8 months and teething, drop a feed or keep pumping?

[hanna]

Hi,

My 8 month old daughter is teething and doesn't want to bf during the day anymore. I've been pumping for a couple of weeks now but am thinking about replacing the 11 am feeding with a snack unless she wants to bf again soon. If I pump she happily drinks it. Should I wait and see? She just wants to be up and explore...

Thanks!

[Fiver]

She's still pretty young to be dropping that feed.  Usually LOs will take around 4BFs during the day at 8m (mine certainly did, at least).

If you give her some pain relief, will she still refuse to nurse?  Do you think she might have a bit of a bottle preference now?

[hanna]

I can try to medicate before bf and see. This didn't happen with my first one. Do you think after the teeth come she will want to nurse again, if that is what this is? Or if this is just part of her development, wanting to play and sit on her own etc, will she want to nurse eventually? She nurses in the am and pm only right now and then I pump twice a day for the other two feedings.

[Fiver]

It's hard to tell what will happen.  As you've seen, they can each be so different.

[hanna]

It seems like she is so used to the fast flow of a cup or bottle now, that she is too impatient to nurse. This evening, she refused, and I had to pump and give her a bottle. I'm going to try to pump a little before feeding her tomorrow and see if that helps.

[hanna]

Still no, she only wanted to nurse in the morning when she woke up. I had to pump 3 times today. She eats a lot at lunch and dinner. She could be too full...when i pump she will only have 1-3 ounces. She got her first tooth yesterday so I don't think it's that. She weighs 22 pounds already so she is getting enough food...

[Erin M]

What's your day look like in terms of when you try to nurse and solids.  How much is she taking in solids?

[Fiver]

Teeth can grumble around for a while before they pop through.  It's so hard to know what's going on sometimes

[hanna]

Her feeding schedule is like this
Wake up at 6.30, nurse on one side at 6.45 or so
7.45 Breakfast of oatmeal (made with breastmilk) and fruit
11-ish try to nurse, she now takes a bottle or a cup with 2-3 ounces of bm, whatever is left I save for lunch
12.30 lunch of veggies, protein, fruit, water
3.30-ish try to nurse, today she wanted only 1 ounce of bm in bottle
4.45 oatmeal and fruit, sometimes veggies too, she eats a lot here
Bedtime 6.45 pm try to nurse, now 3 ounce bottle with bm

[Erin M]

Might be worth cutting back on solids to see if you can get her to take more milk. The general guidelines are that breast milk/formula should be the main source of nutrition until a year, when solids take over.  So, if you cut back on solids a bit, especially later in the day (honestly, I didn't even start doing lunch with any of mine until around 8 months), you might get some more milk in her (or make her more interested in nursing).  It's great you're mixing the breast milk with her breakfast too -- any way to get it in her!