Breastfeeding Frequency of 5/6-month-old? Let me hear your experiences...

[thanka2]

Have you tried using a cup instead of a bottle to give the milk? Babies usually take less from a cup. And a five to six month old should have no problems learning to drink from a cup. If she took less during the day it is likely she'll make up any shortfall at night when you are together.
Best wishes,
SARAH
www.lotuslactation.com

Great idea, Sarah! With my razzled-frazzled brain nowadays, I don't know why I didn't think of that! I know she can drink from a glass. She is very interested in trying to drink whatever we're drinking so I've let her have a go at having a few sips of water here and there--especially on our holiday when the weather was blistering hot. She really enjoys drinking out of a glass and is always trying to grab ours and have a sip. She also really wants to try to eat our food! She watches us intensely when we're eating and mimics our mouth motions and licks her lips. We gave her a tiny bit of mashed up mango about 3 weeks ago and she loved it and didn't have any adverse effects from it.

Also, I'm still debating whether to introduce a bit of solids to her--maybe some rice cereal with a lot of breastmilk mid-morning or something. The things I've read are conflicting. The one issue I'm concerned about is the "blood-brain" barrier thing. Any insight into this, Sarah?

 

[thanka2]

Have you tried using a cup instead of a bottle to give the milk? Babies usually take less from a cup. And a five to six month old should have no problems learning to drink from a cup. If she took less during the day it is likely she'll make up any shortfall at night when you are together.
Best wishes,
SARAH
www.lotuslactation.com

Great idea, Sarah! With my razzled-frazzled brain nowadays, I don't know why I didn't think of that! I know she can drink from a glass. She is very interested in trying to drink whatever we're drinking so I've let her have a go at having a few sips of water here and there--especially on our holiday when the weather was blistering hot. She really enjoys drinking out of a glass and is always trying to grab ours and have a sip. She also really wants to try to eat our food! She watches us intensely when we're eating and mimics our mouth motions and licks her lips. We gave her a tiny bit of mashed up mango about 3 weeks ago and she loved it and didn't have any adverse effects from it.

Also, I'm still debating whether to introduce a bit of solids to her--maybe some rice cereal with a lot of breastmilk mid-morning or something. The things I've read are conflicting. The one issue I'm concerned about is the "blood-brain" barrier thing. Any insight into this, Sarah?

 

[Sarah_Lotus]

It sounds like your little one is getting ready for solids. The latest idea in starting solids is something called "Baby-Led Weaning". This is when you actually let the baby feed herself rather than spoon feed the baby. It seems to work very well. And I really like it because I think it follows nicely on from the breastfeeding.

With breastfeeding the baby controls how much she wants to eat, not the mother. And with baby led weaning the baby controls how much she eats not the mother.

The book I like best on the subject is called Baby-Led Weaning by Gill Rapley & Tracey Murkett, http://www.shopinhk.com/product.php?productid=11189862

I have attached a leaflet about this for you. View attachment baby-led-wwaning-leaflet.pdf

Best wishes,
SARAH
www.lotuslactation.com

 

[nicolejoy]

Once your little one starts solids, you will possibly be able to do away with pumping altogether - especially since you are able to breastfeed at lunch time. With a feed before school, one in the middle of the day, she should be able to be happy with other food in the in between times. Just a couple more months

 

[thanka2]

Thanks everyone for the advice. My daughter is now almost seven months old. Started feeding her with a cup only right after Sarah suggested it and she's doing awesome with that. She actually can fully drink out of a cup now--so I don't even think will have to deal with sippy cups and straws unless we want to--she has great control and rarely spills any on herself.

Also started her on some solids. Started with EBM added to brown rice cereal--to the consistency that it was just easier to let her drink it out of the cup than feed it with a spoon.

So far, whatever food we give her to eat, even if it's bitter or sour and her facial expression tells us that, she will go ahead and eat it. Nowadays she's eating red lentil dahl with spices as well as vegetables and fruits. We've also given her a pureed hard-boiled egg.

To me, I don't think I'll go hard-core into baby-led weaning. I understand the premise of it, but it's simply not my style. For some things we puree them and for other things we give her bits of fruits and veggies. She particularly likes grapes and oranges so in the right sizes she can handle those. I also bought a fresh food feeder.

Sometimes it's just easier and more convenient to feed baby with a spoon or cup and help her eat than to give her a mess of food and let her make a mess with it--especially for us because we're often eating on-the-go. I'm really not worried about her rejecting foods because of not practicing baby-led weaning because at this point I can give her anything--no matter what flavor--fruit, vegetable, protein and she'll go ahead and eat it. She just loves food! And I eat a variety of flavors of food so surely she can detect different tastes in breastmilk.

Now she's nursing, on average about 5 times/day with one feeding of EBM mixed with food in the mid-afternoon. Her weight gain is good and steady and she's happy and healthy. We're blessed.