15mo - breast feeding frequently, not eating much solid food

[JeewizzJen]

Hi all,

DS is 15mo, and just recently has upped the number of feeds he's been having, both day and night - he'll ask for milk every 2 or so hours in the day. He'll go longer if I'm not with him, or if we're out and about though. During the night he's waking every 1-2 hours . We cosleep, so it could be worse, but I am struggling a bit! We did start trying to night wean but then DS got a cold so we put that on hold for a bit. (his appetite for milk had gone up before the cold!)

I'm not trying to stop bf at all, however, his eating of solid food during the day is really poor, presumably because he's pretty full of milk! I worry a little that he won't be getting everything he needs - should I be worried? Is it normal for him to have upped how much milk he's having at this kind of age?

My daughter did the same thing. The breast feeding advisor told me to have a selection of healthy snacks out for her to help herself to throughout the day. This seems to have worked because at 18 months my daughter has cut back a lot on her breast feeds and now eats a good selection of food. She still doesn't eat that well at meal times but is fine if I add up what she has eaten throughout the week. Some days she eats lots and others hardly at all. I don't worry though because breast milk is so good for them and my daughter is obviously not unwell at all. Try what you feel comfortable with and get some advise from a breast feeding professional. Look on-line for their details. She has cut down to just a couple of feeds a night during the last month as well.

My 15 month old has just been very similar. Gone from sleeping through the night and a period of not so many breastfeeds in the day (well, for her she was down to 4-6 breastfeeds a day) to wanting to feed constantly when we're were at home in the day, not so much when out and waking around midnight having gone to bed around 8 and from that point on refusing to go back down in her cot, even of I thought I'd fed her back to sleep and needing to cosleep and feed constantly on and off all night. I actually quite liked the snuggles, but it was a bit of a pain if I was up late trying to get something done. I just don't worry about what solids she eats, she's offered a healthy diet and is healthy, that's good enough for me.

Anyway, the last two nights she has suddenly just slept through again.

Thanks both for your responses. I'm glad I'm not alone in having this experience! NAR - I like the idea of leaving snacks around for grazing on, I'll give that a go! I wonder if it's developmental, or a growth spurt or something? I do hope it settles down soon, not only so I get more sleep, but I'd like to see him eating a little better. I don't mind him having milk whenever he asks for it in the day but I'd feel better if he ate more solids as well.

Midori - I'm at your DD sleeping through! I've never once had it in 15 months... the day it comes there will be much rejoicing!!