SAHMs who BF

LisaLisa1980 · February 2014

This is for Moms who stay at home and BF (no formula) and give solids. How old is your baby and how often are you nursing? I'm nursing every 1.5 - 2 hrs and that's mainly because we're at home and it's the only chance (other than nap times) that I can sit down for more than 10 seconds but I'm wondering if it's necessary to be nursing so much at this age (9.5 months). I would like to wean by the time he's One or shortly after (so 3-4 months from now). The recommendation here is not to give cow/goat milk until babies are 9-12 months, but now that's he's 9.5 months old, I'm wondering if I can now start replacing a nursing session with cow's milk. As far as family history of allergies go, my husband has an intolerance to dairy, but so far DS has no issues with yogurt.

At what age does solid food actually start filling them up?
So, what is your routine/experience like?

SidraJedi · February 2014

It seems as if most older infants/younger toddlers need to nurse 5-6 times a day, some more some less but that seems about average from what I gather.

DD is soon to be 11 months. She eats three meals a day. Sometimes she snacks. Mostly she nurses 8-10 times a day. Since Friday she had had a very congested cold and we were having trouble nursing so for the last four days my comfort nurser is nursing the bare minimum 4-6 times a day.

We nurse on demand and I plan to try to let her self wean but our goal is at least 2 years.

I think if you wean at one year you just slowly introduce WCM in a cup (with BM) until you've replaced all nursing sessions with WCM.

DD has seemed to take to solids faster than most it seems. She hit the ground running around 7-7.5 months eating 2-3 meals a day! I know some people who have intro'd WCM right before a year.

We plan to intro WGM as soon as it is back in season and our farmer starts selling it to us (sometime soon here, DD will probably be a year by then). I'm going to go back to bar tending on weekends and DH will offer it to her in a sippy while I am at work if she seems like she wants to nurse.

HTH

jllmb79 · February 2014

DD#2 is BF and I SAH she is 11 months old.

She nurses every 2 hours most of the day. She eats 3 meals per day and some times 1 or 2 snacks. She does not consume enough to change how she nurses right now. Food before one is just for fun.

I plan on slowly weaning to WCM (might need something else possible allergy) at 12 months. I plan on giving her a couple ounces per day and increasing based on how she does.

DD#1 didn't start eating alot of food till 18 months. She was slowly weaned starting at 12 months. I took 3 months to wean her but I also had 2000oz of BM.

ah625 · February 2014

We seem to be a rare case.

My daughter is a week shy of 1. 99% of her nutrition comes from my milk. She doesn't have "food" every day, and she's okay with that. She loves the boobie. My son was the same way, and around 16 months or so he started wanting to eat table food every day, but it still took a few months before he was eating more than one meal a day of table foods.

There's nothing wrong with your milk as long as you eat (it changes to fit the baby's needs), so don't feel rushed to wean your baby to cow's milk and table food.

LisaLisa1980 · February 2014

ah625 said:
We seem to be a rare case.

My daughter is a week shy of 1. 99% of her nutrition comes from my milk. She doesn't have "food" every day, and she's okay with that. She loves the boobie. My son was the same way, and around 16 months or so he started wanting to eat table food every day, but it still took a few months before he was eating more that one meal a day of table foods.

There's nothing wrong with your milk as long as you eat (it changes to fit the baby's needs), so don't feel rushed to wean your baby to cow's milk and table food.

I don't want to BF anymore so I'm wanting to be done soon

=Lee=B · February 2014

My daughter nursed every 2hrs round the clock until 10months. Now, at 11 months she nurses every 2-3.5hrs. I nurse on demand and don't really watch the clock anymore but she still nurses often...through the night it is still ever 2-3hrs (closer to 2hrs).

My daughter has a dairy intolerance so we'll be breastfeeding until that clears (or age 2). She does BLW and eats a morning snack, lunch, afternoon snack, supper. If she's napping she'll skip one of those meals and just nurse.

My kid loves food...she will pig out in the chair and still manage to take a full nursing session. I trust she knows her limits and her needs so we let her guide us. She is 50th for weight (always has been) and about 75th for height so we have no concerns about her intake.

