6 Month Old Does Not Want to Take a Bottle

I agree with Lisa. At 6 mos your daughter should just be starting veggies. My daughter is 5 mos. When she wakes up she gets cereal mixed with about 4 oucnes of formula. About an hour later she gets a 6 ou bottle. She gets 2 more bottles during the day (about every 3-4 hours). At 6:30 she gets cereal mixed with forumla and then a 6 ounce bottle before bed-- about 8pm.

I would stop giving her cereal and formula at the same time and would not give her cereal for lunch-- in order to increase the formula intake.

You have to cut her solids back (just as everyone else as said) A baby that age should be drinking 28-32 oz of milk (breast or formula) if she isnt then there are too many solids. Of course the formula you use in the cereal counts too. You might want to try bottle only for breakfast and lunch and a nice two oz porridge (grain) for dinner. That will stick to her tummy and keep her sleeping at night. Then gradually introduce 1-2 oz additional food as her milk consumption increases. :) Everybaby is different so the amount someone else is drinking isnt a perfect guideline, growth of your child is the number one indicator, but do be aware that solids do directly affect milk consumption and please know I am not even close to anti solids as my little one started them at four months and is a healthy 19 pound 7 month old - every one is different!

Another thought you may want to make her grains (and other food) yourself if she is cutting back on milk she will need all the nutrients she can get from her food - its really easy and quick you could PM me if you had any questions :)

I know this is a mamapedia site, but I am a stay at home dad with the same issue. We are having the same trouble with my daughter. She is 7 months and loves to eat the cereal (mixed with formula) and the stuff like applesauce. She has started getting fussy when it comes time to drink a bottle.
We were thinking it wasn't filling her up enough or that she is associating it with nap time - since she normally takes a nap after a bottle. We still feed her a bottle every three hours or so during the day and one around 2 am when she wakes up. I think we might try what some of you are suggesting with the bottle before the cereal or an hour or so later. One of the books we have suggest cereal, applesauce, carrots and other food should have started at 5 months so we have felt like we were behind on the eating thing.

Hi J.,
At this age formula is the main source of nutrition. The cereal and baby food isn't. My son was around 9 or 10 months when he didn't want a bottle anymore. I would start the meal with 4 ounces of formula. He usually drank most of it and then he got to eat his meal. My son also didn't want the baby food. He would eat whatever we were eating just cut up very small. I would cut out the solids until she is drinking more formula. Another thought, are you giving her a bottle laying down? She could have an ear infection and that could be why she doesn't want the bottle. Good luck.
Chris

babies will nnot overeat or undereat -- so if you want her to drink more milk.. cut down on the solid foods.

if hte only thing on the menu is milk- sh will drink it.

I would just give her a small serving of cereal made with formula.. and skip the fruits and veggies.. they are not that important.. the formula is where all the nutrition is.

If she doesn't want to take a bottle, try a sippy cup and see if she is more interested in that.