Gabriel is one now, and I know that I have to start giving him more solids. Up until now I fed him milk 4 times a day and cereal once. Now I’m going to replace one feeding with solids. I’m going to do this for a few days to let my milk adjust, and then I’m going to go down to 2 milk feedings–when he wakes up and before he goes to bed. Then he will get solids for lunch and dinner with snacks in between.
I’m curious, how did everyone else who breastfed for over a year, work in breastfeeding and how often?
My son just turned one on the 3rd and to be honest I think I have done the exact opposite. I have found ways to include solids in his diet, but I haven’t changed my feedings. By that I mean when he wants to nurse I let him nurse, but he also eats solids when I eat at breakfast, lunch, and dinner. He has, on his own, changed how often he nurses except during his growth spurts every three months, and during that time I wonder if he will come up for air:) Hope this helps and good luck!!
Older dd gradually self weaned at 19 months & younger dd is still nursing at 17. Like Patience, I just allow dd to nurse when she wants & add extra feedings of solid foods. Unless you are wanting to wean or cut back on breast feeding, there is no need to cut down on nursing. At 17 months K still nurses 2 or 3 times a day.
According to the National Child And Adult Care Food Program
Your growing child now has a need for nutrients (iron for example) that are not found in breastmilk (or low supply) so it is best to feed your child regular, nutrious meals (solids). Additionally, your child needs milk at each of those meals/snacks. After 12 months of age, this milk can be breastmilk (optimal) or whole milk (not low-fat/skim until after 24 months).
I breast fed my duaghter until she self weaned just after 18 months (Now she’s 5. Geez… Where does the time go???). I was concerned about her iron intake as well, so her doctor gave me iron drops to put in her milk or juice. We use ASL at home so she would let me know when she wanted to nurse. Eventually she only wanted to nurse just before bed(I think it was more for comfort than really needing it). By 21 months she just wasn’t as interested.
Thank you everyone for your responses. Unfortunately, Gabriel does not sign back to me, so I can’t know whether he wants milk or solids. He loves breast milk, but he loves solids too. That’s why I’m going to feed on a schedule. I will have to do it that way anyways because I have so much milk in the morning after he hasn’t eaten for 12 hours. He seems to be happy with it so far.
In regards to the iron, I have been giving him vitamin drops in his cereal for a few months now, so I needn’t worry about that.
VonsMom, I meant breast milk, not cows milk. I am not going to give him cows milk at all, even after he has stopped breast feeding. I will just lie to the doctors and say he drinks it! I’m sorry about the mix up. I have changed my original post to make it more clear.
Gabriel loves fruits and vegetables. None of us are picky around here, and I’m happy that he has taken after us. I have been mixing different fruits and veggies in with his cereal since he started eating it. He has liked everything so far, even broccoli! I just hope he stays that way.
My little one is now 1.5 and still breastfeeds but not any more when she is hungry. She wants breast more for comfort ,when she gets hurt or when tired. When she was about 12 months I would start to replace nursing times with small healthy meals and drinks and still let her nurse when she was done.Now she understands what she wants and comes to tell me if she wants water(it’s very hot were we live) or milk(cows milk) or she wants food, and when nothing else will do but “BO”-breast milk Ha!Still I always monitor her daily intake to make sure it’s balanced.She eats all the meals with us .Some days she is not very hungry and sticks to liquids but other times she will eat more than her 3 year old brother.Soon she will stop nursing all together and I will probably miss it more than her.Ha.
My son started solid food immediately after he turned 6 mnths old.He was exclusivley breastfed till 6 mnths.And after that he was taking my breast milk but 3-4 times a day than gradually it got reduced to one time a day. He is 28 months old now.I weaned him off just few days back.Due to my health problem.Believe me he and i both njoyed breastfeeding it is a great bonding.
breast feeding really makes a bond between the mother and child. i started giving solid food to my little E as she turned to 6 month. she enjoyed the meals. i never stop breast feeding tho i give her formula milk. she want breast milk when she wakes up and before bed. we enjoy
My daughter is still being breastfed at 14 months of age - she drinks in the morning when she wakes up and again at night before going to bed. I work during the morning often so she usually gets some tea with normal cow’s milk in it (she will not drink any milk other than breastmilk by itself) and then gets breastfed again after lunch. She usually asks for another feed by pulling at my clothes and saying “meme” in the afternoon and then I give her some. She still also feeds during the night - usually only once a night though.
I have not decided how long I will continue to breastfeed - at the moment it is easy for me and suits me. I guess I am hoping she will self wean sometime around 18 months otherwise I will have to make a plan as I am not sure whether I want to be feeding after 24 months.
I feel exactly the same. I’m hoping that Naimah will want to wean from around 18 months, because I don’t think I really want to go beyond two years. I enjoy BFing but I look forward to freedom from BFing too.
(I actually wrote about my conflicting feelings about weaning on my last blog post: http://brillbaby.com/blog. All comments welcome!)
