enough breast milk?

[golemmings]

DS is 7mo. Started weaning at 25 weeks and its all gone really well. He loves food whether its puree (1 meal a day) or finger food (one meal a day). He eats what we eat for lunch and tea and has weetabix/baby porridge for breakfast.

He is breast fed but his feeds have really dropped off. He is so easily distracted and so desperate to be off and doing things on his own that getting him to feed during the day is really hard. He'll feed for 3-4 minutes and sometimes he'll even stay attached for 20 seconds at a time. More often than not he's on for 2 seconds, tries to escape, I re attach him, quick suck and off again..

Can he really be getting enough nutrition from breast milk by feeding for less than an hour a day?yesterday feed lenths were 5 min, 9, 5, 8, 15 (bedtime), 15 (dream feed).

Dd self weaned during the day at 8mo but I stuffed her full of milk and cheese. DS is dairy and soy intolerant so that's not an option.

Anybody got any advice?

Is he asleep for the dream feed?

Have you tried stealth feeding during daytime naps?

Are you feeding during the night at all?

You could try expressing (a real hassle I know!) and adding it to cereal/porridge/purees. Might be a way to get a bit more into him. I sneak quite a lot into my DS this way. Just a thought....

Well, he could well be getting enough. DD only fed for 10 minutes maximum at a time from birth. The trick with weaning at this age is to make sure they have the bf before the solids. The bm is far more important than the solids. Try feeding him about an hour before solids. Agree with wood that feeding when they are sleepy is a good way to get more feeds in as is sharing a bath with them so they can have a bit of skin to skin and a feed.

Thanks for all your advice. Should have said I Express to give him milk for breakfast but it really hadn't occurred to me to use bm for other stuff (i blame sleep deprivation!). Also an hour before meals is a useful guide; I was feeding him just before.

Like the idea of more dream feeds. He does take more at bedtime, and if I get there first he's asleep. I'll try that if I can extract him from the pushchair/car seat still asleep.

Will also try bath and skin to skin. That sounds Luke a particularly nice idea!

My son feeds for less than an hour a day and is thriving. He suddenly went from feeding fr 20 to 25 minutes a a time to around ten minutes at about four months old ish. Mayberry just seems more efficient a getting wha he needs in a shorter time.

I also feed him roughly an hour before offering food.

I suppose if he starts waking in the night hungry or his weight drops off you will know that he needs more, but it sounds as though you and he are doing fine.