10 month old-BF/food/water-how much??

[Olive]

how much does your your month old feed/eat etc..???

i demand feed DD and do 3 meals plus snacks but often she doens eat much, brekky is almost a no go, lunch is ok as id dinner but snacks are hit and miss, im just concerned shes not eating enough (though i do know breast is still most important), she'll drink heaps of water if i allow her it in a straw cup as thats her new obsession! so i limit water intake

[Olive]

anyone?

[MantaRay]

I don't quite remember, but I think both boys were having only 3 or so bfs a day at that age. DS1 was eating pretty much no solids, and DS2 was eating heaps of solids. DS1 was drinking only a little water and DS2 quite a bit. Funnily enough DS2 is a smaller build than DS1 too!

Not sure if that helps!

[Olive]

thanks mel!!

[2CheekyMonkeys]

my DD2 is 9 months. she has breakky (usually pretty big, mainy farrax and fruit or weetbix made up with formula) then i will give her some toast a hour or so after that. lunch is usually just a custard, then a biccy or a rusk an hour or so after that, then dinner is puree vegies and meat and sometimes a jelly or another custard (usually only half a jar) after that. i give her water after and during each meal and i demand breastfeed throughout the day, so anywhere from 4-10 feeds, though alot of those are snack bar type mini feeds. she still feeds ALOT overnight too, pretty much attached from 11pm onwards. :-( i dunno if that is enough either actually, she is on the little side but i think that is just genetics her sis was little too.

[kylieb77]

I wouldn't worry too much - your daughter will let you know if she is hungry. I think DS was on 2 bf a day by 10 months and ate whatever we had for lunch and dinner. With breakfast I started offering the boob after brekky at this age and that seemed to work better - and he eventually dropped that feed.

[Heaven]

I don't know if DD is eating enough either!! She doesn't really have snacks, just 3 meals. So the last few days I've been making sure she has snacks too but it's not much, just a bit of fruit. When she has meals though she eats a lot so I guess it's ok. She also BFs AT LEAST every 3 hrs still.

[Acacia]

Don't know if this is helpful, but I'm finding with my DD that she doesn't want to eat 3 big main meals a day like she did at around 8-9months old. Since about 10-11 months old she prefers to have smaller meals interspersed with snacks. So she will have a relatively small breakfast, a small snack, a small-ish late lunch, sometimes an afternoon snack, and then depending on how much she's eaten and when she ate last in the the afternoon anything ranging from a small dinner to a whopping great big dinner.

She is also demand breastfed, so she still has up to 6 feeds (sometimes more) in 24 hours, 4 of those during the day, interspersed between eating meals and snacks. Some days she'll drink quite a lot of water, other days she'll barely have a couple of sips.

When she first started doing this I worried that she wasn't eating enough solids anymore - it really felt like she was only pecking a little at things, but when I thought about it (and the telling is often in the nappy!) she really is eating quite a lot - it's just small amounts often. I thought that she was having too much milk as she's still having as many breastfeds in the day as she did when she was 4 months old, even more at night, in fact. But I think she is just having much smaller little "thirst-quencher" BFs now.

I think it's quite common for babies to change their eating habits as they get a little bit older - especially in the transition to being toddlers - perhaps as they start using more energy, they seem to need to eat/drink more regularly to keep their blood sugar/energy levels topped up properly, and often food is not as much fun as doing more fun things like playing and toddling - if, as sitting in a high chair eating involves, there's too much sitting still for my DD she hates it!

I'm sure you're DD is getting enough - she'd let you know if she wasn't - she's just on the go now, and perhaps it's worth remember that up to 1 year old milk is still priority over solids. If you're still concerned that she's not having enough solids when she's around 12 months, then you could try offering solids before BF, such as offering breakfast before milk as kylieb has mentioned.

HTH

[~Kim~]

Olive, DS would be the same as your DD. He has 4-5 feeds daily, 2 overnight and solids basically whenever we eat. He eats a paultry amount compared to other babies his ages that I know (after having watched their mothers just shovel it in), but he's happy.
He clamps his mouth shut after exactly 3 mouthfuls of anything - even when he's feeding himself so I guess that's his limit atm.

