Too much breastfeeding???

[teafortwo]

Hello MN foodies !!!!

I have just got off the phone to my sister who is feeling rather deflated about her LO.

My neice is 8 and a half months old and very healthy. A real bonnie lass [proud emotion]!

My sister breastfeeds her when she asks for it which tends to be morning, lunchtime, afternoon and evening. My sister says she and baby like it.

Now the problem is little one will hardly eat any solids.

The health visitor and her friends keep getting on at my sis saying she needs to next to cut out milk altogether () but when she tried this little one has not eaten any more just cried and cried for milk and of course this made my sister feel depressed about the whole 'issue'.

I am interested - What do you think?

TIA

One of my HVs at weigh in have said you can never give a baby too much milk and to keep giving it as long as they keep asking for it. I would still be BF if it weren't for the medical thing but DS, when I weaned, was on at least 5x7 oz. Even now, at nine months, he drinks that much -- sometimes more, sometimes less, but on average, 5 x 7 oz. Tell your sister to ignore and do what feels right for her and her DD. Keep up the good work, tea's sister!

Thanks, Scout!

DD had only just droped one feed at 8months, and untill then was having milk every 2 hours during the day. By 12months she was a resably good eater but still haveing 4 BF during the day(and waking up at lest 2times during the night)but was on 3 meals a day to.

We did BLW to which was so much less stress for me then trying to spoon feed her as she really didn't like the spoon at all.

The BLW book is good I'd recomend it to everyone I meet.

Please ask her to call an NCT breastfeeding adviser. They will reassure her that this is perfectly normal and that dropping milk at 8 months is a bad plan.

Ugh these health professionals piss me off sometimes.

Hi Tea

My ds is 7.5 months and still has loads of milk. I am doing BLW with him so whilst he's quite happy making a huge mess playing with the food, I don't think he's actually eating that much of it. He's off the top of the centile charts though and is lovely and chubby, so I don't think he's wasting away

I've found the whole ethos of BLW really reassuring. It does exactly what it says on the tin. The baby decides what and how much they want to eat and you have to trust their instincts. Milk is great. I'm 35 and still have to have my cup of warm milk before bed

My DS is nearly 10 months and BF about 5/6 times in 24 hours. He also has solids and recently his appetite increased but yesterday he refused most of his food - think it was teeth. It goes up and down.

He much prefers solids if I chop it up and let him pick bits up himself or give him a spoon and he'll do it himself. Sometimes he'll sit there and eat, other times he'll be checking that gravity still works by throwing it on the floor (then looking over the edge of the high chair!)

if he's tired, he's not interested. If he's too hungry, again not interested. He much prefers to snack on bits during the day than have a proper sit down meal! Which is fine, once I accepted that! Someone said I should stick him in front of the tv and sneak food in that way

My friend on the other hand had a HV like your sister's. She told her to cut out feeds at 6 months , that BF after then was for the mum's benefit only and to only feed once in the morning and at night . Her little one's weight has dropped right down - I think off the charts. He was small anyway, but given he's not crawling and only been sitting up recently, it seems a bit wrong to me (my DS's weight has slowed down since crawling).

Another rubbish HV, I'm afraid. Just want to reiterate my support for all the good advice you have had on here. It sounds like your sister is doing a great job.

Babies drop milk in favour of food in their own time - after all, you don't see many bf teenagers around...

You lot are fab!!!

TSM - 7 months... WOW time flies!!! Give little one a special squeeze from me - he is such a lovely super star!

Sorry, I know you've had loads of replies, but thought I'd add my story too.

At 8 months, DD was still feeding, oooh, at least five times a day. Could well have been lots more. I know it was every couple of hours through the day until at least 7 months.

BLW is brilliant if you've got a baby who is not that interested. I tried to time it so that DD was not full from a milk feed, but not hungry IYSWIM. So milk mid morning, then lunch, etc. It is also much less disheartening to give your child a bit of your veg, or a slice of your cheese on toast, than to prepare something specially which gets ignored!

Don't be sorry at all, andbaby - thanks, it is very reassuring!

Can you find her nearest breastfeeding support group - NCT, La Leche League, children's centre? It's fab you doing all this research for her but sometimes when you've been told one thing by a health visitor it's much more reassuring to be told everything you are doing is just fine by a real life breastfeeding expert than a bunch of people on the internet (though she can take it from me, mumsnet is the best forum I've found for breastfeeding advice anywhere on the internet I'm not that qualified, just a bf peer supporter, and breastfeeding mum of fussy, small eater who now at 22 months has FINALLY taken to food with gusto - but I have been on quite a few forums, UK and US based.)

The BLW book is great too - also look at "The Food Of Love" by Kate Evans.

Oh and can I also add that I've been advised at various times to restrict DS' milk, and every time I have tried, it has made him worse. At about 13 months I noticed that milk definitely stopped filling him up and he would start asking for food rather than not being bothered whether he had food or milk, and then at 21/22 months when I had totally given up and just let him feed whenever, wherever, he suddenly eats loads of random things he never liked before, like curry, stir fry, spicy beanburgers, different fruits, proper (rather than processed) meat, and is asking for bigger servings - he can easily eat 3 fromage frais, or half a cucumber (I am not exaggerating ) or an entire carrot, a whole one of those half tins/snap pots of baked beans...

Throughout the period when he was barely eating, by the way, I avoided having him weighed but at 16/17 months my HV had a freak out and insisted on weighing him, and he was fine - right on the same line he'd mostly followed from birth.

If you follow their lead and they seem fine in themselves (ie not drawn, listless, dehydrated, etc) you can't go far wrong IMO.

BB - thanks.