Dropping milk feedings?

[lepetitmatin]

We started my 7.5 mo on solids at 6 months. She has taken to them very well. However, I am concerned as I'm not sure if she is getting enough milk. I typically nurse her once in the morning, then she gets 2 6ounce bottles of breastmilk/formula during the day while I'm at work, and then I try to nurse her at night before she goes to bed. So four milk feeds a day. She does not really wake for milk at night anymore. She's also been getting three solid meals, an hour after each time she gets milk. Lately though she has been refusing to nurse and take some of her bottles - it takes up to an hour of taking lots of breaks before she'll finish most of her milk. As for the nursing, I'm not sure how much she gets at each feeding but she nurses for literally maybe a minute or two sometimes and then just refuses to take anymore.

After starting solids, some babies drop a milk feed / bottle, right? Is this ok? I'm trying to figure out how to tweak her routine so that we can at least get some good nursing sessions in - I'd prefer to keep those and drop a bottle if possible. This is the EASY we aim for and usually get, all except for the full milk feeds, that is.

6/630 - wake
7 breastfeed
8 cereal and fruit
930-11 nap
11 bottle (6 oz)
12 lunch of fruit/veggies, and some protein
2/230-330/4 nap
4 bottle (6 oz)
5 dinner of fruit/veggies, and some protein
645 breastfeed
7/730 bed

[*Ali*]

Sometimes babies can start to take less milk because they are getting too much solid food. It looks as though this may be the case here if she is already having 3 solids meals. This happened to my DS1 and I followed the WHO guidelines which were to cut back on solids until milk intake increased again and then add them back in slowly. This is what I would do in your situation. The NHS recommend slowly building up to 3 solid meals a day until you add in a third meal between 8-9mo so it could be that you have increased solids a tad too quickly.

Milk still needs to be their main source of nutrition until 1yo. Most BF babies will have at least 4 feeds until then although some may drop to 3 milk feeds a day a little earlier around 10-11mo. I definitely wouldn't drop to 3 milk feeds at 7.5mo as it is unlikely she will get enough breast milk from just 3 feeds, especially if the BFs are only a few minutes.

I notice she is waiting up to an hour before her breast feed in the morning. Is that her choice or yours? If it isn't a case of her not wanting to feed as soon as she wakes up I would try to feed her immediately while she is still sleepy and relaxed and see if she will take any more that way.

Similarly you may get her to take more at BT if you feed her when she is drowsy. My DD had a bottle of EBM at BT but sometimes if she refused it I would wait until she was practically asleep and then offer it again and she would take it. I wonder if something similar might work for you at BT to get her to take a bigger feed.

How is your supply since you have returned to work? If you feel it has suffered you may be able to boost it (and the amount of milk she gets overall) by adding in a DF. I understand why you wouldn't want to do that if she is sttn though.

[lepetitmatin]

Thanks! We had the same thought and have already cutting back on solids. We'll see how that goes.

I definitely don't want to add a DF since that has never worked for us, and we struggled so much to get her sleeping through the night. Don't want to mess with that at this point!

As far as morning feed, I always try first thing and she almost always refuses. Feeding her in the morning takes almost an hour, with lots of breaks and offerings. At night, we have come a long way and are now putting her down pretty awake. If her milk intake doesn't increase by cutting down on solids, I guess I'll try feeding her when she's drowsy before putting her down at night...

[lepetitmatin]

Can anyone help with a good EASY for this age, which includes a healthy mix of nursing / bottles / solids?

[*Ali*]

Your easy looks fine. I would just either cut out the dinner altogether or cut back on all three solids meals a bit