How often and when do you breast feed your 9 month old?

[interwebmum]

I've recently started cutting down on breast feeding as my DD is now eating more solid food. I now feed her before bed and in the night, sometimes in the morning too. She has now started waking up every two hours through the night to be fed. Could she be making up for the milk she missed out on in the day?
I'm wondering if it was too soon to cut back on so many feeds, especially as she refuses to take milk in a bottle, so that is the only milk she's getting.

I'm also concerned about the feeding to sleep cycle we are in, which is another reason I've cut back. Is it too much too soon?

By that age my son was fully weaned onto solids with I think 4 feeds a day - morning, just before nap (ie after eating lunch), mid afternoon (after nap) and then bed time.

How much is she eating in the day? If she is getting enough food in the dayI think it will be habit / comfort vs hunger waking her that frequently..

Also try a cup. When I started weaning I also offered water (and from age 1 cows milk) in a cup (a doidy cup) with meals, so he never had a bottle really (other than for expressed dream feed from 4-6 months).

PS he was BF until 16 months

I feel your pain. My DS is 8.5 months, eating loads 3 times a day and I was giving five BFs a day (first thing, after lunch, mid-afternoon, bedtime and dreamfeed - yes, still!). I cut out the mid afternoon one as, to be honest, it became a struggle to fit it all in. He then started waking for milk at 4am. So, the mid-afternoon feed is back. I would LOVE to give up the dreamfeed but If I try he wakes up at 1am for milk. No advice but lots of sympathy.

Hi timeforgin and wuthering*. Thanks for your feedback. Do you think I should reintroduce the daytime feeds, but just try not to associate them with sleep? The cup is a good idea, but unfortunately she doesn't like formula and I'm too lazy busy to pump.

LO is doing really well with the solids and seems to enjoy eating (especially squashing fruit between her fingers and rubbing it on all surrounding surfaces).

What do you plan to do next wuthering? Will you wait a bit and then try dropping a feed again?

Well I just offered him his mid-afternoon feed. He attacked with gusto and them threw a bit up, suggesting that he didn't really need all of it (he's not normally a sicky baby). I think tomorrow I'll offer water and some fruit instead of milk and see what happens. I know milk is still important but five BFs a day seems a bit much and it means that the whole day just revolves around getting food into him, which can't be right!

He goes to a childminder 8am-5pm in six weeks so will be getting formula then. I suspect that might fix it. I'll still give the early, bedtime and dream feeds myself, at least initially, and see what happens.

I'm hoping that he'll just drop the dreamfeed himself, but if he still asks for it when he's been at the childminder a month or so then i might try to wean him off it again.

Wow, what a hungry little boy!
I agree that five feeds a day is pretty time consuming. I hope it all goes to plan. Pesky babies.

Hi, DD is 9 months in a couple of days, she gets bf at 7, 11, 3.30 and 7 (bedtime). naps are 9am and 1.30 so other than bedtime there is no feed/sleep. no feeds at night (achieved this a couple of months ago, it did take a couple of nights of CC but she didn't seem too distressed). If she wakes at night she now gets cuddles or nurofen if teething but no milk.

have considered cutting out the 11am one but don't want to jeopardise the nights!

At that age ds was still feeding like a newborn. In fact, up until I nightweaned in desperation about 6 months ago 10 times a night was not unusual....he was 2! For his first two years I went with the flow, but it was hard work at times, certainly. But he has never been a massive solids eater, tbh (he is now almost entirely weaned - his choice, I am pg so he seems to have gone off it - and still doesn't eat loads! Grr...).

Not sure that helps much, but you are certainly not alone in having a baby who likes a snack bar at night!

DD feeds when she wakes up at 6, mid morning and mid afternoon (both followed by naps) 6pm before bed and a dreamfeed at 11.Now I'm back at work the daytime feeds are 3-4oz expressed BM from a sippy cup and she has an extra feed when I get in at 5ish. Sometimes she feeds during the night too but most nights she'll be ok until 6. She's still not eating lots of solids though so I'm not going to even try to drop any feeds yet

That sounds like a good schedule minipie and madamejosephine. I think I was a bit hasty in dropping the day feeds all of a sudden and it's back fired big time. I've been feeling more and more self conscious about breast feeding this long as I don't know any other mums in rl who are, and I've started to feel the pressure from the family too. Thank goodness for MN!

makegluten you deserve a medal for patience. That sounds intense. Well done you.

Really interesting as I will be going back to work when baby is 9 months so hoping I won't have to bf all night!

I would review what food your giving her too - "solids" have many different meanings!

