Breastfeeding toddler- too much milk?

[BrutusMcDogface]

Hi all,

I put as much detail in the thread title as I could so people would only open if interested; it didn’t seem to fit in “infant feeding”.

Anyway, my toddler is 17 months and breastfeeds probably about 4-5 times a day (morning, afternoon, evening, in the night or if he sleeps through, then more mid-morning).

The HV told me ages ago that food is more important than milk at this age so I’m worried he’s overdoing it on the milk (he’s not really a big eater- this could be why!) I know he could end up anaemic.

Any advice? Is he having too much? How do I cut down?

I do actually have 4 kids but this wasn’t a problem with the others- they were happy to wean earlier. This one is a milk fiend.

TIA

Cut out a feed and keep going from there?

No such thing as too much breast milk as long as he has opportunity to eat solids regularly and you're not restricting his food intake. Some toddlers eat loads and nurse little, others nurse a lot and eat little. I seem to have one of each. But even my big eater will still have plenty of breastfeeds a day, I don't think 5 in 24 hours is a lot for bf. It's normal and OK to keep feeding on demand as long as you're happy to do this.

BTW the topic infant feeding would have been fine as that was just the shorter rename of breast and bottle feeding :) you could ask for this to be moved if you like.

Is he definitely feeding each time? They do learn to suck without actually taking much / any milk so it might just be for comfort.

DS is 3 years old now and pretty much Breastfeed's at the same rate as yours. He didn't eat much at 17 months and I considered dropping a feed but then his appetite for food just increased naturally. He eats as much as his peers now and it's useful for me to know that he's still getting some of his core nutrition from breastmilk on the days his diet isn't super healthy

Thank you for the replies!!

That’s how I feel, partysong - he doesn’t always eat that healthily so I’m glad he’s getting that nutrition from me.

However, there was another reason I posted that I didn’t want to mention initially (just wanted opinions on the number of breastfeeds at this age) - his poos have been yellow the last couple of days. I was just wondering if it’s (too much) breastmilk or if it’s something we need to worry about.

That's a lot less than my nearly 3 year old breastfeeds. He also enjoys his food. Like others I like knowing he's getting a good leg up in terms of nutrition every day. It also means I worry less about trying to get him to drink enough. We have constipation issues that I imagine would be a lot worse without all the fluid & laxative effect of the breastmilk!

These figures (from a study quoted on the Kellymom site) should be encouraging:
In the second year (12-23 months), 448 mL of breastmilk provides:
29% of energy requirements
43% of protein requirements
36% of calcium requirements
75% of vitamin A requirements
76% of folate requirements
94% of vitamin B12 requirements
60% of vitamin C requirements

That's barely anything! If mine had fed so little at that age, I'd probably have described it as them having stopped.
My advice would be to ask the HV to provide the evidence that breastfeeding a 17 month old at this frequency is detrimental. And keep up the good work.

I don't think colour of poo is really much to worry about as long as it isn't black or bloody. It seems to change based on what they've eaten and whether they are teething or have a cold.

Ah, thanks again for more helpful replies! I’ll stop worrying 😊😊😊

Mine were all breastfeeding way more than that at that age. 17 months is still practically a baby.
If it is any comfort, my children are all happy healthy teenagers and young adults with very healthy diets now despite my HV telling me that all kinds of disasters would befall them if I didn't stop. Curiously she seemed to think they needed to drink the milk of another species to be healthy, but not their own.

The colour of his poos may be because he's had more milk than usual, it might be he has a bit of a bug, it might be teething.

My 16 month old breastfeeds constantly! It might just be for comfort OP. Weirdly my HV said the same to me at 15months check up. The HV ram the benefits of breastfeeding down everyone’s throat from ages 0-12months then all of a sudden it’s the worst EVER if your feeding a lot after 12 months. Total bollucks in my opinion. If baby wants to breastfeed an is putting on weight just fine then don’t worry about it! X