Nursing My 8 Months Old Daughter

Hi M.!

Don't stress - have you tried table foods? My son went nuts for table foods at 8 months. I skipped all the Gerber stuff and just fed him boiled potatoes mashed with butter and even lasagne if he wanted it - he's a healthy strong 6 y/o now. I hope that helps. Try not to worry about it too much, babies grow by leaps and bounds - mine were all fat at one point, skinny the next, and then finally settled into normal weights :)

I think it is important that you listen to your Dr. on this one. Start adding bottles of formula, add cereal. A baby needs to gain weight, she needs to weigh more then 15 and a half pounds, thats just so little.

I assuming your daughter is eating baby food, try giving her cherioos or a teething biscuit. my son is 10 months and loves cherioos and a great source of fiber and calories. you shouldn't be concerned about 2 oz all children wieght goes up and down during there first year of life. i am a firm believer of nursing and most babies are smaller on wieght because of it you just have to give her more of food. baby food or baby cereal, if you wanted add about 2 tablespoons of rice cereal to her bottles, 1 to 2 times a day, to give her added calories. hope this helps i've done this now 3 times so i hope i know what i'm doing.

At 8 months you should prbably have her started on rice cereal, etc, but I would also get a second opinion. Breast milk is VERY nutritious and as long as she seems healthy I would not worry too much. I would not think that you should have to add formula. That sounds strange to me. What about using breast milk in the cereal instead of formula or water?

Have you tried pumping after every feeding for 10 mins or more to help with milk production. There is also herbal and perscription solutions to help with breast milk production. I would suggest visiting with a lactation consultant. They are very helpful.

Have you introduced solids? My daughter was always very low in the weight percentiles until I introduced solids. Now she's right in the 50%. I also breastfeed and I don't think there is anything that you can eat to help her gain weight. Your body alters the milk to what your baby needs and I'm sure she's healthy. I wouldn't add formula unless you want to start weaning from breast. But I'm sure you know that already.

I really don't know what to tell you other than my daughter is the same way...she weighed 8 pounds at birth and now she only weighs 14 pounds and she is 5 months old. I breast feed my daughter also. I know alot of mothers also who's children haven't really gained a significant amount of weight. IMO they are just basing the weight gain on formula fed babies...of course they will be bigger than BF babies. Well i will make sure to let you know anything that i find out okay.

You didn't mention solids...you're doing solids, right? Between 6 and 10 months your milk becomes less fatty no matter what, solids replace he calories lost. Not to be all dramatic, but I was surprized when I recently learned that babies deprived of solids after mo 9 can actually starve to death...I had no idea!
(fyi, I am still breastfeeding my 11 mo son...thought I'd wean at 1 yr, but don't see that happening anymore...he doesn't seem to be ready. Also, I was surprized at the last check up that my son hadn't gained any weight in 3 months...stuck at 20.5...pede said it was totally normal, just to up the solids)
Good Luck

Breastmilk is nutritonally perfect. I wouldn't worry about her weight as long as she is having enough wet diapers a day. You should check out lalecheleague.com for the official scoop on breastmilk. Not every ped/doctor is up to date on breastmilk nutrition. Get another opinion if you must. Weight charts are done on a curve system, so I wouldn't worry about it. Plus, your baby is becoming more active, so she will naturally begin to tone down when she starts to crawl, etc. The only reason you should add formula or breastmilk to rice cereals is to add protein to the cereal. Even if you eat a crappy diet, you're body will produce nutritionally perfect food for your baby, even if it has to glean nutrients from the organs in your body. Is your baby happy? Active? Alert? 5 to 10 wet diapers a day? If yes, then I wouldn't worry about it. My roommates baby is only ten pounds and four months old, breastfeeds like crazy and her ped says she is thriving. Good job breastfeeding, mama!

How much is she eating in the way of solid foods? And, a 2 ounces loss can always be counted for in a nice diaper!!!! I also have an eight month daughter. She's a big girl, but she also has not gained much since 4 or 5 months. But that is just how babies grow. By now she should have quite a few solids in her diet. In the morning my daughter has yogurt with cereal mixed in and little pieces of banana to pick up on her tray, lunch is usually breast and dinner soft noodles cut up with some very finely chopped chicken and some over cooked veggies. Don't let them tell you your breastmilk isn't enough, but by this age she does need some extra. The majority of her daily caloric intake is on a teeter-totter between breast and solids. You just need to up one of them. My daughter really enjoys yogurt and shredded cheese and those are a great source for calories AND protein which is vital aswell. What does she eat now?

if she is 8m shes eating other foods and i would think that her calories need to be added to that. she needs your milk (of course look at your diet) -this was alittle sort and simple/sorry

First, I think you need to find a new ped. Yours is obviously undereducated about breastfeeding and probably doesn't like that you are still nursing, which is why he's recommending unnecessary supplementation. Second, your daughter's weight is fine. Weight loss at this age could have nothing to do with diet. Has she been more active lately? Since her prior appointment, perhaps she started crawling, or moving herself around in some way that would cause her to drop some weight. It is such an insignificant drop at a time when many babies are really becoming more active that I think MOST pediatricians would not even think twice about it. If she is meeting all her developmental milestones and wetting enough diapers per day, she is PERFECTLY FINE.

