9-12 months-starting to nurse less?

harborview · March 2009

My son is 9 months today. Over the past week he's been spacing out some of his feedings during the day--this is a big deal for him because he is an eating machine. He also has a cold, so it might be attributed to that, BUT...

Is 6 times a day (including a dream feed) the norm for this age? Does it taper off as they get closer to 12 months?

JennDave+1 · March 2009

My LO get four feedings a day (8 ounce bottles) but the last two days he has been refusing his 11am and 3pm bottle so I was wondering the same thing.

If you are talking about 6 bottles a day that does seem like alot for a 9 month old, but all babies are different. How much formula is he drinking?

kmgourley · March 2009

Seth has not spaced out feedings. He nurses about 7 times during the day and twice at night.

It is very rare for babies to self-wean prior to 12 months.

How many solid foods are you giving? If you've increased that, that could be why he's nursing less. Or it could be the cold, like you said.

Have you tried offering more often/at different times? Might be something to consider if you think he's not getting enough.

raceyrae · March 2009

Wholesomebabyfood.com gives an estimate of nursing every 4-5 hours. ?Our DD nurses every 4 hours during the day (roughly) which works out to be 4 times a day. ?She does not nurse in the middle of the night anymore. ?She has started to nurse less during each session also. ?As they get closer to a year and take in more solids, the amount of BFing will decrease (as I would expect given the goal will be to eventually get her eating only table food and not nursing anymore). ?My friend who is still BFing her 20 mo. old only nurses her once a day (before bed) -- she gradually over time dropped feedings on her own. ?So it wouldn't surprise me if your LO is dropping from 6 to 5 feedings. ?

I did find about a month or ago that she would nurse less during feedings so I skipped giving her one of her mid afternoon feedings which was only 2 hrs after the previous -- she didn't seem to miss it and fussed less when I nursed her the next time (i.e. she wasn't still full from eating only 2 hours before).?