Weaning and losing interest in BF!

[PointyDogs]

I've been mixed-feeding my 7 month old - entirely bf except for one ff late evening (usually about 11pm). We started weaning about 6 weeks ago, and she has taken to solids really enthusiastically, happily devouring everything we offer from purees to lumpy stews and finger foods.

Problem is she is really losing interest in bfing, and I am sure she is not getting enough milk. Daily pattern typically is:

Somewhere between 0530-0830 - wake, bf, back to sleep
0930 ready brek (with cow's milk), bit of banana, half a slice of toast
1200 lunch - lentil stew, or sardines and mash, something similar followed by 2 hour nap
1530 - attempt to bf, she hardly takes anything
1700 - macaroni & cauliflower cheese + blueberries in yoghurt
1900 - bf at bedtime
2300 - 210ml ff

The wakeup bf is the only one where she seems to latch on well and feeds happily for a while. Afternoons she is far too busy and distracted to want to feed - has 2 or 3 sucks then breaks off to look around (in closed room, tv off, cats and dogs locked out, she still finds something to look at!!), then has another go. This carries on for 5 minutes or so before she starts to get really wriggly and won't latch anymore, so really has very little. Bedtime - if there has been at least 2 hours from dinner she will feed ok, anything less she again tends to not be interested.

This is a baby who used to feed for 30-40 minutes at a time, so to drop down to only 10 minutes on a good feed is a big change! I've tried reducing her solids a little the past couple of days in case she is simply not hungry, but it hasn't made any difference.

So my question: I'm thinking of introducing a ff in the afternoons - if I do this, just for peace of mind that she is getting enough milk, will I be able to keep up my supply enough to do the wake up and bedtime feeds? I don't want to start expressing again if I can help it, I never really got much anyway. Is 2 bf and 2 ff per day a workable option?

I really want to keep some bf going, having reached my initial goal of 6 months, it is just out of concern that she is not getting anywhere near as much milk as she needs. Sorry for length!

Ds3 did something similar at that age and then just before I went back to work he started wanting a bf in the afternoon and I was really worried he would be upset. However i kind of trusted that he would get what he needed especially if you are doing blw and bf. No real evidence to back it up except three well fed boys!

thanks lorisparkle - I gave dd a fairly minimal lunch today (just 2 ice cubes of lentil casserole) and she had a better feed this afternoon off me, so maybe it is as simple as I was giving her too much solids! We'll see how it goes over the next couple of days.

I think quantity of food you are giving her is probably the answer here that breakfast sounds particularly Large even my 13 months old 99th centile DS wouldn't have that much.

Think reducing size of portions as you have suggested is worth a try