If you don't want to continue nursing, that is fine, personally I would start substituting in formula until after 12months. It is more nutritious and easier on their system than cows milk. I don't think the average 9-12month old eats enough table food to be on cows milk.

bawags · February 2014

Wow! I thought we were the only ones! My 1 year old doesn't seem interested in food at all. We still BF around the clock & give expressed BM while I'm at work. We introduced food at 11 months, but she hasn't had more than 2 or 3 bites of anything we've offered her. Other people think that we're wrong for not pushing her to eat more and for not having "introduced food soon enough". I'm not worried though and neither is her doctor.

ah625 · February 2014

Oops, I'm sorry. I completely missed that part.

happy_un-bride · February 2014

I just kind of followed DSs lead with this. I nursed on demand. At some point he just started asking less. DS starts daycare in a couple weeks, so this week I have not been nursing during the day, but offering WCM and/or BM bottles, and nursing only in morning and evenings. My doctor had recommended waiting as long as possible to introduce WCM (as opposed to the 9M), but my DS is just a little guy (17lbs) and has had trouble with weight gain in the past.

APSnewmex · February 2014

My little guy is 10.5 mos and definitely still nurses round the clock every 2-3 hrs. I've been saying I'll try to hold off weaning until he's 18mos, but he's popped three teeth in less than three weeks and damn are my nipples sore! He's not biting exactly, there's just a lot of rubbing going on due to the way he latches.
I've had him on food since he was 4.5mos but had been only doing 1-2 meals a day and really didn't fight it when he didn't seem interested. Within the past month he's ramped up to 3 meals a day (I cannot eat a meal without offering him something or he won't give me a moment's peace) and has completely lost interest in the strained stuff. Now he only wants BM and finger foods.
Everything I've read/been told says that after 9mos they really need BM supplemented with food since they have higher nutritional needs than the BM can provide at this point. I had been expecting him to cut back on the BM somewhat since we've shifted to 3 meals a day, but I haven't seen any decrease and, if anything, since he started teething I think he's been MORE interested in BM (or maybe it just feels that way since I'm so tender). I've told DH that I might not make it to the 18month mark at this rate.
I'm going to hop on the bandwagon with some of the PPs. Avoid WCM until after the 12month mark. Formula is nothing to be adraid of. Since my BM is high in lipase, pumping and storing has not been an option. LO has done great with the occasional bottle of formula. It adds some variety! And if you get the premixed formula, you can use any extra for mixing cereal.
Good luck!

woohoo02 · February 2014

DD just turned 9 months on 1/25. She nurses every 3 hours or so, gets three solid meals a day and has 1-2 snacks per day. She also does one MOTN feeding most nights. We started solids when she was 4 months (with rice cereal). She loves to eat! My plan is to nurse until 12 months and then start weaning onto WCM (she's tolerating dairy products fine; we'll see how she does with straight cow's milk as her brother has a dairy allergy).

AprilloMom · February 2014

DS is 9 months old and nurses about about 6-8 a day. He LOVES his table food so he eats a ton too. But his main source of nutrition should be BM until 1. I wouldn't introduce WCM until one, I've never heard of anything less than 11 months. Their little GI system can't handle it...it's not necessarily an allergy issue.

kmornelas29 · February 2014

My daughter is 10 months old, and she nurses 4-5 times per day. Once at 9, once at 1, again at 5, and finally at 9. Then however many times she wakes at night to nurse (usually once or twice).

She did this on her own.

teach1008 · February 2014

My DD nurses every 3-4 hours during the day starting around 5 am. She eats 3 meals. Some days bigger than others. Some days are more like snacks. If you're ready to be done then you would need to switch to formula or use frozen milk if you have that. You're really supposed to wait til a year for cows milk. I know how it feels to want to be done. I'm there too, but keep reminding myself that I'm almost there at a year and it's easier and cheaper than formula and a bottle.

Lhyacinth888 · February 2014

My DD nurses 7-8 times a day. I feed her 3 small table meals a day.

My DS was exvlusively bf until he was 14 months then we switched over to all table food and cow's milk. We started cow's milk slowly at around 12 months but it was more like a snack.

My DD has a really sensitive stomach so I have been slower to introduce solids and will probably bf longer. Also I would just like to bf a little longer with her. I will probably be very slow to introduce cow's milk with her because of her food sensitivities. She is also very small so I think she will benefit from me bf'ing her longer.

ordinary1 · February 2014

If you want to be done nursing, switch to formula not cow's milk. Before one, breast milk or formula is the main source of nutrients.

jesselayne8 · February 2014

The recommendation in Canada is 9 months for cows milk. I start offering cows milk around 10-11 months. I don't think you need to replace a session at the point just space them out to 3hrs and thereby you will decrease the number of sessions In a 24hr period. DS loves table food. He is 9 months and eats 3 meals a day plus one snack. He nurses 6x in 24hrs.

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