Skyler has REALLy slowed down on nursing only 2 to maybe 3 a day if that. I am worried that she isn't getting enough. I had slowed her down because she was biting but has since stopped. Now she doesn't seem intrested in it. Should I give her formula? I do give her a bottle at night. I use to pump but I stopped produing enough. I am thinking that I may start to take Fenugreek again. Maybe that's the problem.

She is 10 mths old now. I had a friend who said she started her son on whole milk at 10 mths. Wonder if the Dr will let me do that!

How much os everyone else nursing?
I did cut down my carbs today a lot since I pigged out yesterday and since Skyler has cut down on nursing so much I don't feel as bad!
To top it all off I am wicked bloated adn crampy but nothing no TOM yet. Thinking it will showe soon though!!
TIA!!

Hi,

i'm not currently a nursing mother, but I did nurse both my children.

It should go without saying that you should always ask your pediatrician about anything you are concerned about having to do with your child's nutrition. Another good source of information (doctors are unfortunately not always knowledgeable about breast feeding) is the La Leche League. I called them up a couple of times with questions when I was nursing my children and they were always very helpful.

What follows is simply my opinion based upon my own experience and that of my friends.

Once my kids started eating reasonable quantities of solid food, they cut back on the frequency with which they were nursing. If Skylar is now eating three meals a day of solid food, she is getting less of her nutrition from breast milk and more from other foods and therefore probably does not need to nurse as frequently. That's a normal part of the weaning process for most babies/toddlers. Also, as they approach a year, their growth slows down and they may just need to eat less. And, as they get bigger they are able to hold more milk in one nursing session (their stomach is bigger and they are stronger so they can get the milk out of you faster), which also makes them need to nurse less frequently. For both my kids, weight gain slowed down after the first six months. In my opinion, there is no reason to give Skylar formula unless you have some reason to believe that your milk supply is inadequate and that she is not getting sufficient nutrition (your pediatrician would be the best judge of that).

My daughter totally weaned herself at about one year. My son cut down to nursing once or twice a day by one year and continued that until he was 18 months old, at which point I made the decision to wean him. Neither of my children would ever drink out of a bottle and neither ever had formula -- they went from nursing to drinking regular milk out of a cup. I started them on water and juice from a sippy cup when they were between four and six months old. Knowing what I know now about the nutritional properties of juice, I think that if I had it to do over again I would have avoided the juice. At least I always mixed it with water to dilute it.

Hi! I had some great things to say on the topic, and then read further, and see that Liz said it all I agree with everything she said. Those have been my experiences, too. The only thing I would add, other than emphasizing staying away from formula if possible, is to refrain from offering cow's milk until her first birthday. I am all about promoting consumption of cow juice, but it seems to be the consensus to wait to avoid allergies.

HTH Lisa

If you slowed her down because of the biting, then your supply is probably down as well. If you couple that with the "normal" distractability of a 10 month old, you have actively pushed her in the direction of weaning. Is that what you want at this point??

Very few babies wean at this age on their own. Some of them have temporary nursing strikes, however. There is an excellent Delphi forum called Breastfeeding, Pure and Simple where I have gone over the years with my questions: http://login.prospero.com/dir-login...ingps%2Fstar t

I hope that link works! You can also go to the La Leche League website and find a leader in your area - they do phone consultations for people all the time. You might even find a LLL meeting near you with lots of helpful moms.

This is just my humble opinion, but you are so close to a year and you should try to encourage nursing at least up until that point. Your daughter may be like my son - he will not drink milk of any kind - not cow's, soy, almond, rice, goat's - none of it. This is one of the reasons why I believe he is still continuing to nurse at 3.

None of the solids you are giving her have the nutrition of your breastmilk. There is simply no substitute for it! If you feel your supply is suffering, you may need to reevaluate your hydration status (I need to drink 100 oz of H20 daily), your nutrition (I can't do induction type carb levels or my supply suffers), or you can try fenugreek (an herb) or Mother's Milk Tea to help your supply.

Lots of luck!!