9 Month Old Breastfeeding Amount

I personally wouldn't cut back. Breast milk is one of the best foods for infants under 1 years old. Other foods are not as easily digestable, or as healthy for a baby. Breast milk is supposed to be the main food and other foods are suppliments.

Why cut back? Children can eat nothing but breast milk for the first year at least. They don't need solid food until much later, and breast milk is the perfect food! (And this came from my pediatrician, so I am sorry that yours doesn;t support this truth.)

Are you small? Are you average weight? She will be the same. Ask your mom how big you were as a baby....ask your mother in law too (without getting everyone worried and involved in creating a lot of fear and worry!!)

XO
Linda

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I feed my 8 month old pretty much whenever he wants, however, 4 times a day is perfectly fine for a 9 month old and if you are comfortable with the concept, it might not hurt to try. I would just stretch out her feedings. If you feed now at 7, 10, 1, 4, 7 (or whatever your schedule is), go 7, 10:30, 2:00, 5:00 and 7:00. You can eventually eliminate that 5:00 feeding, or if you would rather eliminate another, just tweak the times and push one of them right off your schedule. It might take a month to do it gradually, but I think gradually is the only way to do it. Good Luck.

At that age, I breast fed my 9 month old every 3 hours. Just make sure you are feeding long enough to get enough hind milk since that is where all the fat is. I'm sure that is what your doctor was trying to say. Even if you just feed on one side for 15 minutes and 5 on the other, just switch the side you start with for the next feeding. Good luck and just do what you feel is best for your baby no matter what everyone says!!

I am surprised by your doctor's suggestion, as breast milk is typically the most nutrient dense "food" a baby could intake. I am of the "feed on demand" opinion when it comes to nursing and did so for two years with my daughter. I am just now (at two years) cutting back her feedings to just night time because I am going back to school to work on my PhD and she will be going to childcare during the day. There are SO many benefits to nursing in the second year . . . check out http://www.kellymom.com/bf/bfextended/index.html as a great resource. If you are worried about weight gain, the LAST thing I would do is cut back on nursing.

At that age my daughter still had three bottles of breastmilk over a 10 hour period at daycare (about 3-4 oz each). What we did do is switch the order of feeding. While in the beginning we did milk first then solids, after 9 months we switched to solids first then milk. She also nursed mornings, twice in the evening (right after getting home and before going to bed) and once at night until she was about 14 months old.
At this age breastmilk should still be their main source of nutrition! So I would suggest that you switch to feeding solids first, then nurse and you could enrich your solids with a bit of high quality vegetable oil (cold pressed, whichever kind you like). Fat intake is important for infants and toddler and helps both the weight gain and brain development.
Good luck!

I have to disagree with your doctor on this one. My pediatrician would disagree as well. I would nurse as much as your baby wants/is willing and don't worry about any schedules or cutting back. My daughter wouldn't eat solid foods until she was almost 2 because of texture aversions. I nursed as much as she was willing and she grew just fine (75%, which is amazing considering I'm only 5 feet tall). 4 times a day doesn't seem like enough at all, and my guess would be that her weight and growth would drop.

I would also suggest trying to nurse until your baby is at least 2. It's hard, but is sooooooo good for them!

Take care,
Teri

I think it's up to you and how you feel comfortable. If you don't want to cut down on how often you nurse, you can try to feed her solid food meals before you nurse (e.g. breakfast, lunch, and dinner time). This way, if you're feeding her protein/calorie rich foods (healthy, of course!), then she'll eat her fill of the food and then nurse to "top off".

I am still nursing a couple times/day my 13 month old. At 9 months, he was still nursing 5-6 times/day plus a night feeding. I would nurse then give solid foods. My dr has measured DS in the 15% for weight, but since he is growing on "his own growth curve" she isn't worried. He's just long and thin!

Another option for you could be to switch from baby food to actual solid food, if you haven't already done so. There are some great resources on how to do that, but really as long as the pieces are small enough, she can have almost everything that is healthy! Full fat yogurt, cottage cheese, and cheese (these dairy foods are ok before 1 year); meats (shredded and cut in small pieces), beans, grains, Cheerios, fruit, veggies, etc.

Do what you think is best! You know your daughter better than anyone.

There is no harm continuing to nurse her (some organizations say at 1 year 75-85% of her calories should still be from breastmilk), but there is also no harm--and some gain if there truly is a weight issue--with upping her solid foods. Even if that means keeping all your nursing times but offering solids more often.
Good luck!

While breastfeeding every 4 hours is perfectly fine at this age, I certainly don't think its necessary. If you do want to feed her less often, though, the key would be taking it slow, and distracting her. If she has any sort of routine feeding times now (I don't know if you are completely demand-based or not), then I wouldn't push back a feeding by more than 15 minutes at a time. (Similarly, if she asks to nurse and its been only 2 hours, try to distract her for at least 15 minutes ... maybe more if she seems completely distracted and happy, but don't try to suddenly go to 4 hours). Frankly, though, if you are happy with your breastfeeding routine, then what I would do is up the solids. Yes, a baby doesn't HAVE to have solids before a year, but most babies (and most doctors recommend) 3 solid meals a day by this age, and if your baby isn't gaining weight, then that's what I'd make sure she's eating. If she's not eating solids yet, then start slowly (one meal a day, only one new food every 4-5 days). At this age, she can eat anything but egg whites, honey, and nuts (though citrus and tomatoes and a few other foods can be irritating for some at this age). Good luck!

Been there. Just start out replacing one feeding with food every day (the same feeding). After a few days or a week, replace another feeding and so on. She won't be happy about it at first, but just stick with it. Her body does need more then you can give her at this point. My daughter was down to only one feeding, at bedtime at the time I weaned her completely (10 mos.) I intended to go a full year, I just got to a point where I was done with it. But I guess she was too, she didn't seem to care. With my other kids I had issues going on that prevented me from getting past 6 months, but I used the same process with two of them. The other, it was too sudden (I had a surprise surgery) and he was an angry baby for about a week.

I STRICTLY breastfed our son for his first 9 months! After that there were still days where all he would consume was breast milk. There is truly no need to cut back. Breast milk changes as your daughter grows and it has everything she needs.

IF you WANT to, you could make sure to put her in the high chair and OFFER her foods at particular times during the day. (Breakfast, lunch, supper, morning snack and afternoon snack.) But that doesn't mean that she will choose to eat the food over breast feeding!

I would let HER lead.