Does breastmilk give enough calories for (an ill) 1 yr old?

[KikiShack]

My daughter has a vomiting bug (presumably, seen 3 doctors now and no one thinks it's anything else) which had been going on about a week. She's completely off the little she ate of solids so I'm off work looking after her and am bf on demand- maybe a meal every 3-4 hours and some small snacks/drinks/comfort in between.
The doctor I saw this morning told me I need to try and get her to eat solids as she won't be getting enough calories from bm alone. Given I grew her to almost 13kg at ~8 months on bm almost alone I am not convinced this is true, but are a 1yr old's energy requirements that different from a baby that she might be right?
It almost doesn't matter because my LO isn't eating any solids anyway, I sit her down with me at my meals and offer her bits and she refuses, or throws them straight up. Just wondering. She's still ~13kg so not in danger of withering away, but I don't want to deprive her of calories to help her heal.
TIA

Bm has more calories than most foods. It's absolutely the best thing for a sick one year old.

Medical professionals who aren't lactation consultants often have outdated or incorrect information when it comes to breastfeeding as it's not something that's covered on great detail during their training. Your doctor meant well I'm sure but is incorrect in this case.

Hope she recovers soon

Thanks coughle, you've confirmed what I hoped! She's only just 1 too, not a grown up 17 month old used to scoffing great meals (I live in hope of those days).
I'll keep on giving her what I can and ignore the doctor on that point. it's a shame because it makes me dubious about the doctor's advice on other regards where I'm sure it's actually fine.

What a shame you've been given such poor advice and you are right to question it.

BM is more than enough for her. I wouldn't even bother with the solids or the milk, just bf her as much as she wants.

There is some info here for a bit more reassurance

My dd had a nasty case of Gastroentiritis just before her 1st birthday. My Dr told me to keep her on BM only for a couple of days as she couldn't stop vomitting. I'm sure she'll take solids again when she's ready, and in the meantime BM is the very best thing she can be having.

Incidentally, DD is just recovering from another bout of gastroentiritis (2yrs old now) and NHS direct said start her with something like yogurt or soup that's easy to digest and gentle on her tummy. Then if she keeps that down try mash or something a little more stodgy, but still bland, gradually building up.

Hope she's all recovered soon. It's so horrible when they're poorly, and there's so many nasty bugs around at the moment.

Thanks Jilted and Reese, I appreciate the replies.
One other thing I forgot to mention is I've seen 6 hcps over this: 3 gps, 2 paramedics (3am rash meningitis scare) and a nurse, and not one of them seemed in the least bit approving that I'm still bf, if anything they looked slightly unimpressed. I'm not in the least bit chip on the shoulder about bf either, so it just made me a bit sad. I live in a pretty mum friendly part of the country too where people bf all over the high st, buses, trains etc- it's quite yummy mummy ville really. I was surprised there was no positivity about it from any medical professional.

Reese I hope your DD is back to full strength soon!

DD had stomach bug when she was about 10 months, so not much younger than your DD. She couldn't keep food down at all, but happily breastfed. Fortunately I had decent HCPs who told me that was the best thing for my DD. I hope your DD feels better soon.

that's so sad kiki. Can remember my DS having a bug at about the same age and my GP telling me to not give him any of his milk. I just smiled and said "are you sure about that because he's bf. you might want to look it up" to which there was a bit of bluster and the GP eventually said it was fine to continue.

My HCPs were always surprised that I was still feeding, including my old HV in the city we used to live in who was surprised I was still bfing at 2 weeks and said I was her only bfing mum.

My 2.4 yo had a vomiting bug on Monday. I'm BFing his 9 week old brother at the moment and I was sorely tempted to see if DS1 could still latch on. In addition to more than enough calories, it has rehydration enzymes in it, so it's like Dioralyte that doesn't ming.

When ds1 had a stomach bug at about 10 months the gp I saw was delighted he was bf because they would have told me to stop milk as it is classed as a solid food but to keep bf throughout he would eventually keep some down and he was continually being hydrated. He even said that if his sister, 3 at the time caught it as well to offer her some expressed bm.

Oh, and I've just remembered - I took DS1 to A&E when he was 10 or 11 months old with D&V because he hadn't produced a wet nappy in over 12 hours and was a bit lethargic.

Nurse presented me with a bottle of baby juice and instructed me to get it into him. 'Erm. OK.' I said. 'He's never accepted a bottle in his life but he's never tried juice.' 'How do you feed him if he doesn't take a bottle?' said she, a senior nurse (He still wouldn't take the bottle even with juice in it)

All was well, in the end, and we left A&E with the instruction to get Dioralyte into him. We asked a pharmacist as to how the hell we calculated quantity needed because instructions for infants were given by volume of feed. Lo and behold, the pharmacist actually knew something about breastfeeding and he said, 'don't bother if you're breastfeeding. He'll never take it because it tastes disgusting and the enzymes in breastmilk are more effective than anything from a packet for rehydration.'

Green that's so tragic. Perhaps they missed out biology when she did her training? Did she do a cats bum face when you enlightened her?

Thank goodness the pharmacist knew what he was on about

I had to look around then, Jilted, to see who you were referring to I imagine if there had been an MN boarding school, I would have had 'GREEN!' shouted down the corridor at me while I was planting stink bombs under the headmistress' desk. Usually I'm called Elph

Fortunately Daft Nurse had the common sense to look abashed when I said politely but with some disbelief, 'Um...he's breastfed.'

Elph it is then

Kiki, how is your DD now? Mine has seen off cottage pie, chips and peas at the pub tonight. I think she's all better now ;-)