talk to me about your 8.5mth olds please

[yawningmonster]

dd is still much more into bf than food (with the exception of the moth she managed to consume the other night). She is much keener on finger food and feeding herself with a loaded spoon so I let her do this but I am lucky if she accepts more than 1 meal a day and she will only usually get a stick of toast/banana or a couple of crackers before she refuses. she has not reduced bfeeds at all and still wants a drink every couple of hours usually feeding 7am, 9am, 11am, 1pm, 3pm 5pm 7pm 12am 5am approximately. Some of these are not full feeds more a comfortable prelude to some zzz's. I try to encourage her to go slightly longer between feeds mostly just for my sanity but it does just seem unusual at her age.

bump

it depends entirely on what you are happy and comfortable with doing at this stage.
personally, it drove me potty, and my dd was only 6.5 months old at the time. i used the GF routine, refusing to feed her any more than four hourly. in between she got water in a bottle of food. it took her four days before she stopped screaming and started on purees, which lasted about five days, and then she just wanted to feed herself. it was a real challenge coming up with suitable finger food, but, the plus side was that by about ten months i didnt make special food for her any more. she just ate what we ate.
if you are happy with breastfeeding, then do that, but if it really is driving you insane, then be firm. dont breastfeed. give her water in a bottle, and give her meals. depending on your temperaments, see how it goes. good luck with whatever you decide.

oh, also, myniece, we did blw with her, and she happily munches on food now, with breastfeeding back down to four and and h alf hourly.

am mostly ok with it but want reassurance that she will take more interest in food eventually and therefore cut down feeds. I dont think I could do 4 hours she starts getting stressed after 2 and I am lucky if i can distract her for 10 or so minutes!!

i cant give you that reassurance, as i dont know enough about it. only my experience with my own dc, my neice, and what i have read on here. dd eventually moved back to milk, at aged two and ahalf, she would often have five bottles of milk a day and minimal solids. but again, that was because i let her, as it was easier for me to give her the bottle of milk, than fight with her over food. eventually the milk stopped once we ficured out that her excema was caused by the excessiv emilk consumption.
i think that some babies just prefer liquid food. but there will be more knowledgeable people along soon to reassure you.

thanks stitch

She sounds very similar to my DS1 and he was about 10 months before he really started eating properly (& DS2 7 months seems to be going the same way as he is a total milk monster).

I would keep offering her a variety of finger foods in between bf and hopefully you'll start to find a few more foods she likes. I would definitely try & get her to a 3 hourly routine (never managed 4 with either of mine ) - I'd say it will take you 3 or 4 days & in that time use whatever method you need to eek out her feeds - go for walk, in the car, play, offer water etc or - then at least when she does feed she'll be hungry & feed better plus it might then spark an interest in eating solids.
LCN

My DS is similar - or was - feeding 2-3 hourly, except at night when it's at least 2-hourly , and eating very little in the way of solids. Now, at 9.5m, he is starting to drop some feeds (not the night time ones, unfortunately) and is eating a little bit more in the way of solids - though not enough to sustain him. Over the last month I've introduced a bit more routine for his 'proper' meals and I think this may be helping - or at least it helps me remember to offer him food regularly . I was getting quite worried because DS is going to nursery in March and I was concerned about the amount of breastmilk I was going to have to provide but he seems to have started making progress in the last month or so.

From what I've read on here it's quite normal for babies to take quite a while to get into solids. I'd say let your DD go at her own pace and she will get the idea eventually.

My twins are 8.5 (actually will be 9mo in a week) and it is only in the last 2 weeks that I've really felt that they are eating, and that they've started to reduce bf. So, allowing for the variation between babies, it would be entirely normal for yours to still not be eating much, but sometime soon it will improve. Mine have got their pincer grip, and this has made a huge difference to the amount they are able to get into their mouths. Some babies don't get this until 10 months so it might take until then. They were bf every 3 hours right through 24h period at 6/7/8mths (yes I am knackered) but in the last 3/4 weeks it's reduced, first to every 4 hours and now they feed bedtime, 11/12ish, 3/4ish, sometimes first thing, before naps (unless we are out and about when they will happily go without). Somedays they bf a lot, sometimes very little. Somedays they eat a lot at every meal, sometimes very little. As long as you are offering food 3 times a day (and you could try snacks as well? I'm just contemplating that although I wonder if 3 rounds of highchairs, cleaning and changing clothes might be enough for now) they can choose when to eat and how much and if you are happy, don't worry about it. Some things I did to increase their calorie intake: spoon feed porridge/yoghurt/pasta in cheese sauce/rice pudding at tea time, give them formula to drink when out and they don't want to bf (the world is too interesting). Not sure how much it's helped, but it sometimes makes me feel better!