need some bf advice for 9mo

[momof3girls]

I'm hoping for advice from all you helpful people!  You'd think that since this is my 3rd baby, I'd be a pro at this, but I weaned my other two to formula starting at 6 mos, and they were both totally weaned from the breast at 10 mos.  However, I'm trying to avoid having to wean from the breast and the bottle, so I'm planning to bf this one until she's a year.  So my question is, how many feeds a day is normal at this age?  I'd like to drop one or two (espeicially the nighttime one!), but I want to make sure that she's still getting all that she needs.  Here's a rough idea of her eating schedule:

6am - bf, back to sleep
7:30 - wake, breakfast (usually cereal & fruit)
11:00 - bf
12:00 - lunch (fruit or veggies)
2:00 - bf
5:00 - bf
6:00 - dinner (usually meat & fruit or veggies)
8:00 - bf, bedtime
2-3am - bf

She also eats Cheerios or something similar at odd times throughout the day, nothing scheduled.  And with two other kids running around, nothing is set in stone!  I feel like I'm probably nursing her way more than she needs at this age, and she is probably ready for more solids than I'm giving her, but I'm not sure what to do.  I'm thinking of replacing the 11am feed with a snack, and maybe eliminating the 5pm one and just giving her dinner earlier (I've been giving her dinner at 6 since that's when the rest of us eat, but she could just snack then or something...)  What do people think about this?  Any and all advice would be appreciated!

Allison

[jbepko]

Alot of babies are able to sleep through the night by your LO's age- so that might be the feeding to look at dropping. My LO at 9 months was 3 solids meals and 5 nursings/EBM during day. If your LO is waking at same time every night, she may be feeding out of habit vs hunger and Tracey's book (can't remember first or second) talks about breaking that habit. Sometimes a pacifier can help you tell the difference- if she is truely hungry, it won't work; if it is habit, it will work (the simple version). Some 9-10 mo can get by on just 3 or 4 nursings but others still need 5. How much solids is she taking at each meal- 1/2 jar? how many tablespoons? or ice cube (if home made)?

[Carter'sMama]

I think that I would try to re-arrange your feeds in the day an dthen tackle the night waking.  When my lo was 9 months he was on 4 bf's a day and 3 solid meals plus cereal before bed. 

What if you tried something like this:

6:00am - bf
7:30am - breakfast
11:00 am - bf
12-12:30 - lunch (maybe add to this a little bit so she can last until 3ish)
3:00pm - bf
6:00pm - dinner
8:00pm - bf and maybe cereal or something a little extra to see if it helps get through the night.

I guess it depends how much she is currently eating at each meal as to whether or not we need to add more solids.

As for the night feeding ... for the next couple of days take note of exactly hwta time your lo wakes up.  If it is consistently the same time it very well could be habitual waking like Jenn suggested.  If so then you could try and see if your lo will settle without a feed.  If not then you will need to try PU/PD or wake to sleep to eliminate the waking.  Both of these techniques are described in great detail in the "Solves All Your Problems" book. 

Let us know how you get on!! 

[15milner]

sory for short reply - one handed and squiming toddler.

My lc said 9mths = 4 feeds. milk still main nutrition.

hth
alex

[momof3girls]

Thanks for the replies!  I think at this point I'm going to do what Carter'sMama suggested and rearrange the daytime feeds for now.  As much as I'd love to tackle the nighttime one, and I think it probably is habit, I'm okay to wait a bit longer.  I really think that I'm just not offering her enough solids during the day, because I just stop feeding her when the food I've prepared is gone, but she's usually more than willing to eat more - she'll happily eat handfulls of Cheerios right after eating about 1/4 cup rice cereal mixed w/2 Tbsp. fruit, for example.  So this morning I tried a bigger breakfast, and she loved it!  Anyway, I will let you know how it goes!

[momof3girls]

Almost a week now with 4 daytime feeds (and the 1 nighttime one still...sigh) and 3 meals of baby food, and it's been going really well.  Ellie didn't actually even seem to notice that I'd changed anything, so that tells me that she was ready for it.  We have family in town right now, but after they leave I'm going to start on PU/PD (or a version of it) for the nighttime, so expect to find me on here asking for advice on that in the near future!  Thanks again for helping out!

[clh]

Good to hear the 4 daytime feeds are working for you.  Sounds like she was ready. 

I wanted to share what worked for us on eliminating the night feed...  DH started going in when DS woke.  If he could settle DS (& usually he could), I didn't feed.  Occasionally we'd still have the odd night of DS honestly being hungry, & I would bf.  But for the most part, DS soon figured out that it wasn't worth it to wake up if he wasn't going to automatically be fed.  Maybe worth a try if your DP is willing?

[Carter'sMama]

That's great that the new routine is working out for you!

