Q&A: baby's fluid intake

E writes:

"Hi. I'm not sure if I am worrying over nothing, but am a little concerned about my baby's fluid intake.

She is 7mths old. I give her a bottle when she wakes up at 7 and she drinks 210ml or 7fl oz. She has a solid breakfast about 9am and then I can usually get her to take another one of those early afternoon/lunch time, she has normally two jars of solid food at lunch a sweet and savoury or some blended veg I make for her. Tea about five which is also solids normally two jars. I then used to give her another one the same before I put her to bed but the last three nights she has refused that.

The times I have tried to offer her water she wont take it and I have been trying to spoon feed her baby juice as she won't drink it from a bottle let alone a beaker."

I'm not sure if I'm exactly understanding all the facts, but it sounds like you're saying she has three 7-ounce bottles a day and three big meals of solids.

I think for a 7-month-old this is a really high ratio of solids to formula. Since the guideline now is not to start solids until around 6 months, and we know that breastmilk or formula is supposed to be a baby's main source of nutrition and calories up to a year, it seems like she's eating too many solids and not enough formula.

To remedy this, you should offer a bottle before you offer solids. Even if she only drinks a few ounces before moving on to the solids she's still getting the good fat and calories of the bottle, plus the fluids. She has the rest of her life to eat solids, but this window of getting the high nutrient density of the bottle is very short and there's no need to rush her out of it.

Also, there's no need for juice, especially at this age. It can cause diarrhea or constipation, plus it's just empty calories. If you're concerned about her other intake, giving juice can backfire by making her less likely to drink formula.

I think backing off and offering her less food and more bottles every day will help ease your mind and get her intake back into balance.

Comments

[Leslie]

I have similar concerns with my 8 month old. She eats a ton of solids during the day, nurses well before breakfast, but afterwards takes in very little breast milk. At her six month check up, the doctor had said her rate of growth had slowed too much and that I was to start feeding her solids three times a day. Now the solids seem to fill her while breast milk does not. Maybe the poster has a similar problem.

[Ellie]

This is more in response to the previous comment (by Leslie): a baby's rate of growth tends to slow when she starts taking in more solids rather than breast milk or formula. Breast milk is higher in calories, but more importantly fat content, than most solid foods. Increasing your baby's solid intake will actually probably cause a further slowing in growth. Decreasing the solids and increasing breast milk might make her grow more quickly again. That said, if you're just following her lead and she wants to be eating more solids, it might be that she's on whatever growth curve is right for her. I just wanted to point out the fallacy in your ped's suggestion.

I agree with Moxie's suggestion for the OP. She's awfully young to be getting the majority of her nutrition from solid food. The best way to determine if she's getting enough fluid, though, is to check whether she is peeing enough. If she is making enough wet diapers, and her urine is on the clear side rather than dark, she's probably doing okay. I would recommend being persistent with trying to get her to take water from a sippie cup (or whatever they're called where you're from--is that a beaker?), and leave the cup around within her reach so she can take whenever she wants. I think most babies will drink if they're really thirsty.

[Jana]

As I read this question, my thoughts were along the same lines as Moxie's reply. At seven months my daughter was eating maybe two jars of baby food per day (we introduced solids at six months).

At her six months checkup the doc told me she should nurse 5 times per day until around nine months (I believe she said something along the lines of five feedings of 6 to 8 ounces each if bottle fed) and if she took in less milk than that to cut back on the solids.

[Fahmi]

Huh. I hesitate to disagree with Moxie, but I thought I would just offer my experience. My son started solids at 4 months, and by the time he was seven months old, he was having three solid meals a day - breakfast was oatmeal and bananas, lunch and dinner were combination of vegetables and cereal (mixed with breast milk). He nursed in the morning, mid-afternoon, and at betime. I estimate that he was getting about 15 ounces of milk a the time. He didn't want water, although I tried.

It didn't seem to have affected his growth any, and while he loved nursing (he is still nursing) he ate solids happily. "E" doesn't mention if her child is still nursing at night - I think my son made up for the imbalance by nursing at night.

I am not sure I agree with the nursing before solids advice, because then the kid gets too full with milk and doesn't want solids. And while breastmilk offers a lot of nutrition, I am also of the opinion that if the child is responding well to solids, it seems counterintuitive to not encourage that - toddlerhood with rejecting food is difficult enough, but if the kid likes food, then it seems like it will be easier to shift to a purely solid diet.

[Julie]

At about 7 months I remember my son had a bottle about every 4 hours......about 5-6 oz. Sometimes he would drink the whole thing, other times only a little bit. He also began refusing bedtime bottles which really stressed me out - not so much because of nutrition, but (selfishly) because I was afraid it would impact his sleep - and mine. I drove myself nuts with keeping track of how many oz in a day he drank and how it corresponded to his night sleep. Looking back, I now see that he was going through growth ebbs and flows and that his refusing bottles had more to do with what his body needed at the time. I agree with Moxie that at this stage, your baby needs more formula/breastmilk than solids - solids are more for getting them to try out different tastes and practice than actual nutrition. Give the bottles first, offer some solids after at mealtimes......and as long as the wet diapers are normal you should be fine.

