How often does a 6month,7mth,8mth,9mth nurse?

Question

I'm a mom who has a 5month old who nurses every 3 hours. I was wondering if this is normal? I really need to go back to school and was wondering when I can go. Since now I only have a span of 3 hours. I've tried to get him to take my milk in a bottle but he really hates it and my husband gets so frustrated so quick trying to give him the bottle. My husband is terrified to be left alone with him b/c our son will start crying and my husband can't get him to stop usually b/c our son just wants me. So how often does a 6 mth nurse, 7 mth, 8mth, 9mth 10 mth nurse? Also I just gave him his first stage 1 food the other day and he ate it well. How often do I feed him these foods? What does that mean for my nursing? Any recommendations or ideas will help. Thanks all!

Answer 1

After about 6 months they may begin to nurse less since they are eating solids which are likely to last longer in their stomach than breast milk which is why they end up nursing about every 2-3 hours in the beginning. I believe you are supposed introduce foods slowly on a weekly basis to better distinguish potential allergies. Thats a good job being able to nurse that long pediatricians recommend going as long as 18 months.

Answer 2

Sounds to me like your son is cluster feeding for his next growth spurt. Cluster feeding is where baby nurses more frequently to get the body ready to produce more milk for a growth spurt. There's a big growth spurt around 6 months, so he's probably gearing up for it now.

Your baby knows that you're near and that's why he won't take a bottle. Why take it from a bottle when he can get it warm and fresh from the tap with fabulous service (you)? ;) You'll have to leave the house whenever your husband tries to give baby a bottle. My daughter knew when I was in the next room and wouldn't accept a bottle. We didn't try too hard to introduce a bottle because I'm a stay-at-home mom and I always had my daughter with me.

With starting solids you want to go slow, starting with one new food every 4-7 days, so you can watch for reactions. Combination foods (such as pineapples and pears) can be used if you've tried one, or both, of the foods and had no reactions. If you're at all interested in making your own baby food (it's really easy, cheaper and better for baby) I suggest checking out the book "Super Baby Food" by Ruth Yaron. I wouldn't follow the meal plan (it's way too much food for a toddler, let alone a baby!) but there's a lot of good recipes for toddlers, explanation on how to pick fresh fruits and vegetables, and fun craft activities to do when baby is older.

Below I listed some links that will help with starting solids. They're written by a lactation consultant, so they're from the viewpoint of a breastfeeding mom, and they're well researched.

Answer 3

My 6 moth old nurses about every 4 hours. Some times it's more, but I nurse him on demand as opposed to any kind of schedule. He is also not yet eating any solids.
Now that you have started him on solids he should cut back on nursing. Not completely, but a bit. Continue to nurse him whenever he wants, but schedule times for feeding solids. Try to give him 3 feedings per day (breakfast, lunch dinner) and see how the nursing works into that. You should also have your husband take over some feedings. If you don't get your son used to going without you now, you wont til he's like 2 yrs. old! Good luck!

Answer 4

This is all too familar to me.
I have 4 sons ages 9,5,4, and 22 mos. To be honest with you, they all nursed differently. Some were avid eaters from the beginning, and continued that until age one- one was avid but slowed tremendously by 8 mos.- and my baby never was a bigger eater until I weaned him to a sippy cup at age one. If I were to average thier ages and nursing routines, I would say that they nursed about every 2 1/2 hours at 6 and 7 mos, every 3 hours, at 8 and 9 mos every 4 hours, and at 10-12 mos every 5 hours unless it was a very hot day- then he nursed more. I started infant ceral at breakfast and dinner, and stage one food at lunch at 6-8 mos. I then introduced stage 2 at lunch, and contined the cereal at breakfast and lunch when he was 8-10 mos. We exchanged the evening cereal for a stage 3 jar food at 10-12 months, and we kept giving the cereal at breakfast. By doing this, they seemed to stay fuller longer, and nurse less. I went to school as well. I went back between 6 and 8 mos with each child. I went to class from 8am- 12/1pm. I made sure to nurse just before I left him, and immediately when I returned home. At first they wanted to cluster nurse in the evening, since I was away most of the day, but that subsided after a few weeks, when they adjusted to the new schedule. This is only my experience, and yours may be different. I wish you lots of luck. Be sure to pump in between classes if you plan to keep your original schedule on the days that you wont be in school. That is harder to me. We had to make everyday a routine like I was in class so that they could adjust to not having my milk during those hours. With support from your husband, (or the caretaker while you are in school) it can be done!

mamaofthesweetest4

Answer 5

It is important to know that your milk is regulated for your baby by your baby. Unfortunately for us mommies, life exists for them to nurse. This means that they need it exactly when they do, there isn't really a schedule of any sort as the milk is easily digestible and yes it really is that good for them.

Its exactly the same with my husband and my son except that my hubby plays with him a lot and tries to make him laugh and my son would play but never actually go to sleep. Oh yeah we are on a breastfeeding question, well..

I have breastfed for 17 months so far and no problems really except that I HAVE NO LIFE! I can't go to the gym etc. I told myself and I think its true that there is only one time period for this child in my life right now that I would get to be a nursing mom to give my son the best that he can get and that gets me through the long nursing periods where I could be doing something else..

If he is eating his first stage food give it to him on a regular basis like 2 times a day or 3 even. My son at 17 months has lots of teeth and eats 5 times a day, sometimes not actually eating a lot but he gets warm milk, warm chocolate milk, juice, water, rice, beef, egg, beans, banana, appo (that's what he calls it) and he still sucks after every meal and at night too.

My breast are really growing bigger and smaller and bigger and smaller lately as he seemed to have increased his sucking temporarily.

Main trick to being a mommy relax read a lot - talk to lots of people online or in play group.

You are doing wonderfully. I have spoiled my husband a lot though into just letting me do all the work so show your husband how to play peekaboo and ways to make baby happy with lotttttts of cuddles and close body hug and humming and singing kids love being rocked and hummed to (my son loves my singing) So that way he can at least take him into another room and play sometimes because you need some (Mommy is being sane) time. I always end up in the kids channel on my sane time and watch for a while before I realise that I can change it because he is not here...

Enjoy all the wonderful times ahead.

Answer 6

Its completly normal. My son started really slowing down on nursing around 11 months.

Does he still wake at night to nurse? you can encourage reverse cycling, get him to nurse more overnight and he will be able to go longer between feeds durring the day. Alot of babies will just not drink anything while mom is away and then make up for it when she gets home.

You might want to start with only one or two classes (on alternating days) and go from there.

Answer 7

At 8 months they go down to 3 times a day and start feeding them baby food