9 month old not nursing enough

[melalyse]

Hi!  My 9 month old DS nurses 4.5 times a day (.5 about 5:30 in AM).  Recently he just doesn't want to nurse.  Usually the 7 AM feeding is good, but the 11,3 and 7 PM he just takes a sip and wants to play.  Usually at 7 PM he doen't want to nurse but when I put him into his crib and realizes that he is really going to sleep then he is willing to take a semi real nurse.  He is eating 3 meals of solids a day - not such big meals.  Any suggestions?  Thanks.

[RachelC]

We went through a similar situation as well.  The 11 and 3 feeds were just not that interesting.  I continued to offer the breast at those times (in her room where it is quiet and away from big sister) and she started taking them more seriously.  Now at 10.5 months she is definately taking all 4 feeds.  Somedays are better than others and I am just going with her cues.  I also found that I moved to 4.5 hours between feeds and that seems to help too.  So we do feeds 6, 10:30, 3 and 6. 
HTH

[chargerfans]

I also went through this with my son. Some say nursing strike... who knows. When I asked my Ped about it he said just ensure that he is getting other sources of calcium (yogurt, cheese etc). My son was completely not interested for about 1 week and then he slowly came back. Then right around 11 months he was a nursing phene, he couldn't get enough. They just go through stages.

Space the feedings out so he is hungrier when you offer, keep the space quiet, lay on the bed....

Good luck! 

[jbepko]

I would also make sure the nursing sessions are separate from solid meal offerings- if they are too close, he might not be hungry. At 9 months, the milk is main source, so offer that first and follow with solids later. At 9 mo my LO was taking 5 nursings, but some weren't so great, and others were like he hadn't been fed for hours! So they do vary quite a bit.

[shelliz]

Melalyse...

  OMG.... I JUST came downstairs from nursing my 9 month old daughter and I was abouto compose an identical email!  The past several weeks my dd has really been nursing less and less at the 11 and 3 feedings (rather just sucking for a few minutes and pinching my boob and kicking my arm). Now (w/in this past week) the 7:00 pm feed has gone down the drain. She will bob on and off for a few minutes, pinch and kick me, then I will put her in her crib and she (just like yours) realizes that was it. I have been taking her back out and nursing her some more. I don't want to keep this up and form a habit.  I just wonder if I should extend the times b/w nursings or combine the two daytime nursings together.

That is so weird your email is the exact thing I was coming to write! It must be the age!

[Lovejoy]

can is ask why are you feeding so much ( i mean that respectively!)
i'm down to 3 feeds with nearly 9 month old and will be soon on 2 milk feeds (planning to continue to 1 year if all goes well) and her solids are satisfying her hunger. 
Surely this is a sign that they are not hungry and don't need those additional feeds?
My routine at the moment is:

7am bf

8.30am cereal

12.30 lunch

14.30 bf

17.00 dinner

18.30 bf and bed

hope noone thinks i'm discouraging them from feeding LOs, I love breastfeeding my dd and admire other mums who extend bf

[katriona]

Hi all (waves to fellow Birth Club mommies!)

Just wanted to add my contribution: about a month ago (9.5 mos) I was also worried about the 11am and 3pm feeds... So much so that I think I posted about a potential dwindling supply; DS just seemed so uninterested. I talked with our ped at the 9 month appt, and she felt that milk should be kept up till at least a year, and that although solids take gradual precedence from 9-10 months, that four feeds a day up to a year wasn't unusual, in fact she even validated my one night feeding, and said she'd done the same with her son till 12 months old. That's just why I feed "so much" 

The Ped also said that with the continued introduction of solids, there'd be days when DS preferred those, and days when he preferred to b/f. I'm so glad I listened to her and didn't drop any feeds in the hopes of bumping up the remaining ones. DS is back nursing like a champ again, and is really going to town. I think we've had a growth spurt this past month in addition; he just doesn't look the same from day to day, kwim?

I am wondering about when to drop down to three though... But I honestly think they're just going through phases. Guess it's up to each individual to figure out whether to keep offering the four, or use the current lack of interest to drop a feed. I'm currently wondering if switching to a 7am/1pm/7pm schedule would help lengthen his 1.30pm nap any...

Katy