Breastfeeding and Transitioning to Solids

Hi- I didn't breastfeed but i did hear from several sources, including the pediatrician that their main nutrition still at that age is their milk. my son is almost 11 months and his desire for formula has definitely waned. But it took a while for that to happen. He is on a more regular breakfast, lunch, dinner schedule and i am lucky if he finishes a complete bottle in between.
hope this helps! good luck.
oh! you probably already know this but i need to remind myself all the time- once you figure them out, they flip the switch!

Yes if you put her to your breast less often. the body produces as much milk as necessary depending on how often you put your little to your breast. the more often you put her at the breast the more milk your body will produce. I would like to ask a question about introducing her to solids at 4 months old. I've often been told that 6 mos is a good time to introduce them to solids -- they have the teeth for it, their bodies have the enzymes to break food down, and they can sit up by themselves and they show interest in solid foods. And even at that time we are only introducing it to them -- not expecting them to get major nutrition form it b/c they are still taking in breast milk or formuila as their main nutritional source. Keep putting to your breast as often as you did before introducing her to solids and hopefully your supply will keep up.

good luck

Hi E.,
I didn't start solids until 6 months, but didn't notice a decrease in breastmilk supply or demand. Just continue to feed her on demand and your supply should be fine. Food is more of an experimental adventure at this age anyway. DD is now 8.5 months, and although she eats and nibbles all day, she gets most of her nutrients from me and certainly get to bf whenever she wants, including (all night) sometimes! Good luck!!!

ps - i just read all the other mothers responses and wanted to say - is someone telling you to give your baby cereal? don't cave to the baby trainers - your baby doesn't need solids yet. it didn't help baby sleep more, and their digestive systems aren't designed for it. if you started feeding her and decide to stop now, she won't miss it. i started at six months, and i'm sure i could skip a day and she wouldn't miss it.

Breastmilk should be the main source of nutrition for the first year of life. So the recommendation is to nurse first and then feed maybe an hour later. My kids always ate solids and nursed right after (or right before). Don't let solids replace the breast milk. The solids are mainly for practice in the beginning and getting the digestive system used to processing whole foods rather than liquid.

Good luck and congrats on breastfeeding and being a new mommy!

At this age, she should only be taking a few spoonfulls of cereal, and many doctors suggest waiting until 6 months old to feed any solids, so it's really not necessary to even feed her solids at all right now, especially with a breastfed baby. I waited until my son was 6 months old. Solids should definitely not replace breast milk at this age. Up until 7 or 8 months, you should think of solids as dessert- to be taken after breastfeeding and it should be food in addition to breast milk. For more guidance, go to http://www.kellymom.com/nutrition/solids/index.html
and buy the book Super Baby Food by Ruth Yaron. This book is not 100% up to date as far as when to introduce some highly allergenic foods such as peanuts, but the rest of the book is really good.
As far as keeping up your supply, I would not worry about it. You will have enough for your daughter. My son is 10 months old and has a very healthy appetite, but still breastfeeds a lot. He eats 3 meals a day plus one or two snacks, and he breastfeeds about 5 times a day (first thing in the morning, before the morning nap, before the afternoon nap, late afternoon/before dinner and right before bed, and then sometimes in the middle of the night if he wakes up). At this stage your supply is regulated, so you will have no problems. It's all up to you and your daughter. You will figure out how much is enough when you get to that point.

Just use a breast pump, express the extra breast milk, date it, put it in the freezer. :) I did that and used all the extra to mix with baby cereal even after the babies stopped nursing.

Hi E.,

My son is now 10 months old, and we are still successfully breastfeeding and eating solids. I usually breastfeed him 4 times per day (both sides each meal) and then feed him solid foods at 3 different times in the day. For us, this schedule looks something like:
6:30AM nurse
8:30AM solid
10AM nap
11:30AM nurse
1:30PM solid
3PM nap
4:30PM nurse
6PM solid
7PM nurse before bed
7:30PM sleep

Different schedules make sense at different ages, but this has worked well for us for the last couple of months. Good luck!

I nursed my daughter until she was 15 months old and at the very end it was just once a day, but getting to just once a day was a very gradual process. Of course as she started depending on solids on a regular schedule, the less she nursed. I always nursed on demand, so I know that if she wanted or needed it she got it. Congrats on making it this far nursing you can definatly make it through the first year!

