Baby Girl Weening Herself

My daugther is just 7 months and at about 5 months she did the same thing.. she went from 15 min on each breast to about 10... time kept decreasing now she is down to 5 min on one side and maybe 3 on the other sometimes less. However her weight gain shows she is getting plenty... some babies are just able to take the milk in more quickly than others. I would definitely not treat her like she is weaning... and I would suggest avoiding a bottle if you want her to continue with breastmilk. My daughter is also getting 2 solid feedings a day. Good luck!

I am a firm believer in children will eat as much as they need. When I nursed, my son would decrease the time it took to eat as he got older. I kept thinking he was weaning himself, but he continued to love to nurse and would eat in about 5 minutes (each side) until he was 13 months, when I weaned him. I think kids just become more efficient (on the breast). I never supplemented (which I heard is one way that kids WILL tend to not drink as much from the breast). Around 6 months is when I noticed my son not staying on the breast as long. I thought it could also be due to the fact that he was so interested in other things since he was learning to sit up, crawl, play with toys, etc. I think it is natural for kids at this age to eat less (or at least be more efficient) so they can 'play'.

Here are some things to consider:

Have you started giving your daughter any other foods, like cereal/baby food? That sometimes makes kids nurse less often.

Also, could you be pregnant again? I have read that breast milk tastes more sour once you get pregnant and many babies wean themselves early.

Hope this helps!

Maybe she's just sucking stronger. i was (and still am) amazed at how fast my now 10 month old son could nurse. i think i was just so used to the 20-30 min feeding that as he grew and got stronger the feeding time decreased. He now takes maybe 10 min total to nurse. If she seems satisfied i wouldn't worry about it. Good luck!

That doesn't sound like she's weaning herself, it sounds like she's eating what she needs. As long as she's gaining weight and wets enough diapers in a day, you don't need to do any supplementing at all. A lot of pediatricians are misinformed about it, and frankly don't know much about breastfeeding. I've breastfed 4 children exclusively, and the rule of thumb with my pediatrician has always been gaining weight, enough diapers, good enough. I'd just nurse her and be done with it - as babies get older, they don't need to eat as much at a time. They get better and more efficient at getting the milk out, and they get interested in other things. You may also want to see about finding a different pediatrician, one who understands breastfeeding better. Feel free to email me if you have questions about this, I'm always happy to help.

Mary/F.
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You can not measure in ounces how much milk a baby is getting from the breast. If they pee, poop, and grow those are all go signs. It does not sound like your doctor is very supportive of breastfeeding. Formula is vastly inferior to breastmilk and I would avoid it without a doctor showing me very good medical reason. Babies are much more efficient at emptying a breast than a pump so the amount you get pumping is not a good measure of how much the baby is taking. Babies are very efficient and it is not unusual for a baby to fill up in under 10min. Breast fed babies do not over eat. It is very easy to teach a bottle fed baby to over eat. With my 2nd child the dr. was worried because he was on the small end of the growth chart. He grew steadily but he wasn't average. I am not a tall person neither is my husband. Our son is nearly 11yr. now and he is still small for his age but perfectly healthy. As long as the baby is healthy I would just relax and breastfeed on demand as long as the two of you want to and let her enjoy playing with some solid food. If she is nursing she is getting all the nutrients she needs and the solids are just fun for learning. A good source for this kind of stuff is askdrsears.com

Hi there,

Kudos for breastfeeding and getting your daughter off to a great start! I am presently still breastfeeding my 22-month-old son on demand. It doesn't quite sound as though your pediatrician is an astute proponent of breastfeeding. Your baby is the best indication of her nutritional well-being (she's gaining weight properly, soiling diapers adequately and I assume reaching other developmental milestones appropriately). Babies often grow increasingly proficient at nursing, and you might be surprised by the volume of milk she receives from what may seem to be brief nursing sessions.

"True SELF-weaning before a baby is a year old is very uncommon. In fact, it is unusual for a baby to wean before 18-24 months unless mom is encouraging weaning-" kellymom.com

Low milk supply and normal developmental stages (for example, older babies are sometimes to be distractible) may lead to periods of disinterest at the breast. I highly encourage you to check out the following link for further explanation (La Leche League is also a wonderful source of information).

http://www.kellymom.com/bf/weaning/babyselfwean.html

I also caution you that introducing increasing volumes of formula will likely negatively impact your milk supply and further encourage premature weaning. If you feel strongly about breastfeeding, stay encouraged and remain steadfast in offering your daughter the breast.

Best of luck to you!!

