Dropping a feed at 9 months?

[SophiesMum9]

Ok, so for the past few months I have been feeding my now 9 month old daughter every 4 hours. Her schedule looks like this:
7:30 - wake/bf
8:30 - solids
9:30 - 11ish - nap
11:30 - bf
12:30/1 - solids
2:30 - 4/4:30 - nap
5:30 - solids
7:00 - bath/bottle
7:30 - bed

Just the past week or so she has lost interest completely in her 11:30am feed? If she does drink, she drinks very very little and absolutely refuses to go back on. She usually just suckles until my milk comes down and then pulls off refusing to go back on. I've tried waiting until 12:30 (right before lunch) to bf her, this worked the first time, but now she's back to refusing it again. I've also tried cutting back a bit on solids but this doesn't seem to be helping. I am not sure what to do because I've been reading that she still needs 17-24 ounces of milk at this age and I don't think she's getting that much. She drinks a 6 ounce bottle before bed, and for her 7:30 and 4:30 bf she only drinks for about 5-7 minutes. Now with her refusing her mid-morning feed, I am worried she is not getting enough milk. I'm not really sure what to do...??

[SophiesMum9]

Oops, I forgot to put in her schedule that I breastfeed her when she wakes up from her afternoon nap at 4/4:30

[~ Vik ~]

Bumping for you

[Chariel]

I'm not a whole lot of help to you, but just wanted to say that my almost 9 month LO went through a spell that he didn't seem to be taking much at the 11 am nursing either. I was wondering the same thing if I should be giving up the DF or something as I'm still nursing 5 x a day but then he started having an interest in it again. Also my LO never nurses for more then 5 minutes and he has always gained well and had lots of wet diapers.

HTH a little

Charmaine

[Roseii]

Hey! I'm no bf expert (I mean I did bf for 11 months, just not an expert!!)
Just to say I think 3 milk feeds sounds like plenty, my LO was on that at 9m. And don't forget any milk intake from cereal, yoghurts, cheese etc all counts towards the oz allowance she is supposed to be having, it doesn't need to be 100% from breast/bottle.
Also my LO only fed for 5-10 mins except for first thing in the morning at your LO's age, and as PP said, if she is gaining weight fine and having wet nappies I def wouldn't worry.
HTH

[~ Vik ~]

Current recommendations are that breastfed babies should remain on 4 feeds per day until at least 10mo old. Even then, there's no hurry to drop a feed! My ds is nearly 14mo and we just dropped to three feeds a couple weeks ago.  Pps are right though that any milk added to solids count towards intake, so if you're concerned you can add milk there to up intake.

As pps have mentioned, it's likely that she is getting full feeds in that 5min. Babies get much more efficient as the get older, and at 9mo your lo is an old pro! Have you seen http://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=65904.0 ?

Hth

[SophiesMum9]

Thanks to all of you for advice! Today I tried to nurse her at 11:30am after her nap and she just turned away and wouldn't even latch on....so I waited until about 12:45 (didn't feed her any solids in between) and she took it wonderfully! Afterwards, she had her normal amount of solids no problem. So I think the trick with her is to wait just before lunch and nurse her then. She must just not be hungry at 11:30 and needs a bit more time.

Thanks again guys!

[Roseii]

Current recommendations are that breastfed babies should remain on 4 feeds per day until at least 10mo old.

It is so weird how different countries vary (I am UK), when I took LO for her 8m check my health visitor told me she didn't need to be on 4 feeds, she sould be on 3 by now! That's why she was on 3 by 9m. And all my friends with bubs the same age were the same, I was practically the last one still giving 3 feeds at 10m.

x

[Roseii]

Sorry, just wanted to add (even though it's not v relevant lol!) I feel quite resentful now that I was "pressurized" as such to give up that 4th feed...I mean ultimately it was my decision, the HV couldn't force me, but I guess I just completely trusted what she said. When in actual fact that 4th feed was nothing but a good thing! It didn't stop her from eating her solids brilliantly or was in any way detrimental. I must stick to my guns next time!!
Sorry for taking over the thread and rambling, good luck Sophie's mum
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