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Infant feeding

Baby hardly breastfeeding at 7 months

6 replies

SpanielFace · 04/09/2016 08:39

DS2 is 7.5 months and is EBF. He can't actually have normal formula as we discovered when weaning hin that he is allergic to cows milk protein. We started weaning at 6 months with a mixture of purées and finger foods, as we did with my eldest. It has gone well - he is now eating three good meals a day. He has water with his meals, but no other drinks.

Over the last 2 weeks he has been dropping breastfeeds very rapidly. In the last 48 hours he has only actually breastfed three times. I have tried to feed him, I offer him a feed before solids, and he won't have it - he just arches his back and cries. The only good feed he is getting is the one when he wakes up at around 6am! Part of it is that he gets easily distracted, I think, but it's worrying me as he has no dairy in his diet. I find expressing very hard, so I have been giving him oat milk on his porridge, but that is the only dairy substitute he gets and it's not the same as cow's milk in terms of calorie density or vitamins.

We are seeing a paediatrician next week about his allergy and I'm hoping they will prescribe an alternative formula he can at least have in food instead of cow's milk. But I had hoped to continue breastfeeding for his milk feeds until a year. Is it normal for babies of his age to do this? My milk supply has massively dropped, I can tell, and it's worrying me that he is going to self wean entirely.

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ReallyTired · 04/09/2016 08:44

Seven months is very young to self wean. Do you think he might be ill? Ear infections are a common cause of a nursing strike. It might be worth contacting la Leche league for advice if you want to continue breastfeeding.

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ReallyTired · 04/09/2016 08:46
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LifeGotInTheWay · 04/09/2016 08:48

Watching with interest as we are in exactly the same position. I thought feeds would be dropped gradually but DS just seems to love food and turns away from the breast. I can get a morning and night feed into him but no more really, don't know what to do and he's a little younger than yours.

Won't hijack the thread and hopefully someone will come along to tell us about their experiences. I thought we would feed for a couple of years at least!

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SpanielFace · 04/09/2016 08:50

I don't think so, Really. He is eating solids well. I think the big problem might be distraction. I have a year old DS as well, who starts school tomorrow, and who is a typical 4 year old in terms of noise and energy levels. He also thinks it's funny to deliberately distract the baby from feeding Hmm. But he would even feed at bedtime last night - he's always fed to sleep in a quiet room, to make sure he doesn't get distracted, but he refused and just cried, so I put him down in his cot and he went straight to sleep. I assumed he would wake after an hour or so and want a feed then, but he went straight through until 6am. He has been sleeping through on-and-off for a couple of weeks, but he's never missed a bedtime feed before.

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SpanielFace · 04/09/2016 08:51

Thanks for the link - I will have a read.

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SpanielFace · 04/09/2016 08:52

Life that is exactly what he's like, refuses to feed but then wolfs down a bowl of spaghetti bolognaise or whatever. How old is your baby?

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