I agree with everyone who mentions babies getting more efficient at nursing. What makes you think she isn't getting enough? How can you know how much she is getting? Time is not a good indicator at her age. If she is really weaning herself and not eating enough (and I do have a friend who this happened to, so it is possible, but rare)- she will lose weight, have fewer wet diapers. If neither of those things is happening, than she is fine, and keep breast feeding. Do not supplement, that will actually make the situation worse.

If she is losing weight/getting dehydrated than I would talk with a lactaction consultant. They can evaluate the situation and provide appropriate advice, your peditricians advice sounds not very informed about breastfeeding or overfeeding in general. The guidelines about the amount an infant needs are guidelines, you need to judge by mood, weight, and diapers if there is not enough nutrition being provided not by some set number.

Hope this helped. KC

32 oz. of forumla sounds a bit much for her age and for how well she is growing. My son is a year and he never took more than 26 oz. in a day even when he was going through a growth spurt. If your daughter is growing I'd say stick with what you're doing because she is obviously eating enough to sustain her and help her grow. You also have to remember that as babies get older, they become much more efficient at nursing, so it is taking her less time ot eat, but she is most likely getting the same amount as before because she is just better at it.

Children get to be more efficient eaters as they get older--are you sure she isn't just getting more milk in less time? I know my daughter seldom nurses for 20 minutes nowadays, but she's growing fine and has plenty of wet and dirty diapers.

You and your doctor have no way of knowing if she's getting 32 oz of milk, just like no one who is breastfeeding really knows (unless they pump exclusively).

I would go see a lactation consultant who can weigh your daughter before and after a feeding to see how much she's taking in. If she's thriving and not dehydrated, I have no idea why your doctor would recommend supplementing, it sounds like she's thriving quite well!

good luck!

Baby's grow at their own speed. No need to worry in that area. Sometimes babies will cut back on nursing for a brief time and then pick up again. I would not give the baby a bottle. She will eat when she is hungry. The older a baby gets the faster he can suck the milk out. I was told they get most of the milk in the first 3 minutes. Breast is the best always for the first year of life. AF

first of all, if you have concerns the first thing is to talk to your baby nurse and call them, Everyone situation is totally different. I breast feed my daughter and she did the same thing. When she got older the least she wanted to be on the breast. when i went through the same thing, her nurse told me that she is getting plenty of fluids and not to worry, i was freaking out as well, i thought she was dehydrated as well but she never went to the doctor for that situation. if she drinks 6 oz after breast feedin, maybe she's full. make sure you start to give her some water as well. she need to drink water everyday so she wont drink only milk when she get older. I think she's fine, to really ease your mind just call the nurse and i'm sure she'll tell you the same thing.good luck

Hi, M.W.

I attended numerous La Leche League meetings when I was pregnant, because I knew I would encounter many questions and some push back from medical professionals and family members who were not quite so supportive or knowledgable...

The message that I received from my LLL meetings, childbirth instructor and others knowledgable about breastfeeding is that the babies will drink what they need to sustain themselves (especially after a solid nursing pattern has been established).

A few points that I heard:
- The "ounces" that are presented in the medical community are guidelines or averages.... the key is to do what you are doing... make sure that she is not dehydrating (checking diapers is one way to do this) and that her weight is not dropping. Some babies will drink a lot more than 32 ounces, and others less! (The same goes for guidelines around solid foods - remember that they are just guidelines/averages!)
- I also found that my active baby (around 5 - 6 months) became more interested in other activities than just nursing... as a result I found that he ate more efficiently... so the time that his took him to eat actually dropped. Our leisurely nursing sessions gradually turned into quick power feeds, so he could get back to crawling, sitting, whatever... it actually made my life much easier and I enjoyed nursing even more because it was even easier in public.
- As a side note, we went straight from the breast to a cup (sippy, straw or just topless cup). This way, we had no attachment issues to the bottle. My son learned early on how to drink from a straw which makes my diaper bag much lighter.... he is now 16 months, fully weaned and an adventurous eater (there will be days here and there where he does not eat much... don't stress about that, just offer healthy options and remember that it all evens out as long you just make sure his diapers are normal.)
- Two book recommendations: Super Baby Food by Ruth Beth Yaron (sp) and The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding by LLL.
- If I were you, I would not give the bottle unless I saw my baby's weight dropping, signs of dehydration or increased crankiness potentially due to hunger or thirst.
- You might also want to chat with a lactation consultant as a second/professional opinion.

Best of luck to you. You sound like a great mom, so there is really no bad decision, just the one that makes you feel the most comfortable.

Hope this is helpful.

