Hi Moms,
So I was just curious how many times you are nursing your little ones around 10 months old. My daughter still nurses 3-6 times a day. I don't mean snack nursing either she is power nursing! She also eats gerber baby food twice a day (anywhere from 1/2 to 2 1/2 containers a sitting) and some finger foods twice a day. The reason I am asking is because when she started daycare about a month ago I asked the pediatrician what to do because she won't take milk or formula from anything but the boob, and he said as long as the is getting one good nursing session a day she's fine...well of course he said I'm probably not over feeding her either. I'm just getting tired of nursing and if I really can limit it to bed time or bed time and when she wakes up that would be great, so I guess this is a poll for nursing mommies with 10 month olds!
UPDATE: My daughter drinks water and only water from a sippy cup, and she won't drink anything from a bottle. She drinks about 3 sippy cups (the small ones) of water a day and it has in no way limited how much she nurses. My daughter has also been sleeping through the night since 3 months, so there are no additional night feedings even though we co-sleep.
Hi. I have an 18 month old. What i remember at 10 months i was nursing i believe 5-6 times a day. I remember also wanting to decrease a bit. At first I did to 4 (morn, eve, before each nap...). at 14 months I decreased to 3 when he started taking one nap. He is still doing 2-3.
If you want to wean gently to 2 times, go to the site of Dr. Jay Gordon. He has a great deal of good ideas to help facilitate the transition.
HTH
When my son was 10 months, he nursed 4-5 times per day:
1st thing in the a.m.
After a.m. nap
Sometimes before p.m. nap, but not always (maybe 1/3 of the time)
After p.m. nap
Bedtime
If you're ready to cut back, you can. Plenty of babies that age are only nursing morning and night, and many are not nursing at all. You've made it much farther than a lot of moms do!
I have a 16 mo old and it varies. she eats solids of course, three meals and as many snacks as she needs she says "hungry, snack" so she eats. she will nurse before nap and bed and at each wake up so that is about 4 times right there and then at diff. times during the day. i notice if she is bored, sad whatever she nurses more. up until just about 16 mo. she was nursing A LOT, way more than 3-6 tjmes a day...so I would say you are doing great! I think each kid is diff. and as long as they are having the right amount of wet diapers they are fine. Did you offer her water in a cup? my LO will always go for water over anything else so that helps reduce nursing. also play w/ diff. cups bc sometimes they just dont like the cup you are using....mine liked to use a PLASTIC shot glass the best, she drank the most w/ that and thus reduced nursing too. good luck. xo
I have a 2 1/2 year old who used to be a 10 month old and a 6 month old. My oldest son was a huge nurser!
I would let my 10 month old nurse on demand. My oldest son wasn't much of an eater til 13 months and really needed the breastmilk. Your daughter will nurse more or less for the health and nutritional benefits depending on her physical and emotional needs. I think she is too young to be limited in my opinion.
Will your daughter drink from a cup? What do you give her in her cup? Is she on a schedule at daycare or are they just feeding her whenever? I would definitely recommend not nursing on demand when you are with her, as by this age she needs to develop an eating pattern that she can carry over into "big kid" eating. I never nursed on demand. My daughter was on a pretty set schedule from about 1 week old. My daughter was breastfed exclusively (breastmilk in bottles, but no formula ever) and at 10 months had weaned herself from 4 nurses a day down to 2. She would nurse for a few minutes, but it was a fight to get her to really nurse, so I talked to her doctor at 9 months and was given the go-ahead to start giving her whole milk in her sippy cup at meal times and to just try to nurse at least twice a day until she was 1 year. Well, we managed to keep the morning and bedtime nurse until she was 11 months and I just gave up the fight. She was eating 5-6 oz. of fruit plus 1/4 cup of cereal for breakfast, 1-2 oz. of meat and 4 oz. of veggies plus 1/4 cup of cereal at lunch, a snack after her afternoon nap and 2 oz. of meat and 4 oz. of veggies at dinner. She would drink about 4 oz. of whole milk at each meal/snack. Good luck!
At 9 + months it was on average of 20oz of breastmilk every 2 hours, except at night... and there was a midnight-1am session (which worked out great, because I went to bed (and still do) around 2am.
I had a massive infection that killed my milk supply between 9 & 10 months. As in no more, buh-bye, life threatening infection, super fun. :P Which made formula rather necessary. At that time he was drinking 1.5-2 premixed 32oz cans of liquid enfamil lipil. Oy. Talk about pricey. 20-40 bucks a day in formula. (He would NOT take powdered formula). And he kept pretty similar to his nursing schedule of every 2 hours in the daytime, but he woke more at night. (9pm, 11pm, 1am, and o'dark thirty). So he was definitely getting better nutrition when he was BF'ing.
At a year, he started inhaling table food (he ate approximately half of whatever I was eating), and his formula needs got cut in half. He still woke several times a night to eat.
