karatine reccomends 3 feeds a day for a 9month old - mine has double that! yours??

[lizzymcfizzy]

hi

My dd turns 9 months on the 9th of this month. she doesn't eat much solids because she has alot of breastmilk. tresillian said she should have 3 milk feeds a day with morning and arvo tea and 3 bigger meals of solids a day. plus no night feeds - we have two.

i'm booked in to go to tresillian to sort it out and I tried for the first time today to get her to have morning tea and spaced out the boob but we both ended up in tears. I was a mess and her daily rountine has gone pearshaped.

Should I be trying so hard to limit the feeds or let her have as many as she wants till she's ready? I'm going back to work 1st April which is why I'm so strung out about it all.

how many feeds does your 9to 10 month old have? breast or bottle

[twitch]

Hey Lizzy, my DD and yours have the same birthday!

Annalise has 4 -5 milk feeds a day. Her day sort of goes like this:

Wake up - breastfeed
an hour later - muesli with fruit (about 2 tablespoons)
bed for an hour
wake up
breastfeed
Lunch which is about 3 tablespoons of vegies or a toasted ham and cheese s/w
Bed
Wake up
Vaalia yoghut for snack
bath
Dinner which is about 4 tablespoons of whatever we have (mince, chicken, vegies) then a custard or yoghurt for dessert
Breastfeed
Bed

She has no feeds at night but will have one areound 5am, then she goes back to bed until 7am.

It's not a whole lot of solids compared to some other babies

HTH!

[UmmInayah]

Bub is 8.5 months. She also hardly has solids so has lots and lots of breastmilk :) I just let her tell me what she wants when she wants it, but has formed her own kinda routine.

She has 4 day feeds and maybe 2-3 overnight.

Day feeds are around:

5:30am
9:00am
1:30pm
6:00pm

She has rice cereal in the mornings and eats that well, but any other meal is a struggle.. and one I don't even bother with most days :laughing:

[MordecaiAliVanAllenO'Shea]

I think those sort of guidelines are based on the idea of weaning your baby by 12months, or possibly on formula feeding as well (may be wrong, dont know much about formula). At that age my DS was feeding way more - I cant remember how much probably 6 feeds during the day and 1 or 2 overnight. If you plan on them feeding longer than 12 months or even self-weaning I wouldnt be limiting your babies feeds yet, uness the sleep issues are desperate and you'd prefer to just follow Karitane's advice - your choice I guess, but there is nothing wrong with feeding your baby more than 3 breastfeeds a day so please dont feel you are doing something wrong.

[ZooKeeper]

Crikey! starfish would go nutso if I tried to limit her feeds to 3 a day and none overnight -- she's about 3 weeks off being 9MO but I don't expect her to change that fast.

she's still demand fed, and fed to sleep :o, and gets comfort boobie when she has an oopsy (lots of those lately as she experiments with crawling, pulling herself up on things, sitting unsupported, etc etc) AND she's on 3 decent sized meals a day and often an arvo snack of fresh fruit in a mesh feeder as well. she's probably BFing about six to eight times a day (depending on the day, and number of oopsies) between 6am and 8pm and anything from three to six overnight (and I'm a zombie, but that's another story :rolleyes:)

[aardvark]

All three children of mine have had way more than 3 breastfeeds per day at the age of 9 months.

My 2y.o. DS still has 5 or more. I still express for him twice a day at work.

I think demand feeding is the way to go. A bub will take as much as it wants or needs. Whether that is for nutritional or emotional benefit is beside the point IMO.

[Mum2Lucas]

Hi when DS was that age he was having about 8 bottles a day still and one or 2 at night. he's 2.5 now and he still has about a litre or more of milk a day and he still has a bottle at night which is bad i know but he starts hitting at night if he doesn't get it.

[lizzymcfizzy]

thanks girls! you make me feel so much better. I"m happy to demand feed,

I think in my heart I don't want to listen to tresillian or karatine, its to good to hear I should just listen to my instinct!

xxx

[Jenko]

At 9 months I was breastfeeding at least 5-6 times a day. We had (still don't :laughing:) no routine and he feeds when he wants to. And sometimes I'm sure he doesn't even want a feed, he just wants it for comfort.

I was still feeding once or twice a night.

[vespertine]

That information, I believe, goes against what is natural for mother and baby and is therefore harmful. I agree that it is based on the notion that baby will be weaned before 12 months. If you are continuing to breastfeed, then pay no attention this **** (in my opinion) advice. Follow your baby's cues... you know your daughter better than anyone! Some babies aren't ready to embrace solids until after their first birthday. Are you supposed to starve bub so she is forced to eat? That's ridiculous. My son was exclusively breastfed until 8 or 9 months, that means he had NO SOLIDS at all. O offered, but he clearly showed he wasn't interested- he much preferred the booby. He was absolutely thriving, so I trusted him... and eventually he was willing to try different foods so I gave him little tastes. It took quite a while until he was having actual meals- he was well after one at that stage. He was breastfeeding every couple of hours and woke several times a night for booby too. He still wakes at night, even though he's no longer feeding. Trust your baby- not some nurse who tries to give you a ''one size fits all'' scheme to follow. All the best!

[purtig]

At 9 months my DS was only having 2 bottles a day, but that was what he wanted - I did offer him more. And no bottles overnight. However he loved his solids and had plenty of yoghurt and cheese so I wasn't too worried. I think it would be totally different for breastfeeding though, and I agree you should trust your instincts on that. I don't think there is a right or wrong here, it's what works best for you and your family.

[squiglet]

I also feed way more than 3 times a day. Poor kid would starve if I didn't:confused:

I feed at wake up,
then (times are "abouts" times) 8m. brefore solids.
10-11am
12-1pm, before solids.
then usully 3pm
Again at 5pm before solids
Then I will give her a last feed at 7:30 ish to 8pm

Some days are less.

I also feed her at night, maybe twice, sometimes more and then some nights not at all. If she wants it I give it to her.