How much does a 11+ mo. old typically nurse?

[namistenicole]

My DD (11 mo) has really slowed down her nursing in the last month or so. Now she is only nursing 3x a day: before her nap, before bed and once during the night/early morning. She is doing really well on solids and clearly prefers them to nursing.

I'm not worried about her calorie consumption - mostly I'm just curious if this is what breastfeeding is like in the toddler years since I've never nursed for this long before.

Also... my only (small) concern is that this is a phase and she'll want to go back to nursing more often and since she prefers the left side to the right I'm worried that milk production will stop on the right side now that she nurses so rarely. I'll probably pump some on the right side if this is a phase.

I'd love your input!

[Juniperberry]

I'm in exactly the same position with my DS2. He's going to be 1 this weekend.

He only nurses about 3 times a day too. He always nurses in the morning and then at some point during the day and usually at night before bed.

But he LOVES his food! I think he would eat continually all day if I let him!

I find I have to really consciously offer him the breast because I think he would have self weaned by now if I hadn't kept him at it. So unlike my DS1 who lived for the boob and hated food lol.

Good idea to maybe pump a bit on the side she doesn't like, but do try to get her to nurse that side too. And yeah, just keep getting her to nurse if you want to continue with it!

[paulamc]

DS is 13 months now, and at 11-12 months we were having the exact same issue. He started crawling and cruising right at 11 months, and for quite a while he was just way too busy to stop and nurse. I nursed at nap-times, bedtime and maybe one other time during the day. He would never nurse in a chair - only lying down on the mattress in the bedroom, where there is very little that is stimulating (nothing in the room but a rug and a mattress). I was pumping a couple times a day and giving him milk in a cup at snack or mealtimes, since he wouldn't take it from the tap.

All that has changed though. Now he'll initiate nursing by doing the "milky" sign, and when I offer he most always accepts. I need to get in the habit of offering more often - back when he always refused I stopped offering as frequently.

I suggest you pump frequently to keep up supply but also take your little ones to a quiet dark room a time or two during the day outside of naptimes to get in some extra sessions. Good luck - I don't think they will wean yet.

[twinsplusone1]

my LO is 11mo this week. He nurses first thing in the am, sometimes before am nap, after am nap, sometimes before pm nap, always after pm nap and sometime in the evening before bed and I wake him around midnight to nurse. I'll stop the midnight nursing session at 1year. But all in all its about 5times a day that I nurse him somedays a session more.

I have have to initate the nursing except in the am his routine is to acome to our bed and nurse 1st thing.

He also loves to eat and does so 3-4 times a day. IMO just keep offering and this close to a year as long as thier nursing IMO its fine.

[paulamc]

Whoops - I should add that my LO has always nursed several times during the night as well, so although he wasn't nursing as much during the daytime for a while, he was getting the usual sessions in at night.

[bluedaisy]

my 11 month old still nurses all the time - she hardly eats any solid food though, she's jsut never really been interested. she nurses 4-7 times during the day and 2-4 times at night.

if you want to continue nursing for a while longer, i agree with pp that it would be a good idea to pump to keep your supply up - will your LO drink bm in a cup with meals?