How Many Bottles a Day?

I was told that they need 20 ounces of formula a day until they're a year old. Are you offering a sippy cup with meals?

At this age, mine would have a bottle in the morning when they woke up (just before breakfast, like your schedule here), a snack after the morning nap (graham crackers and a sippy cup of formula), a sippy cup with lunch, a bottle after the afternoon nap (at 3:00, just like your schedule), a sippy cup with dinner, then a bottle at bed time. If each bottle is 6 ounces, you should get pretty close to the 20 ounce mark. My daughter never ate what they said she "should" eat, but she's also always been at the 10th percentile on the growth chart. I figured if she drank 16-18 ounces instead of 20-24 ounces, that was about right. And she's always stayed on the curve for physical development, which is a good indicator that she's getting what she needs. My son has always been at the 75th percentile, and he would have the 20 ounces easily.

Judging from her schedule, it seems that she is doing more snacking than actual eating. Allowing her to drink her bottle and then waiting an hour or more to feed her lunch causes her to eat less productivly because she knows that the option for food will come back really soon. I would give her a bottle and then feed her real food right after, or vice versa. This will let her know that she needs to eat when it is offered and she will eat more to sustain herself till the next meal. At 10 months, she should have 3-4 bottles per day, with about 24-30 ounces total. Her meals should be relative to the family's mealtimes with breakfast, lunch, dinner, and two snacks. If she is getting to eat almost every one to two hours, she will actually eat a loss less, so making her wait longer between meals should help. My son's schedule is below for an example. He is 10 months old and we are just starting to replace the bottle with a sippy cup, but only at lunch time for now. He drinks plenty of formula, though, so if your daughter is not getting enough with her bottle, you might want to wait a little longer to use a sippy cup until she starts to drink more at a time. Good Luck!!
8:00 wake up, breakfast, bottle(7 oz.)
10:00 small snack(ex. crackers & applesauce)
10:30-12:30 Nap
12:30 lunch, bottle(7 oz.)
2:30-4:00 Nap
4:00 snack(ex. diced banana & yogurt, cheerios)
4:30-6:30 playtime
6:30 Dinner
7:30-8:00ish Bath, Bottle(8 oz.) right before bedtime

I had the same problem with my daughter just before she was a year old. She really didn't care much for the bottle anymore and it was really hard to get "enough" formula in her. I was lucky to get her to drink 12 ounces per day and I think she was supposed to be getting like 20. But, she was also a really good eater. I didn't give her snacks at all. She just ate at her mealtimes and she would eat a ton, so I think she was just getting her fill from food. Since she was eating lots of fruits and veggies, etc. I figured she was getting what she needed. She is now weaned to whole milk in a sippy cup and still doesn't really drink much of that. She is more of an eater than a drinker I guess. So, unfortunately, I don't have much advice for you except to say that you should try to give her the bottle before the food and see how much you can get her to drink. Good luck! I can sympathize with what you're going through.

My advice is not to replace bottles w/sippy cups until you switch from formula to milk. At meal time have water in a sippy cup on her tray and then also when she's playing through the day. At 12 mos when your pedi switches her to whole milk, I would give her first bottle the next day of milk and see how she takes it and assuming she is fine with it, I would then switch to the sippy cup (maybe even give it a couple of days). At this point she won't have scheduled times for it, just with meal time.

Good luck!

My daughter is 11 months old and she takes 4-6oz bottles of formula a day. She takes one with each of her three meals and one in the afternoon between lunch and dinner. She eats a late dinner. I am not sure how much is the "right" amount but she is healthy and gaining weight appropriately with this meal plan.

Hi Lindee,
My son is 9 mo and I just started with the 3rd foods but he doesnt like them. He prefers the 1st and 2nd foods for taste. The macaroni,spagetti,turkey,etc all smashed up is not very appealing and I don't blame him. He makes gag like sounds when I try giving them to him.
I've begun to give him a little of whatever I am eating. Yesterday I had a grilled chicken sandwich for lunch with a side of cold pasta and I gave him little bitty pieces of each. He loved it! For dinner,we had spagetti and I cut some up with a fork for him. I measured it to be a little less than 2 ounces in my little container from when I used to breastpump.
He still gets his 1st and 2nd gerber foods though.
I only give him "food" twice a day(lunch,dinner) and the rest is 5 to 6 ounces of formula each feeding. However, for breakfast, I add cereal to his formula(mix in apple or banana) and spoon feed.
I estimate he gets about 4 bottles a day.
He is 22 lbs and in the 50% for both his height and weight.

His schedule is as follows:

8am-breakfast- 2 ounces formula mixed with oatmeal and 1st food fruit(sippy cup with water and splash of juice)
10am- 5 ounce formula in bottle
-nap
12- lunch- 2nd food fruit or veggie(or sometimes whatever I'm eating if its nutritional)and sippy cup with water and splash of juice
2 pm- 6 ounce bottle
4 pm- 5 ounce bottle
-nap
6:30 pm- dinner- 2nd food veggie or whatever I'm eating and sippy cup with water only
8:30pm-6 ounce bottle
9 pm-bedtime