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Infant feeding

Get advice and support with infant feeding from other users here.

7.5 month bf baby dropping day feeds

3 replies

121gigawatts · 03/04/2023 19:14

We are a month and a half into weaning and I feel like my DD has significantly reduced her milk intake. I am only giving her two meals a day and some water out a sippy cup which she spills more than anything. So, this morning I made her porridge with banana, proper porridge not baby and then this evening she had mashed vegetables and then half a peach puree pot. I have been giving her odd finger foods to try too but she didn't have any today. In terms of milk, she nursed for about half an hour at 7.30 this morning when she woke, then about 11 am for a few minutes and then at 3pm for about 5 minutes. I've tried to get her to nurse more throughout the day but she isn't interested. However, in the evening she will nurse for about an hour before bed (currently feeding) and then could wake up 3 times to feed, sometimes more if its a really bad night. I am just conscious that food is meant to be for fun the first year and she is really enjoying her food so far which is nice as DD1 was a terrible weaner due to severe reflux. I am worrying about my milk supply being affected too, I just cannot seem to express more than an oz, tried all kinds and in the end just gave up as i was becoming tied to the pump and my daughter is following her growth chart nicely so clearly is well fed so don't need feel I need to worry about expressing until I go back to work when she's 11 months. I plan to only feed until she's 1 anyway although I know it doesn't always go to plan.

Should I be giving her less food? She's a biggish baby, 8 lbs 6.5oz born, nearly out of 6-9 month clothes. I really don't feel like I'm overfeeding her as doing two meals a day and following baby recipes most of the time which say the portion size on them or if I cook too much, I freeze. Sometimes I will just give her a jar of food appropriate to her age if we were at a family members for dinner or something too. The night feedings definitely haven't changed since weaning but the day has, I think if she was even having one good feed a day, feeding for 15 minutes I'd be happy but most of the time she latches, messes about and comes off after a couple of minutes.
Sorry for long post, any advice appreciated.

OP posts:
Oopswediditagain2023 · 03/04/2023 19:37

This sounds fine to me in all honesty. They do get very efficient at feeding - by the time my daughter was that age her feeds were only a few minutes. And I wouldn't rely on the pump telling you how much milk you have especially this far into your feeding journey. The only thing I'd suggest is giving her porridge at night time as it might fill her up more rather than milk if she's a "foodie" baby!

121gigawatts · 03/04/2023 19:51

Ah OK @Oopswediditagain2023 so perhaps I can fill her up more and stop her nursing multiple times in the night by switching the porridge to night? Yeah I have ditched the pump, I still have a hand one incase I get a bit engorged but I have never expressed well. I feel like I read so much conflicting stuff, like supply naturally drops off when weaning and then things saying their milk feeds should stay the same and food is for fun. Its hard to know.

OP posts:
Moancup · 08/04/2023 14:58

The advice is conflicting and confusing. Personally I think the “food is fun” message is probably put about so that parents don’t stress if their child doesn’t take to weaning and still wants to nurse lots.

Everything I’ve read says breast fed babies are very good at self regulating and will naturally nurse less. At her age a 15 minute feed sounds very long, let alone an hour! Perhaps you need to adjust your expectations around older babies?

I think the portion sizes on many weaning recipes are insane. It’ll claim to make 12 portions using ingredients that would only make three meals for my (tiny) DS.

If weight gain is going well I wouldn’t stress. Although I’d aim for a more varied weaning diet with some higher protein foods and more variety of dairy.

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