[Nutmeg]

My son is nearly 7.5 months old. We offer him solids twice a day (we are doing baby led weaning so he doesn't eat a ton of solids, but he does he some, I've seen the evidence!)

The only days I know how much milk he eats is on daycare days. He nurses twice in the morning before we leave (usually at about 5am and then right before we leave the house at about 7, 7:30). For the sake of argument I'll assume he takes in about 4 ounces when he's nursing, He takes three 4 ounce bottles at daycare between 7 and 4:30, and then nurses several times before bed. So we are getting about 32 ounces of breastmilk and a few solids.

I agree totally with Moxie and the previous posters that your girl is getting too many solids. Offer bottles first then let her eat whatever solids she seems interested in eating.

Also, I agree with Ellie's comment to the first poster. I never understand why peds insist on solids for babies who aren't gaining. My little pudgy bubs isn't hungry after nursing (because mommy is a cow), so he really doesn't NEED solids.

Before one, it's just for fun!

[Jan]

I think I recall that we solved this problem by offering bottles at a different time from meals. So, when they first woke up, there was a nursing session/bottle. Then breakfast a little while later. Bottle after morning nap (around 10), then lunch at noon. Bottle after afternoon nap (around 2 or 3) with a small snack. Then dinner we reversed it (no reason except timing, I guess) and had solid food at dinner and a bottle before bed. One of mine continued to take a huge bottle right before bed for a long time, while the other one phased that out earlier.

We offered water with meals, and watched very carefully to make sure we stopped offering food as soon as the baby seemed to lose interest. (Both my husband I have weight problems and we're really focused on making sure we teach good eating habits, which at this age just consist of not encouraging them to eat when they're not hungry.)

Good luck!

[Diane]

I think there are just so many different ways this can be done. My daughter's pediatrician says once solids are started (he recommends no earlier than 6 months), infants need 20-24 oz. of breast milk or formula per day. So, per my ped's recommendations, the original poster is doing about right.

The only way to know is what someone said previously. Is she growing? Is she wetting enough diapers? Let your baby lead the way. If you feel like something isn't right, try it another way. You know your baby much better than a bunch of people on the internet. Trust your gut. :)

[Diane]

I think there are just so many different ways this can be done. My daughter's pediatrician says once solids are started (he recommends no earlier than 6 months), infants need 20-24 oz. of breast milk or formula per day. So, per my ped's recommendations, the original poster is doing about right.

The only way to know is what someone said previously. Is she growing? Is she wetting enough diapers? Let your baby lead the way. If you feel like something isn't right, try it another way. You know your baby much better than a bunch of people on the internet. Trust your gut. :)

[hedra]

The real test of dehydration is urine color. There's a lot of water in baby foods, so there may be enough water intake in the food forms.

If the urine isn't totally transparent (very slightly tinged yellow, but mainly watery-clear), then not enough fluids are going in. Diaper should look 'wet' but not yellow or brownish (when fresh - it will darken with air exposure). Diapers should also be HEAVY when wet, not light.

Some kids need more fluids than others, though this does seem to me to be a LOT of solids at that age, it isn't necessarily wrong, just not at all average. If the stools are soft (they get harder if there's not enough fluid, too), and the urine is pale/clear, and the diapers are heavy, then don't fret too much. Keep trying (maybe later it will be more interesting), and keep using formula before meals in general (that's a nutritional density issue, more than a fluids one - formula and breastmilk are more nutritionally dense than any solid food, so provide more benefit than solids).

Good luck figuring it out!

[laury]

Does it make any difference what kind of 'solids' she's eating? The poster refers to jars - which in my recollection are very water-heavy, aren't they? So perhaps she is not as fluid deprived as it would seem - but I absolutely agree, milk should if possible be a bigger part of diet at this stage (and indeed til 1)

[Amy]

My daughter was clockwork, so I'll use her as an example. She was HUNGRY all the time, so she was full-on solids by 6 months. She'd have cereal (made with part of a formula bottle; 2 oz) at 8am, then drink the rest of the bottle. She'd have a half a jar of veggies and half a jar of fruit/dessert at lunch, and a bottle (8oz). She'd have half a jar of veggies/meat and half a jar of fruit/dessert and a bottle (8oz) at 4pm. Then she'd have cereal (made w/2 oz of formula out of the bottle) and the rest of the bottle at 8pm for bed. She slept through the night.

So two helpings of cereal made w/formula, and a total of two jars of food per day plus 32oz of formula. Plus throw in some baby cookies hilly nilly for snackies (and sometimes really watered down baby juice if it was hot).