Are you ensuring the meals have a slant towards carbs/meat/fish/proteins - veggies & fruit while important for vitamins are predominately water, so not as filling. Also, it's important to give snacks am & pm as their tummies aren't big enough to get enough from the 3 meals a day. Also, ensuring you don't "rush to mush" - letting her properly have lumps/chunks to chew will also help increase her fibre content which will also fill her up.

Unfortunately, weaning doesn't immediately mean a drop in milk demand, and although it wanes from 6mths, the majority of nutrients up until a year old is from milk.

Know it's frustrating, but things will improve

Ds feeds roughly 6, 10, 2, 6 but might have an extra one if he wants it or one less if I'm working. I wouldn't be cutting out all day time feeds at this age, the bottle fed babies I know still have three bottles a day.

Ds eats loads too, he only has quick feeds. I usually feed him when he wakes up from his naps so there's no feeding to sleep

Another dreadful night here. Bleurgh.... Ok, I've decided to reintroduce two feeds tomorrow.

motown I know, I thought babies just slept through after three months. Actually mine was a brilliant sleeper until around five months then it all went pair shaped.

lofty I'm feeding her porridge in the morning, purée for lunch then fruit and yoghurt around 4pm. Then I sometimes give her a feed at 6pm. Then feed to sleep at 7.30pm. Do you think another bowl of porridge around 6pm might help?

Hi spotty I know you from the postnatal thread. Haven't been on there for ages though. How are your two?

I mean today not tomorrow.

They're good thanks. Ds is commando crawling, pulling up and cruising

Ok this is our day:

6am feed
6:30 porridge with cows milk and fruit purée
8 nap
10ish bf
11ish lunch of left overs (shepherds pie, spag bol, chilli, risotto, macaroni cheese he doesn't have anything mashed now)
12ish nap
2ish bf
4:30 tea (sandwich, crackers and cheese, toast, soreen, yoghurt, few skips or quavers if dd is having some, cheese, fruit)
6ish bf
6:45 ff (had to give him this when I had mastitis two months ago and he's refused boob after bath ever since )

He sleeps all night and has done ever since I tried settling him other ways at night if it had been less than four hours. It only took a couple of nights of bum tapping!

Great news about the sleep. I remember you had a pretty tough start. Well done for that.
That's interesting that you've stopped giving DS mashed up food. I thought I'd wait until DD has a few more teeth. Although she does love to feed herself bread sticks, rusks and pieces of fruit.

Ds is still toothless! Tbh I just got lazy and tried him with normal food and he was fine. Yep he fed every two hours day and night until seven months

porridge in the morning, purée for lunch then fruit and yoghurt around 4pm

^ this sounds like a lot less than my dd eats tbh.

dd eats a large bowl of porridge with fruit and full fat milk at 8am, then a bowl of mashed up food/very lumpy purée for lunch (12) and tea (5pm). she will have something like tiny pasta with bolognese sauce, or puréed lamb casserole with mashed veg and cous cous. She'll eat at least an Ellas pouch worth (130g) and usually more. Quite often she'll have a snack as well eg bits of my lunch at 1. And she has 4 milk feeds in between... basically she's a little piglet!

You could try replacing the fruit/yogurt and 6pm feed with a big tea, meat and starch and veg, and some finger food to give her something lumpy to work on?

Hey interwebmum,

I'd be looking at something more like "proper" food than porridge - sounds like she's really good with the solids you've given her so far so take that as a sign she'll tolerate something more solidly - maybe even a sandwich.

I'd also be looking at stopping purées & leaving food lumpier - it'll be slower for her to digest & more filling which may help. Hope that helps x

Thank you all. That's given me some ideas to work with.
I'll try giving her a proper meal in the evening and make sure she's really full, plus start BFing again in the day. Then try making her wait at least four hours between feeds at night. Maybe DH can try getting her back to sleep while I sleep in the other room with earplugs in. Ooh that last bit sounds good.

Interesting to see what others are doing.

My DD is 9 months. She still has 5 breastfeeds plus solids, so her day is something like:

7am - BF
8 am - porridge with cows milk and fruit
11am - BF
12:30 - lunch of lumpy veg and bean/lentil casserole
13:00 - short BF before going down for her nap
15:00 - yogurt or fruit
16:00 - BF
18:00 - main meal - fish/meat/pasta/veg
19:30 - bedtime BF

Looking at it all it seems too much and there are days when it is hard to fit everything in. Just that sometimes the quantities of solids aren't huge (limited by no teeth!) so I can see she needs the milk.

I'd like to drop the mid am or pm feed but she seems to want it and to be honest I'm struggling to come up with a good idea for a portable filling snack to replace it! She already has banana with breakfast and a yogurt mid-afternoon. I also don't entirely get that she's better having a yogurt than mother's milk as a "dairy" portion!