Tanikit, did you add cow’s milk to the breast milk gradually? We started with 1:3 parts cow’s:breast milk, then 1:2 parts, then finally 1:1.
Nikki, what made you decide not to give Gabriel cow’s milk? And what’s wrong with telling the doctor?
Re. the amount of BFing and when: My DD nurses several times at night because we co-sleep. Although it might sound like a pain, it’s probably the thing I will miss most about BFing.
When I’m at work, she drinks two bottles of 50:50 breast milk:organic cow’s milk (although today for the first time ever, she is having pure cow’s milk - hopefully she won’t mind!). Each bottle is 3-4 ounces.
When I’m at home, she nurses mid-morning and sometimes falls asleep. And she’ll nurse one or two times in the afternoon, and then in the evening. So 3-4 times total during the day.
She also has three solid meals. Sometimes she eats less when I’m at home, but sometimes she still eats about the same amount!
I’m sure Nim nurses more than the average for her age (14 months). She is also quite slim. Since BFing helps to regulate weight in later life, I wonder if there is any relation.
Have you read this thread? http://forum.brillkids.com/coffee-corner/eliminating-dairy-products/ After doing a little reading, I have decided not to give him cows milk. And here in America, if you don’t give all the scheduled shots or neglect to do anything recommended by the government, it is frowned upon, and the doctors act like you are neglecting or abusing your child.
My goodness she eats a lot! How much is she awake during the day? I don’t think I could even fit that many feedings into Gabriel’s day! He is on the skinny side too. Actually, a few months ago, the doctor was worried that he wasn’t gaining enough weight and that he had fallen off the growth curve. He has never been sickly looking or anything. He has always had good tone, but he’s just not a big boy…yet.
hi
i’m new to this forum …
i’m still breastfeeding my girl … she is 19mths and feeding her on demand … will let her self wean…
i started intro semi-solid when she is 6mths til now 3 solid meals… and will include fresh milk to her whenever she wants too …
Maddy, Laurana has never been fed breastmilk out of a bottle. She wouldn’t take anything out of a bottle til she was 7 months old - they had to syringe feed her formula at the creche she went to because else she would have just drunk nothing. At 7 months we switched to giving her juice at the creche where she was halfdays and she had milk only when she came home from me - by that stage she would drink juice but nothing else out of a bottle.
The bottles for me are just an added extra - some days she’ll be thirsty and drink a fair amount of water, juice or tea (only one bottle a day of tea) and other days (especially when I am there all day) she will only breastfeed. Because of this I never express milk and she got 100% cows milk in her tea.
I think my daughter is on a similar schedule to yours Maddy - also about 4 feeds during the day and one or two at night.
My daughter is about 16 months old now and she still nurses from 2-4 times daily, at least once in the morning and once at night, and she still gets a bottle of milk around lunchtime when I’m away. Often times she will nurse when I get home from work. On days that I’m home with her, she tends to nurse several times and does not get any milk from a bottle on those days. We introduced solids around 6 months just to get her used to the textures and tastes, but I always gave her milk first. After one year, we started giving her solids before or with her milk.
She also refuses any milk besides mama’s. I am trying to introduce cow or goat’s milk so that when my freezer supply of bm is depleted that she will still have something. It’s not going well. But I’m also not really motivated either… I’ve heard bad things about dairy and particularly cow’s milk in the past.
Dairy is certainly a controversial food group. It’s potentially highly allergenic. It’s also relatively difficult for the human gut to digest. Goat’s milk is better because, like humans, goats have one stomach, whereas cows have three!
Basically, I’m doing what’s practical and what feels right to me. I’ve never seen goat’s milk for sale. So I have a choice between infant formula - which is processed food made from cow’s milk - or cow’s milk itself, which is at least natural and made for a baby animal.
As for soya milk, which I used to drink exclusively (growing up, my brother was asthmatic and allergic to milk; I got used to drinking soya and actually preferred it), I’ve read that it produces estrogenic effects in babies, so that’s a no-no. And instinctively, I was already gravitating towards milk made for a baby animal over milk made from a plant.
I agree that adults should minimize their dairy consumption, but I’m more relaxed with my baby’s consumption, as she needs the fat for her growing brain. And Nim just loves her organic cow’s milk!
Re. eliminating dairy, it’s definitely a good idea to try it if you or your baby are unhealthy. That idea of the IAHP’s of marking the calendar and seeing after 6 weeks if there’s been an improvement is a good one. But as long as we’re healthy, I don’t see a reason to cut out dairy.
If it’s just to be on the safe side, then yes, you can take things in pill form as a substitute. But nutrients in supplements are never as efficiently absorbed by the body as the nutrients in our food.
Also… my husband and I really love the occasional cheese plate when we go out for dinner!
Yeah, we are a bit “addicted” to dairy products in this house. My dad’s side of the family is from Wisconsin, which is considered to be the cheese state, lol! sigh I don’t know if cutting out dairy entirely would be an option for us.
But I’m also not really motivated either… I’ve heard bad things about dairy and particularly cow’s milk in the past.