8mo still bf 9 times a day (and tiny). Pls help!

[flyingfarfalla]

DS has just turned 8mo and (despite one short episode when he seemed to be quickly dropping feeds) is still taking 9 feeds a day. He only goes 2-3 hours during the day and 4 at night between feeds. This doesn't seem to be normal from what his peers do. I read he should be more like 4-5 feeds. Is that right?

It is exhausting and getting me down on two levels1) because I feel so trapped (he won't take a bottle of expressed or formula and will only take a bit of Infatrini milk in a doidy but not enough to replace a feed - so this is in addition to the 9 bfs!);(2)more importantly because he is still so tiny so I worry that my milk is not enough and that I am doing something wrong. I feel all the breastfeeding is somehow counter-productive but can't get him to reduce or replace.

He is on 0.4pc (born late on 25th pc) so weight has always been a concern. He does eat 3 small meals a day (puree and finger foods) but this hasn't reduced the bfs and I give him water as well so I'm really at a loss to know what to try or what I should be doing. What is going wrong?

If your DS is otherwise healthy and alert and developing well, it doesn't sound as though anything's wrong. Babies come in all sizes and some are small... my 7mo DD is just above the 2nd centile and still BF every 3-4 hours too. My guess is that smaller babies simply have smaller tummies than need refilling more often. Anyone know?

DD3 is on 2nd %ile (was 14lb 11oz) at 8 m/o - she was 8lb 10oz at birth.

She probably feeds just like your DS (I don't really pay too much attention to exact no. of feeds these days ) but it would be rare for her to go more than 3 hours in the day and she has gone up to 8 hours at night but it is usually more like 2-3 feeds between 10pm & 7am. I would be concerned if my 8 month old was only 4 feeds a day but then I have had little and often feeders (ok DD1 was a lot and often ).

From what you say I wouldn't be concerned by him if he is meeting milestones and the HCPs have ruled out any underlining condition (i.e. he is just constitutionally small not malnourished/FTT/whatever).

We have seen the senior Paed. at the local hospital who checked over DD3 and reassured me everything was fine (DD3 had had bronchiolitis 4 times and was referred by HV). She told me I had probably fed her so well in utero she was born bigger than her genetics wanted her to be so she had a period of 'catch down' growth.

If you want him to gain weight cutting down on bfeeds is the last thing you should be doing. At 1 y/o a baby should be getting 75% of their calories from BM so a baby under 1 should be getting the vast majority of their calories from BM not from solids.

What sorts of foods do you feed your DS? Is he having a bfeed before his solids?

I tend to feed things like buttered bread, cheesy pasta with chicken, banana, risotto, porridge made with fruit and cream, mash with cream/cheese/butter, cheese & sweetcorn omelette/scrambled egg and greek yoghurt with fruit. I obviously feed her veg as an accompaniment but it is not the bulk of her diet. I will also skip giving her solids with the rest of the family if she wants to nurse and give her a breadstick/banana/malted milk later. I got some good advice on feeding calorie dense foods on the Weaning board.

Wriggler takes 4 feeds during the day (waking, between b'fast and lunch, between lunch and tea and double feed at bedtime then 1-3 feeds in the night (so generally 7 feeds per 24h although I don't normally admit that actually 1-3 is more 3, really). I think it's a lot more normal than people think. I wish she would take more during the day because I think she might drop some of the night feeds if she had more feeds during the day but she is such a stuffer of solids that she isn't hungry for milk.

She has gone from the 9th centile when just on milk to the 75th (been on the 75th for length all along) now that she's on solids.

You are doing great.

flyingfarfall - this feeding pattern is well within normal for a breastfed baby of this age, and messing about with it could be risky, with a baby whose weight is a concern. He clearly needs his breastfeeds to be this often (actually - they're not all that often at all...it's fine for him to feed like this).

I'm going to be a bit directive and say it would be a bit mad to reduce the bf, or replace it. I doubt he needs water, either, though check with dietitian.

Bf is a very efficient way of getting top quality calories into him

I hope life gets a bit easier with less reluctance to take a cup - I promise you it will

Good grief its exhausting though isn't it?! Up 4 times last night on top of the constant day feeds.

Thanks so much for the comments and support though. The exhaustion will be a great deal easier to deal with without the accompanying stress that the feeding is abnormal/I am doing the wrong thing. Will stick with it.

Apart from looking rather puny and not crawling/pulling up yet, DS seems to be otherwise doing ok although the hospital said possibly FTT when we visited in April. They then put him on the Infatrini and some duocal powder to go in his food. We go back in August so I will see what they say then. They haven't seemed overly concerned though. HV said I should drop bfs to encourage more solid consumption and should push onto formula bottle top ups !

DS is a bit fussy on what he will eat solid wise but I am getting a bit of high cal soft cheese and peanut butter into him. In general though he has a preference for pureed veg and yoghurt. I try and bf not less than 1hour before meals.