Swapping a bottle of milk for food?

Question

At what point do I start giving my daughter pureed food instead of a bottle. At the moment she's having her bottle and a little bit of pureed veg, to get used to flavours and textures and she loves it. Just not sure about the next step! Thanks in advance.

Answer 1

You dont really swap them but give them in conjunction....babies need their milk for 12 months..by 7 months your baby should be used to solids and having 3 meals a day as well as formula or breast milk....he or she will let you know how much milk they need.

Answer 2

At around one year.  Until that point, her milk is the basis of her diet, and any solids are just for fun.

(YOu don't say how old she is, but since she's still on purees and just getting 'a little bit', I'm guesing that she's somewhere around 4-7 months?  At this age, and for the next few months, give her her usual bottles, and then after she's had her fill of milk, offer her a little bit of solid food and let her take what she wants.  At around 9-12 months you start transitioning (slowly) to a more solids-based diet, and can give the solids separately from her bottle, or before it, or in whatever pattern works for the two of you.)

Answer 3

http://www.drgreene.org/body.cfm?id=21&a...

A baby can have up to 32 ounces of formula per day. In addition, he can have as much in the way of solids, water, or juice as he wants to supplement this. The mealtime formula is usually given at the end of the meals, to top off the solids in a comfortable and easy way. Even though the solids are now playing a larger role, the breast milk or formula still provides the core of the nutritional needs. If a baby begins to regularly take less than about 20 ounces per day, you might want to offer the bottle first and then solids.

Thirst is an extremely strong drive. As long as a baby’s own regulating mechanism isn’t tricked by getting too much juice or water, healthy babies will take enough formula or breast milk to meet their nutritional needs. This is one good reason not to put juice in the bottle.

Let your baby set the pace, but if he continues to consistently take more than 32 ounces or less than 20 ounces, run it by your pediatrician.

Within these broad guidelines, there is plenty of room for different preferences and schedules. Variety is part of life. Your baby and your own intuition are good guides through these exciting times.  

Answer 4

Most of your baby's nutrition will come from milk until she's about 12 months old - what normally happens is that you don't stop the milk, you just stop increasing the amount she has as she grows, and increase the amount of solids instead. So a baby just starting solids will have a bottle plus a taste of puree, but a 12 month old for the same meal might have a small plateful of food (a few tablespoonfuls) and a cup with several ounces of milk in it as a drink on the side or afterwards.

I'm assuming she's over 6 months old here - if not, giving any solids at all is dangerous as it can damage her digestive system and cause allergies.

Answer 5

With my children, when a bottle and a half wasn't enough for them - over 6 mths old - like you, I'd give them tasters of different foods, whatever we were eating mashed up.  I gradually increased these solids (including rusks and breadcrusts with butter when they teethed) until they were having solids plus one bottle.  At that time, I started decreasing the made-up milk feed and adding ordinary milk and finally they just had ordinary milk in their bottle at bedtime as it was comforting for them to suck on and helped them sleep.  By that time they were eating what we ate.