Sometimes night wakings can be a challenge to get rid of, especially if they are habitual.  What the last poster suggested is a great idea.  We did a version of that whenever Carter woke up.  DH would go in and if he couldn't settle ds then he would give him a bottle of ebm.  That way Carter realized that I wasn't going to come in and cuddle/be a pacifier etc.  It worked amazingly well when he was younger but as he got older and had more developmental things going on that caused the wakings we had to do PU/PD. 

Good luck ... let us know what happens! 

[greentomato]

Hello

My DD is nine months old and it was helpful reading these posts as I am planning on continuing to BF for a year too.
I give 4/5 BFs and 3 solid meals a day, plus snacks (eg rice crackers) and water if she's hungry/thirsty between meals. If its helpful, here's our schedule (it often varies a bit):

7am wake and BF
8am Breakfast (porridge and fruit)
11am BF
12noon Lunch (eg veggies, fish, rice, fruit)
3pm BF
4/5pm snack
6pm dinner (similar to lunch)
7.30pm BF

She doesn't wake in the night, but luckily she's always been quite a good night sleeper. At mealtimes I basically feed her until she decides she's had enough! I try and give her a few different foods at each meal or she gets bored - a bit of finger food, a bit of mashed, a bit of pasta, a bit of fruit after, for example.

If she wakes before 7am, usually my husband will get up and play with her until 7am as he is an early riser and also we don't want her to get into the habit of waking early for feeds. It seems to have paid off as she only occasionally wakes at 6am.

I don't know if that's helpful at all. Good luck!

[Lovejoy]

hi my LO will be 9 months next week and I plan to feed up to 1 year (depending on her teeth! )

this is our routine:

7. BF
8.30 Brekkie (cereal with fruit puree)

12-12.30 lunch

14.30 bf

17.00 dinner

18.30 bf and bed.

My health visitor has told me to drop 2.30pm feed, which although i#ll miss doing I will be happy to give a go, seeing as a couple of times i've forgotten to give it due to naps - bad mummy she didn't complain or wake up.

I wouldn't encourage snacks as you want her to eat more at mealtime and not lose her appetite (but if you want to give snacks, I would suggest fruit or veg and not rusks)

As for night feeds I would send OH in and try to comfort with back stroking, if that doesn't work he should give her some cool boiled water, and see how that goes.

(1st time I'm actually offering advice on BW!!)   

[momof3girls]

So here's our schedule now:

6am - wake and bf
8:30 - breakfast
11am - bf
12:00 - lunch
3pm - bf
5pm - snack
6pm - dinner
8pm - bf and bed

Maybe this question belongs on another board, but I notice that a lot of your LOs go to bed earlier than mine and still get up at the same time.  How many naps do they take during the day?  Ellie still needs two, although she sometimes only gets one (and then falls asleep in her high chair at dinner ).  I guess on the days she takes one nap I could just move everything up, but we're trying to eat together as a family, and DH doesn't get home until just before 6:00.  I guess it's not that big of a deal, but we thought that getting her down at 8 was pretty early until I started reading posts on here!

Anyway, thanks everyone for the advice - it's been really helpful, and it's so comforting to know there's all these great moms out there ready to help out whenever I need it!

Allison

[Carter'sMama]

I used to think the same thing you did about bedtime.  carter didn't use to go to bed until close to 9:00pm when he was that age.  Now he currently goes at 8:00pm but that really doesn't give us much time as a family.  I work until 6:00 not home until 6:50 most nights (I only work 3 days a week) so by the time I make dinner, do bath etc it is easily 8:00 or later some nights.

I really think bed time depends on the individual family.  What works for one person may not work for another.  I know 7:00pm seems to be the recommended time (most popular anyway) for bed but that just wasn't feasible for our family. 

How is your night feeding going?  Have you started trying to eliminate that one at all?  I am glad the new schedule seems to working for you!

 

[momof3girls]

Yeah, with DH not getting home until nearly 6:00, going to bed at 7 just doesn't give us much time together as a family.  Right now Ellie goes down around 8:00 and my other two read stories with daddy until 8:30 and then go to bed, so 8:00 seems to work pretty well for us.

I haven't started working on the night waking yet because we had family in town for a week and as soon as they left Ellie started teething, so I'm waiting for her to be completely over that before making any changes.  Plus, I have the "Solves All Your Problems" book on hold at the library (one of these days I'll actually go pick it up!), and I'd like to read it before I start, so it may take another week or so.  Unfortunately, it won't really work to have DH go in to her when she wakes because he gets up at 5am and can't function well without enough sleep.  So, sadly, I'm on my own for this.  I'll let you know when we start working on it, because I'm sure I'll need all the support I can get!

[Minibird]

Best of luck with tackling the night wakings.  I was lucky and was able to call on DH to go in to Daisy's room when I decided to call it a day on night feedings.  It took a couple of weeks before she seemed to realise that there was no point waking.  Although I didn't actually have to get out of bed, I still woke every time, but the sleepless nights for those two weeks WERE worth it in the long run.  While it was going on I put my head down to sleep as soon as she was in bed in the evening.