Caroline is 8 months old now and is still nursing, which I plan to do until atleast 1 year. But how often should she nurse during the day? She seems to be loosing interest in nursing during the day. She will nurse between breakfast and lunch... with her lunch...... after her nap..... once before dinner... and before bed... then once in the middle of the night... Is this enough for her or should she still be nursing more for her age. I know that milk is supposed to be the main diet so I wasn't sure. I feel like she doesn't get much at all during the day because she doesn't nurse that long. She also just started cherrios today and did really well! She is VERY interested in feeding herself! What are some good foods I can give to her to practice with?? And is she at the right age to start meats? I was going to start her on them tomorrow:) I am just worried because I am so used to BF like every 2 hours and now it isn't near that much! What is normal for an older baby on solids for regular meals?
Thanks!
~Melanie
Nursing enough?
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Fri, 2004-07-02 21:24
#1
Nursing enough?
6 times a day is fine especially since she is on solids. As they get older they also get more efficent at nursing and don't need to nurse as long. Has she started crawling recently? That could also cause her to lose interest. My son is almost 8 months old and he's not on solids and he doesn't nurse as much as he used to. As long as she has enough wet/bm diapers she's doing fine.
:)
Feeding six to eight times a day is just right for a newborn, so I wouldn't consider it strange if an eight-month-old child was eating between four and six times a day. So it sounds like she's right where she should be. I also think she's at a good age for eating meats, but please make sure they're small pieces. You could also feed her beans, peas, carrots (all well-cooked, of course) along with cheerios, applesauce, small pieces of peaches, and other kinds of fruits and vegetables.
She sounds like she's still getting the bulk of her nutrition from breastmilk and that's great. Also now she's learned to be an efficient nurser and it probably doesn't take long to get enough milk- when they are newborns sometimes it takes longer to drain a boob.
Chloe started getting table foods at 8 months, just lil pieces of what we're eating b/c she hates jarred and purred foods. I'd test her out with small soft pieces and see if she likes them, but I'd avoid the plain jarred meats (meats + veggies should be fine) but the plain ones smell like cat food and grossed me out lol.
the bulk of her nurition should still be coming from breastmilk. but as long as she has wet diapers and poops, i wouldn't worry. babies alos go through phases where they are not interested at all in nursing and then that is all they want.
it is hard to figure out, and once you think you've got it down, it changes.
it sounds to me like you are doing just fine.
as for foods, soft finger foods are great. be sure to still avoid certain foods until she is over a year.