Is my baby having enough milk?

[Cloudninenine]

My baby is 7.5 months old. He is exclusively breastfed, and has two meals a day.

I have always fed on demand, but recently I’ve found the demand is just not there most of the time. At the moment he is having 4 milk feeds per day; around 6am, 9:30am, 12:30 pm and 5pm. He’s always hungry for the first feed, but the rest I offer without any cues from him.

Sometimes he’ll feed for a decent amount of time, but often he’ll literally have a couple of minutes on each side and be done. He’s very distractible - if there is anyone else in the room / a noise outside / the cat walks in, he breaks the feed to be nosy.

He also has two good sized meals per day - breakfast (weetabix with banana / scrambled egg on toast / pancakes) and lunch (curry / pasta / stew). He really enjoys solid food and eats big portions.

Is he having enough milk? He’s a very good weight and plenty of wet and dirty nappies, so I’m not worried about his overall calorie intake and hydration, but I know most of his nutrition at this age is supposed to come from milk, and 4 feeds (some of them very quick) doesn’t seem enough. But the demand for more just isn’t there! I’m so confused about it

If he’s growing and filling nappies then he’s getting enough. I’ve got an 11 month old and she fed less for awhile unfortunately she has recently decided she needs much more milk so is now feeding a lot more.

I'd say so but if you're worried can you add some to his food?

My baby the same age has 8 breastfeeds per day. He's very nosy too while feeding. He feeds best in the dark or when he's just woken. Could you try feeding directly after a nap?

4 feeds a day at that age is fine OP. Babies by that age are extremely effective at getting out the milk and a few minutes on each side is often fine to completely drain the breast! It's fine also if babies want to feed more than that, but 4 feeds a day is about what we'd expect to see at that age. He'll let you know if he is hungry or wants to feed more! You're doing great!

As long as your still offering milk before good then it’s fine. He may have just become even more efficient at getting milk. Be aware that he may turn back into a milk monster at some point and that’s OK too.