when did you drop a feed?

[vic891]

ds is 6 1/2 months and started on solids 6 weeks ago. currently he has 3 solids meals plus 4 milk feeds a day, but i'm guessing i can drop one of his milk feeds soon (they are 7am, 11am, 3pm and 7pm - assume the 11am would be the one to drop?). not sure exactly how much he takes for the first 3 feeds as they are boob feeds. he takes 7 fl oz at the 7pm feed.

interested to hear what others did...

I dropped the 11am feed first and bought lunch forward a bit if he seemed ravenous

I am of the opinion that there is no need to physically drop feeds at all as it should be the baby who takes the lead with gradual weaning off milk. Babies will naturally start taking more solid food and less milk when they are ready and need no encouragement from mum. For breast feeding this just means that they feed less (as they are fed on demand they just demand it less!) and in the case of bottle fed they will probably just start leaving some of the bottle until they just don't want to take some or all of a feed anymore.

Milk should be the main source of nutrition and calories until 1 year and I'm of the opinion that going slow does no harm at all. I have been careful not to rush solids with my ds (now 17 months) and make sure that we go at his pace (he has always self-fed solids & breastfed on demand) so as to safeguard the all important milk so he gets all the benefits from it for the maximum period of time. (WHO reccommend babies are bf for at least 2 years)

my DD was on the exacty the same as your DS at that age - I dropped the 11am feed first and brought lunch forward and then the 3pm feed a bit after that. It was about 2 months later that she was down to 2 feeds (morn and night) a day. After a while they kind of sort it out.

wait til he loses interest!

my ds is 10 months and is still having 4 milk feeds and 3 BIG meals a day... and he still wants all of them!

I would definitely carry on until he loses interest...
yuo should be giving him at least a pint of milk a day anyway... so don't worry!

thanks. sahzig - i have always been led by ds in terms of frequency/amounts. he only really takes an interest now in his morning and bedtime feeds. the 11am and 3pm are token efforts where he spends more time trying to grab my nipple than feed! i wonder whether dropping the 11am feed will mean he is more interested at 3pm...?

oh, and i have tried reducing the amount of his breakfast to encourage interest in the 11am milk feed, but to little effect.

sahzig, your post did seem a little school ma'am-ish. i am aware of the benefits of bf-ing - that's why i'm still doing it!! i was only thinking of dropping one feed - not stopping altogether..!

I seem to think the mid morning was the first to go once ds was on 3 meals a day. He was a bit older, around 8 months I think, and I did push him a bit because found it easier not to stop for a feed when out and about. he had acup of milk for a while, and then that was replaced by a mid-morning snack when he was around 12 months.

Oh, and he still had at least one feed in the night too.

Lucky you!

Sorry if I came accross that way vic - what I was trying to get accross is that babies fed on demand should always be fed if they want so dropping a feed is irrelevant as they drop it themselves! I am not sure I ever boticed that my ds has a feed at a certain time every day - I know I don't have a drink of water at 11am every day so why should he - iyswim!

Sorry if I sound school ma'amish here as well but remember that bf is not just about 'main meals' - they are also snacks, drinks cuddles etc so he may only feed for a short while but then stay with your for a close play or cuddle!

sorry also meant to say that I mentioned the who guidelines because if bf are restricted then long term feeding may be jeopardised as babies will lose interest if they are not offered the breast as much. Not trying to patronise - just trying to help you maintain bf (if thats what you want to)