How many BFs for 8 month old?

[chars mum]

My DD is just over 8 months old and we are still BFing 4 x a day.  She also eats solids 3 x a day but not a large quantity yet.  At meals she also has a sippy cup of very diluted juice.  My question is how long should I be BFing 4 x a day?  When, should we decrease to 3 x?  She has recently started to nurse for less time and am worried she isn't getting enough milk any more.  Where she used to nurse a minimum of 5 min per side, now she often (2/4 feeds) only takes 5 min on one side.  When I try to offer her the other breast, she fusses, squirms, turns away, and arches her back.  Could I be sabotaging her appetite for milk with the juice/water at meal times? 
Any help greatly appreciated! 

[fifibobandmore]

4 bf's a day souinds normal to me and she is on 3 solid meals a day and from what you have put she has a small appetite. If you want her to have more milk then I would suggest express bf her instead of giving juice/water or give her ebm instead of water/juice. Just as a comparision, I give my DS#2 5 bf's a day but he has a big appetite and if it was up to him he would have another 5 a day instead of water/juice

[lisi's mum]

Ideal is to stick with 4 bfs a day up to a year when milk no longer needs to be the main source of food. Some drop to 3 at around 10 months.

[15milner]

4 feeds is perfect.  May be more, but not less.  i'm still bf 4 times a day at age 1 and Andrew eats LOADS too.

alex

[chars mum]

Thanks everyone!  Will stick to 4 feeds then.      I appreciate the suggestion to use EBM in her sippy but I must admit I'm not keen on pumping (probably due to not being very successful early on!).
How about the decreased nursing time?  At the moment the time between meals and BF is often only an hour, perhaps lengthening this interval would help? 

[lisi's mum]

At that age it's important to offer bfs when your LO is hungry. Feeding solids an hour AFTER bf sees to that.

A general sample routine would be:
7 bf
8 breakfast
11 bf
12 lunch
3 bf
4 dinner
7 bf

I seem to remember that our lunch and evening meal worked out to be a little later, but only by a half hour or so

[chars mum]

Right, solids after BF makes much more sense.    THANKS AGAIN!