How much breastmilk once on 3 meals a day?

[Nicola_G]

Hi there,

My ds is almost 7 months old and is now on 3 meals per day, plus snacks. He is fulltime at childcare so I send him with 2 bottles totalling 200ml of EBM (around 7 oz total) and try to get to see him on my (late) lunchbreak at around 3pm.

His food routine is a little clustered, mainly because I wanted to keep him on as many natural bfs as possible. Anyway, it looks something like this:

5.30    morning df
6.30    cereal/fruit
8.00    bf (before I go to work)
11.00  bottle EBM
12.00  lunch solids
3.00    bf
7.00    dinner solids
7.30    bf before bed
10.30  df 

He is eating his solids very well, and has a huge appetite. I am finding however that he is becoming less interested in his 8am bf and at least one of the other daytime feeds (most usually the bottle which is given by the childcare centre staff).

Given his high solids intake, I am looking at the likelihood that he will drop one or two of his daytime feeds on his own, but I have a couple of questions:

• Maybe I'm a little paranoid, but I am worried that he will not get enough calcium/iron/etc. What foods in particular should I be aiming for and in what quantities to ensure my lo has enough of the important nutrients if he's no longer consuming as much bm as before?
• If he does drop the 8am and 3pm feeds (my preference) and I continue to provide EBM for the 11am bottle, how will my body cope with continuing to supply milk for the other feeds?

Thanks in advance for any advice you can offer!

[daisymelan]

Hi Nicola.  Good for you for putting all that work in for you lo!

In regards to # of bottles or feeds.  My lo is 7 months right now and he is bf 4x and given a bottle 1x = 5 feeds a day.  The feed we don't have that you have is the night feed.  Maybe you should consider dropping that one and see if he can make it through the night, but that may take some loss of sleep on your part, but the choice is truly yours.  I do the df and that's enough to tide him over.  I think dropping at least one bottle is fine, especially if he is on solids, etc.  The cereals are usually iron fortified, so that's where he will get the extra iron.  Plus, you likely put formula or EBM in his cereal so he's getting that extra too.

I would start with dropping one bottle or nursing and go from there.  It may be a bit too drastic doing two at once.

I think your body should adjust fine.  Supply is based on demand, so your body will stop producing at those times.  You may be a little engorged, but I didn't notice it when I dropped only one. 

Again, good for you.....  and please keep us posted.

 

[Nicola_G]

Jodie,

Thanks for your post. Can you just clarify one point you made for me please - you said:

My lo is 7 months right now and he is bf 4x and given a bottle 1x = 5 feeds a day. The feed we don't have that you have is the night feed. Maybe you should consider dropping that one and see if he can make it through the night, but that may take some loss of sleep on your part, but the choice is truly yours. I do the df and that's enough to tide him over.

Now, my only night feed is the 10.30 df, do you mean drop that one? Or are you talking about the 5.30am feed? I guess with the 5.30am feed I am thinking that I will give him a drink which buys me some time to get ready whilst he continues to sleep, after which I can get him up and feed him breakfast. However the past couple of days he's been out cold at 5.30am so maybe I should try leaving him and just get him up at 6.30am for solids.

Writing this down its starting to make sense to me - maybe I will drop the 5.30am feed (gosh that will give me another 10 minutes in bed!) and keep the 8am which I give him on dropoff at childcare - I think it makes for a good transition. With the loss of the 5.30am feed he may take more at 8am. And then we will see how things go with the 11am bottle/3pm breastfeed.

I think (for my own sake mainly) once we've eliminated the 530am feed, I should look at phasing out the 11am bottle and leave the 3pm feed there, but slowly phase that over to bottles (which will eventually become formula for that feed as I will eventually run out of EBM - I'm no longer able to pump) so that I am no longer nursing him at all from after 8am till the bedtime feed at 7pm. I just want to make sure that I will still produce milk for those feeds (gosh that will only be 3 feeds per day! )

How does that sound? I just want him to get the best start possible and bf as long as we can!

Thanks for your help.

