Breastfeeding - Dropping Day time feeds

[Weeross]

Hello

New to mums net need some advice !!! HV said ok to drop day time breastfeeds as DS (7 months old) now taking 3 meals a day however some baby books I have read with suggested meal plans advise that you should still breastfeed after each meal ? I am currently only breastfeeding morning and night and DS seems to be fine with this however he is constantly sucking his thumb when feeding him solids (maybe getting paranoid but I am wondering if this is a sign that he is missing the breastfeeding ???)

Are you giving him anything (EBM, formula) other than the breastfeeds and solids? At 7 months DS was on 3 meals too but was also breastfeeding morning, late morning, mid-afternoon, just before bed and once at night -- so yes, if it's just the bf and solids then you should be bf more often IMO. DS dropped the mid-morning feed around 9 months and the mid-afternoon feed switched to formula around the same time as I went back to work and he started at nursery,

No I am not giving him formula but he is getting cows milk in breakfast meals and yoghurts, custards through the day .... HV said that he would be filling up on breastmilk and reducing the amount of solids he would be taking hence the advice to drop day time feeding ... starting to panic a bit as he has only been getting breastmilk morning a night since six months ?

Milk should be the main food until 1 year old. If i were you, I'd ignore the hv.

Thanks for the advice I will try giving him some milk during the day.

HV is speaking nonsense. Until he's a year, milk should be the main source of nutrition. So breastfeed as often as he wants. My DS was feeding about 5 (fairly short) times a day at this age. And now, at 10 months is taking about 8 feeds a day lol! I'm just following his cues.

I have had DS on a routine from 11 weeks old ... I used to feed him on demand however after reading 'Baby Secrets' I began to feel that he was not always hungry and maybe he was tired but I was unable to differentiate so by following the book i got him into a routine ... he has never been a baby who has pulled at my top or made and gestures to indicate he wants milk ... but following the advice give i will introduce Breast Feeding again between meals

Thanks Again

just to add my support to what others have already said. i still gave 4 bfeeds a day up to 1y.

Breast feeding after meals will give him the oppertunity to top up after his solids not reduce the amounts he wants to eat.

A guide is a pint of milk a day so this would be approx 4 x 5oz bottles or 4 feeds.

Don't have much time for HV, have met many i wouldn't leave a goldfish with.

Thank You all for your help, support and advice x

Thank You all for your help, support and advice x

Hi weeross -

By 7 months, DS was having 3 full milk feeds a day - before breakfast, after lunchtime nap and at bedtime. Also I used to offer him some milk with his lunch at about 11ish - I used to give him half the solids, then offer a drink and then the rest of the solids. Sometimes he had it, sometimes not. He was on formula by then, but only just. Agree with Matnanplus - offer him some milk after he's had his solids. It will also help keep him hydrated in this heat.

He's now 2, and still has 6 oz milk (ordinary cow's now) when he wakes up, I offer another cupfull after he's had a nap` (sometimes drinks 6 oz, sometimes nothing at all - up to him), and then he drinks loads (about 9 oz) at bedtime as well.

Def a pint a day is the guideline minimum.

I have been offering DS breast milk after each solid feed however he has now started to bite !!(v sore)and I am sure this is because he is not hungry enough for it at this time as he never bites morning or night ... I am now trying to express milk to give him along with solid feeds ... or should I try giving him milk after his two naps ?? If I did it would mean that he was having milk / solids every two hours ? Does anyone think i should be reducing the amount of solids I give him

Wake Up - Breastfeed

Breakfast - Weetabix or porridge with cows milk and a small banana

Lunch - Tuna pasta with cheese (aprox 4 tablespoons worth) Fruit (aprox 2 Table spoons worth) and small yoghurt

Dinner - roughly same amount as lunch

Night Time - Breast Feed

When you say "after each solid feed" do you mean immediately after? I never fed DS directly after a solid feed -- so he'd have a feed about halfway between breakfast and lunch and another anout halfway between lunch and dinner (obviously had to allow for naps).

Yes ... I would try to breastfeed 5 min after solids so that he was sticking to a meal time but I think I may opt for feeding when he gets up from his naps which is about an hour before solid feeds ..