Hi all
My almost 11-month-old son is drinking about 18 ozs of breast milk a day at daycare. I nurse him in the morning, in the evening, and whenever he wakes up at night (which is happening a lot lately!). For the past few days, I have only been able to pump about 12 ozs (that's with pumping 4 times a day). I am quickly going through my back up supply and will probably run out by the end of the week. He only has about 2 weeks left of day care before I keep him home for the summer (I'm a teacher) but I'm worried that I won't be able to get enough milk for him during the day until break. He's also eating tons of solids and table foods. I was thinking of mixing his bottles with a couple ozs of whole milk to tide us over. Is this too early or should I send him with less milk (only about 12 ozs) and then increase the amount of table food he eats at daycare?
I exclusive breastfed my daughter, but around 11 months, I started added a bit of whole milk - just 1 or 2 oz. to her bottle - to prepare her to drink whole milk only. She was fine.
Whole milk can be hard on a little one's stomach. Both of my girls became *extremely* constipated when we introduced whole milk, such that we had to back off of that completely and go to soy milk (I guess now they recommend rice milk instead, due to concerns about too much soy). Anyway, I guess I'm wondering why you couldn't send him with some formula that his care providers could give him if he runs short of the milk and doesn't want more table foods? My kids were never the greatest about eating good, balanced meals at that age (they were more interested in squishing their food around their tray, stuffing it up their noses, throwing it...), so our pedi told me to definitely keep as much milk or formula in their diets as I could, to ensure they were getting enough nutrients. But if your son is a good eater, maybe that's not an issue. I'd double-check with the pedi to be sure, but honestly, I'd just give him a little formula. He's still getting breastmilk, so the formula would just be a backstop against him getting hungry while at daycare, you know?
No to more food and less breastmilk. Buy a can of powered formula and add one or two ounces to each bottle of breast milk. Food does NOT give him what he needs to grow at this age, breastmilk and formula do. I think you have done a fabulous job of pumping and going for almost a year on just breastmilk, relax now and a bit of formula will get him through.
You may even find that without the pressure, you pump more. If not, it is not a big deal for him to have some powered formula.
Our pediatrician has always said to wait until the 12 mo mark before introducing whole milk. I would see what you can do to make things stretch for two more weeks.
One of the things that helped me tremendously was to only nurse on one side for the first feeding of the day and pump at the same time on the other breast. Most women are the most full first thing in the morning. I, too, am a nursing mom and teacher. So right before daycare, I do this, and I am able to get 5 oz each morning from that one side (plus any additional from the rest of the day). I also do this on weekends when I am nursing exclusively, so that is an extra 10 ounces from sat and sun mornings to help during the week. It is definitely awkward to pump and nurse at the same time, but the let down that is triggered by baby leads to a much more effective pumping session. If you are worried about your supply, then make sure to up the amount of water you are consuming. This is a stressful time of year for teachers, and it is easy to forget to take care of ourselves!
Did you ask your ped? I wouldn't use whole milk without asking the ped. You can use formula to mix with the breast milk without worrying.
Is your child using a cup? If not, he needs to start using a cup. Breastmilk and formula, and after he's a year old, breastmilk and whole milk can be mixed until he is used to whole milk.
Just don't go to a bottle. If you go to a bottle, you'll have to wean from that. You don't want to do that.
By the way, my kids went straight from formula to milk without me having to mix them. What might have helped is that daycare started giving the bottles of formula COLD around 11 months instead of making it warm. You might ask your daycare to do that.
With my kids I actually waited until their birthday to introduce whole milk. Not sure it would really have been that big a deal. Since you are over a month from that birthday, I think I would try to hold off. It would probably be fine, but cow's milk can be too much for their little tummies.
Have you ever given him formula? I bet just one can of formula would get you through the next two weeks. You could ask them to mix it with the breast milk - 2 ounces of formula with mixed with 4 ounces of breast milk. Something like that so that it tastes pretty close to what he's used to.
If you'd rather send extra food, I think it would be a good idea to ask that he also drink a little water or juice just to stay hydrated.
He'll probably be just fine either way, so try not to stress about it.
Wow! I am so impressed that you made it this far pumping. Way to go!
I bet you're looking forward to your summer break. Enjoy your little guy!
A lot of people start transitioning between 11 and 12 months, but if you have any concerns just ask his doctor.
I think you can try giving him some whole milk, but try it at home on a weekend first, so you can monitor in case he has a reaction.
I can think of 2 ways to do it. One is to do it as you are suggesting and mixing in a little white milk into the breastmilk.
Another is to give him a sippy of just whole milk at lunch to get in the routine of a 'big kid' lunch with food and a sippy cup of milk. Then leave all his bottles of breastmilk as just breastmilk. This is what I did, and it worked well for me because I never had to break my kids of a bottle-of-milk habit later. From the very start, whole milk always came in sippy cups, and only breastmilk came in bottles. YMMV
At O., most of his nutrition will come from foods, so I'd say do whatever works for you!
it'll probably be fine, but just to make sure, why not supplement with formula for a couple of months? you've done such a great job making sure he's had breast milk all this time. if you add in some formula you can probably keep nursing twice a day, give up pumping, and hold off on introducing whole milk until it's recommended.
win all round!
khairete
S.
introduce the whole milk. in fact, i swear, if you transition at 11-13 months, they don't even notice! No tears, nothing, just a smile as they try to drink out of a cup! And do use a cup.
no need to mix. just give him the whole milk in a cup, keep the bottle for the breast milk.
ETA: oops.. he isn't 11 months? I'd be very careful. I'd probably just send more table food. 11.5 months is the time to transition, not 10.5.
I would send less milk and more food since it's just a couple of weeks so no big deal. I would not mix it yet then just nurse throughout the summer. That's still two 6oz bottles in addition to food is a lot. Could you send him with a yogurt? My nursing babies would not take bottles so if I was away for a few hours I would pack a yo baby yogurt to tide them over(along with other food).
He can be on whole milk completely. He can also nurse until you or he decides he's done.
That's a lot of milk for an 11 month old. He really only needs 4 bottles/nurses per day at about 24 oz. total and no milk at night. He should be eating 3 meals a day also, with table foods after the jars/cereal.
All three of mine started nursing less around 9-10 months. By 10 months, we swapped whole milk for water in a sippy cup after meals (with their doctor's blessing). I still nursed 4 times a day, but they all dropped from 6 oz. bottles (when with grandmas) to 4 oz. At 11-11.5 months, they all self-weened. My youngest is 11 months now and just dropped down to one nurse a day. He eats 3 meals with table foods, two snacks, and drinks whole milk when he eats.
You can introduce milk before 1 year. Babies eat dairy before a year already, like yogurt, cheese, cream in baby foods, and many formulas are milk-based. You just don't want to give a only whole milk and no breastmilk or formula before they're close to 1 year.
Personally, I'd rather, and have preferred to, supplement with whole milk instead of introducing formula for a month or two. My pediatrician also found that the preferable option.
