10.5 months - how many feeds?

[Liliben]

My LO is bf early morning and evening and mid am and mid pm and is getting 3 solid meals a day also. I had not introduced other dairy produce until he was 10 months. Now my health visitor suggests I reduce the feeds and give him snacks like youghurt instead. I've tried this and he is not having any of it. Also, he will not take milk from a cup or bottle and I work in the evenings twice a week so he misses his bedtime feed. He has had a cup of water with meals since he was 6 months old but only started sipping from it last week. My husband tried to get him to take milk in it but he spat it out. Any suggestions?

[momtomiya]

I'm not sure if this will help but my dd is 9 months and we have cut her milk feeds down to 3. She breastfeeds in the morning and at night and has a bottle of either breastmilk ( if I can pump that much!) or formula after her afternoon nap.  During meals (3 solids) she has water in a cup (still working at this ...).  My dd also would not take a bottle or cup, well enough to give her bm or formula but, I tried Tracey's suggestions of just offereing a bottle for two day (solids as well) and she finally got the picture that she needed to take the bottle. By the end of the first day she was drinking from the bottle. ( I was worried this process would take longer because she refused to drink from the bottle ... and I am going back to work in december). 
So at 9 months she has 3 milk feeds and 3 solids.
I hope this helps
Pat

[Erin (redstarfalling)]

Other than because your health visitor suggested it, is there a particular reason why you want to decrease the number of feeds?  My dd was still nursing at least 4 times a day at that age.  Milk is the most important source of nutrition for the first year, anyway... If he missed the bedtime feed a couple nights a week, he can make it up on other days.  You can try things like yogurt and cheese in his food and see if he like it instead.  Some babies never end up drinking much milk and that's ok.  But have you tried other types of cups too?

[annamum]

I also don't see a reason to cut some of his nursings unless you want it. But as Erin said, breastmilk is the main source of nutrition for an infant and no need to introduce diary instead of it, unless you are planning to wean soon.

After all your milk is better for your child than cow's milk  :lol:  :lol: .

[Lilah'sMommy]

If your lo is happy with 4 nursings and still eats 3 meals a day, why change?  I just weaned my dd to 3 nursings and am reluctant to give up that other mid-day nursing, and she's over a year.  She eats great, and has dairy milk once a day from a cup; water with meals.  Don't worry about using the cup yet; keep offering it and I promise you, one day your lo will just take it.  You can experiment with different types; my dd likes a straw-type cup for milk.  I think that the sucking action from the straw is more like nursing.  She uses the old-fashioned type of sippy with the free-flowing spout for water and has since 9 months.

And yes, at this age, your milk is much better for your lo than cow's milk!

[Liliben]

Thanks everyone for all your replies. There is no other reason apart from my health visitor suggesting it that I was considering cutting feeds down. She suggested cutting down to 2. I'm very happy nursing and LO seems to need it.
I would like to be able to offer a cup of milk sometimes though especially for the bedtime feed because I work 2 evenings a week teaching. Last term LO would stay up and wait until I came home which could be 1.5 hours after bedtime. He refused a bottle or cup. I've been back at work for a fortnight and hw still refuses milk but will go to sleep but then wakes a lot during the night. When LO was 8 months I did Tracy's suggestion of no BF all day and he did take a bottle by the evening. I was working a little in the daytime as well then (I'm freelance) and so got my mum to give him a bottle at his usual feed time. He took it for a fortnight but then stopped (played with it a little or threw it) and would want to nurse as soon as he saw me no matter what time it was. It has taken 4 months for him to take water from his sippy cup. I've also found the straw type ones the best. I will persevere with milk in it also and he will hopefully take to that. How much milk should he be taking at the bedtime feed. He usually nurses for 20 minutes at bedtime?