Reassurance needed!

[Lilyput07]

Dear all,
Am still bf 9 mth old dd and loving it. Trouble is she doesn't seem to feel the same way anymore !! The last feed at night and any feeds during night (few and far between now thank goodness) are lovely, she stays on and has a good feed. But during the day (i feed her on waking, mid morning and mid afternoon as well as before bed) it's getting increasingly difficult to get her to have a good feed, she's so distracted by anything, comes off just as milk is let down and just doesn't stay on very long. Now I appreciate that she will get distracted at this age and that she is loads more efficient now she is older, I also appreciate that she will start to drop some feeds at some point but I'm worried that she is not getting the volume of milk she still needs at this point. Really relunctant to start adding in formula as never have and was hoping to continue bf for as long as dd wants. Have spoken to HV about it but get conflicting advice from them so knew I could get better advice here from all you wise mums!

We had this - but I managed to keep to having a good morning feed as well - kept to ds's room, in dark and nice and snuggly - nice way to wake up. During day it was much more difficult due to distractions.

I did express during the day when possible -partly as this meant that I could provide enough ebm for nursery most weeks. Even if you don't have the childcare issues, you might find this possible so that you can have a bottle or cup of ebm which is much easier to go back to or continue to drink when you're interested in something else.

Suggest that, if you want to feed during the day, try to find a nice quiet place - perhaps with some nice music on, but as few visual distractions as possible - that was our best option.

Best of luck - I'm sure that someone else will come along with some suggestions soon!

Thanks Mistlethrush, I do keep things really quiet when feeding but she can still be distracted by her own feet or my clothes for example! Getting to be bit of struggle during day, though I obviously don't force her to feed, and bit worried that she will start to associate this with feeding. Also bit worried about my supply as been ill with stomach bug recently and not been able to keep much food or water down for last 3 days. If dd continues to not take much I'm worried that supply will go down IYSWIM. Will try expressing more in day though..

In a months time you will probably be posting that your child won't stop BFing - it is a phase, they get distracted then they find BFing the most interesting thing ever. Get a taggie blanket, it worked for us. It will pass, at this stage I don't think your supply will be impacted. I personally loathe expressing and I don't think its necessary.

I was told by a couple of bf/hv's that a 9month old baby can just have 2x bf a day as long as baby is getting enough calcium during the day, yoghurt, cheese, cheese sauce, milk with cereal......etc.

I was gonna go for that option but never quite got round to dropping any bf's!

Can't really help with distractions.... is dd still comfortable in her feeding position now she's a little bigger? My dd now prefers accross tummy rather than rugby ball (or under armpit as I call it!!)