- E

I would not worry about it. All three of my children only nursed three to five minutes on each side. And around six months they started cutting back the number of times they would nurse in the day. If you are giving her food now along with nursing she may not need as much breast milk. As long as she is still gaining weight she is fine.

She's not weaning. She's doing what older babies do, becoming more efficient. Keep offering the breast. She's getting what she needs as long as diaper output hasn't changed.

Be glad that she's such a champion nurser that she doesn't always take so long anymore. AND GOOD JOB MOM FOR NURSING FOR SO LONG!!

How comfortable with/supportive of breastfeeding has your pediatrician been until now? I think sometimes peds will see that a mother is distressed or concerned about a BF issue (for lack of a better word) and, in an effort to reassure (or take an "easier," more scientific approach), will simply open up the formula option, so that mom and doc can be "sure" that the baby is getting what she needs. It's an easy way for him to reassure you, to give you bench marks (like 32 oz/day) that you can both point to and "know" that you're doing things right. But (and this is why I ask about his attitude about BF up until now), that position is not actually helpful or scientifically/medically valid. The fact is, as you've heard I'm sure many times (and you can even hear from the formula makers themselves), formula simply isn't as good for your baby as breast milk. The 32oz recommendation is for formula and/or cow's milk (though, as I'm sure you know, you don't want to introduce cow's milk until she's at least a year old), and has nothing to do with how much breast milk your baby should be getting. Mother's milk is a different thing altogether. We don't honestly know how much is enough; different women's milk is different, different babies are different and different stages and ages are different. There are no guidelines except those that your baby gives you. If she's wetting enough diapers, pooping enough, and growing enough, then she's getting enough. Not only that, but at around this age, babies not only get more efficient (so they nurse for less time; and your daughter's feeding times are totally within the norm) but they also get far more interested in the world around them, so they become very easily distracted. Haven't you noticed how sometimes she will pop off the breast and smile at you, or look around, or want to engage with her world, but when you go to put your breast away, she suddenly seems to remember what she was doing and want more? If she had her way, you'd just walk around topless all the time during this time so she could pop on and off all day long and let her interests take her where they will. But of course, it's the rare mom who can do that! Nature knows that they get distracted, so your milk changes; it is likely higher in calories and fat right now than it was a few weeks ago, and your daughter is likely to be sneaking in an extra feeding or two during the day. She may even start night-waking to make up for it (to avoid that, just try to encourage an extra feeding or two toward the end of the day). As long as you ~don't~ supplement, your body and your daughter's body will work together to make sure that she gets what she needs on her schedule. If you supplement, you add a detail that your body can't account for, so it will change the balance.
Of course, there are times when supplementation can be necessary, but they are rare and this really doesn't sound like one. Talk to your ped about what his actual concerns are, is her growth slowing (also bear in mind that a lot of kids' growth slows when you add solids; solids are an inferior source of calories and nutrients, and so their growth will naturally slow, and that's totally ok), and is he recommending supplementation to ease your (or his) concerns or b/c he sees a real medical concern?
Sorry this is so long-winded. The time from about 6-10 months (not that it's four months long, but that it starts somewhere in there for most babies) can be really trying because there are so many changes and they happen so fast, and your ped should know this and be supporting you, not necessarily assuming you want an easy out. That's why this is the time when so many moms give up BF and switch to formula. Stick with it! It gets easy again and your little girl's body will thank you for it!

Congrats to you on the nursing! With nursing it's hard to know how much your child is consuming. But rest assured, at that age, if your daughter is not getting enough milk, she'd be letting you know. It may not be that she is starting to ween, but that she is more efficient in her suckling. Now that she is older, she may be able to drink more in a lesser time. And if she's starting to eat solids, she will cut back on her nursing.

I nursed both of my girls slightly past 1 yr. I had a great situation with their daycare next door to my office so they would call when she needed to nurse. Neither of them had to take a bottle much, but I had expressed milk there for when I couldn't come. The most either of them ever drank was 5 ounces at a time, and usually around 4 or less. I always wondered about the kids the that downed 8 ounce bottles and why my girls didn't drink that much. I'm pretty sure they rarely nursed to get 32 oz a day. They are 7 and 4 now and healthy.

