little powdered formula to his veggies and fruit or other baby food that he was eating. We also started pureed meats at that time for the extra protien.
try giving him formula in a cup not a bottle, especially at meal time.
Hi A.! Our daughter was the same way. Once she had "real" food (babyfood) she was not so inclined to go back to her bottle. I concur with the sippy-cup comments. Also the liquid infant vitamins are a great idea. And just as a heads up - if your little guy is anything like our daughter, once they get "real, real" food (table food) he won't touch babyfood. One day Cora just completely stopped accepting babyfood. Just had a FIT if we'd try to give it to her. She's 18 m/o now and is a GREAT eater. She eats whatever is presented to her. So in the long run it can be a blessing!!
A. - I would highly recommend adding a children's chewable vitamin from Usana health sciences. You can crush it up and add it to his cereal or fruit.
While vitamins don't take the place of eating healthy, they supplement what we can't get from our food today. Usana makes one of the best vitamins around. They are complete and don't have any unwanted ingredients in their products.
Good luck
D.