[Samuel's mum]

Wow you have to be a bit of a scientist/mathematician to be a working mum! I would have thought that your body could still manage to keep up supply for 3 feeds a day. Breasts are clever. What would you do on the weekend? You could consider more natural breastfeeds and then you may find that on Monday/Tuesday because your supply is increased you'll have more success pumping. Then it may decrease during the week to come back up on the weekend again.

Iron rich foods include green leafy vegetables (broccoli is a good one at that age), dried fruit (you could soak dried apricots/figs and make up purees), wholemeal bread, fortified cereals, red meat. The body needs vitamin C to absorb iron so it's good to have some in the same meal.

Calcium rich food are dairy products, green veg again, tofu, and dried peas and beans. The body needs Vitamin D to make absorb calcium which is made by the body when in the Sun.

HTH

[JacobMarksMummy]

It looks to me as though the 8am will definatly go, if he is having a large breakfast he's probally just not hungry enough by 8am. Do you dislike the 5am feed? My son dropped his before lunch feed first you culd try for that one if you come in and nurse at 3pm. I remember when DS weanewd himself to 4 feeds a day I thought, is that all? At your DS age I think four feeds would be the minimum I'd be comfortable with until he is about 11months then maybe three.

Regarding what foods he shud eat I had/have the exact same worries as you. I found out that a piece of cheese the size of a match box contains as much calcium as half a pint of milk and yoghurts (full fat, yeo valley) are crammed with calcium too. Have you started dairy yet? You could mix a bit of fruit in a yoghurt for pudding. give him cheese on toast for lunch. As emmas(sams mum) says dried fruit are brilliant for iron and my son loves them because they are sweet.

Anymore questions, please ask! 

[daisymelan]

Wow, the ladies that posted are amazing!  I don't have anything to add, just wanted to say that I was suggesting dropping the 5:30 feed.  Not the df.... goodness knows our nights would be chaos without it.  And an extra 10 minutes....  woohooo!!!!!

Good for you for keeping up the bfing, it must be tough while working!

HTH

[Nicola_G]

Thanks ladies for all your advice. You have confirmed my thoughts anyway - I will eliminate the 5.30am and see if he takes more at 8am. That will bring us down to 5 breastmilk feeds per day (one of which is EBM via bottle). Then once that is all said and done (in a few months) we will see how he goes during the day and whether he will drop the 11am feed on his own (I suspect he will).

[Oh, and Nome - Yes, I hate the 5.30am feed. I get little enough time to sleep / time to myself as it is (have to go to bed at 9.30pm immediately after the df - I've moved this earlier in the past week) so basically I am on the go from 5.30am till 9.30pm and I can usually squeeze in about 45 minutes to myself, where I sit and eat dinner/watch some telly. Its tough being back at work with the long days, but it is worth it as I was going crazy being at home. ]

He has been on dairy a while now, I also have him on all meats including kidney/liver (well at least HE likes it!). I generally will give him either baby yoghurt or ricotta with fruit for dessert at lunch & dinner, plus he gets cheese (loves that!). I THINK I'm getting enough calcium and iron in, but gosh its hard when you're just guessing.

Thanks again for your help.

[aussie_mum]

My 8 month old is now only having a BF through the night, i bottle feed her through the day and she has 3 solid meals a day. How long will my milk last if i keep doing this?

Hi - Samuel's mum here! aussie mum has also asked this question on this thread
https://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=53799.msg375686#msg375686
If you respond there we can keep replies in one place. Thanks.

[Katet]

Nicola

Liam is 9months & he has a 7.30 feed, about 70-100mls from a sippy after his first nap (ebm) & then a 3pm & a bedtime one... sometimes he has a small one at night, although it is more a suckle on my right side which I express for the 10.30/11am one & he won't feed from anyother time.

I agree, try to drop the 5.30am, then work on the night df , then the 11am one, I found that when Aiden was at childcare he needed more milk than at home... maybe it was the comfort thing  of one on one time with a carer, as he always like to be held for that feed until he was walking.