Breastfeeding Support - 6 months and beyond!

[polaris]

Poor Emma with her hand but it looks like it's healing fantastically! I'm sure being able to have cuddles and boobie with mummy certainly helped make the whole thing easier. I can't imagine comforting Ronan when he's in a lot of pain without nursing him. It makes me sad to even think about it!

Anyway, for those of you who've been bfing for far longer than me, how often on average were they feeding between 10-12 months or so? Ronan still nurses 3-4 times a day and then sometimes at night, so on average 4-6 times a day but other than first and last feed of the day, most of the time I usually have to offer. I've been signing and saying milk since he was about 4-5 months so he knows what it means and used to come for some boobie every time I offered but nowadays a lot of the time he'll acknowledge me asking if he wants it with a grin and then go back to doing whatever he was doing before. He just doesn't often come to me and clearly ask for it. It makes me a little sad because he used to be such a boobaholic but now he shows more enthusiasm for a bowl of blueberries during the day!

I know that it's a normal progression, and over the course of the next year I hope to wean him down to first/and or last feeds of the day but right now I'm confused and not wanting to push it either way. I've followed his lead from the day he was born and these days he seems far more interested in real food most days.

Anyway, I'm just rambling and I'm not sure what I'm even worried about, but I feel a bit lost with that big 'one year' milestone fast approaching. I always said I wanted to make it at least that far, but I never gave it a lot of thought beyond that and just figured 'I'll deal with it when we get there,' and what do you know, here we are!

Otter dropped them really fast on his own between 7-10 months. Went from 8-10 per day to 5 per day. This is also the time he started STTN (10 months). After that I started "don't offer, don't refuse" for the two bottles of EBM he got at daycare and he dropped those really well. Then he was at 3 (morning, noon, bedtime) for quite a while. He stayed there until about 15 months. At that point, I was tandem nursing and ready for him to drop a bit more if he was ready, too. So, I did don't offer, don't refuse with the noon one and he dropped that no problem. He still asked for the morning one for a couple of more weeks, then dropped that one.

Since then he has been at just the bedtime feed. I haven't tried "don't offer, don't refuse" with that one because I don't feel either of us are ready for that yet.

Just go with your gut. If he seems happy to drop a few feeds, that will be fine. It doesn't mean he will self wean completely anytime soon.

Thomas dropped feeds during that time period too. Up to nine months he was having four feeds during the day and one at night. At nine and a half months he started sleeping through the night and also dropped his mid-morning feed at about the same time. He stayed on three feeds a day until I went back to work when he was 11 months, then he wasn't having a feed during the day anymore on the days that I was in work because he wouldn't take a bottle or a cup, but he would still have his afternoon feed on the days that I was off. Pretty soon he stopped asking for the afternoon feed and since then we've just been on morning and bedtime feeds except when he's been sick when he has asked for extra feeds.

TigerLady - I am the same about wanting to be there for Thomas's bedtime but one night before Christmas I really wasn't able to get back and OH put him to bed. He offered him milk in a bottle and in his beaker but he just chewed on the bottle and took about one mouthful from the cup so he basically just missed out on his bedtime feed. He still went off to sleep no problem though and slept through the night as usual. He took a really long feed the next morning. It's not something that I would make a habit of but it was nice to know that he would settle without a feed before bed and that it wouldn't affect our ongoing breastfeeding relationship.

 

[Seraphim]

Quick Q:

Do any of you give cow/goat's milk?

I've got mixed feelings about it, but I'm just really tired and worn out at the moment.

 

[Nimbus]

Oooh, i'm getting close to the year mark... very exciting. Does anyone have any good suggestions on where i can get some cool tickers or whatever?

 

[cleckner04]

Okay, I have more time to catch up now.

Hivechild- I've seen several women on here whose babies seem to drop feeds around 10 months. I think it's quite common and really no indicator of when he'll stop for good. Emma has always been super snacky and feeds frequently so we never got that dip in feeds but sometimes I really wish we did! I've even tried to don't offer don't refuse thing and she just comes over and rips my top down saying booby, booby, booby. I know it's kinda odd finally hitting that one year milestone because in the beginning it feels like you'll never get there and than once you are there it's like 'what now?'.

Eve- I'm glad K is feeling better! I don't even know what it'd feel like to have a baby go to bed at 7 PM! That's so early! I feel like Emma's new 10 PM bedtime is hard to deal with sometimes because good shows are just starting on tv around 9.

Seraphim- Emma gets cows milk only if I have it for lunch or dinner myself. Because we just share a cup when we have meals together. So she has maybe a cup of cow's milk a week. If that because she just takes a few sips during dinner. Than throughout the day she always has her cup with water.

 

[cleckner04]

Nimbus- tickers or blinkies? I have tons of great blinkies on my photobucket account I just created recently. The link is in my siggie.

 

[TigerLady]

Polaris, thanks for that! It gives me hope that I could skip a bedtime feed and still be able to carry on. Just in case I feel I need to at some point.

Seraphim, Otter gets cow's milk. I started giving it to him when he was about 11.5 months old. He drinks loads of it -- usually around 20-50 oz per day of whole milk. But he is a super thirsty kid. Between milk and water (and ocassional juice) he usually drinks around 3 or more liters of fluids per day.

IMHO, cow's milk is fine (whole milk!) starting when they are about a year or so. I wouldn't use it to replace Breastfeeds before a year though. Just as a complimentary food like any other. Then I might give cow's milk in a cup in place of one feed or so. But I wouldn't replace too many. Just what I would do, though.

 

[Nimbus]

Nimbus- tickers or blinkies? I have tons of great blinkies on my photobucket account I just created recently. The link is in my siggie.

