Do you give milk before every nap?

[Fevrier]

I have until now used the pram for naps but dd is 8 months and I feel she should / could learn to nap in her cot when we are home. she's also more comfy on her tummy and can't be in the pram.

If I try to feed her to sleepy then she can go down easily with a pat but sometimes it just takes the edge off her tiredness and she wake up completely an then I have a real battle. I have tried a couple of times just putting her down and she does cry but after a while agrees to lie down and be patted..... (or picked up and rocked to sleep).. I am being inconsistent and want to stop.

She is really not interested on the breast during the day so I am always tempted to feed her before a nap to get some milk into her but it backfires when it stops her napping......

I can't feed to sleep as she just wakes after 40 mins if I do. Otherwise it's 1.5 hrs.

What do you think? Should I just give up on milk before naps???

I've always fed before naps (DS is 2.3 y.o.). If she wakes after 40 mins, will she go back to sleep if you feed her again as soon as she wakes? DS would do this until he grew out of it, which is pretty normal.

It works best for DS if I feed him on the bed - otherwise he can wake when I put him down. I've never, ever, ever been able to feed him to sleepy without him having complete hysterics when I take him off the breast, though, so I can't advise on that bit.

Mine were never very good at going to sleep in their cot during the day no matter what I did first. I found that feeding them in our bed worked much better too.

If she's not bfing much, have you thought of changing it so that you feed her an hour before she gets her solids, just to make sure that she gets enough milk?

Also have you seen this book? Haven't read it but did use the NCSS written by the same author and it was very good.

Thanks so much. I managed just now by cuddling and rocking cot and patting without much crying so I think I will give up the feeding to sleepy except at bedtime.

I am sad to say that she really won't feed much during the day and my supply is dropping which is leading to night feeds which are long! I do try feeding her just before solids but frankly she isn't interested for long. Feeds take about a minute.

Night ones take much longer.......

I am reluctantly going to replace the bedtime feed with formula as I don't think she is getting enough milk in 24 hours. She adores solid food (feeds herself) and will turn down a breast feed but eat proper solid food.... My son was much more into milk and I felt that it was going much better at this stage. I almost feel she is self weaning (but know they say this doesn't happen at 8 months).....

Fevier, do your think she may be reverse cycling? Have a look at the info on Kellymom, sorry but I can't do links at the moment.

The current recommendation is to feed them an hour before offering solids, so I really would give that a try too.

Should have said that recommendation is for 6 to 12 monhs. After 12 months you can offer milk after solids.

Thank you - yes I guess she is reverse cycling... Meant to say yes I do offer milk an hour before solids - she'll feed but briefly. Maybe she is just efficient but I can't help feelin my supply has been compromised.

If feeding before naps isn't working, have you tried feeding straight after? You would hopefully still benefit from a sleepy baby who is less distracted by the world.