Breastfeeding an 11 month old

[mama-to-be]

I have been breastfeeding my 11 month old and started giving her solids from 5 months. I've recently started part time work and don't really know when and how often to feed my daughter. I used to demand feed but as I'm out in the mornings I now only feed my daughter 3-4 times a day. E.g. 7am, 3pm & 7pm. On the days I don't work I give her a small feed at 10am. She still needs to feed before she sleeps!

As my daughter is getting 3 meals of solid food plus snacks in between, should I worry if she only has 3 milk feeds? She's recently started to sleep thru the night from 7pm to 7am. About once a week she wakes up around 2-3am and I feed her for a few minutes and she goes back to sleep almost immediately (I'm trying to break this habit but it's quite difficult).

Any advice would be much appreciated!!

 

[Jeanmom]

Hi, AG2007,

I am also breastfeeding my 7 1/2 months old daughter. I read from the book that a 9-12 months old baby will be 3-4 nursing session + 3 solid feedings a day. From 12 months onward, there will be 2-3 nursing session. My friend who had nursed her 2 daughters till 2 year old once said by the time a baby is a year old, 2 nursing sessions might be enough.

I am not as experienced as some other moms on the board. It's just something that I read from a book. Hope it helps a little.

 

[Jojo]

My daughter is 11 1/2 months. She has been pretty much exclusively breastfed as she rejected the bottle and formula though we continue to persevere in the hopes that I can wean her at some point!

Until 11 months I was doing 3 feeds - 6.30pm, 11pm and 6am. I'm now down to 2 feeds - 6.30pm and 6am. I continue to try to see if during the day she will take formula and for the last couple of days she has taken 2oz off a spoon. I was concerned that she might not be getting enough milk as some books seem to recommend giving 16-24oz at this age. But the 2 pediatricians I've talked to have assured me that if she feeds well (three feeds a day with snacks in between) she is getting ample nutrition and the milk should really just be considered a drink at this point.

So I try to get her to take calcium in other forms - milk in her cereal and breakfast porridge, in cheesy sauces in her food, in yogurt and fromage frais and lots of leafy green veg. like kale and spinach in her food.

Hope this helps!