Milk requirements etc from one year

[VintageGardenia]

I have a ds who's nearly ten months, he's been exclusively bf and then blw'd - now he drinks water from an open cup, eats masses, and has usually maybe two bf's at night, and perhaps two by day but only if I'm lucky - he really seems to have lost interest in his day feeds, a couple of sucks and then he smacks his lips or twists off (rather painful, that ). He never really had a bottle, other than the odd time I left expressed milk for him, and doesn't have one now at all.

He will be 1 in August and I am wondering about his milk needs. Given that he's got this far without a bottle is it daft of me to hope he can continue without one? But are the bf's enough, given that some nights he only wakes once, and I am praying for him to wake never? If he sleeps through the night he'll really only be having a breakfast feed and maybe one more by day and this doesn't seem sufficient. I am unclear as to what the milk needs of a one-year-old are. Should I give him cow's milk in a cup? Should I be giving him expressed milk in a cup (please don't let it be this one, I hate expressing)? Or something else...

have a chat with your health visitor he's probably bit young for cows milk as a main drink they prefer the baby to be one so she may recommend a milk for him such as cow & gate follow on the amount of milk a day is 20oz which is a pint but this can be in different forms e.g. fromage frais a little pot is normally 2oz's so if you could get 4 a day in him that's 8oz's easily. If you do use cows milk make sure it is full fat until he is 2 hope this helps.

Thanks Lesbian. Alas am in Ireland & don't have a health visitor - but wasn't planning to give the cow's milk for another couple of months anyway. A pint seems such a lot, he drinks a few mouthfuls of water with each meal, can't imagine him necking a pint! I am wondering whether I ought to be giving up the breastfeeding so soon.

If ds is too distracted to feed during the day, have you tried:-

feeding in a darkened room?

wearing a nursing necklace or other twiddly thing?

special toy he only has whilst nursing?

Offering a breastfeed about an hour before his food?

Babies under 12 months should be getting their primary nutrition from breastmilk (or formula if that is their usual milk). Solids are complimentary to breastfeeds not the other way around. See this link for details.

Babies eating solids before breastfeeding and then losing interest in bfing can lead to premature weaning.

If this is what you want then you will need to introduce formula as DS is under a year and can't go straight to cow's milk. As DS is good with a cup just put the formula in that. HV's seem to be keen to get 4 month olds off bottles now, so there would be no point in making DS take on at this late stage.

Try to chose a formula with a high fat content. Before a year breastmilk is 5% fat, once baby is past a year goes from 5% fat to 17% fat. Some follow ons have a fat content as low as 2.6% (HiPP follow on 10 months +. Fats are essential for the absorpstion of some vitamins and for brain growth.

If I were you I would cut back on the water if he is having cups and cups of it obviously if he is just sipping then leave it as is. Breastmilk is 88% water and most baby food is fairly moist. It sounds like he is really enjoying his new found independence for feeding/drinking for himself and is not filling up on breastmilk.

I'm not suggesting you have done anything wrong by following your baby's cues but sometimes Mama has to encourage babies to slow down on the growing up

Hi OP - I am no expert and not trying to be contrary with the posters above who have given some really good advice, but personally I would be a little cautious about a couple of the suggestions - yes, most baby food is fairly moist, but BLW babies aren't generally eating baby food so personally I'd keep the water coming; and 4 fromage frais a day would be a hell of a lot of sugar!
My 11mo BLW DS has really cut back on BFs lately; I try to keep his dairy intake up with things like plain yoghurt and cheese, and make up his porridge etc with formula (though I could use cow's milk for that). He does also have a couple of bottles of formula though, especially when I'm at work. Wish mine was as good as yours with a cup - we are working on it...

Thanks for that Verity. To be honest I would be very happy to avoid formula completely. He does take water at every meal but although he enjoys it and drinks with gusto it's not more than two or three gulps. For the moment I am happy enough to keep encouraging him with the bf's and might try the darkened room / distraction free zone. Judging by the KellyMom link you posted I would say I am not giving him enough milk at the moment poor boy, I will have to start offering him a bf before he has his meals.

