BF 1 year old- too much milk?

[DorcasB]

My DD is nearly 1 and we are still bfing. Her weight, after an initial drop, settled on the 25th where it has stayed consistently. Weighed her today and still 25th but only just, her weight gain has slowed a bit. HV wasn't worried but wants me to try and drop a feed to encourage her to eat more solids. The trouble is I don't really have a routine of feeds, I just feed when she wants it. Some days that's lots, other days not. She has dropped her night feeds down herself to just once or twice (I was having to feed back to sleep previously and it could be 4-5t times).
I suppose my worry is she doesn't have a huge appetite for solids, and as an adamant spoon refuser it can be hard work trying to get her to eat enough of the right kind of food. But I can't force her to eat more and I wouldn't want to anyway. Perhaps the milk is filling her up too much though? And actually I don't even know if she is having a lot or a little solids, I don't know what is the 'right' amount to be having.
She is also a very active baby, never sits still, so I guess she is burning off a lot of calories too?

Not sure what I'm asking really, just interested in what other people thought- should I be trying harder to cut down on milk and increase solids? The HV made me feel a bit guilty, kept saying how my milk was not as good quality anymore, which has made me a bit worried I am relying on it too much.
TIA

Hi Dorcas. I have 2 children who have been fully bf.

It sounds like you're doing a great job!

My DD was a little like your baby in that she loved bf at that age, and didn't eat much in the way of solids. She was (and still is at 3yrs) fairly slim and not hugely tall. In your position I would carry on demand feeding - and don't worry what the HV says, the 'quality' of your milk hasn't suddenly declined because your baby is older. I would also carry on offering a range of solids, including stuff that she can feed herself, but not forcing it.

my ds2 was like this, he was primarily bfed until 18mths and then he got more into solids, i followed his lead and he got there eventuually.

and your milk quality hasnt declined, it is actually fattier once a baby is past a year old!

Thank you both, it's good to hear your experiences. I don't really see what else I can do that I'm not already doing and it makes no sense to me to refuse her a milk feed especially when she isn't that interested in solids. Tonight I did try holding off until after her tea, but she didn't eat any more than usual. Actually she ate less- she decided that only the lentil bolognese was worth eating and removed all the bits of pasta from the dish!
I have just rechecked the chart in her book though and I think the HV has plotted it wrong and she has fallen from 9th to 25th

Falling one centile line (25th to 9th) is ok, falling two is ok (25th to 2nd), falling to 0.4th should trigger a referral to paed (not because something is definitely wrong but because Paeds. are well trained enough in ill children to spot one when they see one!).

If you hold off from bfing her (or as some less enlightened individuals may suggest wean entirely) you may end up with a child who has lost their main source of calories with no inclination to find another. I have heard of children who's mothers have (with heavy heart) forcibly weaned their toddlers to make them eat to no effect - still poor appetite for solids yet no BM to fall back on.

Not saying this is going to be the case or that you would not bf her when she asked in the hopes she will eat something else but just to warn you of an outcome.

You can encourage her to eat in other ways - sharing your plate with her, doing lots of ridiculous 'yummy' noises when eating something she hasn't tried or doesn't want to try, leaving little plates/dishes of foods in the living room with small tidbits for her to try (breadsticks, carrot sticks, grapes, satsuma segments, cheese cubes, humous or cream cheese to dip, etc).

A good book to read is My Child Won't Eat, really really good read!

Thanks for your reply TruthSweet, thats good to know. I think that the possible problems of refusing milk is what I was trying to tell the HV today- that it made no sense to me to take away the nutrition she was getting from milk, whilst she was not eating a huge amount of solids. But I couldn't put it as well as you and probably didn't make myself clear, which was when she started telling me my milk wasn't as good as it has been. And it made a kind of sense that perhaps my milk was filling her up too much? But I think I'm just going to keep doing what I was doing. Thanks for the eating tips too, will give that a try, although will have to keep an eye out for the dog if I'm going to leave snacks out!
I've actually got that book pre-ordered from amazon, I think it's been out of print for a while. I'm looking forward to reading it!

If there is a LLL near you, they'll probably have it in their library or try your local library. It helped set my mind at ease against the constant attack of ILs I wish DD was still bf (weaned at 14 months when I was pg) as I worried a lot less when she was bf if she didn't eat much solids.

DD was at her lowest centile just after learning to walk (she had gone from birth 25th to 0.4th) but despite apparently eating not much from year 1 to nearly 2 she's still climbed back up to 9th.

Agree with others, just trust her.

Actually BM gets fattier after about 12m (fat goes from ~4% at 1-6m to ~11% at 12m+). So ner ner to the HV (sorry feeling a bit juvenile!)

I would just make sure you offer solids regularly to make sure she's having as much as she wants. I offer food to my 11MO 5 times a day - 3 'meals' and 2 'snacks' (plus she has between 3 and 5 bfs but most of those are at night).

But really unless there's been a concern in the past about her weight or health I wouldn't worry. I'm pretty sure appetite is a good indicator of requirements at this age and so as long as she has the opportunity to eat she will eat what she needs. It's not ususal to stick to the same centile anyway, most babies tend to move about at bit. As TruthSweet says, it wouldn't even be investigated unless it was a drop of 2 centile lines over a relatively short period.

It's likely that she would eat more if you fed less but I would expect her total calorie intake to be about the same so only do it if you want to.

You are right in trusting your instinct about solids and milk. My DD is only 9mo but also a spoon refuser. She is bf on demand when I'm at home and has 3 meals at set times. I found how much she eats has no correlation on when she last has her bf. Sometimes same food on offer 2 days in a row can yield very different result as well! She can have a very healthy appetite sometimes so I can tell you bf on demand isn't the reason your LO aren't into solids. Sometimes my DD can eat a whole bowl of pasta (those ikea children plastic bowls) straight after a bf!

Thanks for the replies, sorry I've not had a chance to reply back. I feel a bit more encouraged to go with my instincts now. That's interesting about the fat content of milk Truthsweet, I'll have to remember that next time I see HV. My DP has reminded me too that often she will have milk then still sit and eat a big tea, other days she will not eat much despite me leaving a long gap since last milk feed. So I'm not at all convinced that dropping a feed will increase her appetite for solids. I actually think she is very good at knowing how much/little food she wants and I want to encourage that rather than trying to just shove more food down her. She is certainly interested in food and gives everything a try, she just doesn't eat vast quantities of it.