Baby Led Weaning Means Too Little Nursing?

[Past_VNE]

DD is 9.5 months old and has been BLW since her first solids at 6 months. Thing is, she's FOOD CRAZED. This kid drops our jaws, literally. She can put back entire meals' worth of food.

We BLW DS before we knew that it was even a movement. He enjoyed flavors and playing with food and trying anything offered. His palate now is very diverse and "adult." However, he didn't really eat any substantial amounts of food until well after his first birthday. He nursed his little heart out until he was 3.5 and my pregnancy with DD made me dry up and he lost interest. You could easily eat without offering him some. He just didn't care that much.

Anyway, DD is a completely different child. She was moderately tongue-tied but nursed well despite it. At 6 months, we had it clipped so that she wouldn't have oral/speech issues later. Following that, she nursed SO much better and we were awed at the difference it made for a babe who was "fine" beforehand.

She has never been a voracious nurser, nor has she nursed for pleasure/comfort/boredom, well, occasionally for booboos. As soon as she spies food or drink, she starts yelling for it. "Mom mom mom mom mom!!!!!!" She eats at every meal if she's not napping and eats until she's full if you let her. Since she's not gungho for the nursies, it's nearly impossible to get her to nurse a bunch before letting her within sight of the food. When she's around while cooking, she's yelling for food the entire time.

I have plenty of milk...PLENTY. LOL She could easily be 100% BF still. She has never had a bottle, a pacifier or anything. She's always with me.

Our meals are incredibly healthy at home. I do worry about what she's eating when we eat out, b/c even a "healthy" meal in a restaurant surely has corn syrup and MSG and other crud in the sauces, etc, and isn't organic or anything. Even at home though, a super healthy meal just isn't the correct replacement for a baby's nursies, IMO.

I'm looking for any suggestions on getting her to nurse more and eat less, while still respecting the BLW aspect and keeping my hot-headed little babe content.

So clueless here. I've never seen a baby eat like she does.

Oh, and she's just like DS was in looks. Long, lean, muscled. She's never been a chubby looking cuddlebug type babe. *shrug*

ANY THOUGHTS, Mamas??

[Natsuki]

Here is what I would do:

1. Only offer nursing for quenching thirst (if you offer water at times, only do it from an open cup or sports bottle - no sippy cups). That will ensure that she will come to you for thirst instead of other drink (you can give water in limited quantities)

2. Instead of trying to get her to nurse before meals, nurse her right after to quench her thirst. I notice that DD is thirsty when she's done eating and I can either give her a glass of water or nurse her - in your case, nurse all the way!

3. Encourage more frequent nursings throughout the day - offer often instead of waiting for her to initiate it. If she doesn't want to nurse, that's fine and don't push it, but make it readily available.

4. If she nurses at night, continue. Also nurse in bed first thing in the morning and also before falling asleep at night.

My DD is the same age as yours and at a minimum they need 4 good nursings a day to meet their nutritional needs so if she is getting that at least I wouldn't worry .

[Past_VNE]

Thanks for the reply, Natsuki!

She doesn't get water every day, but some days, she'll get a few big sips a few times per day, always from an open glass, except for restaurants where sometimes she uses a straw.

I try to nurse her before meals and do nurse her after most meals. Then, she seems more willing. I initiate nursing frequently...lots of times per day (10+) but she usually doesn't give it more than a few seconds' interest. We do nurse at night, sometimes only 1-2x, but right now with teething, it's 5 or more times.

We have wake-up nursies, naptime nursies, bedtime nursies... She gets probably 6 or more good solid nursings. But, DS was nursing probably 20x a day at this age. Maybe my perspective is just skewed?