Breastfeeding Frequency of 5/6-month-old? Let me hear your experiences...

T

thanka2

Registered User
Curious to know. Other mamas out there, how often did/does your 5/6-month-old breastfeed during the day? How many feeds does he/she require? This is for the mamas who are still exclusively breastfeeding and babies who haven't yet started on solid foods of any sort.

I'm planning to try to rearrange my baby's feeding schedule a bit and I think that she can manage longer times between feeds. She's still taking about 8 feeds/day. At nighttime, I don't mind if she breastfeeds all night as she co-sleeps with us and it isn't any problem for me.

Last night, I was exhausted and fell asleep early and she was still hanging out with our helper. Apparently she fell asleep with the helper and slept from 10 pm until 6:30 am without a feed! Hmmm.... She's done this a few times in the past couple of months so that makes me think that she can manage longer periods between some of her daytime feeds as well.

Just curious to hear some experiences...
 
When my baby was around that age, he was also having around 8 feeds per day. I feed roughly every 3 hours + some cluster feed before bed + midnight feed. I read that when baby were 4 month old, one should be able to feed every 4 hours (Baby Whisperer). But I could never do it... probably I don't produce that much milk, so I had to feed my baby more frequently.
 
My baby is 5 months old now. She is also having about 8 feeds per day. About every 3 hours during the day, cluster feed in the evening and one night feed at around 11-12.
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Hi T2,

As all babies are different, your little one will tell you what is an appropriate time for her. After a usual feed, take note of how long it is before she is asking again. Some babies are happy to wait three hours and have a big feed, others prefer to have more frequent smaller feeds. It also depends somewhat on the mother's milk storage capacity. Even though most mothers can produce the same full milk supply, sometimes a smaller storage capacity means more frequent feeds. Its kind of like going to a diner and ordering a refillable soda! One person may choose a big cup, another may choose a small cup. Both people will still enjoy the same amount of soda, but the one with the smaller cup will have to go back to the drink fountain more often. Its not an indication of milk supply, just size of the container hehe!

My little guy nurses very regularly, the longest stretch at his own choosing would be somewhere around 2.5 hours...

Hope this helps!

Lali :)
 
By 6 months, I think my daughter was already down to only 5-6 feeds a day! I was very much "baby-led" though so I didn't schedule it all... and my bottle-fed daughter was definitely on less feeds than my breastfed daughter - just because I hated to offer a bottle unless I was completely sure that she wanted it.
 
I'm trying to adjust my baby's feeding as well too...I think he's about 8 feeds a day as well...but I think he could go longer at night but half the night we are cosleeping since I fall asleep and end up offering him probably more than he needs so I'm going to try feeding him around midnight again tonight and see how long he can go before his next feed and eventually move midnight to around 10pm. Last night after a midnight feed, he went until 430am. We've been feeding on demand so I'm not really on a schedule and just feed him when he wakes up from his sleeps.
 
Lali07 said:
Hi T2,

As all babies are different, your little one will tell you what is an appropriate time for her. After a usual feed, take note of how long it is before she is asking again. Some babies are happy to wait three hours and have a big feed, others prefer to have more frequent smaller feeds.
Click to expand...

Yep, all babies really are different. This is my second child. My first is almost 4-years-old. I work during the day so I'm not around to feed "on demand" anymore.

Its not an indication of milk supply, just size of the container hehe!
Click to expand...

Yeah, I've been through the milk supply issues and have domperidone I can take if I need to--I was doing that earlier in the summer. I don't think "container size" will be any sort of issue for me either. ;)
 
nicolejoy said:
By 6 months, I think my daughter was already down to only 5-6 feeds a day! I was very much "baby-led" though so I didn't schedule it all... and my bottle-fed daughter was definitely on less feeds than my breastfed daughter - just because I hated to offer a bottle unless I was completely sure that she wanted it.
Click to expand...

Yeah, if I could "nurse on demand" it would be different but as it is I'm having to pump but I really don't think that my daughter needs to have 8 feeds/day. She can eat/drink more in the evenings and less during the day, I think and she'll be fine. It's not a big deal when I'm on holiday and at home all the time or she's with me all the time because breastfeeding isn't any big deal but pumping, yeah, pumping is a pain (in more ways than one!)
 
banane76 said:
I'm trying to adjust my baby's feeding as well too...I think he's about 8 feeds a day as well...but I think he could go longer at night but half the night we are cosleeping since I fall asleep and end up offering him probably more than he needs so I'm going to try feeding him around midnight again tonight and see how long he can go before his next feed and eventually move midnight to around 10pm. Last night after a midnight feed, he went until 430am. We've been feeding on demand so I'm not really on a schedule and just feed him when he wakes up from his sleeps.
Click to expand...

See, the night feedings don't bother me one bit, actually. I don't really "wake up" for them anyway. So, if my daughter nurses all night long, it doesn't really matter to me but the daytime feeds--during the day she wants to nurse every 2 hours and I don't think it's absolutely necessary. I think she gets thirsty a bit which is understandable. But, when she feeds from a bottle when I'm not home she sucks down milk really fast and I think she just wants to comfort suck so she acts like she's hungry. Anyway, if I can pump less during the day, that would make my already hectic life more manageable. Once I get home at like 5 pm she can latch on and breastfeed all night if she wants--I absolutely don't mind.
 
