Nursing 1 year old twice a day, Dr. says only for comfort, not nutrition?

[scoobydrlp]

LO had her 1 year doctor visit today, although she's nearly 13 months. I asked the pediatrician how much milk she needs each day, and mentioned that she still nurses first thing in the morning and last thing at night, and that I didn't know how that calculated into her intake since I'm not sure how much she gets while nursing. I was surprised when she said that she's likely just comfort nursing and I shouldn't count those times as actual milk intake. I'm not sure I agree with that, especially since I know I'm still producing milk.She has always been very pro breastfeeding in the past...I just found that comment so unusual. Why wouldn't she be taking in a meals worth of milk, just as she always has in the past when she's nursed?

 

[Maxy1]

You will know whether your milk supply has dropped off. For us, when DS was 13 months he was definitely feeding with purpose and my supply was still very high. It wasn't until about 20 months I felt that my supply was dropping and he was just comfort sucking. But having said that even, we stopped about 22 months by substituting milk for his feeds and he was still drinking quite a lot at that time - maybe about 200ml each sitting morning and night.

I would still count the feeds as feeds at 13 months if your supply is still up.

 

[kitabird]

Your doctor is clueless! Why would your baby decide to comfort suck instead of feeding just because she's turned 1? As Maxy says, you may not know how much she takes, but you can tell if she's swallowing regularly as opposed to half heartedly suckling. Ignore the doc and carry on!

 

[cat_reversing]

as pp said, only you know if lo is swallowing and therefore drinking, ignore what this 'dr' said. have you felt confident lo was getting the milk she needed up to now?! exactly!, so you know what you're doing.
Keep going as long as you both want, no one else's business.

 

[deafgal]

If u heard your baby swallowing, I say she is getting milk from you. (Or still can squeeze milk out)

 

[seaweed eater]

That's just silly. If she's swallowing, what else would she be swallowing? And good for her -- it's still more nutritious for her than other milks.

Not knowing anything else about you, I would probably assume 2 milk feeds is somewhere around 8oz total, so about half of her milk (or milk equivalent) needs per day.

 

[CandyDay]

Breast milk is nutritious at any age. It's not just comfort. That's like saying drinking a cup of milk is just for comfort and shouldn't count as milk intake. If your LO is having regular wet diapers then she is getting enough fluid. Whether she is getting it from the breast or from a cup doesn't matter. The breast milk is much healthier for her and better for her then any other liquid she could be drinking.

 

[RaspberryK]

That's so silly.
My ds was drinking 10-12oz morning and night from the breast at 12m xx

 

[FAB mama]

That does sound like a stupid comment from your doc. My LO is definitely getting some milk from me. I don't really have set feeding times for him, but he basically missed a daytime feed today and I could definitely tell I had a lot of milk built up. He's still nursing about 2-3 times during the day and a few times at night also. He doesn't have any other milk or dairy intake so I guess he needs it.