To all those who BF 8 months & beyond

[Miss MellyG]

Hiya all..

my HV has said that i need to cut down on the BF because Charlie doesnt eat a lot of solids. At first I thought "OMG how dare you!" but after observing my self for the last week.. I think she is right.

The thing is I offer the boob all the time. When he is tired, when he wakes up, several other times during the day.

How many times should I be feeding him so that he has enough but not as much so to not skip meals?

Also what do you do? Do you let them ask? What do they do to let you know that they want boobie juice?

Mel

 

[Sarah88]

I will normally offer Savannah her solids first, and then breast afterwards. If it's a hot day i'll feed more milk as I know she's thirsty, although I need to start doing water. Savannah has 4 or so solid meals a day so anything in between is milk. I also work full time, so I give her solids when I get home (anywhere between 3-6pm) and then milk before bed.
Wow, that makes no sense, lol

 

[Mervs Mum]

I dont think she's right. BM should be their main food till they are 12 months old ideally. I am worried that my LO doesnt want enough!!

I dont think you should push these things. They will take to solids in their own time. Samantha's Bren hardly eats any solids and he's just turned 1 yr. He's mostly BF still and that's fine. Is he gaining weight ok? If so I dont see the issue.

I would offer meals at meal times with a drink of water and then only BF him if he wants it. If he's tired but you are happy he's not hungry then try to settle him without feeding him. I mistook tiredness for hunger for a long while but she settled for a nap pretty quickly once I sussed the difference. He will naturally drop feeds once he's eating enough solids. At first she would seem to eat lots of solids AND BF still but she stopped asking quite quickly too.

 

[Sarah88]

Second what mervs Mum said. Savannah has naturally dropped her bf's. She still does feed a fair bit, but I knew when she was ready to eat more solids.

 

[XKatX]

I'm glad you've posted this. I was starting to worry that I was offering too much breast milk. I always give Oliver a BF first thing, followed by solids. Then he has his bath and has another BF!!! He also has one mid morning, after a snack. Then lunch and maybe a BF mid afternoon. He then has his solid suppeer followed closely by a HUGE bedtime feed. He does sleep through the night now through, so maybe the morning and evening feeds make up for the lack of milk during the night.
I still agree with the others though. He will drop his feeds when he is ready too. Oliver uses the breast to nod off still, so he doesn't actually drink that much for his after bath and mid afternoon feeds.

 

[Miss MellyG]

Is he gaining weight ok? If so I dont see the issue

he put on about 1lb per month he's 18lbs now but he's only on the 25th centile. When he was born he was on the 91st centile.

He does get 2 big meals a day & snacks in between but he skips breakfast, this is why she told me to not BF as much

 

[XKatX]

Is he gaining weight ok? If so I dont see the issue

he put on about 1lb per month he's 18lbs now but he's only on the 25th centile. When he was born he was on the 91st centile.

He does get 2 big meals a day & snacks in between but he skips breakfast, this is why she told me to not BF as much

My HV told me to drop the snacks and give 3 solid meals a day. Then, once this was established, give the snacks back. It seems to have worked really well for us.

 

[Mervs Mum]

That sounds great honey! It's fine for them to drop down th centiles a bit as they get older.

When you say he skips breakfast do you mean you offer it and he refuses?

 

[Mervs Mum]

I agree with Kat about the snacks. I rarely offer snacks.

 

[Samantha675]

Lisa is right, I do mainly BF Brenn, even at almost 14 months. A baby is just fine on BM alone until about 12 months. Solids should be a compliment to BM until then. I feel we really push our kids to eat these days. I know a lot of mothers will totally disagree with me, but I saw my son go from the 25% for height and weight at 9 months to the 95% for height and the 50% for weight at this 12 month check up on pretty much BM alone. Having said that, you have to do what you feel is right for your baby and for yourself. I didn't feel right pushing food on Brenn till just now, I felt that I could produce enough to keep him happy, fed and thriving.

 

[Mervs Mum]

I saw my son go from the 25% for height and weight at 9 months to the 95% for height and the 50% for weight at this 12 month check up on pretty much BM alone.

That's impressive Samantha!

 

[Samantha675]

I saw my son go from the 25% for height and weight at 9 months to the 95% for height and the 50% for weight at this 12 month check up on pretty much BM alone.

That's impressive Samantha!

I was soooo beyond proud when my Dr. told me that. I felt so vindicated for my BM, and not giving him solids, that all the pressure I had felt, along with the guilt was just a load of crap.