Almost 8 Mo Old and Nursing Mom off Their Feeding Schedule! HELP!!!
Updated on
July 26, 2009
S.W.
asks from
Minneapolis, MN
4
answers
Hi,
I need some feeding advice because my daughter (alomst 8mo) & I are totally off our feeding schedule. Several things have happened in the last 2 months to influence this.
1) she started eating solids @ 6mo and she's not liking them. She's interested in eating, and does eat, but doesn't look like she enjoys it. However, she looks at our forks like she'd like to rip them from our hands and eat our food. Should I be skipping the gross looking jarred baby food and go right to the nibblets and fresh stuff???
2) at 6mo I stopped her sleeping in our bed and nursing through out the night (2-3 times was usual) & she was sleeping through the night almost immediately...AWESOME.
3) we were going along fine until....we went on a 13 day vacation. No one was on a schedule. She barely napped (she's a party girl). She wouldn't sleep in the pack & play and port-a-cribs that were offered her so she slept in our bed, again. She wasn't eating much because she was too interested in the things going on around her, so she was nursing more often. Since she was in our bed, she woke up often and nursed each time. What can I say...I knew she wasn't eating much, I knew she was tired; I didn't want her to have to cry it out in my bed right next to me.
4) We've been home for 4 days. She's still not liking her solid foods much, but she is eating a little better. She's sleeping better, in her crib, but still waking up 1-2x/night, and I'm nursing her. I can't seem to get more than 3-4oz each pumping session and I need to produce at least 5oz each time. She's drinking more often and I'm not producing enough, so I'm dipping into storage milk and soon that will be gone!
5) Oh, and on a side note, it takes almost an hour to pump each time now!! And, I'm still not getting enough. I have to pump 3x/day and I woke full time. It's not a good situation and I'm not sure if it's me or if my pump is failing, or what.
My 15 month old is still night nursing so I am no help with the night time stuff but food wise, look into "Baby Led Weaning" we have never given purees just table food, we started with fruits and veggies and then added in meat, baby led weaning doesn't involve spoon feeding but instead teaches independence, I give my daughter a spoon and fork and she gets in her mouth what she can and picks up the finger food, carrots, celery, apple slices etc.
As for boosting your supply you could try mothers milk tea or fenugreek (which is the more effective of the two) both can be found at whole foods.
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E.M.
answers from
Des Moines
on
by 8 months old my son was nursing only 3 times a day and never at night. he nursed at 7 am, 11am and 2 pm then drank 4 oz at 6pm from a sippy cup and went to bed at 7pm i pumped at 7pm and 9pm and only got about 4-6 oz total just enough to cover the next evening sippy cup. He was a good solid food eater though. As far as solids go give her what she likes. my son wanted to eat our food at 4 months, he started veggies at 6 months. I found that he didnt like the solids to be too watery so i often added some baby cereal to all of his meals. as he showed interest in "our" food i let him sample it (within reason) by 11 months the only baby food he ate was the veggies because i can't seem to get him to eat them any other way :)
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J.A.
answers from
Omaha
on
Hook up with your local La Leche League, they can help you with all your nursing/weaning goals and provide a lot of support.
J.
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B.W.
answers from
Minneapolis
on
Yes, by all means skip the jarred baby food and move to finger foods and mashed up regular food. My boys never ate jarred baby food, I made all their food and they were eating mashed/chopped table foods by 8mos old.
AS for the nursing, if she's ok nursing then go for it. SHe will 'get over it' when she is ready. And once she starts eating the more enjoyable table foods, she may move to nursing less. She should still be nursing at least 5 times a day at this age.
