When is breast-milk not enough?

E

Eva08

Registered User
I've read/heard lots of people say they needed to start their baby on solids before the 6-month mark as the breast-milk seemed not to be enough for their baby.
I was wondering how do you know when the milk is not enough - are there obvious signs? Like baby is not satisfied after a feed or stops sleeping well etc.?

Thanks!
 
All babies are different, so I don't agree with the wait until 6 mths rule for all.
My son was sleeping thru the night and then started waking for feeds again at 4.5 mths.

So we tried solids, which worked for us.
He`was not only sleeping thru again within 2 days, he also dropped the 10.30 milk feed after a couple of weeks and slept 8pm to 8am.
 
hi, my daughter simply started to wake up more frequently at nights for feeds (yawn..). after a few days, i could feel my breasts filling with more milk.. i've been bfeeding her for 9 months now. i began with solids after her 6th month.
i think shortly before the 6th month, babies go through a growth spurt. if you're patient enough to feed your baby more often during that time, you should have more milk within a few days to a week. hope this was helpful!
 
The signs we usually look for in a baby to tell us that he is ready to start solids are:

? he is about six months old
? he can sit up without any support
? he continues to be hungry despite more frequent nursing which is unrelated to illness or teething
? he has lost the tongue-thrusting reflex and does not push solids out of his mouth
? he can pick up things with his finger and thumb (pincer grasp)

You might be interested the LLLI web page When should my baby start solids? http://www.llli.org/FAQ/solids.html

Starting solids doesn't automatically mean that babies will sleep better. I?ve found that about one third of babies sleep better after starting solids, for one third it makes no difference and for one third actually wake more often!

Best wishes,
SARAH
 
Sarah

For Sign No. 3, how do we rule out possibility that he's not hungry due to other reasons?
 
Fennho: Have you considered buying a copy of the Womanly Art of Breastfeeding from La Leche League? It is a book which covers all ages of the breastfed baby rather than just the first couple of months like most others books on breastfeeding. In it I think you will find the answers to your questions of what the next stage will be like.
 
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