Thanks puddock - yes he does have "normal" foods and he does relish his water afterwards. For e.g. he had pitta bread with hummous (sp) the other day and though he loved it his lips were practically sticking together at the end! That day I was low on fruit so he had a banana which wasn't the juiciest pudding in the world . So he gulped his water down enthusiastically but when you see what's actually gone from the cup it looks very little.

But would you say on balance that 4 bf's in a 24-hour period are insufficient to be his mainstay? I mean I know you can't measure it etc.

Hi Vintagegardenia,

Why do you think that what you are doing already is wrong? Is there anything to indicate that your DS is either not getting enough milk or that his nutritional needs are not being met?

It's all very well everyone suggesting this or that milk but clearly the bfs are enough otherwise he'd want more.

I see no point whatsoever in giving up bf or resorting to formula when you clearly don't need to. Why offer follow on milk or cows milk when your own milk is still there???

It sounds like you are having a bit of a confidence crisis when you clearly don't need to as you have already done so well in bf for as long as you have.

The best advice anyone ever gave me was "listen to your baby". If your DS wants more milk, he'll "tell" you.

ds was bottle fed but had dropped to 2 feeds by 10 1/2 months. I made up the rest of his intake through food e.g. milk in cereal (I used cows milk for cereal from 6 months), yoghurt, cheese, the odd bit of ice cream, etc. From 1 year the minimum recommended amount drops to around 350mls (approx 12oz) which doesnt all (or any) have to be in drink form as other dairy and non-dairy sources of calcium count too. You cant force your lo to take more milk if he doesnt want it so offer calcium rich foods and he will be fine. You could try offering the odd drink of cows milk from a cup if you wish but wouldnt need to do that if you were continuing breast feeding anyway.

Personally I don't see any need to give your DS formula. I would offer water and full fat cows milk in addition to continuing to bf on demand.

Like others have suggested, offer calcium rich foods too. If he's continuing to thrive, I don't see any need to change now and add formula into the mix.

Tryharder partly what made me think the bf's weren't enough was the Kellymom link which was posted on this thread which said at this stage 25% of calories should come from solids, 75% from milk, and I thought hmmm I would be surprised if we were that proportion. But I had already wondered myself whether if he (miraculously and unlikeli-ly) starts sleeping through the night, the 2 remaining bf's would be sufficient.

My original intention in posting was to ascertain what I needed to do for ds when he hits 1, though - what his milk requirements would be then - as I have been vaguely wondering when I will stop feeding, and if I could get him past the point where he would need a formula replacement, I'd be happier, as I would prefer to avoid formula/bottle - perhaps partly because my ds1 was superglued to his bottle till he was over 2.

Past the age of one I think the requirements drop to around 12fl oz a day, or round about two-thirds of a pint of milk or milk equivalent. One large yoghurt will give you 4oz, one breastfeed around 4oz maybe, whatever you use on breakfast - say 2oz plus, cheese in one meal maybe another ounce or two. So it's actually quite easy to meet just with food and certainly without formula, especially if you have at least one breastfeed a day. If you're doing two or more I'd say you're home and dry tbh!

If you can get him to one on breastmilk then so much the better and you can switch to cows milk without any need for formula at all. What I would do for now is switch some of his water to milk - perhaps the with meals drinks. If it's only a couple of gulps then it's not going to be foul of the 'main drink' criteria' but it will mean it's a bit better than water, and will reassure you that he will drink cows milk straight.

And as for 4 feeds a day meeting his 'mainstay' needs - I'd say easily. I know about the not measuring issues and expressing being no good indication etc etc, but around four ounces for a 'normal', 'average', breastfeed is as good an estimate as any - it may be more it may be less. So if you're doing at least two main breastfeeds a day plus all the usual foods then you really are giving him 'most' of his calories from milk quite easily.

You're doing fine - stop worrying !