Hi E.,
Just as an FYI, the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends giving breastfed baby no supplemental foods til 6 months.
When your baby starts taking food, breastfeedings moms should nurse first, then feed the solids, so that they are just that, a supplement. For infants, the food isn't supposed to replace the milk, the milk is still their primary source of nutrition for the first year. As the months go by and she gets closer to a year, the food will gradually replace some of the milk. A breastfed newborn will nurse 8 to 12 times in a day; usually when you breastfeed to a year, that baby will only be nursing 4-6 times in a day, and taking regular meals. As your baby gradually takes more food, your milk supply gradually readjusts. It may decrease, but that's because in the months ahead, your baby will need less milk.
Good luck!

She'll gradually take less and less breastmilk just like bottle-fed babies will gradually take less formula as they transition to solid foods. That doesn't mean that she'll stop nursing, though. She just doesn't need quite as much because her tummy is being filled with solid food too. As long as you continue to nurse her on-demand as you have been, your body will keep up with her demand, whatever the amount is.
Good luck! Just keep nursing her, you'll make it to 12 months. :-)

You produce milk on a demand type system. The more you nurse, the more milk you will have and the less you nurse the less milk you need.

Your milk productin will go down as she needs less of it but dont worry. I nursed my son til he was 11 1/2 monhts old and he was eating table foods because he wouldnt eat baby food..
During the last month of nursing, he only nursed once or twice a day and he had plenty of milk to fulfil his needs. I also had never been able to feed him on both sides when he nursed. One side.. 7 Minutes.. he was done. He always nursed that way. You could set a timer by him. and I still had enough.

Your milk will be fine as will your nursing abilities.

If though you think you are not producing enough at any time, You can take Brewer's yeast. It is a suppliment that you can take to up your production. I took it for one day and it was amazing how it works.. At the time my son was nursing every 45 minutes... going thru a major growth spurt I guess, but I was exhausted and not producing well.. So I was told to take that. It helped and we got thru that with no problems.

W. in Watkins Glen
Mom to three Kids
Korey-Mikel 16
Whitney 13
Andrea 6

Not to worry!! Your body will adjust to her needs, and her needs will change several times more times more in the next few months. Just don't worry about it because stress CAN affect your supply! Our bodies are made for this, and amazingly without even having to think about any of it, your supply will increase or decrease as needed! good luck!
Jean

I nursed for a little over a year with my son. He started cereal at 4 months too. I would pump and put the breast milk in the cereal...obviously not as much as a regular feeding but I would also freeze the rest of it and save for bottles when I was away, etc. So the pumping maintained my production. Good Luck!

Hi E.,

Just keep nursing her on demand. She is still very young and will be getting her real nutrients from breastmilk. As she ages and wants more solids, keep offering her the breast. Most babies still want to nurse for comfort even if they are not hungry. It is a supply/demand thing just keep nursing and you will have milk.

Hi E.,
my daughter is 9 months old, and we started transitioning to solids when she was around 5 months. I'm still breastfeeding. My supply is definately less than it was a few months ago, but still enough to give her a few feedings a day (morning, evening, and middle of the night). I went back to work FT when she was 7 months, so I've been pumping at work, and that keeps up the supply. As your baby progresses to more and more solids, the breastmilk will become more of a secondary source of food. As long as you keep breastfeeding and pumping, your supply will stay up (again it will reduce over time, but that's OK, as your daughter's intake of solids will increase).
I think you can definately keep it up till 12 months. I didn't think I could do it, but once you get used to pumping it's not so bad. I actually have to travel a lot for work, and I've learned to pump on planes, in airports, in the office, etc. as i don't want to loose my supply. and it's going OK so far. My thinking is that even if I can give her a little bit of breastmilk it's a lot better than nothing. And mostl i want to make sure has a stash in the freezer for when i'm gone. So, don't stress yourself about it, keep breastfeeding when you can, and pumping the rest of the time, and you will be just fine!

Hi E.

I am the mother of a 7 month old who is exclusively breastfed with the exception of his newly introduced solid food. On advice from both my pediatrician and numerous books I have read on the subject, many mothers of breastfed children do not introduce their babies to solid foods until age 6 mos, when iron-fortified cereals begin to become necessary to supplement daily iron intake. In answer to your question, yes, the more solid foods you give your baby, the less milk she will consume. I suggest mixing her cereal with expressed milk. Remember, breastmilk still needs to be her major source of food, at least 32 oz. a day, so if you feel she is not getting enough, cut back on the solid food. I also found it helpful to breastfeed first, then offer cereal so that he only ate it if he was still hungry!