Is she eating other foods too.
I wouldn't go to the bottle personally.
Her growth may have slowed down so she does't want much.
Nurse more so your milk supply will build back up and I'd give her an oz less of formula every few days!!
It can only be good for her!!
Eat good yourself so your milk so high quality too!
Drink plenty of water too.
Keep in touch if you'd like.
God Bless!!

as babies age, they get better at getting the milk out quicker. i wouldn't necessarily think that she's weaning -- she's just getting more efficient at getting milk out quicker. Also, your milk comes out quicker as you nurse longer -- not sure if you noticed at first when you tried to hand express there was maybe one stream of milk. I bet if you tried to hand express now you'd see 4 or 5 streams of milk coming out.

if you want to know how much she's drinking, put her on an infant scale before she eats on one breast, after she eats on one breast, then again after she eats off the other one. you'll see exactly how much she's taking in but how much more she weighs.

if you don't have an infant scale, go to the Lactation Station at GBMC Hospital. they have one you can use for free whenever they are open.

it sounds like your doctor isn't exactly supportive of breastfeeding, or else s/he wouldn't have jumped to that conclusion???

Your doctor's numbers are a scientist's fantasy. Every doctor would love to know exactly how much a baby is eating and what the caloric value is--that's why they always push bottles.

However, the real-life truth is this. Your daughter eats what she needs when she needs it. The caloric value of your milk changes over the course of the day--every feeding is different. And that's the way nature designed the system. Your doctor cannot improve on it. If you nurse your daughter and leave the bottles out of the equation, she will get enough--as long as you let her nurse when she wants it. If you've been giving her bottles and try to stop, expect her to want to nurse more often for a few days to a week to stimulate your supply.

There may also be an issue of her coming off a growth spurt. If she was eating more because she was on a growth spurt, then she will appear to slow down, but will still be getting what she needs because she's stimulated your supply.

As for weaning, many moms say their baby is "weaning him/herself" when really, the issue is the way solid foods are being introduced. If you fill a baby's tummy with solids and then offer the breast, of course s/he won't nurse as long. Always offer the breast first and then offer solids. The breastmilk is far richer in nutrients and calories than any baby food out there. Let solids be dessert, for fun and new experience, rather than nutrition.

I wouldn't stress too much about it. Kids are pretty good about eating when they are hungry and laying off when they are not. You can't accurately gauge how much milk she is getting when you are nursing. Maybe your milk production is way up after her last growth spurt and she is getting enough with a shorter feeding time. I can't say I ever timed my nursing. I just fed on demand and if he didn't demand it assumed he just wasn't hungry. If she is not too thin and not dehydrated it doesn't really seem like much cause to worry. Doctors have very set ideas but every child is different.

I nursed three boys all to 12 months. I'd say that at 6 months she is just a MUCH more efficient feeder!! She is probably getting the same amount of milk from you as she always has - she's just getting it faster! Since there's no real way to know just what's she's getting - I'd say watch the other signs you mentioned - dehydration weight gain/loss, etc. If she is thriving on just you - don't worry about the exact volume. With each of my children they nursed for less time than the prior child- I think my body gave up the milk faster, I was better and more relaxed with it. At 6 months you are probably adding some solid foods too - and this will slowly change how much she gets from you as well. I'd skip the formula if possible - but trust your instincts!

D.

Are you sure she is getting enough milk out of your breast to drink for 10min...Make sure you arent drying up. Sometimes meds and stress can cause you to dry up. If you have enough milk then keep on breastfeeding. But I wouldnt bother w/ a bottle, she is old enough to go straight to the cup if you like. You can either pump or give her formula in her cup. My son never drank more than 4oz in his bottle and barely got in the 32oz he was "supposed" to have. He was fine. I think 75th% is fine. As long as she is happy and otherwise progressing normally.

Hi MW,

Have you contacted anyone from La Leche League?

They are a great resource with breast feeding issues.

www.lllusa.org/VA/WebTidewaterVA

Parenting support groups help at

http://attachmentparenting.meetup.com

Hope this helps. Good luck. D.

I wouldn't call that weaning, I'd say it's efficiency. Kellymom.com has great resources if you want to look into them - I'd keep nursing as long as you can. Does your doc know the pediatric academy and the WHO both say to nurse for at least a year?

sounds like time for rice cereal and baby food!

My two children were as different as night and day when it came to nursing. My firstborn nursed without problems until she was 10 months old and then she stopped. i had to pump for the last two months and she took a sippy cup. my second child is now 9 months old and she dislikes the bottle - will only take the breast most times. i can't supplement with formula. But, i take the advice of my midwife, who said that babies who breastfeed know how much milk they need. so i don't worry about how many ounces she is getting. i just make sure she doesn't appear dehydrated. i mix the breast milk in with the cereal as well. somedays she gets the "recommended amount" and other days she doesn't. it seems like you are very attentive to these things, so trust yourself and the fact that you have been through this before. good luck.