Have you tried using a cup instead of a bottle to give the milk? Babies usually take less from a cup. And a five to six month old should have no problems learning to drink from a cup. If she took less during the day it is likely she'll make up any shortfall at night when you are together.
Best wishes,
SARAH
www.lotuslactation.com
 
Sarah_Lotus said:
Have you tried using a cup instead of a bottle to give the milk? Babies usually take less from a cup. And a five to six month old should have no problems learning to drink from a cup. If she took less during the day it is likely she'll make up any shortfall at night when you are together.
Best wishes,
SARAH
www.lotuslactation.com
Click to expand...

Great idea, Sarah! With my razzled-frazzled brain nowadays, I don't know why I didn't think of that! I know she can drink from a glass. She is very interested in trying to drink whatever we're drinking so I've let her have a go at having a few sips of water here and there--especially on our holiday when the weather was blistering hot. She really enjoys drinking out of a glass and is always trying to grab ours and have a sip. She also really wants to try to eat our food! She watches us intensely when we're eating and mimics our mouth motions and licks her lips. We gave her a tiny bit of mashed up mango about 3 weeks ago and she loved it and didn't have any adverse effects from it.

Also, I'm still debating whether to introduce a bit of solids to her--maybe some rice cereal with a lot of breastmilk mid-morning or something. The things I've read are conflicting. The one issue I'm concerned about is the "blood-brain" barrier thing. Any insight into this, Sarah?
 
Sarah_Lotus said:
Have you tried using a cup instead of a bottle to give the milk? Babies usually take less from a cup. And a five to six month old should have no problems learning to drink from a cup. If she took less during the day it is likely she'll make up any shortfall at night when you are together.
Best wishes,
SARAH
www.lotuslactation.com
Click to expand...

Great idea, Sarah! With my razzled-frazzled brain nowadays, I don't know why I didn't think of that! I know she can drink from a glass. She is very interested in trying to drink whatever we're drinking so I've let her have a go at having a few sips of water here and there--especially on our holiday when the weather was blistering hot. She really enjoys drinking out of a glass and is always trying to grab ours and have a sip. She also really wants to try to eat our food! She watches us intensely when we're eating and mimics our mouth motions and licks her lips. We gave her a tiny bit of mashed up mango about 3 weeks ago and she loved it and didn't have any adverse effects from it.

Also, I'm still debating whether to introduce a bit of solids to her--maybe some rice cereal with a lot of breastmilk mid-morning or something. The things I've read are conflicting. The one issue I'm concerned about is the "blood-brain" barrier thing. Any insight into this, Sarah?
 
It sounds like your little one is getting ready for solids. The latest idea in starting solids is something called "Baby-Led Weaning". This is when you actually let the baby feed herself rather than spoon feed the baby. It seems to work very well. And I really like it because I think it follows nicely on from the breastfeeding.

With breastfeeding the baby controls how much she wants to eat, not the mother. And with baby led weaning the baby controls how much she eats not the mother.

The book I like best on the subject is called Baby-Led Weaning by Gill Rapley & Tracey Murkett, http://www.shopinhk.com/product.php?productid=11189862

I have attached a leaflet about this for you. View attachment baby-led-wwaning-leaflet.pdf

Best wishes,
SARAH
www.lotuslactation.com
 
Once your little one starts solids, you will possibly be able to do away with pumping altogether - especially since you are able to breastfeed at lunch time. With a feed before school, one in the middle of the day, she should be able to be happy with other food in the in between times. Just a couple more months :) :)
 
Thanks everyone for the advice. My daughter is now almost seven months old. Started feeding her with a cup only right after Sarah suggested it and she's doing awesome with that. She actually can fully drink out of a cup now--so I don't even think will have to deal with sippy cups and straws unless we want to--she has great control and rarely spills any on herself.

Also started her on some solids. Started with EBM added to brown rice cereal--to the consistency that it was just easier to let her drink it out of the cup than feed it with a spoon.

So far, whatever food we give her to eat, even if it's bitter or sour and her facial expression tells us that, she will go ahead and eat it. Nowadays she's eating red lentil dahl with spices as well as vegetables and fruits. We've also given her a pureed hard-boiled egg.

To me, I don't think I'll go hard-core into baby-led weaning. I understand the premise of it, but it's simply not my style. For some things we puree them and for other things we give her bits of fruits and veggies. She particularly likes grapes and oranges so in the right sizes she can handle those. I also bought a fresh food feeder.

Sometimes it's just easier and more convenient to feed baby with a spoon or cup and help her eat than to give her a mess of food and let her make a mess with it--especially for us because we're often eating on-the-go. I'm really not worried about her rejecting foods because of not practicing baby-led weaning because at this point I can give her anything--no matter what flavor--fruit, vegetable, protein and she'll go ahead and eat it. She just loves food! And I eat a variety of flavors of food so surely she can detect different tastes in breastmilk.

Now she's nursing, on average about 5 times/day with one feeding of EBM mixed with food in the mid-afternoon. Her weight gain is good and steady and she's happy and healthy. We're blessed.
 
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