Losing interest in b/f at 7.5 months - help please!

[Utka]

DD2 has dropped quite suddenly from about 5-7 feeds a day at 5 months, to about 3-4 at 7.5 months and I'm worried we've got the balance of solids and b/milk wrong.

I delayed weaning until just short of 6 months, as DD1 has terrible eczema and allergies (despite my b/f her until 10.5 months!). However, I suspect that DD2 had been ready to wean for some time, as she is a big baby, and had started to up the number of day and night feeds just before we started.

Having weaned DD1 at 16 weeks, I didn't quite know how fast to do it with DD2, when to introduce protein etc. and how quickly the solids vs. milk balance should change.

DD2 eats 3 good meals a day: baby rice and pureed fruit after a b/f first thing, chicken or lentil puree with potato and a green veg, plus more fruit at lunchtime, and then veg/fruit and baby rice at tea time. She has a good b/f before bed, but had also been having a b/f mid morning and mid pm too.

Now she's cut out the mid am feed, and has been cutting back dramatically on the mid pm one too.

Could I be giving her too much lunch? What balance of milk and solids should she be on? Does the quantity differ if you've started weaning 'late' or do you go by the baby's weight and / or interest. The thing is DD loves her solids, and I suspect b/f is becoming a bit of hard work for her during the day.

She is happy to feed at night, and will normally have a feed before I go to bed. She often wakes during the night, and would feed then too, but I have started giving her water as I found she wouldn't have a good feed first thing and in any case I need to start getting more sleep! She used to be quite a 'snacky' baby, so I am keen not to simply give her the boob whenever she feels like it.

My boobs are all over the place and I am worried as I don't want to give up feeding her yet. I can't add more milk into her diet as we are currently avoiding dairy (and gluten) to hopefully prevent the eczema.

Any tips anyone? Many thanks.

[shrub]

my ds2 did this and it was such a shock, he just wasn't interested, my milk supply went down and i was getting more stressed trying to feed him and eventually he just stopped at 10 months. i wasn't ready and very tearful as i had fed my ds1 for 20 months. i did find it reassuring searching under current/archived messages on mumsnet as this does appear quite common that babies sometimes just self-wean. other factors could be teething or lots of protein can take the edge off their appetite for breast feeding. or the fruit may be already quenching her thirst? this must be so difficult for you with the added worry of trying to prevent the eczema plus the emotional side of not wanting to stop. could you express and add it to her food or do you do that already?

[TraceyP]

My daughter did the same thing at about the same time. If it's any consolation, she continued having four feeds a day until she was over 18m old, and bf until she was 2 so it doesn't necessarily mean that your dd is ready to stop bf just yet! There are soya based formula milks that you could try cooking with if you wanted to add to her diet in this way, or you could express.

[Utka]

Shrub

Yes I do express (don't seem to get much out, but read helpful post from someone else about quantity not being important). I always express if she's refused one side at any one feed, and then add it to breakfast or tea to make up the baby rice.

I am anxious about it as I didn't really enjoy feeding dd1 (loads of problems establishing feeding), but am loving it this time around. Also, we are unlikely to have another baby, so I feel all wistful about it ending sooner than I'd planned. My main worry though is the eczema and other health issues (she has a kidney condition). I know I will have given her an all important 6 months +, but I am convinced that the health benefits continue after this, and so don't want to give up. I also cannot face the palava of bottles etc......!

Thanks for your post.