9.5 month old nursing too often? + transitioning to bottle

[mommykay410]

Hi!  My DD is 9.5 months old and is exclusively nursed.  She does eat solids 3x a day but hasn't been eating as much lately, I think due to teething.  A couple months back she was only waking up once at night to nurse, and we even got a handful of nights where she slept 10-11 hours straight.  But since November she has been waking up 2-3 times a night and not able to sleep for more than a 4 hour stretch it seems.  I am wondering if I am nursing too frequently during the day though at this point and that may be negatively impacting her NW?  I nurse her on both sides when she wakes in the morning, when she wakes from each nap, and before bed, and then I have been nursing her on just one side about 30 mins before she goes down for naps to help hold her over til she wakes up.
Here is a typical day:
wake at 7am
7:30 nurse
8:30 solids (~2.5 oz lately if I'm lucky)
10:00 nurse one side
10:30-11:30/12 nap
12:00pm nurse
1:00 solids (~3.5 oz)
3:00 nurse one side
3:30-4:30 nap
4:40 nurse
5:40 solids (~4oz)
7:40 nurse
8:00 asleep (I lay her down awake)
NW around 11/12 and then sometime between 2:30-5:30

If I don't nurse her before her naps, she wakes up in less than an hour and is not too happy.  I'm just not sure how else to structure her schedule better to make it work for feedings and sleep.  (I will post on the EASY board too just in case.)  I also need to transition her to a bottle at some point soon since I am going back to work in 2 months.  Since she is proficient with a straw cup, she now knows how to use the bottle, but will not drink more than an ounce or two from it, and won't drink it as a full feeding.  Any advice on how to transition at this late of a stage would be appreciated!

[becj86]

Hi, I've addressed the routine-related questions on your thread in EASY forum.

WRT changing to bottle - 2 months is a long time developmentally at this age. You may find she can do things at 11 months that she can't do now. I would probably suggest you use the straw cup rather than the bottle at this age - bottles ideally would be phased out to cups around age 1 anyway, so I'd just concentrate on getting her to take milk from the straw cup. She is also likely to take more milk from a cup when your breasts are not as easily accessible as they are when you're home. Perhaps rather than offering a topup BF from the breast just before naps, you could offer a straw cup of milk with solids so she can drink that then and get plenty of practice.

[mommykay410]

Thanks!  I will work with her more on the straw cup and see how that goes!