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Infant feeding

Get advice and support with infant feeding from other users here.

8 month old replacing too much breastmilk with solids?

9 replies

feetoftiger · 04/04/2011 23:21

I am worried that my 8 month old may not be getting enough milk and instead be wanting too much solid food. I'm not sure how to get the right balance - or whether I should just trust her to know what she needs. We are doing BLW and she is eating three full meals a day with snacks of yogurts and fruit in between. She will eat anything and everything offered and never seems to want to stop!

Everyday she breastfeeds for about half an hour at 7am, and about 20 mins about 6pm before bed. She has two further short feeds, one in the morning and one in the afternoon (she has two 5-6oz bottles of EBM for these feeds when she is at nursery - this has gradually reduced from three 10oz bottles of EBM that she was having before she started on solids because the nursery said she wasn't wanting/finishing them). She doesn't wake to be fed in the night at all - and hasn't done since she was five months.

The reason I am worried is that I used to have no problem expressing plenty of milk for nursery but this week I have struggled to produce the 10oz needed for the daytime. I had a row with her dad on sun and don't know whether that affected it, or whether I just have less milk because she is not taking as much. Her dad has made it quite clear that he thinks it is time for me to be stopping soon and giving her formula instead. I have no intention of doing that but I do feel under pressure to stop from several sources ("what you are still feeding her yourself?" - oddly the only really supportive person is my old dad who thinks it is brilliant and that I should continue). I don't want to end up giving up because I am worried she is not getting the right balance of milk-solid food or I can't express enough for her whilst she is at nursery.

Any advice would be appreciated!

OP posts:
Dilligaf81 · 04/04/2011 23:26

Hi firstly if your stressed it can affect your milk supply so the row could affect that.
Secondly my 8mth old is EXACTLY the same and the way I got my head around it was with EBF you let the baby lead the way so do the same with food. She will be getting plenty of nourishment with the meals she is having.
As for giving up, do it when your ready.
I know it's only natural to worry but your doing a fantastic job Well done.x

Dilligaf81 · 04/04/2011 23:28

Have a nice bathe with a trashy magazine good book that always gets my milk flowing. BTW my DD only has 2 milk feeds a day 1st thing and 19:00, she only has water and food during the day.

TheSecondComing · 04/04/2011 23:41

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Dilligaf81 · 04/04/2011 23:44

HAHA TSC is yours a DS. My DS would still be feeding now if he could and he's !

TheSecondComing · 04/04/2011 23:47

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

PenguinArmy · 05/04/2011 03:33

30oz was a massive amount, that in itself is the high end of normal.

A lot of babies just feed morning and night from this age and you are doing beyond that.

Your supply is adjusting and I found it harder to express as she got older. I assumed my body became more canny at knowing what was needed and not a oz more.

Your DD could afford to drop some EBM and still be fine.

I found at just beyond this age I couldn't get anything out if I expressed outside normal time. At 7 months she was on just 1 bottle during the day and I stopped that at 10 months.

You don't have to switch to FF but you can stop if expressing if you want. Just let her catch up at weekends if you so wish.

Honestly you are doing fine e)

feetoftiger · 05/04/2011 09:10

Thanks everyone - feeling a bit more confident about things now. Oddly when I went to express last night I had no problems, so maybe it was a stress thing. Although you are right Penguin, there is definitely less milk available for expressing now, I can only get out 10oz max, and I used to be able to get quite a bit more than that in one sitting.

I did think about stopping giving her bottles for nursery and just letting her feed morning and night - but the problem is all the other babies have formula bottles at 10 and 2, and when I tried only sending her with one bottle she cried her heart out when she saw the other babies having bottles! If I have more problems expressing I might just reduce down the amount I put in each bottle as it sounds like that won't do her any harm.

I know 30oz was quite a lot, but she used to wallop it down and oddly, even with her feeding habits, she is still quite a small baby - only just in 3-6 month clothes - she must just have a great metabolism, if only I could say the same myself!!!

OP posts:
AngelDog · 05/04/2011 19:35

Some people like Kellymom recommend offering milk an hour before solids until 12 months to make sure they don't replace milk with solids too much.

RitaMorgan · 05/04/2011 20:19

My 8 month old only has 4 feeds a day now (broadly 6am/10am/2pm/7pm) - his mid-morning and mid-afternoon feeds are quite short as well, so I doubt he's taking as much as 5-6oz each time.

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