How many times a day for nursing 8 month old?

[ajmom]

DD is almost 8 months old and I'm currently nursing her 4 times a day. She also gets a stage 2 fruit with oatmeal in the AM, usually 1-1 1/2 stage 2 foods at lunch and 2 stage 2 w/ rice cereal in the evening.

DH and I will be out of town for a week mid-july. DD will be almost 9 months old by then and, while I still plan to pump and save while we're gone, I'm wondering how much she'll need to drink while I'm gone... Can I go ahead and try to cut another BFing session before we leave? Is 3 times a day enough for an 8/9 month old?

[jillc]

Hi there,

IMO, three times a day isn't enough for an 8/9 month old... since breastmilk (or formula) is supposed to be the primary source of nutrition until 12 months.

My DD was nursing 5-6 times a day until she was about 14 months.

My DS is 6 months old & is currently nursing about maybe 6 or 7 times a day, I'd say.

I'd think if your plan is to cut another BFing session, you'd need to supplement with formula vs. adding more solids.

Just my $0.02, based on my experience. I hope you get lots of good feedback to help you come up with a plan. Enjoy your trip!

Jill

[Wife_and_mommy]

I absolutely agree with PP. That's way too many solids and not enough bm/formula. I'd wean to formula if you want to stop nursing.

DD was nursed about every 3 hours at that age so at least 6, usually 7 times with nightwaking. Granted, she has always eaten like a bird(took her 3 days to eat a 4oz jar) but most of her intake was bm. As I recall she started nursing less(on her own) around the 10-11M mark but her solid intake didn't increase all that much.



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[Bean606]

My DS will be a year on Wednesday, and if I get him to eat some finger foods and 2 jars of Stage 2 foods a day, it is a lot. He nurses at 4:30 a.m., then again sometimes for a few minutes at 7, he gets three bottles at day care, and then nurses again before bed. So, even now, he is still eating at least 5 times a day. At 8-9 months the schedule was pretty much the same, although was often waking up at least one other time during the night. So, I'd say that you might be a little heavy on the solids and not enough on the nursing.

[Tammy]

DD is our first so I may not be the most experienced at this, but she is about the same age as yours (7 1/2 months). She's exclusively bf and nurses about every 3 hours, which comes out to be 6x/day. In the evenings it's a little more often than 3 hours. If she'll nurse more often on the weekends then I do that too, but this is her regular schedule. In the AM she gets cereal w/ half stage 2 fruit, 1 stage 2 vegetable at lunch, and 1 stage 2 fruit at supper. I want her to get enough bm so I don't give her more solids than that, and it seems to work well.
I agree w/ the others, she probably needs to be nursing more since solids are just a supplement to the bm she really needs right now.
Good luck, HTH.