Help Nursing 8 Month Old

J.,

It is normal for your 8 month old to be able to get everything he needs in 6-8 minutes, so he is still nursing fine. As your pregnancy progresses however your milk supply will dwindle away. So whether he likes it or not you may wean due to pregnancy. I am very impressed that you have such a great supply at 20 weeks. You certainly won't have any problems feeding the next one either.

K. @ The Nesting place

My only advice is to not stress about it. If he is ready to wean then it will happen no matter what you do. Kids have a funny way of getting what they need and as long as he is happy and gaining weight then I really would not worry. Check with your pediatrician about his growth if you are concerned. Both of my kids weaned themselves at 9 months. I think my body gives out at that time and stops producing. Additionally since you are pregnant you need to make sure that you are eating enough to support nursing and a growing baby (probably an extra 800 calories a day). Take care of yourself so you can be the best mom ever.

Oh I wish I had your problem! My 15 month old still begs to nurse, (and I tried weaning at a year... of course I rarely let him nurse now, but he still tries).

If you want to nurse more, try nursing him before you feed him the solid food. You are lucky he likes it so much, mine did too and it is so nice not having a super picky eater (of course I am sure that will come later!)

Everything I have read has said that during pregnancy, hormones can change the taste of milk. If he starts refusing to nurse at all, than start to supplement him with formula until he is a year old.

My 7.5 month old nurses 4-5 times a day. The only difference is she is not interested in solids at all so her diet is still soley breastmilk.

When nursing and introducing solid food, rule of thumb is that you nurse THEN offer food...at this point the baby should not be eating food as nutrition, but as experimentation. He should still be nursing just as often as he used to. 9 months is a normal time for a 'nursing strike' that many people think is early weaning...it isn't!

Check out www.kellymom.com for EXCELLENT breastfeeding advice. Also La Leche League has been a GREAT resource for me. (Nursed 3 children so far!)

Yep, my DS and DD did the same at that age and I was not pregnant at the time either. So it happens but I pumped and then they took the bottle fine. So that is an alternative. That way you see how much milk you are producing. But even with pumping, my supply went down... just not as good as a baby, you know?

Congrats on the baby & Good luck!

At 8 months my little girl just turned her self away from me/my breast. I was sad & I tried for about 3 feedings, but she just was not interested. At that same time she was just starting to cut teeth. Well, I took this as a good thing. I too wanted to breastfeed until she was 1 yr, but instead she weaned herself & I gave her formula for about 3 months... then we went straight to regular milk. She was eating solids & a wide variety, so I figured she was getting the vitamins/nutrients that she needed. If your son is a good eater then maybe he doesn't need as much milk from you. Make sure he is getting plenty of water with his solid foods to help keep his stools softer. I'm sure he is getting what he needs & you may have to face the fact that he may not take your breast for as long as you originally planned. I cried when mine wouldn't take mine anymore... but like everyone else said "at least I didn't have to take it from her & have her cry for it".

Good Luck to you,
~S.

J.,

I'm not a breastfeeding mama, but my son is 8 1/2 months old and only takes 4 bottles a day. So nursing 3-4 times a day sounds right, are you allowing him to have water occationally during the day? With nursing 3-4 times and soilds also he should be fine.

Hope this helps,
J.

J.,

My daughter went through the same thing at about this age...it seemed she was just too busy to nurse more than anything. If he is crawling/or pulling up and walking(like my dd) then, it could be that he is just interested in playing or practicing his new tricks, and not so much in nursing. This passed fairly quickly with my baby, however I had to pump alot to keep my supply going during this time.

I nursed my son for a year and that sounds about right. I actually started introducing milk in a sippy cup slowly to my son at about 9 months. Just a couple of ounces twice a week. When he did okay with that for a few weeks, I started giving him more and more. Eventually by the time he was a year old, he only had one feeding left. When I cut that one out, he did just fine... and I never got sore either. The good thing about breastmilk, is that even if they aren't drinking as much, the nutrients are condensed. So I wouldn't worry about it too much at all. Congrats on making it this far!

Others have already responded as far as that nursing frequency not being abnormal for an 8 month, but I will just add that my oldest son weaned himself when I was about 20 weeks pregnant with his brother. I do think the hormones changed the taste of the milk, as well, the milk supply had definitely dwindled, so I don't think he found it worth his effort, but he was much older than your child. So, I would suggest you just continue to nurse as much as you can for as long as he's interested. Also, it is possible that he may want to nurse again once the baby comes, since nursing won't be that distant of a memory for him. I know several women who have done that - the rule there is that you must the infant first, but it is certainly okay to nurse an older baby afterwards. Indeed, that will likely ensure you have no problems with milk supply.