How many bfs at 9 months?

[nearlytherenow]

My 9 mo DS2 has 4 bfs a day - on waking (6.30ish), mid-morning, mid-afternoon and bedtime. He occasionally wakes in the night and if so will have a feed then too, but this is only once a week or so these days.

AF still hasn't returned and I'm starting to think that I'd like to cut down on bfs so that we can think about ttc in the not too distant future. He's a really good eater solids-wise, and I wasn't planning on replacing bfs with formula, just giving him cows milk when he's nearer one. I'm not trying to stop bf'ing all together - hoping to keep going until he self-weans or at least until I can stop without trauma, but maybe just get down to waking and bedtime feeds.

What do others with similar aged babies do? Does 2 bfs a day and lots of dairy in his diet by 10 months sound like enough (he also gets vitamin drops)? He's good with a sippy cup so would get plenty of water too.

I wouldn't have thought just 2 bfs at 10m would be enough (sorry!), that's more of a 2yr-3yr old feeding pattern (if left to self wean which would be around 2 1/2 -7y). At 10m babies still need lots of BM as part of their diet and I doubt just 2 feeds would provide all they need:-

6-8m need 130 kcals of complementary foods and 485 kcals from milk (approx 650ml of bm at 75kcals per 100ml) total 615 kcals a day

9-11m need 310 kcals of complementary foods and 376 kcals from milk (approx 500ml of bm at 75kcals per 100ml) total 686 kcals a day.

12-23m need 580 kcals of complementary foods and 314 kcals from milk (approx 420ml of bm at 75kcals per 100ml) total 894 kcals a day.

Full details here on page 18. Pleae note that there is different values for industrialised/developed countries and developing countries. I have listed the industrialised/developed countries figures.

You don't need to curtail bfing in order to conceive unless you have a abnormal luteal phase (but as you haven't got your period back yet that may not be the case). It's also very normal to not have your period back yet, 14m is about the average for mothers who bf on demand and if you are feeding less than 8 times a day and have a long stretch overnight without feeding it could be very soon.

I have got pg while bf 12+ times a day (inc. 4 times overnight) when DD1 was ~11m, and DD3 was conceived when tandem nursing DD1 & DD2 and DD2 was still having night feeds (~15-20 feeds a day IIRC). My current pg was conceived while tandem nursing DD2 & DD3 but they only feed about 4-5 times a day at most as they are 4.2 & 2.3y.

HTH

Thank you, that is really helpful. I will just have to try to be patient! I don't think I'm likely to conceive while still bf this much. With DS1 (who was demand bf and seemed to feed all the time - much more than DS2) AF returned (albeit not in a regular way) when he was 12 weeks, but I still struggled to conceive DS2 and had a few miscarriages which I think were due to a luteal phase defect. My cycle only sorted itself out when I stopped feeding altogether when he was 18 months (I hadn't meant to stop - had to have a medical procedure and the drugs they gave me as part of the prep were not bf compatible, after I'd missed 2 days' feeds due to this he just wasn't interested any longer). So that's why I was keen to go a bit easier on my body this time, but obviously not to the detriment of DS2, and I do enjoy breastfeeding so stopping wouldn't be an option. I'll just keep my fingers crossed that I'm a bit luckier this time round!

There are ways to 'trick' your body into fertility (Kellymom has some good ideas IIRC) but it may be different this time and you may not need to. Have you got the ubiquitous 'Taking Charge of Your Fertility' book?

It is one of those time will tell things though but I wish you luck.

Not as informative as TruthSweet, but DS is 9.5 months now and we have just dropped from 4 to 3 BFs per day. He seems to be doing fine with this new scenario. His feeds are ~7am, ~1pm and ~7pm. He also eats well at meal times. Since dropping to three, I've noticed that he eats more at lunch and also that he drinks more water. He definitely would not manage on 2 feeds a day though - in fact I would say my DS was only just ready for the move from 4 - 3 feeds, any earlier and he would have been unimpressed.

Thanks both of you. I do have "Taking Charge" and hadn't considered trying to trick my body into fertility - until now! Off to research, DS2 will be very grateful to you .