How many times and how much milk do you give for you baby from 12 months up?

gladyswly

gladyswly

Registered User
I was told by the nurses in MCHC when I took my baby there for the 12-months check up, that I should reduce baby's milk feeds from 3 times to 2 times a day, and about 7oz each time. And the sooner I cut the mid-afternoon milk feed out, the easier it is for the baby to wean that feed. Yet I also heard other mums saying that it's a 'Chinese' thing, I should keep giving my baby milk 3 times a day.

What should I do? What do you do, moms?
 
It's really up to you what you want to do and what's comfortable for your baby. My little girl started on 3 meals of solid foods a day when she was about 10 months old. I have her two or three milk feeds a day, with 3 oz in mid-morning. She usually misses that feed as she's napping during that hour most of the time. I tried giving her more milk but she refused, so it's just 3 oz. Her next milk feed is around 4 pm, which she'll take between 4 to 6 oz. The last feed is 8 oz before she goes to bed.

There's no hard and fast rule. My little girl is almost 13 months but since she has no teeth yet, I'm going to continue with the schedule I set up regardless of what the nurses say.
 
Both my boys dropped to two milk feeds at around 12 months. A small cup in the morning with breakfast and around 6-8oz before bed. They were both well established on 3 solid meals by then so really didn't need large quantities of milk. When I dropped the afternoon milk I replaced it with a small snack at his time instead (normally a bowl of chopped fruit)
 
I agree, if you are happy and your baby is settled, eating reasonably well& growing, don't feel forced to change things quickly. Traditionally, we look towards moving to 2 milk feeds in the West too from around 1 yr and giving more water to drink. Cows' milk doesn't have that great a nutritional content (ie not much iron/ vitamin D etc) but does fill babies up so they may not have a great appetite for other foods. By cutting one milk, they get hungrier and may try things for tea they'd otherwise turn their nose up at. That said, the rules aren't hard and fast. If your child loves their milk and is also eating well and growing, what's the harm? My daughter still has three small drinks of milk/day (in a glass!) and she's 2.5!
 
My daughter (still breastfeeding) is down to just one feed a day at 13 months. I try to give her cows milk/cheese/yogurt every day so that she gets enough calcium and all. I don't even really know what they SHOULD be having, I've always kind of just followed her lead... I wouldn't stress about it too much though. My opinion is, when they're 20 will it really matter? There's such a wide range in what different people do and what is "normal" that as long as the baby is growing and healthy, is it really that huge a deal?
 
Nicolejoy - is that one feed in the morning or night - how long does she feed for? I'm currently BF my 9 month old morning and night but looking to wean one of the them.

Both his morning and night are pretty quick now - maybe only 2 mins of strong sucking each side. I worry that it's not enough - although he get's 1 x bottle in the day and eats three meals.
 
My son is almost 11 months and takes 3 bottles a day, usually drinking from 180-240mls each time. He also eats 3 square meals a day, plus the occasional snack. I don`t anticipate him wanting to drop a milk feed any time, but like I usually do, I will follow his lead.
He also has one breastfeed per night, before bed, but it`s not that long and more of a relaxer as he follows it with about 150-200 mls of formula.
 
LeahH said:
Nicolejoy - is that one feed in the morning or night - how long does she feed for? I'm currently BF my 9 month old morning and night but looking to wean one of the them.

Both his morning and night are pretty quick now - maybe only 2 mins of strong sucking each side. I worry that it's not enough - although he get's 1 x bottle in the day and eats three meals.
Click to expand...

Actually, the one feed is in the middle of the night!! No fun. But around 11 months, she was still on 4-5 feeds a day, then I dropped the ones that were first thing in the morning and also in the afternoon, then the two daytime feeds that she was having were 11am before her nap, and 8pm before bed. I dropped the 11am one and she still went to sleep with no problems, so I also dropped the 8pm one and she also had no problems going to sleep.

She's woken in the middle of the night since she was about 7-8 months, had one "midnight snack" and then slept the rest of the night. Before this, she was sleeping through - but overall not as long. Now she's in bed for total 12 hrs at night with one feed half way. I've thought about weaning her off that feed - but breastfeeding is the fastest way for her to get back to sleep, so in the short term, it's easier than NOT breastfeeding her. I'm going to wait another month and see what happens with it, but then maybe try harder to get rid of it. For now it's not a huge issue because she's back asleep within 10 min or so...
 
nicolejoy - my girl also wakes up in the midnight for 'snack'. she's now 12-month and i'm feeding her monring and before bed (at around 9pm). i also want her to sleep through the night and cut that midnight feed but bf is really the easier way to settle her. we saw doctor yesterday for 12-mth vaccination and he suggested me to cut that by giving water instead. i doubt if it will work cos she just yells for mama until i begin to nurse

and by giving only one feeding, you can still maintain the milk supply?
 
my daughter went to morning and bedtime bottle at 12 months; she is also at the 90th percentile for height/weight so not sure if that makes a difference. the doctor also suggested to stop using the bottle and switch to a sippy cup but I am going to wait until she is 18 months
 
Our younger son was only taking a total of 6-8 oz in 3-4 servings a day while I was breastfeeding him on demand (approximately 5-6 times during the day and another 3-4 times during the night) until almost 21 months. We suspected that he wasn't eating enough solids or drinking sufficient alternatives to my breastmilk, so we proceeded to wean him cold turkey by having me go away for the weekend. On the first night, he took about 20 oz of cow's milk. He's since tried more foods during this week than he has in the past 6 months. He still doesn't like meat very much, but is willing to take greater quantities of vegetables and starches. I would have loved to continue nursing him, but the main reason I stopped was because he wasn't trying to new foods or eat very much as long as I was nursing him on demand and frankly, I didn't have the willpower to reduce his feeds. Now, he's eating solids and drinking cow's milk much better!
 
