Solids & Breastfeeding

Hi,


We started our little boy on solids a couple of weeks ago and it seems to be going well. He is eating quite a bit at each meal, but I notice that he is taking less BM after his food.


I'm quite keen to keep breastfeeding but have not decided for how long. My questions to you moms are:


1) How long did you breastfeed for once you started introducing solids?


2)Which feeds did you keep an which did you drop, and when?


3) When you started dropping feeds, did you have to pump to keep up your supply?


Thanks as always!

still breastfeeding - daughter now almost a year. (will be on 2/11)


but only one feed a day - evenings before she goes to bed. Up until last week, she was having two feeds - as soon as she woke up and when she went to bed.


6 months - same - just let baby reduce amount taken in - but pumped in order to have a supply so I could return to work.


7 months same - as above


8 months - dropped first feed (lunch), continued to pump, but dramatic drop in ability to get anything out.


9 months - still 3 feeds (AM, 2:30 snack, PM) but no more pumping as I couldn't get anything out, and had a decent enough supply in the freezer


10 months - occasionally drop 2:30 snack feed, and replaced with yogurt or fruit, but if I was around, kept at it.


11 months - dropped 2:30 snack feed, bfeed only 2X a day


12 months - one feed, before bed.


you main question about pumping to keep up supply - a bunch of moms who pumped in order to work talked about how at around 8.5 months, pumping became REALLY hard work. (i could only get about 50 mls a pump by then.)

HKCC -- thanks as always!

HKCC - forgot to ask: how long do you plan to continue breastfeeding for?

I'd like to keep bfeeding for a while longer - but I may be called to the US on a family emergency - so will probably leave my girls behind, and in that case, would stop bfeeding altogether.


I weaned my first at 13 months - more because I was pregnant and exhausted than because I wanted to...


Up until I dropped my AM feed, I ALWAYS gave my breastmilk first. She woke up, diaper change, bfeed, and then her solids 30 minutes later.


Lunch, before I dropped the feed, I fed food first and then gave breastmilk afterwards.


Snack was always just milk


and her dinner was at 5:00, followed by feed at 6:45ish.


I do think there is no single formula - just watch and see how the baby is taking to foods. But Waffle HK is right in that if your baby isn't eating a TON of food, you don't need to worry about it for the first few months. It's not until, really month 9 or so that you'll notice a significant drop.

I see waffle already said it, but if you want to wean, feed solids first. If you do this, he will satisfy hunger by eating and then just "top off" with breast milk and thus your supply will diminish. On the other hand, if you want to keep bf, nurse him first before offering solids. That way, he will continue to meet nutritional needs through bf and only use solids to fill up if he's still hungry (and also to experiment etc). I personally prefer the latter, especially when your baby is younger than 14 months or so and not all foods have yet been introduced. Remember that in the first year of life, and especially in the first six months, everything you feed is an inferior substitute for the perfect food of breast milk. OTOH, the goal eventually for everyone is to wean, and eventually he will be meeting all his nutritional needs with solids. It's really just a matter of how fast or slowly you do it -- are you going to wean over a period of two months or two years!? Ideally, if you have assurance he is getting nutritional needs met through bf, you can introduce solids gradually and pleasantly, with no pressure to "add" things or get stressed over it. If you BF before offering solids, BF will supply primary nutrition during the time when he is experimenting with all these new tastes and textures. That way, if he doesn't like something or doesn't "eat," it's not a big nutritional crisis and there's simply not as much pressure in terms of timetable. But yes, as he eats more solids it is natural and expected that your bm supply will diminish over time. Think of the weaning process as beginning whenever you start solids, and then lasting over a period of months or even years! Why would you pump or want to maintain a milk supply, if he's eating solids well? Over time, bf quits being about nutrition and more about loving and cuddling. Eventually, you do stop offering the breast, he will begin meeting nutritional needs through solids, and he will stop asking to nurse as well. Gradually, you will find that you are only bf three, then two, then one time per day, then every couple of days. My 3rd child weaned so gradually I wasn't even actually aware when it happened, I think I just realized one day she had gone more than ten days without asking to nurse at naptime.

Thanks for all your advice ladies. Sorry if I didn't give enough information:


Bubs is 6 months old and he eats about 3 TBS of solids mixed with one cube (20mls) of breastmilk twice a day. I am tier-feeding so hopefully he does get most of his nutrients from breastmilk still, but I notice that he tends to come off the breast quite soon BEFORE the solids. He does go back to the breast after his meal though (usually for a good amount of time) so hopefully he is still getting most of his nutrients from Bmilk.


What does concern me is that he has really lost interest in his snacktime bfeed. We used to have this at 2:30pm so I pushed it back to 2:45 pm and then 3pm and then 3:15pm but he is still not that interested. I guess I will keep offering him the feed -- better that he is taking a small amount than nothing at all.


Thanks for sharing your bfeed schedules. It gives me a much better idea about how to keep hold of one or two feeds just for our own mom and baby time.

Just to add to that, at 6 months and after feeds get shorter also becasue you and baby are more efficient - we were down to under 5 minutes!

Thanks Crj you are right, we have definitely become more efficient -- feeds used to take a full hour just a few months ago!


Problem now is that my boobs are still full (and sometimes still leaking!) when Bubs pulls away; And during the feeds where he DOES want to eat (usually after his solids) he can still suck away for half an hour -- there is still milk coming out, I've checked.


I am trying not to stress too much about his bmilk intake, just trying to figure out if I am doing something wrong that prevents from drinking his full fill at snacktime.

1. World Health Organization and the other major health organizations recommend exclusive breastfeeding the baby's first six months. This is followed by the introduction of solids at six months with continued breastfeeding through the first year or as long as mutually desired by mother and child.



2. Some babies may breastfeed less oftne or for shorter periods once solids are introduced at six months.If choosing to wean the middle of the day feeds are usually the first to be dropped, morning and night time feeds the last ones to be dropped.



3. If you do not want to wean, then continue to breastfeed on demand following the introduction of solids and your body will match your baby's needs. You can expess for the times you are away from you baby if you wish to establish a supply of frozen milk or chilled milk.


Well Baby Clinic - 2849 1500

Matilda International Hospital

Hong Kong

http://www.matilda.org