How clever are you! nice one, loads there, thank you Now i need to figure out how to use them! ha ha

 

[polaris]

Seraphim, I offer Thomas cow's milk from time to time but he has never really shown any interest. He will take a little sip and then just starts blowing bubbles with it and watching it dribble down his bib. He enjoys putting items of food into his cup though and seeing if they float, LOL.

 

[TigerLady]

Oh, gawd, Otter puts EVERYthing on his tray in his cup. And then happily drinks from it!

Silly child!

 

[littlepne]

Oh, gawd, Otter puts EVERYthing on his tray in his cup. And then happily drinks from it!

Silly child!

Mmmm, looking forward to that stage!! Can she stay a baby forever please?!

 

[Eve]

Quick Q:

Do any of you give cow/goat's milk?

I've got mixed feelings about it, but I'm just really tired and worn out at the moment.

I do hun. I started around 10 months with some here and there as I am babysitting and my son has been diagnosed with some behavioral problems and my life is pretty stressful and draining. I didn't want to give it at first, but once I did I felt so much better. She still has boobie 3-4 times a day, and has a bottle or two of cows milk or formula in between. It gives me a bit of a break and also lets daddy get up with her sometimes on weekends (when he is home.....). She took it very well and liked it. Now I can give her a bottle before her nap and she will drink it, and then I give her soother to her and she goes off to sleep I asked about goats milk and they said cows was fine, but formula would be better for them under 2.

 

[hivechild]

hive, your lucky with only that many EJ insists upone 5 feeds minimum during the day but thankfully we have weaned him off the night feeds now so we all get a decent night but if a feed is late in the day boy do i hear about it alot from him and i need him to cut back caus with our trip to NZ in 6 wks where i'll be playing bridesmaid for my sister and cant BF in the dresses shes picked and then to Aus and coming back here id prefer if he was on 3 maybe 4 feeds a day

Well he's sick at the moment so he's nursing more often the last day but he's oh so whiny and not wanting anything one minute and then screaming the next because I can't whip 'em out fast enough for his highness!

We're going back to Australia for a month or so in March/April too for my big sister's wedding and just to spend some time with the rest of my family. If there's a reason to not wean him anytime soon, it's the 24 hours of travel to and from and being able to pop him on the boob any time. I'm NOT looking forward to that flight!

Thanks everyone for the reassurance on the monkey's nursing frequency. I need to just trust him more on this I think, especially since he'll bite me if he's not interested!

 

[hivechild]

Quick Q:

Do any of you give cow/goat's milk?

I've got mixed feelings about it, but I'm just really tired and worn out at the moment.

I plan to once he's a year during the day. I'm going to try him with goat's milk but I won't be too upset if he prefers cow's milk which he already gets in cereal when I am too lazy to go downstairs to dig out some of my rapidly dwindling stash of ebm.

He's generally just not so interested in nursing through the day and won't entertain drinking EBM from a cup or bottle, but he likes to drink A LOT of water, so if I can have him drinking some cow/goat milk instead of all water, I think I'll feel a little better about it.

 

[Eve]

I like cows milk, so I don't have any problems with K having it. I don't know about the goat milk thing.... LOL.... I just don't like goats

 

[hivechild]

They are kind of smelly, but then so are cows and sheep when you get up close to them.

 

[lynnikins]

we swapped Nate from formula to cows milk at 10 1/2 months caus the doctor was ok with it and he was big for his age and healthy anyway lol i havent tried EJ with cows milk as a drink yet but he gets plenty in yogurt and sauces and cheese atm it something i really should consider trying though,

sucess i got him to take a bottle of expressed milk for the first time since Sept yesterday morning while i double pumped i need him to take it happily so from now on as well as pumping for R then im gonna double pump and EJ can have a bottle each morning or evening to get used to it as with 2 sucessive weekends away from him for a whole evening/night then he does need to accept it lol,

 

[lynnikins]

Hive, when are you going to be in Aus and which part? im in Brisbane after March 15th

 

[hivechild]

I'll be in the Brisbane area too! I'm not sure on travel dates yet except that we'll be there before Apr 9. How long will you be there for? We totally need to catch up if possible.

 

[littlepne]

Well had a really bad nights sleep, from midnight she kept waking up for an hour or so then sleeping for an hour before waking again Didn't want to feed much either. Have got some teething gel so tried that and I'm sure there's a tooth or two about to pop.

Feel so sorry for her, especially when boob doesn't even comfort her - it's worked for so long that I don't really know what else to try!!!

But I'll get plenty of cuddles today, so I guess that's something! Hope these teeth pop soon. Is it bad for every tooth or does it get easier?

 

[Miss_Bump]

Here's Emma's hand for the ones that may be curious. Warning: Don't look if you're easily grossed out by burns!!

Spoiler

https://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e255/cleckner04/IMG_5793-1.jpg

Well had a really bad nights sleep, from midnight she kept waking up for an hour or so then sleeping for an hour before waking again Didn't want to feed much either. Have got some teething gel so tried that and I'm sure there's a tooth or two about to pop.

Feel so sorry for her, especially when boob doesn't even comfort her - it's worked for so long that I don't really know what else to try!!!

But I'll get plenty of cuddles today, so I guess that's something! Hope these teeth pop soon. Is it bad for every tooth or does it get easier?

Teething here too!!

Last night was bad the night before she went 10 hours straight!

Do you give her teething gel before a feed when she wakes? I've heard giving gel before a feed can result in improper feeding due to the numbing agents that numb their gums and Tongue. Ive started giving teething powder before feeds or if she wakes at night so that might be worth a try Hun?

One tooth cut before Xmas and the other cut about a week ago.

I offered her my toast today and it was so cute when she took a bite and she loves digging her new pearly whites into an apple too so I've put some in the fridge for her
xx