What is bf like at 8 months?

[NarcedOff]

Ds is doing well with solids and eats a good amount but I'm really lost off with how often to be bf him - he's 8 months and it's often a hard job persuading him to have a decent bf during the day. I

know it's meant to come before food until 1 but does it taper towards then?

What are people's experiences with how often to bf in 24 hrs at this stage? Are there any guidelines? Thanks!

[AuditAngel]

I bf DS UNTIL 8 months. The only reason I stopped was that he was so nosy I seemed to spend half my life with one boob on show while he checked out what was going on!

DS had reflux and adored his food. Once he w on regular meals, for him milk was a poor substitute, but it realise most kids don't eat like he did.

Sorry, not much help.

[Artandco]

I fed roughly 4 times a day at that age. Roughly before breakfast, lunch and dinner ( hr before), and then 1
10/11pm dreamfeed. By 12 months they usually just had am and pm

[Lovelydiscusfish]

I continued to bf on demand till dd was well over one, I think (when I reduced to morning, nap time and bed time).

[RubyrooUK]

Completely depends on the child.

My DS1 was a very enthusiastic solids eater and I only bf him during the night/eve/morning from 7 months.

My DS2 who is 14mo could not care less about solids. He picks a bit at three meals a day and asks for a bf every couple of hours when I'm not at work.

Incidentally, neither child has tapered off till the age of one. At one they were both as enthusiastic about bf as the day they were born (or more!).

So don't worry too much about what should be happening and just try to get your baby to explore new tastes and flavours of solid food with bf as a good backup.

[mynameisnotmichaelcaine]

All 3 of mine have been different. Ds2 is 8 months now, eats hardly any solids, about 4 bfs in the day, about 5 at night (grrr). DD ate loads more solids at that age so had less bf.

Every baby is different, as long as he is growing well and seems happy, just follow his lead.

[Pinter]

Dd is just turned 1. She changes each day. Had very little food & a few feeds the other day, but then none yesterday & lots of food.

Are you happy to be led by him?

[NarcedOff]

Thanks - that's reassuring.

I usually let him take the lead on what he needs but am panicking that he isn't getting enough milk. I feel a lot of pressure about the 'food is for fun until one' thing when he wants to eat loads and not bothered about bf so much unless he's sleepy.

Like AuditAngel he's so nosy and easily distracted that daytime feeds in our noisy house or out and about are really stressful. Struggling to get him to stay on for a decent amount of time when he's not that interested. He finds food much more fun plus you can look around whilst you're eating unlike with a boob!!

[Cakeismymaster]

Great thread as my dd is 8 mths too and I have been wondering about this. She has a bf early morning, after lunch, bedtime and about 27 through the night...some days she will have one mid morning for nap time. I'm actually trying to get her to give the mid morning and late afternoon one up, she will drink milk from her nuk sippy cup so I give her that in the afternoon.
I remember that with my ds by the time he turned 1 he just had a morning feed and a bedtime one.

[Sengi]

Dd is 8 months today, and usually has 5 bfs a day (roughly 7:00, 10:30, 2:30, 4:30, 7:00). Generally her feeds are pretty short and efficient, only the bedtime one is a long feed now, as she feeds to sleep.

[AnythingNotEverything]

At 7 months our feeds are a bit like Sengi's, often followed by a nap as we still feed to sleep a lot.

There's no guidance on bf a baby who eats well! DD say 3 good meals a day and I think would happily swap the late afternoon feed for a yoghurt and a walk in the pram. I'm pushing the bf as I fear she wouldn't get enough from just food.

No idea when I ought to slow it down.

[BertieBotts]

It definitely starts to taper.

As long as you're offering BF and not restricting his intake of either that or food, let him have as much as he wants.

[BertieBotts]

DS fed loads until he was well over one but other babies cut down much quicker. Follow their lead :)

[NarcedOff]

Aargh! He's gone back to waking up really frequently through the night after being down to 2 nights feeds/1 on a good night. Last two nights have been totally horrendous.

Otherwise day time I'd say he's having 4 or 5 during the day time. So that's ok then? And he's having 3 'meals' which he's dead keen for - plus I reckon he'd be happy to be offered snacks too. He gets titbits offered of suitable thing that people are having at other times.

[GenieJen]

By the time my boys were eight months It was just morning, nap and supper. There choice, of coarse and each nursing literally took only a few minutes either side.

[fhdl34]

My dd was like this. Completely distracted by everything in the day so could only get her to feed when sleepy or in a dark room and she'd feed several times a night instead.