Should I start dropping day time feeds?

[wishfulthinking1]

DS is 8.5 months, breast fed and enjoying solid food. Currently our (loose) routine is....

7am- bf
8- breakfast

11- bf
12- lunch

3 bf

5.30- tea
7- bf

4am (yawn) bf (though I'm hoping this will stop soon!)

Saw HV yesterday who encouraged me to drop the daytime feeds and give snacks instead. I'm not in any great hurry to do this, but I return to work (afternoons) at the end of February. I was going to continue morning feeds and asking nursery to offer him formula in a cup in the afternoon. Now I'm wondering if I should just give a snack in the afternoon instead? Assuming he drops his night time feed he'd just be having 3 milk feeds (bf) a day- it doesn't sound like much/ enough!

Any advice would be welcome- thank you!

i would keep doing what you are doing

no need to drop any breastfeeds IMO - why replace with a snack when breastmilk is so much easier?

when your LO goes to nursery, they can offer replacements but i wouldn't do that at home

when i went back to work, my DD was 8 months and she had a breastfeed from me at the weekends and water or fruit in the afternoon when my nanny had her

I would say it's totally up to you. Our pattern was very similar to yours at 8 months ( although with a few extra night feeds, mostly because we were cosleeping then)

We dropped the mid morning one about 9.5 months. As we were usually out and about and very squirmy and started preferring a snack. Then we dropped the mid afternoon one at 10.5 months because I went back to work just after this. We kept the breakfast and bedtime and still do these at 16 months. We have just night weaned her in the last few weeks.

I has sort of intended moving to a cup of cows milk at a year for the remaining feeds but she has always just spat it out.

Sorry. She was very squirmy! That sentence didn't make sense!

I'd say your HV is wrong.

Babies under 1 should get most of their nutrition from milk, so I don't see why there'd be a rush to drop feeds at only 8.5 months?

I didn't have set feed times though so I couldn't tell you how many feeds my DC had at that age. :)