Number of milk feeds at 6 months?

[Benjaminsmummy]

DS is 6.5 months and bf. He's also having breakfast and lunch (haven't moved on to "evening meal" yet).

He generally has milk 6 times a day including dream feed at 10pm ish which I'm loathe to give up as I like my sleep too much.

Other friends whose babies are a similar age seem to have fewer feeds; they are all bottle fed and seem to stick to a schedule rather more than I do! I was wondering if/when milk demands are likely to slow down? I still feed on demand although I'm not sure if I'm sometimes feeding him more often than he wants/needs?

He was 15lb 11oz last week (from 6lb 1oz at birth) and sticking to his 9th centile line so weight gain is fine.

Any thoughts, anyone?

There is not a specific number of feeds he should have really. At 6 months he should still have breast with all meals probably but he can have as many B/F inbetween meals that he wants, if you are happy to give them. Carry on as you are

dd1 was ff and from memory was having 4 bottles a day at 6mo - 7.15am, 11.30, 2.30 and 6pm - and evening solids. No late night milk from 4 months onwards. ff babies can often do the 12 hour sleep earlier than bf, so I don't think you're off track at all. If it was every 2-3 hours overnight that'd be another story

dd2 is 11 weeks and has six ff's, though two of them (incl the 10.30pm one) are v small

I don't think there is a set number of feeds a 6 month old should have each day.

My DS is nearly 7 months and usually has about 5 bf's a day. He also has three meals a day but dropped the night feed a couple of weeks ago. He has always had more feeds than any of the bottle fed babies I know.

this worries me: i've been mixed feeling and 3 meals a day with my 7 month old ds (lots of formula mixed in with food) - 3 breastfeeds 7am, 11.45 (before lunch) and 3pmish followed by a bottle of formula at 6pm before dinner. he has started to drop the 3pm feed in the last couple of days (just doesn't want it, and gets upset if i keep sticking my boob in his face: poor thing )...is this a problem?

Think mine was still on 5 feeds (bottle) at six months - breakfast, mid-morning, lunch, mid afternoon, tea. None at night as he went through.... God it's amazing how quickly you forget - he's only one!

Sounds like there's probably a bit of variety between different babies - I know one of Ds's contemporaries has only 2 milk feeds a day and he's OK.

I'll just keep going with the flow so to speak I think