How much/ How often??

[todzwife]

Still confused on the solids thing...how much and how often should he be getting solids now? How much should I be nursing? He's still waking hungry at night. (We know its hunger because DH tries to get him back to sleep and it doesn't work if he's hungry, but will if he's not) I just bumped him to 2 solid meals a day and I think we nurse 6 or 7 times...is that about right? I need AF to return soon since we are going to start TTC early next year (ugh- I don't even want to think about it right now though.) So I need him to not nurse so much, but I am NOT starving my baby...HELP!

[papal]

Hi Shandelle, we are also nursing 7-8 times a day (sometimes she is too distracted and does not eat much) and just yesterday we started giving her 2 solid meals a day... but she still wakes up hungry at night.... argh... i don't have any answers or solutions but just wanted to echo that we are almost exactly like you in terms of feeding.

[Raidra]

Well, Colwyn is on formula, not BF, so I'm not sure what we're doing is the right thing for you.

However, Colwyn gets 3 meals a day, about 4 tablespoons each meal. He also eats bites of things (ie, not pureed) like pears, peaches, plums, cheese, chicken, beef, pasta, etc. He has about 5 bottles a day, 4 ounces each. Sometimes he wants more formula, sometimes less.

I just follow his lead.. I don't think our babies are at the point where they'll overeat, so I just give him what he wants. Sometimes he doesn't want more than a few spoonfuls of food, and other times he'll keep eating until we run out of food. ;)

[jec2]

Shandelle, we are eating 2 solids too and actually have been for about a month or so, Finn just really demanded it. I posted the other day in TracieG's post about our feeding schedule and that is about what we are doing. 6-7 nursings/day and 2 solid meals. Somedays he has 3 solids but that is just when I am delayed home from school and DH is at his wits end :). Also, I think that we are to be expecting another growth spurt at 9 months...so your little guy could be getting ready or spurting early.

And goodness, TTC! We originally wanted 3-4 kids two years apart and now I think we want 2 kids 3-4 years apart LOL!

[heidi_timms]

At around 9 months we were doing 3 meals a day and I can't remember how much she nursed. I would try cluster feeding at night. We did this and it helped DD sleep through the night. The last few hours before bed, I would feed her every hour. It's a pain, but so worth it if you can get your baby to sleep all night!

Another trick of mine was sleepwalking nursing. I used to go to bed at around 11pm and before I went to bed, I would lift my DD out of her crib (still somewhat asleep) and feed her. She would nurse and then I'd put her back in her crib. Since she never woke crying, she would just go right back to sleep, yet was full and would sleep longer.

HTH!

~Heidi
Mom to Kailey
4/03

[mom to little e]

Shandelle - You read my mind!! I sometimes wonder why I can't get a grip on this...I'm a smart enough person! LOL!!

You sound like you are doing exactly like what we are doing...We are still nursing about seven times a day, I guess. And we are still having a night feeding, although, we did go about a week or so last week without one every night. This past weekend both Mom and MIL came to visit and completely threw his schedule off. So we still nurse and we are doing two solid meals a day, breakfast and dinner. We do about 4 tablespoons total usually something like 2 fruit/2 cereal for breakfast and 2 veggie/2 cereal for dinner. Lately though, DS is getting somewhat constipated and I have been wondering if we need to continue so much cereal?? I haven't planned on introducing a third solid meal yet. We probably will do that (lunch) around nine months when he may experience a growth spurt. Some meals we seem to hit the amount just right. If we give him a teething biscuit at the end of the meal we seems to be able to let the food hit his tummy and he seems satisfied. Sometimes we haven't hit the timing well and he is too tired and just wants to get out of the highchair and nap or go to sleep. It is a new challenge everyday figuring it out!!

On the other issue, no AF here yet either! I am still somewhat surprised by that, honestly! I thought by six months it would arrive or at least with the introduction on solids. We probably will want TTC when DS is one to 1 1/2 years - but I can't imagine that yet!!!

Sometimes it is so nice to know that someone else is going through exactly the same thing I am going through... :)

Casey
Ean 11/06/03

[mom to little e]

I have thought about doing this but was worried I would create a pattern of actually waking DS up. Did you have any problems with this? I might have to give this a try!