My son is 12 months and still on 3 milk feeds a day but for the last 2 months I've given them out of a sippy cup rather than use bottles and over this time he has cut back from 200ml to 150ml and even then he doesn't finish it all.
 
my daughter is now 15 months, on 3 solid meals with 2 - 3 milk feeds a day. my doctor said to keep the milk intake at about 12oz per day (at a minimum). She has milk for breakfast (6oz + fruit / cereal / bread) milk for snack (if she didn't get it for lunch (4oz) and a last feeding at dinner time (3-4oz)...occassionally if she misses her lunch AND snack feeding (because we have no access to milk outside - I'm hesitant to bring fresh milk out with me for the day), then I will give her a bottle before bed....otherwise I weaned her off the night time feed about 13months...just by slowly decreasing the amount...didn't give water since she prefers milk...she uses a sippy cup only for water / juice not for milk since she gets tired and won't finish the milk (which I want her to in order to maintain the minimum).
 
leelsahy said:
nicolejoy - my girl also wakes up in the midnight for 'snack'. she's now 12-month and i'm feeding her monring and before bed (at around 9pm). i also want her to sleep through the night and cut that midnight feed but bf is really the easier way to settle her. we saw doctor yesterday for 12-mth vaccination and he suggested me to cut that by giving water instead. i doubt if it will work cos she just yells for mama until i begin to nurse

and by giving only one feeding, you can still maintain the milk supply?
Click to expand...

I've only been giving one feeding a day for at least a month or two now, and so far no problems with supply. I'm also pregnant again, which also can decrease milk supply but there's still enough for that one feed. Actually some days, she does sleep right through the night and then I don't bf at all - but I haven't done that two days in a row yet... I've tried substituting with water, juice or cows milk but nothing works like bfing!! So I'm just going to wait until she grows out of it. She's sleeping through more and more so I know that she's not going to bf forever.

I heard apparently that it takes something like 4 weeks, sometimes even longer, for your supply to dry up - and since it works on supply/demand, there's always going to be enough for about the same that the baby had the previous day or so... I know that it would be really hard, even almost impossible for me to start bfing 6 times a day again - I don't have as much milk as I did when I was bfing that frequently - but I have enough for what she's drinking right now - and I assume that I will until she stops needing it...
 
yonge said:
Our younger son was only taking a total of 6-8 oz in 3-4 servings a day while I was breastfeeding him on demand (approximately 5-6 times during the day and another 3-4 times during the night) until almost 21 months. We suspected that he wasn't eating enough solids or drinking sufficient alternatives to my breastmilk, so we proceeded to wean him cold turkey by having me go away for the weekend. On the first night, he took about 20 oz of cow's milk. He's since tried more foods during this week than he has in the past 6 months. He still doesn't like meat very much, but is willing to take greater quantities of vegetables and starches. I would have loved to continue nursing him, but the main reason I stopped was because he wasn't trying to new foods or eat very much as long as I was nursing him on demand and frankly, I didn't have the willpower to reduce his feeds. Now, he's eating solids and drinking cow's milk much better!
Click to expand...

It's really good to read this (sorry just that I can relate). My son's 9+ months and a really 'milky' baby, he just hasn't taken up solids very well. I want to start weaning him as he turns 1 years old, but am still reading up on how to do it properly. Your idea is a great one but did you get plugged ducts by going away for the weekend?

I'm still feeding him on demand, 2-3 times during the day (I work from 2-6pm) and then 3-4 times at night, it IS starting to get tiring and he's starting to teeth as well, so although I would love to continue breastfeeding it would be great if I could wean him by 1 years old.
 
A question to all the mothers whose babies are on less than 3 full milk feeds a day:
My son, now 12.5 months, is getting very difficult to pin down and feed, particularly at his 2nd feed of the day. The 1st is hit or miss, and the 3rd (before bed) is usually fine. Aside from his bottles, he eats pretty well (but not well at breakfast), but now he`s REALLY resistant to drinking milk, out of a bottle or his beloved straw cup.
My question is how your baby got down to 2 or 1 feed per day. Was it their decision?
It`s to my understanding that babies after 1 still need the 3 bottles per day (or equivalent) and so I`m pretty frustrated that this is happening. I wonder if it might be related to his starting to walk now? Or he just doesn`t want to drink that much milk anymore. Weird...
Thanks~~~
 
I have followed my childrens lead with milk feeds. both boys have been good eaters and naturally dropped their second milk feed at around 12months of age.And by 18months of age would have 1 milk feed before bed (occasionally requesting one after breakfast as well). They have a varied healthy diet so I wasn't at all bothered.
Much of what I have read supports my view that if you overdo it on milk you will be filling them up so that they are not hungry or motivated to eat other solids that provide important nutrition and developmental stimulation.

I would follow his lead :o)
 
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