Weaning & Bottles

I was always told they shouldn't drink anything other than milk and a little water?

They definitely don’t need juice at this age

@Lauryn the NHS website says they can have diluted fruit juice if it didn’t say they can I wouldn’t of give it her. Also my cousin gave her LG this from 7months too and she was completely fine as well. Im just presuming she doesn’t want her milk as she’s got what she needs from the food.

On a leaflet we got from HV, it said they can have very diluted juice or fresh orange juice with a meal. I haven't done this as he enjoys water. We've started to cut down bottle oz too as he eats more!

@Emmo the NHS website also says the water doesn’t need to be boiled from 6months either which is good because the cold water in a bottle will cool her gums down with teething

@Eli I didn’t know about the orange juice 😅 sounds like your doing a great job! My LG hates water why I looked into diluted juice 😂

Obviously each to their own but why would you give them juice that young? It’ll only make it harder for you to give them plain water once they’re older because they won’t want it, and they shouldn’t be having juice all day it’s bad for their teeth. Your LO doesn’t hate water, they’re too young to dislike something it takes a long time for them to make opinions on tastes. I’d be offering water at every meal and if they don’t take it they don’t need it. Formula/breastmilk is the only necessity at this age

@Hannah diluted fruit juice is fine for them at this age, just not orange juice or concentrated juices as it decays their teeth. I do also give her water as well so she’s getting both. We’re at that stage in our weaning journey where she’s getting to the stage where she isn’t interested in the formula, that’s why we’ve introduced diluted fruit juice so she is getting hydrated.

@Hannah If you couldn’t give it to them why is it on the NHS website? She pushes the formula away for lunch and eats all her food and takes 3-4 sips of the diluted fruit juice/water. I’d rather have her hydrated from something else she can have than not.

I was always given juice as a kid, never water. And now absolutely hate water which everyone thinks is weird 😂 I definitely wouldn’t be giving juice to a 8 month old. I offer water with meals and that’s it. And it’s not a specific amount eg 2oz water, it’s whatever he wants with his food

She will get hydrated from the water. If she is refusing formula then you need to cut back on food because that is their main source of nutrition until they are 1

@Lauryn Milk is their main source of liquids until 1, not nutricion. That's what we were told by HV and pediatrician. The goal is for the child to move slowly from milk to solids, not stopping solids to give more milk. That is going a step backwards. Again, just to be clear, that is what the HV told us and we confirmed that with the pediatrician (not GP).

@Mantha they still need at least 21oz per day of milk otherwise they need to be taking supplements. As told by my daughters dietitian last week ☺️

@Lauryn I totally agree on that, pediatrician said the same. LB is currently on 3 bottles (around 700ml total) and 2 meals. There just has to be a silver lining in order for them to have both milk and solids. Milk will naturally be cut down slowly and there will be more solids. Shouldn't be cutting down on solids though to force them to have more milk. Tbh, I'm not an expert, but I'll ask the pediatrician next time about OP's situation. Just to see what they would suggest ☺️

Absolutely fine for babies to drop milk slowly as they get older and gain more calories through food but they shouldn’t be replacing milk with juice, it’s empty calories as it provides no nutrition for them to grow and be healthy. Even if they’re drinking water then they should still be having all their milk, it’s the food that replaces bottles overtime.

Your girl may well just be having a lot more food and thus needing less milk, I would say it’s normal to have dropped a bottle at this age baring in mind that they are having 7-9oz bottles which yours is! I would just suggest to try not use juice just yet or not very often because it will create a rod for your back in the future and you’ll be thinking why won’t my child drink anything other than sweet things.