Casey
Ean 11/06/03

[miki]

Hey Shandelle,

I have been giving DD 3 solid food meals a day since a little before 8 months. At that point she was really ramping up on the BFing and I was losing weight even though I ate like a horse. We just went to the ped for her 9 month check and she said at this point DD only needs to nurse 4x a day to get adequate nutrition apart from the solid food. She also said the middle of the night feeding was not nutritionally necessariy. Now she nurses 4-6 times a day.

[chlobo]

Hi Shandelle,

My DD is a day older than your DS. Between 6 & 7 months DD's weight gain slowed down so the doctor recommended that we give some additional solids. So we've been giving 3 solid food meals a day. We do cereal in the morning (2-3 tablespoons) mixed with prune juice, 2 oz of fruit/veggies at lunch & 2 oz of fruit/veggies at dinner. DD initially was hvaing problems with constipation so we've been giving her prunes everyday in addition to the prune juice we mix into her cereal.

In addition to that DD nurses 6-7 times a day including once at night.

Like other posters have said, I try to let my DD take the lead. I always breastfeed about half an hour before solids and if she wants more solids sometimes I give it to her. Sometimes I nurse again to "top her off".

I think its really trial and error to see what works.

BTW, my AF returned at around 5 months so I'm not sure how much you can influence it. I think it comes back when its ready!

[Vajrastorm]

I guess I'm the slowpoke around here. Aine gets maybe one "meal" worth of solids in a day, mostly from snacking when I eat. We don't tend to do the highchair/feed thing. Neither she nor I are huge fans of it. (She doesn't care to be strapped down, and I don't care to struggle over it)

[fauve01]

my DD was born the same day as yours! i agree with the previous poster that said it just depends on the kid. some are ready for more food/finger food sooner than others. i'll tell you what's up at my house...

DD is BF, but i think my supply is low, so after nursing if she still acts hungry/fussy she occasionally gets a bottle (of either EBM or some formula). hasn't taken bottles lately.

she wakes around 630 and nurses in my bed. then we get up and around 730-8am, she eats cereal (bet 3-4 tablespoons) mixed with formula or EBM, and half to a full jar of either veggies or fruit. sometimes she gets 2-4 cubes (1 cube= 1 tablespoon) of veggies or fruit that i've steamed and mashed/pureed). she also gets teeny finger foods to distract her from taking the spoon from me so much! like cheese, oatios soaked in water to make them slightly mushy, bananas or whatever fruit is in season. then morning nap. she nurses when she wakes. sometimes an hour later, she'll eat something--a smallish "meal" more of a snack really-- usually teeny bits of whatever I'm trying to eat--bread from my sandwich, turkey lunch meat, fruit or string cheese. then the aternoon nap. she nurses after waking. dinner is a couple hours later, usually bet 530 and 6pm. she gets yogurt if she hasn't had it around lunchtime. if she had yogurt earlier, i give her 3-4 tablespoons cereal. I also like to give her avocado every other day or so (it's good for the brain)--either mashed or diced into small small pieces. she gets either fruit or veggies (depending on what she got at breakfast) 2-4 cubes or a jar. also finger foods again. lately we've added tofu and cottage cheese, usually around dinner time.

i give her a sippy cup filled with water during and after the meals. she doesn't get juice.

then she plays a little bit, bath, nurses and bed. she usually goes to bed/sleep bet 730-8pm and sleeps through.

at the 6 month check up, my ped said that physiologically she didn't NEED to eat in the night. he said she'd eat more during the day to make up for not eating at night. he also said that it was important we all sleep at night; he said it was important that I get sleep because a tired mommy caring for a mobile baby is equivilant to falling asleep while driving on the highway!! he said it's important to be on your toes when watching a baby--so many accidents happen when caregivers are tired and not really with it.

we had been traveling and DD went from waking once at night at home (when i nursed her) to waking every couple hours. since her schedule was messed up from traveling, i started not feeding her at night; instead i'd pick her up and pat her and then put her back in the crib. eventually she quit waking up. also, dd's sleeping (night and naps) got much better when she started crawling (6 months).

not sure if any of that helps. GOOD LUCK!

Anne and DD, 10-08-03