[Panda74]

I could have written your post Olive! My DS is 10 months this week and I am worried about the lack of solids but he does love his water from his new straw cup! Its pretty much only dinner that interests him, we try brekky and lunch and he will have one or two bites if we're lucky. Even at dinner he doesn't have much, just has a bit of a play and a chew and throws a lot on the floor. We're demand breastfeeding too and DS is a big boy. I think he is drinking more in the night at the moment because I returned to work last week and he survived on water until 1pm two of those days, still rejecting his food even when the milk wasn't around!

He's very happy and has a lot of energy so I assume everythings ok...

[Faithful Mumma]

Hi Olive,
My DS will be 10 months on the 23rd.
He has 5 Breastfeeds a day, but none overnight usually () and he has a weetbix and a half crumbled up with a tiny bit of cows milk for brekky (not sure if he should be having the cows milk, but havent seen any kind of intolerance etc). I warm it up in the microwave for a few secs. This is the meal he loves the most, and one weetbix just wasn't sastifying him, he would sit there with his mouth open grunting at me for more, but by the same token, he sleeps 12hours straight at night, so by the time he gets up he is usually pretty hungry. I offer booby first then brekky.

Lunch and dinner is where I find it hard to think of what to give him. Often he ends up getting the same meal for both, I just use whatever current "meal" I have made him in bulk in the fridge- usually a soup of some kind made with vegies and stock and onion, or stewed fruit crumble made with rolled oats.
I do use some spices, as he doesn't like real bland things.
And he eats as much sometimes as my 5 yr old....but let me add he is a BIG boy. He is very, very lean, but off the charts long, and is taller than most 1 year olds, so he has long hollow legs to fill!

I am having trouble moving away from having to cook a seperate meal for him. He is getting better at chewing meat etc, it's just that we don't have a lot of meat and three veg meals ourselves, more often than not we have pasta or rice or stir fry etc...

As for snacks, I sometimes give him bread with butter and vegemite, or a couple of sultanas, and he sometimes has a wheat biscuit as a treat, but thats it really. He doesn't mind watermelon, and seems to cope with chewing this up. Apple he just rolls around in his mouth for a very long time.

I am very hit and miss with giving him water. I offer it all meals, but he only has a couple of sips and thats it. I will offer it of we are out. I figure he is getting lots of hydration from his booby milk.

None of this probably helped at all, but good luck!

[Pandora]

Im worried about the amount of milk DS is having.
Hes 10.5 months, eating 3 solids a day and snacks.
He has 2 bottles during the day (sometimes EBM, usually formula) and was b/f morning and night.
It seems not though that the morning and or night feeds (always 1 or the other, often both) are almost non existant. Hed be lucky to be on for 2 minutes either side, and not always doing a lot of swallowing.
If I offer him a top-up from the bottle he will take it, but he'll also go without it.
I dont know if hes dropping a feed, or if its a supply issue.
Shouldnt he cut out the milk during the day ahead of morning or night time?
Im so confused

[~*Niadalla*~]

DD is not really having any milk at all anymore. She's nearly 11 months, but has only been on one half bottle for about 4 weeks now, and that's at night. It's a bit of a worry, so I make sure she has plenty of other dairy. She drinks water like it's going out of fashion, and if she's not eating every 15 minutes, then there is a problem. LOL.

[Snacks]

Pandora, I assume he's having the bottles because you're not around? If you are at home and want to continue bfing, I would just offer the breast. But if you're out, then I assume your situation is like ours, that the bottle is much easier to feed from and without the feeds through the day the breastmilk situation is getting low. We are ok because P still has at least one night feed, but to settle at night she often requires a bottle top-up.
I guess it's up to you, what you want to do. You could try cutting out a bottle feed during the day to encourage a bigger milk drink when you get home or first thing in the morning. But it may not work.
Personally, I'd think at this age it's ok for them to have less milk feeds as long as they are eating well, and I'd just follow their lead.

