9mo losing interest in daytime feeds

[BakingBunty]

DS is 9 months and EBF. He is currently feeding four times a day, most of the time (I offered - and he accepted - more during the hot weather!). He feeds at around 6.30am, 10.30am, 2.30pm and 6.30pm. Recently he has not really been very interested at the mid morn and mid afternoon feeds. Should I be cutting one of these out? Three feeds doesn't seem like much, especially as we are BLW. Would really appreciate thoughts! Thanks

It's pretty normal for a baby to go through a distractible stage at around 9 mo. Nursing strikes are also really common around this age. You might find it easier to try and BF somewhere with no distractions, maybe a dark room boring for you though or try some skin-to-skin contact to try and encourage him to feed. At 9 mo he should still be getting most of his calories from breastmilk rather than from solid food so you don't need to cut down on breastfeeding. :)

I am having the exact same issue. 9 mo DS has very few feeds a day, but I'm worried because BLW means not a lot of solid food is going in (I think!). I keep offering but he will only latch on for one or two sucks most times.

Bunty do you find your DS is more interested in EVERYTHING else? The worst is when DS sucks until let-down and then just pulls off and ignores the torrent of milk going everywhere. I'm trying to make sure more milk gets into him by expressing some and feeding it in a cup with his meals, but am a bit worried that just means he's fuller and therefore even less likely to breastfeed.

I think if you are BLW, you have to trust your LO knows how much he wants. It might be a phase, or it might just be the new him. FWIW, my DD was off all day feeds from around 9mo, so it's not unusual. She was down to 3-4 bf all between bed and breakfast. She's also BLW but was (and still is) a very very good eater.

HTH.

Wow, that is interesting! The La Leche site is suggesting that 4 feeds a day is too few, and from Kellymom I worked out he should be having roughly 700-800ml a day at this age. As he has recently dropped to just one feed overnight, I am really trying to get more into him in the day, but it seems very hard - and lots of contradictory advice.

Jacquesie, DS is interested in EVERYTHING, even in a pitch black room. "Oooh look, my hands! WOW! A cushion!". Interesting that the La Leche site says 4 feeds is too few. I'm not sure how I can get DS to feed more/more often. He rarely 'asks' for milk and certainly doesn't seem to be over doing the solids. He's only really interested in the morning and evening. Even then he sometimes refuses the second breast and I end up expressing as I get so uncomfy. He doesn't feed at night (7-6.30) - know I'm really lucky here and not going to wake him! I will stick with trying to get him to feed four times in the day, though I do wonder whether three good feeds would be better than four half hearted ones...

YES! Interested in EVERYTHING. Sometimes he even pulls off to have a good look (and maybe a prod) at my nipple, for goodness' sake! Sounds like we are in exactly the same boat.

I am also wondering whether fewer, better feeds would make more sense than many attempts. The other thing I am contemplating is possibly (re-)introducing a dream feed, since he feeds so much better when sleepy/asleep. I am worried about my milk supply dropping if he keeps this up. It's hard, isn't it?

Feeding less frequently won't help a nursing strike- if you want to keep BF then just keep offering, keep offering as much as you can and try to feed somewhere with no distractions. This phase passes pretty quickly.

Here are some more tips.

Gosh, does this count as a nursing strike? I imagined that was when a baby refused to nurse at all. I will have a look at that link, thanks.

Eeek, I hadn't considered it a nursing strike either... Thanks for the link though, very interesting. Jacquesie, hope dream feed plan works for you. Dream feeds have never really worked for us - DS hates being woken and takes hours to settle. I'll need to drop the daytime feeds at some stage anyway as going back to work soon... DS is a staunch bottle refuser so am trying to get him to take milk from a cup. Again, he's so distracted. Ah well, dark rooms it is!