Balance between bf and solids wrong at 8.5mths-will my supply be affected?

[giantkatestacks]

Hi all - this is a follow on from a question I asked on a weaning thread earlier: www.mumsnet.com/Talk/weaning/682497-When-to-39-Up-39-meals?msgid=14016957#14016957 my dd is now 8.5 months and we are doing a mix of purees and finger foods. With the purees I sort of know how much she is eating but when we have a finger food meal like tonight she eats a lot(see the thread for how much she had tonight) and then wont have a big bf afterwards (an hour and a half later) to go to bed with - in fact she has cut down the bf a lot in the last few weeks. She is still taking the same number but they are either very short - takes the let down and then stops or very off and on iyswim.

I was hoping to bf for longer with this dc until self weaning - am I feeding her too many solids for this or does it still count as self weaning if she stops at about a year or so (if I get there).

Maybe my supply is robust enough by now to cope with it all anyway and I shouldnt be worried - I just dont know tbh.

do you offer milk before solids?

the day looks like this:

6-7am bf
7.30 breakfast
midmorning bf
11.30 lunch
2-2.30 bf
5-6pm dinner
6.30-7pm bf

today she had an extra bf at 4pm because she was hungry and I wanted to watch Obama's speech - yet she still went on to eat a mahoosive dinner, can they have growth spurts at this stage?

i know many women with multiple children and all have been self weened when baby has wanted to, some at 8 months some 10 some 3years your introduction of solids sounds good to me some babies just decide that this whole new world of food is fun and others not so much, carry on offering bf its sounds to me as though shes feeding for her fluid intakeand comfort rather than full feeds which is fine to fill her up of course she's still reaping all the benefits of bm despite the fact she may not seem to be feeding in such great quantities

I suppose am worried as well because of the message that milk is the main nutrition for the first year - I would hate to have to put ff back in - and apologies to people who ff its not meant to be derogatory its just when you've spent this long bf you want to see it through iyswim.

As i understand it is their main drink for the first year. You are not forcing solids into her and offering her milk whenever she wants so I reckon you are doing fine.

I don't bet but if i did I would say your dd will scuttle back to boobie once the novelty wears off, it is far too nice and comfy

milk is supposed to be the main source of nutrition, yes.
food is just fun until they're one. she should just be using it to get used to tastes and textures.

she might just settle down in her own time. It's very, very unusual for a child to self-wean under a year. (in fact, I think it's unusual under the age of 2, without some sort of input from mother)

i think I would be inclined to offer meals closer to the end of feeds. if that makes sense? make sure she is filling up on milk first and then offer solids shortly after

does she still feed at night?

I could try moving lunch up a bit yes - she eats a lot less at those meals than dinner obviously because dinner comes before the feed - but then today she had a feed within an hour of dinner and she still ate a lot.

she doesnt feed at night no - tbh shes not that hungry when she wakes up in the morning either - but then she has never been a 'demanding' baby in terms of food - I had to put in a three hour feeding routine at first to keep supply up as she would happily go for much longer.

I'd try offering a BF about half an hour before a solids feed. I didn't know this (wasn't online at the time, I used to browse Aitch's site on my mobile) and it had a big effect on the breastfeeding. She cut down to once a day and when she did she was biting. I am still feeding her at 2 1/2 but I didn't think we would be able to get this far.

My dd is the same age and having less bf than your dd
7-bf
8-8.30 breakfast
12 - lunch
2.30 - bf
5 - tea
7 - bf

She totally stopped the mid-morning bf at 7.5 months by just flatly refusing it. I've noticed, however, if I'm having a smack mid-morning then she will happily have a bit of my banana.

I know milk is meant to be important up to 1 and I got a bit worried about her not getting enough and seeming more interested in food. However, I've decided to look at it another way - we are preparing them for a mainly solids based diet so its only natural that as they get closer to 1 (only 3 months away) then real food will seem a more attractive prospect.