[allycat06]

Food is a bit hit and miss with my 10 mo DS ....he takes forever to finish his food! I think he's more of a grazer than a 3 solid meals kind of kid. If we wake up in time for breakfast then he'll usually have a corn thin/half a piece of toast with vegemite or weetbix or porridge with fruit and ebm....sometimes he eats it all sometimes not. The morning is probably the easiest time to get him to eat.

Lunchtime I'll cut up some fruit and just leave the plate on the floor for him to grab at his leisure, most of the time he'll just tip in on the floor but it does get eaten eventually. Sometimes he'll have some yoghurt or a sandwich too.

Dinnertime I try and get some meat into him as he's a tiny little guy. He'll just have what we're eating or a slightly modified version, often just nibbling off my plate. If we have spag bol I'll give him the pasta to munch and then mash some vegies into the bolognese. Or last night we had chops with vegies and mash so I cut up some of the meat for him to chew and some bits of broccoli then spoon fed the mash. He didn't really manage with the meat so I ended up chopping it up and putting it in the mash and he ate a little like that and can have the rest for lunch today. Again some nights he'll eat everything I give him others nothing it all. It can be frustrating sometimes, especially when I've gone through the effort of making him something special.

Sometimes I wonder if I should be trying to get him eat more especially when I hear of other babies his age having 3 solid meals and snacks! But he seems quite happy and since he's started eating meat has put on 2 kgs, still tiny but it's nice to see a bit of chub on him! He still has at least 4 BFs a day, maybe 2 little ones at night and snacks throughout the early morning when we're still in bed. So at least I know he's getting plenty of milk. When he starts dropping feeds then I'll start pushing the food a bit more. He has maybe half a sippy cup of water each day, maybe a bit more if it's hot.

[Pandora]

Pandora, I assume he's having the bottles because you're not around? If you are at home and want to continue bfing, I would just offer the breast. But if you're out, then I assume your situation is like ours, that the bottle is much easier to feed from and without the feeds through the day the breastmilk situation is getting low. We are ok because P still has at least one night feed, but to settle at night she often requires a bottle top-up.
I guess it's up to you, what you want to do. You could try cutting out a bottle feed during the day to encourage a bigger milk drink when you get home or first thing in the morning. But it may not work.
Personally, I'd think at this age it's ok for them to have less milk feeds as long as they are eating well, and I'd just follow their lead.

Snacks, Im working full time so he is either with DH or at daycare during the day, otherwise Id still be b/f him at those feeds as well.
Im not fussed which feeds he has milk while its not affecting his solids, im just not sure of how much hes getting - he has 180-230ml per bottle, so if its at the lower end that means 360ml is possible all the milk hes getting in to him if he refuses the b/f and so I wonder that thsi is not enough?

Its hard that hes soo different to DS1, who didnt drop his last feed til he was to and fed to sleep every night *sigh*

[Miss E]

Wow, they're all different aren't they!

I've been wondering the same thing about my DS, he's still having about 6 BF's a day and showing no signs of slowing. His solids are really starting to pick up, he usually has three good meals a day now and I have started just continuing to give him food till he doesn't want anymore because I too was wondering if he isn't getting enough given the amount of BF's he's having.

I guess they just do what is right for them. Mind you, I had always thought I'd wean at 12 months, or at least go down to just a morning and night BF, but at this point I can't see how that is going to happen. I guess I just need to go with the flow....

[Snacks]

Maybe something to check with the nurse... but I think if he's eating well then that sounds like plenty of milk.
Out of interest do you feel a let-down of milk in those 2 minute feeds? Sometimes P has a very small bfeed but I can tell she's had a few mouthfuls because I feel a letdown. Now that she's getting closer to a year old I like to think of her milk as drinks rather than meals, KWIM? Because she is having 3 meals a day (like your DS) we are not so dependent on the milk for the day's required nutrients. Don't get me wrong, I know milk is still important and there can be too little, but I would think 2 bottles plus a couple of small bfeeds would be sufficient for babies this age... My thoughts for what they're worth anyway!