I bring this up, because losing my milk (aka unintentionally weaning) was a HUGE dent in our pocketbook, and reeeeeally changed how much sleep either of us got in one stretch... and so are things to be considered as you contemplate weaning.
I have a 10 month old who nurses on demand, day and night (we cosleep), and he is nursing at least 6 times during the day and a couple of times during the night. (He's also eating 3 full solids meals a day.) I figure that it is best to give them as much of the breastmilk as possible the first year especially. I know it seems like a lot while you're doing the nursing, but I did the same with my first child (this is my second) and it does go really fast!
Oh wow! Ok - first, until your daughter is between 14-16 months old, breastmilk or formula is still her primary nutrient source! Your pediatrician is sounding rather uninformed. A lot of parents think that the cutoff date for breastmilk or formula is one year but recent studies have shown that this is too young. Until your child is eating approximately 400 calories at each of their three meals a day, plus one snack, plus the appropriate amount of fluids (water, milk, etc...), you have to provide breastmilk or formula. Your child no longer needs breastmilk or formula when they are consuming 1,100-1,300 calories a day; 1 gram of protein per pound per day, 50-55% carbs; 35-40% good fats; and 10-15% proteins per day; and 16 ounces of milk or a milk substitute (soy milk, rice milk). Now - if your child is a smaller eater, it is ok if she grazes all day as opposed to having three meals and a snack. Having said all this, please allow her to nurse as often as she wants until you are able to transition her to formula or another method of drinking breastmilk. My daughter is 14 months old and never took a bottle, sippy cup, or the like. She just would not do it. She still nurses 6-8 times in a 24 hour period. She has a small appetite so I am fine with this because I want her to be as healthy as possible. I did discover that at 11 months, she was able to drink from a straw and my mother was able to give her pumped milk out of a regular cup becuase she loved sucking on the straw. You might try that and she is she enjoys that. If not, PLEASE talk to another doctor before reducing how much breastmilk your daughter gets. Good luck and please do not think that I am coming down on you for not wanting to nurse. I understand how draining it is. I just want to make sure that your daughter continues to receive the proper nutrician! Good luck!
Sorry but you can't limit to bedtime with a 10 month old! And I think you need to find a new pediatrician! Breastmilk should be the PRIMARY nutrition for the first year. Why on earth would her doctor say once a day is fine!?!? I'm floored by this recommendation. Nursing 3-6 times per day is perfectly normal for her age and necessary! She is a growing, developing baby. Breastfed babies need to be fed on demand. And it's too soon for cow's milk.
You are very close to 12 months when you can begin to wean but I'll tell you, I breastfed both of mine and we continued after the 12 month mark and it was actually really nice. My daughter just weaned at 20 months and my son was 16 months.
My 10 month old nurses 2-3 times a day (about every 4 hours) and gets 2 bottles of pumped breast milk also. She gets a 5 oz bottle of breast milk (and 2-4 oz of solids) at night before bed and a 7 oz bottle when she wakes up (after about 10 hours of sleep).
During the day she nurses every 4 hours then eats 4-8oz of solids and finger foods. I always nurse her when she first wakes up and have always had her on a schedule. I am not a fan of on demand feeding, and my daughter has been in the 98th percentile for weight since 2 months old. Of course, when she was first born she ate every 2 hours and then the time between feedings lengthened to her current 4 hour interval and during growth spurts she ate more often.
Right now, I am struggling to keep up our pumped milk supply. I have been diagnosed with hypothyroidism and it has lowered my milk supply slightly. As a result, sometimes we supplement about 2 oz of her bottles of pumped breast milk with formula. My doctor said 24 oz is a good estimate of how much milk she should be getting.
I like the suggestion to try a straw. My daughter loves drinking out of straws, but she is picky about which straw she will use.
I think nursing twice a day is fine. Just try to find a way to give her pumped breast milk or formula at least 2 other times during the day. You can also try to find lactation consultants in your area. They have been very helpful for me.
Hope that helps
I had the same problem with my son when he was that age. He was also in daycare and would not take a bottle. I only nursed him in the morning and at bed time. On my days off I would nurse him during the day so that I would not have to pump because I always pumped on my lunch break. At his 9month check up the doctor said I could give him whole milk to supplement for breastmilk because I was not able to keep up with his demand. He would take that in a sippy cup. I would also give breastmilk to the sitter to make his breakfast with. He would usually eat oatmeal.
I think as long as your child is growing and hitting there milestones then you should go with what the ped. is telling you.
Good Luck!
I got about 2 - 3 nursing sessions in a day while working with my 10 month old in home daycare. She did take a bottle as well, so I pumped while at work and then nursed when I got home, before bed, usually again in the middle of the night, and if she woke in the morning then too. She is four now and perfectly fine. No weight issues.
