Am I breastfeeding 15mo too much for him to be hungry?

[bittenibbles]

I cosleep and breastfeed my 15mo. We are both really happy with this arrangement

As I feed him back to sleep in the morning so we get a lie in and he doesnt seem massively hungry at breakfast (about an hour to an hour ad a half after waking). Or is it teething (all four molars coming through) He may eat a snack but gets more milk when he goes down for his naps (feed to sleep still ) and he wants milk mid afternoon which i oblige with.

I do try and get protein, fat and carbs into him but sometimes its difficult and he seems not to eat a thing!

So my question is do I actively try and reduce milk which i will find difficult or will he find his on way i.e. if he is hungry for real food he will eat?

just a bit concerned about him getting right nutrients. He is thriving btw

tia

If you're both happy just now and he's doing well, I'd just carry on. He will reduce his milk feeds and increase his solid intakes when its right for him.

I went back to work mornings when my DS1 was 12 months and at 15 months he still fed to sleep (always did until he started napping in front of telly when he was about 2.5 yrs!). He used to feed 2-3 times during the night, a feed before I went to work, then a feed when he came back (after a snooze) so about 3pm, then a bedtime feed.

He was also thriving and ate okay, but didn't shovel away as much as some kids his age but he was fine so I wasn't worried and eventually the feeds got dropped and the food took over. DS1 also used to go off food completely if he was ill, so if he had a cold, he would barely eat anything for days, then he'd be ravenous for a day or two to make up.

As long as he's eating a range of foods (when he does eat) his nutrient intake will be fine.

I think that yes milk is stopping him taking more solids - but whether or not that is a problem is your call! Presumably if he is thriving its not a problem

Teething definitely reduces appetite massively - my 15 month old at the time was a huge eater and no longer breastfeed but would almost stop eating completely while teething

If you wanted to cut down you could pick one milk feed and replace with a snack - babies are pretty adaptable ..

The thing you may struggle with is iron intake. This is so important, esp for bf babies. If bit enough iron is going in I'd actively reduce milk feeds. Personally i think if he's having v little solids you could fins it more difficult later on to get different tastes accepted.

Appreciate its not easy to get away from feeding to sleep though.

Thanks for the replies everyone.

Eletheomel He has dropped his afternoon nap which I fed him to sleep, so fingers crossed he will make that up with food eventually.

waterrat He is the middle of teething now, so yes, hugely influenced perhaps by this.

Barberry Yes it was Iron I was worried about. Okay that was food (ha ha) for thought. I will try and up his Iron intake, perhaps see the HV . . ?

Again Thanks!

You can buy baby vitamin drops with iron in which may be worth thinking about but I'd definitely talk to HV first.

Bf babies iron stores are pretty much used up by 6m which is why early meat/veggie alternative is so important.

barbara my understanding of iron stores is that in a full term healthy baby where the mother didn't suffer any iron deficiency, that iron stores start to deplete about after 6 months, not that they are gone by then.

In addition, giving iron supplements willy nilly to babies/toddlers is not recommended at all as far as I know (the multi vits they recommend for bfeeding mums and bfed babies contain calcium, vit d etc, not iron) and I'm not sure I'd give my son supplements based on a HV's view, I'd want a bit more evidence than that.

I'm a vegetarian, bfed DS1, gave him no vitamin supplements or iron and he's a healthy thriving lad - a lot of the recommendations for vitamin supplements are aimed at people raising their kids on crisps and chocolate, to make sure they get some nutrients.

Just my tuppence (I'm sure many will disagree)

My fifteen month is very much the same and I do get concerned as he is tiny. He has started to eat a little more in the last month but really has been extremely bf dependent. He seems healthy though. He eats far more solids on the three days I work than the rest of the week because he feeds before his nap and on demand to some extent although now when he asks for a bf I can sometimes distract with a snack and a drink.

I'd agree with Eletheomel.
While a BFed toddler willalmost certainly up their intake of solids if access to BMis restricted, I really really doubt that this is what nature really intends.

If he's thriving, you don't need to change anything.
If you are getting a bit fed up with breastfeeding then yes, reducing milk will increase his appetite for solids - which would be fine too at this age.
I would be cautious about talking to HV, in my experience they really know nothing about breastfeeding a child after the first six months.
At this age it's really your call - you can leave it to your toddler or you can choose to cut down on the milk so as to encourage more solids. I cut my children off milk at 18 months for the first child, and 12 months for the second - it would have been nice to let them go on for longer, but I realised that their natural cut-off point was going to be way way older than I wanted it to be, so I had to take the lead! Make your own decision and feel happy and confident about it.

I didn't BF but DS is a milk monster he would much rather have milk than solid food, I always fed to sleep and he had milk at nap times but I'm finding it a real problem now, she's 2 in a few weeks and if we are at home he moans constantly for milk and will fill up on it I thought he would grow out of it but he's not so I've had to reduce his milk. He's a big healthy boy so I never worried but at almost 2 he needs to be eating real food.

I'm not sure how you could go about it with BF but I started limiting DS to 9oz at bedtime and 4 during the night then 4 at nap time it's been hard going because he loves his milk but he's eating much better and now sleeping through most nights so that takes 4oz away. I would maybe try and cut down now when they are 2 and a bit wiser it is hard going refusing.

I totally understand why people say it's OK but for us it's gone from liking his milk to refusing any food in favor of milk 75% of the time. We started over a week ago he started sleeping through on the first night and yesterday he ate his first full meal in 12 months but it has been very hard on him losing his crutch :( He was crying bad mummy at me to begin with which was very upsetting... sorry that turned into a bit of a story but as you can tell it's been a hard week.