If she had cut down on drinking the bottles, I would have cut down on the jarred food. For sure. But of course, my girl was a baby bird; hold something out and she'd open her mouth hehehe.

[Melissa]

My nine month old has been having three meals of solids plus three 5-6 oz. bottles since she was six months old. She's been formula fed since month 2, never drank more than 25 oz on any given day except for two growth spurts, and has always been in the 50th percentile for weight and pronounced fine by her doctors. I think the OP's child is eating just fine; there's no reason for there to be water or juice in her day at all.

[caro]

At the risk of sounding like a crotchety mother in law ("in my day we .... and everything was fine"), I wanted to add something that helped me put this in perspective.

Feeding my daughter (now 2) as a baby, I worried all about keeping away from certain foods, no juice, not too many solids too soon, etc. etc. Then a few weeks ago I was looking through some stuff my mom had saved from my babyhood and came across the list of foods she started me on. It began at age 4 months, and among the first foods were chicken, apple juice, and orange juice. And apparently I "weaned myself" at 9 months, at which point she switched to cows' milk.

Of course this doesn't mean we should all throw current knowledge out the window. Obviously there is progress and increased understanding of nutrition, development, allergies, etc. But I do find it really reassuring that my mom (as MANY of our mothers probably did) broke so many of today's sacred "rules", and yet here I am, a completely smart and healthy adult. It takes some of the pressure off.

[Erin]

I have a similar concern re: my 8-month-old's fluid intake. My son refuses a bottle--he has never taken one (I've tried 4 different kinds of bottles, 3 types of formula and pumping breastmilk). Anyway, I always had to nurse, but he started at daycare 3 weeks ago with the hope that he'd "drink when he's thirsty". He just chews on a sippy cup and screams/cries at the sight of a bottle. He is a very good eater of solids (we try lots of fruits full of water). But he only nurses three times a day and I don't have as much milk as I used to because of this.
I'm concerned he isn't getting enough fluid, he is having several wet diapers at daycare and a few at home. How many should he have to prove he isn't dehydrated? Any suggestions on how to handle this situation--I feel like I've tried almost everything. My son seems healthy and happy, but I don't want to deprive him of nutrition at this important stage of life. BTW-my ped says to keep trying the sippy cup & take the stopper out, which didn't make any difference.

[Sarah]

Hi Erin (comment above) -- I have the exact same problem with my son. My ped said not to stress if he only gets a few ounces at a time via his cereal. She said he will take the sippy cup eventually and will not let himself dehydrate. Trying to get him on a bottle or sippy cup has been such a HUGE stress, I feel I need to let go and trust he'll survive with less than optimal amounts of formula until he accepts the cup. In the meantime, I mix as much formula as possible with his cereal and offer him fruits and vegetables, and only BF two times a day as I really want to wean him! Anyone else with thoughts or advice on this situation?

[kellie]

Hi! I remember when my son was about this age - 5 months, actually. I thought he WAS getting enough to drink, until he started having major bouts with constipation. Is this happening? I was breastfeeding and didn't know that he wasn't quite getting enough to drink. He wouldn't go near a bottle with water in it - no matter what temp, etc. The peds actually told me to put 2 oz of 100% juice in the bottle and fill the rest up with water. This did the trick. I wasn't worried baout nutrition, however, like you seem to be. They say no juice is the rule, but honestly, if it hadn't been there for my Sam I would have had to do suppositories all day long. Also if you're breat feeding remember that it's ok to offer the boob for just a few drinks. Good luck.

[teresa]

there is a lot of scaremongering here and extremely rigid and naive opinions. the original poster is doing absolutely fine. the diet is a text book diet for a baby of that age, and her baby is certainly thriving on it.
reading through this thread, we have babies on 12 oz a day and in excess of 40 oz a day. both of which are absolutely spot on, a-ok, provided your baby is within her centile range and is having wet nappies.

my baby got picky about bottles from 8 weeks, and it was always a stuggle to get her to take formuala. like a poster here, it was never more than 25 oz a day. she stopped completely at 7 months. now we replace bottles with milky cereals, yoghurts, and probably about 7 oz in her cup through out the day. i offer her water throughout the day, and when she wants it, she drinks it.
she loves her solids and that's a blessing.

lose the anal attitudes. every baby on here is doing just fine. some are a little more strong willed/awkward! than others and need a little more tweaking is all. be thankful if yours doesn't.

so, yes, original poster - you are worrying over nothing, but that's ok, we all do! and moxie - bad call for making her worry even more over absolutely nothing!

[Jeremiah]

Have you tried giving him an 8 oz bltote before bed? That may hold him off a little longer at least so you get some sleep!! Also, starting cereal will definitely help. My baby was the same way yours is. I gave her cereal and a bltote for dinner, and she started sleeping at least 7 hour stretches. Babies also have a 6 month growth spurt, so that could be it as well. Good luck!!