8.5 month baby 2 or 3 BF a day? Is that enough...What does yours do?

[Cakebunny]

Last month my DS had a small feed in the morning around 10.30/11 and another small feed around 3. Mostly i'd just kind of offer it at those times so we could go out etc and get on with the day. We've been trying to FF him in the day so he'd be sorted for when I go back to work in January, but he wouldn't take it am or pm.
So I started wondering if he really wanted a feeds and just left it one day until he asked and it was about 1.30 when he had a big feed. So since then we've been on 3 BF's a day.

For the past couple of days he's had a 3oz FF before his nap.
But today he'd have none of it again...

Eats loads of solids, should i be worried about the amount?
He sometimes wakes in the night but not for a feed now...& he was putting on weight etc at his last weigh in..

A vague schedule looks like this...

6am (ish!) up
6.30/7 BF
8 Breakfast
9/9.30 nap
11.30/12 lunch
1.30 BF
2 nap
6 dinner
7.30 bed

This is the guidelines on complementary solids from WHO (it includes guidance specifically for developed/industrialised countries as well as developing countries).

On pg 18 it gives the kcal requirements for 6-8, 9-11 & 12-23m babies. At 6-8m a baby needs 615kcals a day and only 130kcals coming from food vs 486kcals from bm. BM has approx 75kcals per 100mls so around 650mls of bm needs to be consumed (formula usually has slightly less kcals and fat per 100mls but more protein - they are roughly equivalent nutritionally speaking though).

HTH.

thanks,
But how does one know how much BM he's having...!

Doesn't sound much to me, ds was still feeding every 2 to 3 hours incl nighttime at that age.

If it was me I'd offer more - it doesn't mean he won't take a FF once you aren't around in the day because he'll be in a new environment so may well be happy to do things he doesn't do at home.

Or you could concentrate on food you can add milk to - cereal, sauces, puddings.

Sounds very little to me as well. DD is in nursery during the day. She still has a morning, bedtime, dream feed and 1-2 through the night. And two bottles mid morning and mid afternoon. In the weekend, we have 3-4 during work hours! So we are looking at least 4 bf on work days and 7 on non work days.

Don't worry about the bottle. DD takes only 20-30ml a feed at nursery. She learned to take a bottle at nursery too. Also she's being offered snacks mid morning and afternoon on top of the bottles. At 9mo I'm sure they can cope without milk during the day.

She just bf more when I'm around

My DS is 7.5 months, so a little younger than yours.

His schedule looks like this:
7am - up and BF
8am - breakfast
11am - BF
12:30pm - lunch
3pm - BF
4 to 5pm - snack
6 to 6:30pm - tea
7pm - BF

His milk feeds total less than 40 minutes of feeding in each 24 hours - that's less than 10 minutes for each feed. I use a timer and I'm pretty accurate with it. He is very distractable at 7pm feed (very close after solid food) and very hungry at 7am feed.

If he's only having 3 bfs a day and need approximately 650mls of bm then each feed would have to be ~220mls which is a very large amount of milk in one go.

Even if the 3oz of formula is taken into account, you DS would need to be taking 185mls per feed. It may be that 3oz is your son's normal feed amount so you could base how many feeds he has as a minimum on that.

I think an average feed is about 100 -150mls (though it might be as little as just a few mls if baby was comfort nursing or more if baby was ravenous) so you would be looking at at around 4-6+ feeds of either bm or formula.

Thanks all for answers.
JollysargeantJackrum - mine was doing exactly the same at 7.5 months and distractable and uninterested during the day so maybe yours will go the same way!
I gave him cereal today with 2oz of Formula, so we'll have to see what he does later...especially as i'm out for his afternoon feed...
He does have big feeds first thing in the morning & evening and he loves his food. I wonder if he's just more interested in solids now...and should make sure he drinks water & has snacks during the day if he won't take the formula.
Just for lunch yesterday he had half a toasted teacake, a banana, 2 petit filous...! (BLW!)
He definately seems to be getting heavier to me, i can barely pick him up again!