Breastmilk has more calories per ounce than just about anything else that you could give your daughter. If you continue to nurse on demand, before offering solids, she will grow and develop perfectly. Then, when you would already offer solids (if you guys are doing that yet), offer fattier solids, like avocado. That'll just boost the amount of calories in a way that won't affect all the calories she's getting from breastmilk. (Too many solids = less breastfeeding = fewer calories.) At around 9 months to a year, you can start introducing dairy products that aren't straight cow's milk. Whole fat yogurt, cheese, butter, etc. These are also good ways to help her put on a little weight if you're concerned. Just make sure to avoid peanut butter, as I'm sure you don't want to encourage your daughter to have a peanut allergy when she gets older.

In short, you absolutely do not need to supplement with something that is not nearly as good as what you're already giving her.

I wouldn't worry too much about what the doctors say. They go by those growth charts and percentages and not everyone is going to fit what they consider to be "average". My kids were always in the %5 or below on the weight charts. My daughter is 2 and weighs 22lbs. My son is almost 4 and weighs 30lbs. I'm really small myself so that's where they get it from. I never gave my kids formula, but at 8mos. you can start giving them table food.

Nothing you eat is going to increase the calories in your breastmilk. You can try though to encourage her to nurse more often. Is she eating solids well? I agree that putting formula into her baby cereal (rather than water) would help her gain some weight. Try also adding baby cereal to her pureed veggies and fruits, just making it a little thicker and adding some calories. Also at 8 months she is able to eat crackers and bread if you haven't been giving her those already. And then there's juice, lots of calories there. I hope this has been of some help to you. It would have helped me to know how much of her baby foods she is eating now and how often she nurses.

Hi M.,

It is definately NOT NECESSARY for you to add formula to your daughter's diet. As long as you are eating a well-balanced and calorie-rich diet, your breastmilk is still 100% nutritionally complete for your 8 month old. My son is 9 and a half months and almost still nurses exclusively. He only eats solids a few times a week, if that much. I recommend you contact a certified lactation consultant to find ways you can increase the fat content of your breastmilk. I think something like marshmallow root will help with that. You can also contact the Nursing Mother's Council free peer support line, at ###-###-####. They are moms trained in giving breastfeeding advice and may be able to give you some quick answers over the phone.

You can help your daughter gain weight by nursing her as often as possible. If you can sleep while she nurses, you can let her sleep with you and see if she'll nurse at night. I can sleep fine with my son attached all night, but many women can't. You can also nurse her before you feed her solid foods, so that she gets more breastmilk than she would if she nursed after she ate. You can also pick wisely the solids that she does eat. Foods such as avocado and olives are full of healthy fats, and are easy on the digestive system. If you're concerned about the advice you were given by your daughter's doctor, you can always have her checked out by someone else as well.

Good luck!
A.

When my son was 4 months he weighed about 14lbs. Then at 6 months he weighed almost the same. I was worried about him too. I have always been a real busy person and being a stay at home mom I make sure to keep the house picked up and clean so I didn't carry my son around a lot so he wouldn't get use to being held. I would move him from walker to activity center to bouncy chair to swing (not always in the order) to keep him occupied and so I think he was getting quite a bit of activity and burning quite a few calories. I did (and still do) breast feed him but at 6 months I started feeding him cereal and slowly on to other foods. I don't like the thought of formula if you don't have to and I wouldn't recommend adding like butter or fats to her food. Maybe try some more healthy carbs like cheerios and whole wheat bread. Gerber also has meals in the jars (such as pasta and meat) and little raviolies. My son loves those. Also if you feed her like 3 times a day try adding in a snack or two. My son somtimes gets a snack close to bedtime. I know they tell adults not to eat to late in the evening since it just puts on the pounds. That might be a good thing for your daughter. I hope this helped somewhat.

You can put Juice in the cereal taht will add on calories... But so will peanut butter... My daughters favorite thing was when I would mash up bananas and peanut butter (add in a little breast milk to make it not so thick). It is best if you can find a peanut butter with no sugar in it. Tofu is also good, you can get the soft kind and add that to her cereal. There are so many options other than giving formula...

I hope you are not seeing the retard doctor Condon!!! He gave me equally bad advice nearly ten years ago and the point is this: do what you believe. If your daughter is losing weight, nurse her more often. She is at the age where they beome more active and losing ounces isn't a big deal. Sleep with her and let her nurse all night to prepare her for a busy day. There is nothing worse than some guy (posing as a doctor) telling you how to manage your child's diet. Find another doctor who really supports nursing. Good luck!

My daughter was born a month earlier and was in the hospital due to some complications for about a month before I brought her home, and the doctors told me I needed to add formula to my breastmilk to give her extra calories. So, I would pump and add formula all the time. This is my first child who is now 7 months old and of course I did what all the doctors told me to, because I didn't know any better, but I would nurse once or twice a day so she wouldn't forget and she wouldn't nurse at all anymore after a couple months. So, I continually pump and add formula for the extra calories. My daughter at 6 1/2 months weighed 12 lbs 12 oz., but she is so active now that she burns so many calories now and at about 6 months is when they don't gain as much do to being so active.

Anyhow, you may want to get a second opinion, but you don't want her to continually lose weight, and if she's not eating that many solids yet, adding formula probably wouldn't hurt her. Maybe even if it's just a few times a day. We add 1 tsp per ounce.

Good Luck!