How often does/did your 9 month old feed?

[minties]

Just getting a little concerned (sad, annoyed, dismayed!) that Sophie seems to hardly nurse now. I offer frequently, but yesterday she only nursed at 6:30am and 5pm during the day (then 9:30pm and 3am that night).

She has halved the amount of feeds per 24 hour in the last 2 weeks. She LOVES water and right now LOVES solids. I feel like she doesn't stop eating all day. I always offer the breast first but she'll get extremely upset.

I'm worrying she wont be getting enough? She's not like Thomas was, he always nursed a lot.

 

[kitabird]

Felix is only 8 months and he has 5 feeds in 24 hours at the moment. He loves his solids and will be crying for proper food not long after having his milk. I think once he figures out how to crawl he'll be even less interested in his milk :/ I'm sure Sophie will be taking in plenty during the night and early morning feeds when there's nothing to distract her. My first was also much more into milk than solids, so this is a very different experience for me too.

 

[BrandyBestPal]

Stalking.

This sounds like my situation lately. LO just started STTN, too... so I am worried I am going to dry up if she keeps reducing feeds!!

 

[minties]

Thanks for the replies! It's a bit frustrating isn't it? She's managed 4 feeds per 24 hours in the last few days but it's a struggle.

 

[Mrs HM]

My LO started to self-wean from the breast at 7 months, and roughly cut his feeds in half over the next few months. By about 9 months he was only feeding first thing in the morning and last thing at night. I started offering solids for breakfast before I nursed and he gradually stopped looking for a morning feed and I stopped offering at night by 12months and he didn't notice at all that we had stopped.

Once he understood food, he just wasn't interested in nursing and those last 3 months were really for me, to give me time to adjust. It's frustrating and sad when you are happy to carry on nursing, but now I can see that he made the decision for us and it has worked out fine.

I'm sure your LO will be getting enough goodness from your milk and her solids, so please don't worry too much about that.

 

[BrandyBestPal]

My LO started to self-wean from the breast at 7 months, and roughly cut his feeds in half over the next few months. By about 9 months he was only feeding first thing in the morning and last thing at night. I started offering solids for breakfast before I nursed and he gradually stopped looking for a morning feed and I stopped offering at night by 12months and he didn't notice at all that we had stopped.

Once he understood food, he just wasn't interested in nursing and those last 3 months were really for me, to give me time to adjust. It's frustrating and sad when you are happy to carry on nursing, but now I can see that he made the decision for us and it has worked out fine.

I'm sure your LO will be getting enough goodness from your milk and her solids, so please don't worry too much about that.

How do you know that your lo is getting enough nutrients? My dd is pretty well on 3 meals a day - eating a ton... But I do worry that she isn't get enough iron and other vitamins and minerals. She probably only nurses 3, maybe 4 times a day and not for long. I know the transition is to eat well - but milk is supposed to be the main source of nutrition, right? It does make me worried... And sad that we aren't nursing as often. I guess she knows what she needs, right? Hym

 

[Casey3]

I think it depends on the baby.. some just prefer solids and some just want milk.. then there are stages too.. 9 months they get super curious and want to try lots of different things, they're too busy to always stop for milk. My guy is a milk addict, he asks for it constantly, even now at 20 months!

 

[blake12336]

LO feeds at 7am/9am/1pm/5pm/7pm, and then throughout the night. But he isn't a fan of solid foods. I also give him daily vitamin drops so I know he's getting enough nutrients x

 

[Mrs HM]

My LO started to self-wean from the breast at 7 months, and roughly cut his feeds in half over the next few months. By about 9 months he was only feeding first thing in the morning and last thing at night. I started offering solids for breakfast before I nursed and he gradually stopped looking for a morning feed and I stopped offering at night by 12months and he didn't notice at all that we had stopped.

Once he understood food, he just wasn't interested in nursing and those last 3 months were really for me, to give me time to adjust. It's frustrating and sad when you are happy to carry on nursing, but now I can see that he made the decision for us and it has worked out fine.

I'm sure your LO will be getting enough goodness from your milk and her solids, so please don't worry too much about that.

How do you know that your lo is getting enough nutrients? My dd is pretty well on 3 meals a day - eating a ton... But I do worry that she isn't get enough iron and other vitamins and minerals. She probably only nurses 3, maybe 4 times a day and not for long. I know the transition is to eat well - but milk is supposed to be the main source of nutrition, right? It does make me worried... And sad that we aren't nursing as often. I guess she knows what she needs, right? Hym

Well, I suppose I knew he was getting enough vitamins and minerals because I tried so hard to give him a varied diet, with most things freshly prepared from scratch. Our shopping bill has gone through the roof because of the fresh veg, fruit and meat that have become the norm for us. I also gave/give him a daily dose of Well-kid vitamin drops as advised by doctor to ensure he gets enough. He was/is also just thriving.

I think it's normal to worry but there's only so much you can do...right now my veg drawer consists of baby sweetcorn, sugar snap peas, green beans, carrot batons, aubergine, courgette, peppers, tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, spring onions, parsnips, mushrooms, onions, and potatoes (as I'm Irish and potatoes are as stable.) This is on top of a similar list of fruit with a few cuts of meat and chicken mean I'm doing my best which just has to be enough!

I would have loved to have continue to nurse for longer; I fed on demand and only stopped when my baby wanted to so I guess I trusted him and was led by him in this too ifkwim?

BTW -He's never taken cow's milk from a cup, so when he stopped BF I upped his diary intake of cheese, yoghurt etc to compensate. Again, that's all I could do as he still won't drink milk!

 

[Zephram]

Thanks for the replies! It's a bit frustrating isn't it? She's managed 4 feeds per 24 hours in the last few days but it's a struggle.

Plunket will tell you 4 times a day is plenty. In fact at our 9 month appointment our plunket nurse tried to encourage me to drop to 2-3 bf's a day! (Made me grumpy.) My LO still has 5-7 a day, but I would be happy with 4.

Sophie will know how much she needs, let her set the pace, all you can do is offer and it's hers to accept or not. Sounds just fine to me anyway!

 

[starlight2801]

My LO is only 6 months but already loves his solids and has dropped his milk right down during the day although is still nursing well at night at this point.

His milk consumption does worry me (especially from a fluid point of view as he hasn't mastered the sippy as yet) but my DD also ditched milk for solids early on and did just fine.

I FF DD and by 9 months she was down to two bottles per day and didn't always finish either of them. She worried me even more as she STTN so wasn't taking anything then either.

I tried adding milk to her solid food to up her intake (perhaps you could try adding EBM?) to make sure she was getting enough.

I'm sure if your LO needed more milk she would nurse more but I can understand you being worried x

 

[scoobydrlp]

I'm right there with you! We're doing BLW and my LO is much more interested in table food than she is in breast feeding. She still has a full feed first thing in the morning and right before bed, but in between it's a battle, especially the last few days. I've noticed it the most since going to 3 solid meals a day. I think I'm going to go back to 1 meal of solids and a snack or two to encourage her to take more breast milk. The only reason I'm concerned about it is because at our 6 month well visit her pediatrician mentioned that lots of LOs tend to get "too busy" to want to stop and nurse and in turn the mom's supply decreases, but LO needs more milk than is taking in. And then she mentioned supplementing with formula which I really don't want to have to do! I do have quiet a backup stash of EBM in the freezer, but it would go fast if my supply really dropped.

I will be stalking for sure. I wish we could have her 9 month visit a month early so I could ask the doctor what to do.