BF at 8 months - how often?

[BeatriceBean]

Just posting to ask how often people feed their 8 month old? Is there a minimum number of feeds at this age?

Up until now my baby has been a bit of a booby monster but the last 3 days she has just suddenly stopped feeding so much (3rd night in a row where she has only woken once to feed!!! (Previously 3-4 times a night!).

Today I fed her - 3am (only night feed), 8am, 2.30 and 5pm and will probably again before bed. This is also a lot less than she was doing.

How many feeds does she "need"? If I end up just feeding her 2-3 times a day is that enough or would I need to supplement with formula? I'm feeding when she wants it but whereas my first ALWAYS wanted it this one seems happy unless I suggest it.

My DS is 8.5 months and in the last few weeks seems to be feeding less - he's had 4 feeds today (from 6am until now) and will feed before bed / overnight so maybe about 7 in a 24 hr period.

As long as she's happy and plenty of wet nappies I wouldn't worry.

At under 12m feeds should still be offered about an hour before meals are planned for as BM should be the main single part of their diet. Don't worry about the exact amount she feeds just be aware that BM is still very important in her diet. Not offering Bfs is a form of weaning from bfing as well so if you wait until she asks and she doesn't ask very often you may end up with her not bfing at all.

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.

I'm happy for her to self wean early if it comes to it (or just night feed offered) but only after 1 as I know it's the main source of nutrition until then.

Just wondered how many feeds were a minimum guideline? Obviously no idea how many calories she's getting through milk!

Today it's been (3am) 8, 2, 5and 7. That suits me but isn't a situation I've been in before. Was 2 hourly until recently!

I've been wondering this. DD is 7.5 months, still wakes 2-4 times per night, feeding back to sleep time. Over last 24hrs, she's fed about 10 times (that doesn't include where she's started and come off within minutes because she's distracted). I feed approx an hour before meals and then on demand and she always feeds to sleep.

That's how my baby was! It's been a bit of a surprise this!

We're doing roughly 7am, 10am, 1pm, 4pm and 7pm, with meals and snacks in between. Sometimes 4 instead of 5.

We go every approx 3 hours between feeds during the day now (was 2 hourly until the last month or two). He sleeps 7-7ish so none overnight generally. Although days like today when DS is teething it's hourly, two hourly, whenever. On average though it's 5 feeds a day (7am, 10am, 1pm, 4pm and 7pm).

I had only bf til 6 months before DS so sometimes do find myself wondering if he's having enough. But then he's very happy (bar the oh so lovely teething) and still riding the 98th centile for weight and height so I figure he's ok. I'm more than happy to follow the routine he seems to have established!

Snap justabigdisco

Fab. So 5 feeds is what the above posters do which seems to be what my demand fed baby is doing! I've. Try not to worry :-)

Happy to let her set the pace as long as she's getting enough. I do offer water at meal times too.

i have been thinking about this too. DD has -touch wood- started sleeping through again recently after a bad bout of colds and teething. her number of feeds per day have therefore dropped a bit. i think today we did 8am, 11am, 4pm, 5pm, 7.30pm and 8.30pm.

fhdl34 - i can empathise with the distraction! my DD is also forever distracted by anything and everything while feeding, hence the large gap today between 11 and 4!

My dd (6mo) has fallen into a routine roughly as follows: 7am, 10.30am, 2pm, 5pm and 7pm.

She tends to sleep through, but very occasionally (once or twice a month) wants to feed during the night, and that seems to fall at 11pm, 2.30am and 5am. It's very odd, but you could almost set a clock by her ...

My dd usually wakes almost exactly those times! She has never ever slept through. . .i.

Hi. My DTs are 8 months. Dts feeds roughly 7am, 2.30pm, 6.30pm and sleeps through (has embraced solids like there's no tomorrow!) most days and others has additional feeds at maybe 11am and occasionally at night.
Dtd feeds as above plus always at 11am and always one night feed (it hasn't been easy getting her off 3-4 night feeds, but I desperately needed sleep!). She has only just started eating solids.
Neither seem to want/need it more often but are welcome to if they ask apart from dtd every 1.5hrs through the night!

My DD is 9 months old next week and she feeds about four / five times a day. She too has gone for solids in a big way which surprised me as she's BLW and I kept reading how a lot of babies don't eat much at first!

Thanks everyone. Really helpful. First child. Fed at least 12 times in 24 hours (undiagnosed tongue tie bless her :-() so this feels like bliss. (apart from the 11pm and 5am ones we've just done.)

DS used to feed on waking, before sleep, an hour before meals (he didn't have snacks at that age), and any other time he showed signs of wanting it (ie any time he was grumpy), and probably at least 3 times a night. So that was a minimum of 7 day feeds, usually considerably more.