ok, I've been bfing 10 months so I should know by now....

[HeadFairy]

but how on earth do you feed a 10 month old on demand? when they're tiny they root when they're hungry, but 10 month olds do not root. Normally I feed at set times, before breakfast, at bedtime and at about 10.30pm before I go to bed, but due to illness my milk supply has gone down quite a lot so I'm trying to build it up again. Someone said to keep feeding on demand, but I have no idea what that is for a ten month old. What should I be looking for? Or do I just keep offering him boob?

Yes, just offer at convenient times. If he doesn't want it he won't have it.

I thought that might be the way... when i do that he takes a few sucks and waddles off (well crawls off) I guess if I keep doing that it'll help. I can't remember what's more important for rebuilding milk supply, fully emptying the boob or frequency of the baby being on it....

My 10 month old still roots!!

I have just night-weaned her 4 days ago, but in the day time she pulls my top down to give me a big hint!

really? Maybe I'm missing the signs? He does open his mouth wide and get really excited just as I'm getting my boob out, but other than that he doesn't really give me any indication. Mind you, he did just try and suck my nose off my face, maybe that was a big hint

HeadFairy - my nearly 6mo DS does the nose thing. He thinks its hilarious to grab my cheeks and latch on to my nose!

chairmummiaow! My ds has lots of teeth and uses them when he does it !

i would just keep offering and soon enough he will be shoving his hand down your top when he fancies a drink - it will become very obvious!

Sorry to hear you've been poorly. It's tough being a mum when you're not well. No days off! I was sick earlier this year and ended up stopping breastfeeding - just couldn't cope as was using up more calories than taking in and lost a colossal amount of weight very quickly.

I would echo the advice of everything here about giving your son lots of cuddles and letting him feed when he wants. I'm not sure you should panic too much about your milk supply. In my total of 5 years of bf I've gone through periods when my older babies have fed very little, but the milk has always been there when they've come back to the breast. Even now, nearly six months on from stopping with my third when I give my nipples an experimental squeeze I still get a few drops out. I suspect that if I started bf again it would come back soon enough. I think you'll be fine if you just keep offering.

My ds never asked at 10 months-I used to offer 4 times a day, and was mostly taken up on the offer.

In your situation, trying to build milk supply, I'd offer more often; frequency is important. Night nursing best for building supply, but I can understand you not wanting to offer vigorously then .

But would echo sabire that supply isnt' goign to be fragile at this stage

thanks for the advice everyone, it's interesting to read everyone's experiences. It's wierd cos I'm convinced the milk is disappearing but if I've been bfing for 10 months it should be a bit more robust. Maybe I'm just being paranoid. It's hard to keep offering ds the boob as I'm back at work (well I'm off sick today but ds is a the childminders - it's prepaid!) but I have been offering him more during the day when I've been around.