Put it another way - I'm sure you would also be worried if as you got closer to 1 then she only wanted lots and lots of milk and wasn't too interested in solids.

my dn did this with my sil, got really into the foods at 8/9 months and hardly bfed then after one started to bf more and the balance shifted the other way

I could see that this could be developmental and the novelty factor coming into play - shes certainly very excited by food - especially by meat she almost got hysterical over some lambs liver on saturday.

I suppose the question could be also do extended bfers get there 'naturally' or do you have to take steps to ensure it?Its something I would very much like to do and dont want to jeopardise it but equally i dont want to interfere with my dds enjoyment of solids.

I think my previous message answers for me. I did think at ten months we were about to stop, but five months later (after lots of tears from me about sore nipples and biting) she got her act together. She did go down to once a day though, three months ago I had to move her in with my parents and she has gone to less than once a day now.

interesting question GKS!
i am pg at the moment, and my 15 month old has cut down a LOT.
I do not want him to wean prematurely as a result of my pregnancy, and so am encouraging him to feed more. well, by encouraging I realy mean just offering more often. he usually refuses, but I do want him to wean when he is truly ready not as a resul of something I have done.

does that make sense? I do think a lot of breastfeeding mums take steps to ensure their child is having plenty of breastmilk.
i certainly know a couple who have encouraged extra night feeds and things when solids have made baby less interested in milk.

congratulations thisisyesterday

it is sort of counterintuitive though isnt it - my dd doesnt feed in the night and I wouldnt want to reintroduce night feeds. I will also be going back to work a couple of days a week at a year and so would want to be feeding a couple of times a day really. But is that just having your cake and eating it? If I have to work at it to keep it up then who's benefit would it really be for?

So your ds is selfweaning in effect and you dont want him to because you feel he wouldnt be if you werent pg?If you hadnt read anything about extended bf though would you be worried about it?

yeah it's a hard one. but yes, I feel that were I not pregnant he would still be feeding as much as before. he has cut down fairly drastically over a very short period of time as my milk supply has dipped.

so I think it isn't really classed as self-weaning because there is another factor involved iyswim?

obviously at the end of the day I can't make him feed, but I will continue to offer frequently so he knows it's still there lol.

there are huge benefits for the child if you carry on, who recommends feeding up to at least 2 years, so I think that working at it is for his benefit. I dunno though, it's a tough one!
I hope some more ebf'ers come on here though and give some opinions!

but its not really anything you have done is it? Its a natural response from both sides (not necessarily the response you want mind).

The pregnancy will bring him lots of other benefits - being a big brother with all that entails will be good for him - would it not balance out in the end?

can you build up your milk supply while pregnant as well? sorry for ignorance - theres about 5 years between mine ahem

giantkatestacks that sounds fine, interest in food is good and you are still feeding loads.
she may well change her focus back to you any day now.... no night feeds at all?

bf beyond 6m (ebf, whatever) is not something i planned, don't think anyone does. just carry on

sorry gks i missed your later post.

i went back to work when ds was 13m and am still feeding at 3.7. i didn't bother with expressing. sometimes i am there, sometimes not.

so after a certain point you can get away with quite a lot then - I just need to get to that point.

GKS - that looks pretty much like my DS - maybe our feeds were a bit closer to the meal as said before - and he also fed at night. Just keep offering as you are doing. Babies v rarely will actually self wean this early - sometimes a nursing strike for a few days but never full weaning. She's obviously just enjoying her food!
thisisyesterday - my milk supply dwindled to practically nothing in early/mid pregnancy and I thought DS was going to completely wean but he actually kept up his bedtime feed and now seems to be enjoying the colostrum that's come in for the next one! we could be tandem feeding after all! Just see what happens - DS definitely noticed the change in my milk and got a bit grumpy for a while but he did come around - he obviously wasn't ready to stop completely!

I will try and move the meals closer and maybe do a bit of expressing in the evening as well. And of course try not to worry about it as much.

bubbleymummy, thank you I need to hear lots of positive stories like that!
ds2 will have a quick suck now and then but that's about it. he does however have some oat milk from a bottle in the morning and am going to try just offering himn boob instead and see what happens