9mo really cutting down on feeds

[FlightofFancy]

I'm a bit concerned that my nearly 9mo is cutting down too much on BF. I'm offering plenty of feeds, but often he'll feed for just a few minutes, then it's a battle between him trying to wriggle away and me trying to get him to take more milk.

He's having 3-4 milk feeds between 7am-7pm, then one-two between 7pm-7am - but each feed is only a few minutes long.

I'm starting back at work in a month, so I'm planning to cut back to just BF at 7am/pm, and he'll have solids/bottle during the day, so was thinking this was fine, as would make that much easier.

But, having read on a couple of other threads that milk should be the biggest part of their diet until 12 months, I'm worried he's not getting enough. Should I try harder to make him feed for longer, or more often?

Your baby is obviously telling you it is enough. My daughter could suck a boob dry in a few minutes at 9mths as they have a stronger sucking action so maybe he is doing the same. By 13mths she gave up altogether and wouldn't take a bottle at all either. She had no milk at all and was fine. I substituted with cheese sauces and petit filous, rice pudding and custard and HV said that was fine. Maybe try the same!
In a way it is great he is naturally giving up now as you are due back at work soon.
Don't worry too much as babies will not starve themselves.

They tend to feed very quickly at this age. Keep offering but don't stress, enjoy what time off you have left. Don't worry too much about returning to work either - he'll probably increase his feeds then anyway. :)

It's v. rare for a baby under 2 to genuinely self-wean but you're a way off that at 4-6 feeds a day.

jemjabella - as i posted above, my DD did self wean and at 13mths too.
I would have liked to have continued until at least 18mths as she had bad eczema but she was having none of it.
FOF - try not to worry too much as at 9mths your DC is having solids at every meal time and also having some BF's too. Keep an eye on his weight if you are concerned but i am sure he will be fine.