BF/FF/Solids question

[Janie]

Okay, Nicholas has just started on solids. He has 7-8 BFs a day, about 5-6 FF top ups, and 2 solid meals. The BFs that he has without a top up are overnight.

I know you're supposed to offer milk first, so I have been offering him a BF first, but then giving solids, then the FF top up. Is that okay do you think? I'd really like to drop some FFs in the hope of increasing my supply, but I don't want him to miss out on milk he really needs!

TIA

[MrsFabuloso]

Sounds fine to me Sez. That's what I was doing when we first started. What about if you offer boobie again after his solids? That would help with the supply as well as fill him up a bit more.

[DoulaRelle]

ohhh Sez, I think YOU are doing a fantastic job. That sounds like a really great way of introducing the solids, but as you say encouraging your milk supply. I hope you are able to cut some FF soon hun.

[MantaRay]

Sez, it sounds like you are doing a great job. As you say milk is still very important, the most important part of the diet until 12 months. But you will find that from 6 months on, particularly if they take well to solids, they will slowly decrease their milk intake. When you think about it, the greatest weight gain percentage occurs in the first 6 months (usually they double their weight or close to in about this time frame - that's never going to happen again!!). So they start to need less milk, even without solids.

So what I would do, is maybe drop the ff top ups one by one, by offering bb instead. This way you can build up your supply and drop the ff totally over time, without compromising the milk intake. Don't be too fussed if he doesn't always want the bb, as I said, he will be naturally decreasing his intake anyway. By 12 months he should only need 3 milk feeds a day (although more is fine too ) so that gives you some idea.

GL with it, just keep up the good work and you'll be fine!

[Liviam]

Sez sounds like you plan is great. Fingers crossed it will help you cut out the FF top ups. Have you thought about Kellie's suggestion of re-offering Nicholas a b/f to help boost your supply. You are amazing to still be b/f. YOU GO GIRL!!!

[christy]

I found with Jovie that once she was on a few meals a day she stopped having any top ups or FF at all!! I hope it works for you

[Janie]

Thanks ladies! I should take a piece of my own advice, shouldn't I? I will try putting him back on the breast after he's had his 'food'. I'm very pleased with how well he is suddenly taking his solids.

Kellie, what sort of routine have you girls got going with food these days?

[MrsFabuloso]

Sez, I am sad to tell you, our bfing journey has almost come to an end. We are only having one feed a day now and over the next few days we will be stopping that too. So I have no more advice I can give you.
As of about three or four weeks ago though, we were doing the bf, solids about 30min later, bf, bottle. She was only on one solids feed a day and wasn't really liking her solids yet. She wasn't eating very much. But she still needed her bottle as my supply wasn't enough for her still. I was really hoping that the solids would help me with having less bottles but it didn't.
I just couldn't do it anymore. All I was doing was feeding her again. I was ending up in tears when she needed a bottle again, it was like we'd gone back to when she was first born and all I was doing was bf/ expressing/ ff. Now all I was doing was bf/solids/bf/ff. Then she started to bite me and gave me a graze on my nipple again and with the pain of that and how I was feeling I was going batty again and was feeling horrible again.
I hope this works for you though, you are doing such a great job for Nicolas. Good luck hun!

[Janie]

Oh Kellie, you have done such a wonderful job! Please finish this journey on a happy note, knowing that you've done such a fantastic thing for your daughter. 7 months is a huge achievement for anyone, let alone someone with the problems you've encountered. Well done Kellie

I can understand how you feel, now that we're on solids I'm feeling like things are going a bit askew again, I'm not in control, I have no idea what's going on.....as you said, it's like having a newborn again! I will give the BF/Solids/BF/FF thing a go for a few more days, but TBH it's really doing my head in because Nicholas doesn't seem happy with it. He's much happier BFing when he just had the one BF before everything else. He gets too frustrated when there's not enough milk there for him, and I really want to keep our BFing relationship a happy one. I have no desire to go back to our days of refusal, and I can feel things spiralling that way. But I will perservere for a few days in case all the feeding does help my supply a bit . If not, we're back to BF/Solids/FF again.

[Barb Glare]

Hi,

Those first early weeks of starting solids can really be confusing. "We" have often pinned so much hop on the experience. Breastfeeding can feel like a big responsibility, and we are keen to move onto the next stage and we hope that the introduction of solids will make our workload easier. It's often a big letdown. Early solids make just about no difference to their milk intake or sleeping patterns, and may even cause extra problems as their systems adjust.
I wanted to tell you a story about breastfeeding my first child (the experimental model!) At 3 mnths due to "poor weightgain" he was virtually entirely on formula - well the amount of formula he took far outstripped the amount of milk I now know babies to take! By 6mnths he was back on the breast, with solids. By 8mnths I tearfully went to my health nurse to tell her I was "over" the expressing and topping up. And he was refusing the breast anyway. It was actually about this time of the year and I was working fulltime. She suggested I give him extra food and drink, stopped the expressing and make it through to the end of the school year, then I could breastfeed him through the hols and then he'd be 10 mnths old and he could go on cow's milk - no need to reintroduce formula (the advice about when to start cows milk has changed since then!) It made sense, so I plugged away, even though he was *really* fussy at the breast, never slept except on my boob. Anyhow, long story short, I fed that baby until he was 4 and a half years old! I never thought I would breastfeed him past 6 weeks, let alone 6 mnths. I bless that nurse for giving me the encouragement to hang in there a little longer. After 12mnths Zac took over, he learned to love the breast and gently coached me into being a longterm breastfeeder.
You guys have done a fabulous job. If it all ends now, you have just done a fabulous job. But it's not over til it's over!
Barb

[Janie]

Thanks for sharing Barb, you're an inspiration!

It's good to hear that what I'm experiencing is not uncommon. Not that I would wish it on anyone, but it's nice to know I'm not alone, or doing something wrong. I'm trying to tell myself that we have worked through difficult patches before, and I have always been so pleased that we did so. I'm determined to work through this one too, and reach my mini-goal of 9 months. That time will bring a new challenge, as that's when I return to work one day a week. I know it's not much, but it's quite a long day, so I'll be interested to see how things are going then, and how we will work around my work day. I really want to do it though, and that's partly what's kept us going all this time, the fact that I've been so stubborn LOL!

I guess I have to accept (yet again) that this may never be an easy path, and just take the good with the bad. I believe I'm doing what's best for my son, and that's what matters