9mo old liking bottle better than breast :(

[jen6163]

Hi!

My 9mo old has only had approx 6 bottles in her life, but she is a SLOW gainer, almost off the charts, and I've been struggling with my supply. So recently I started pumping at 9pm when she is asleep to get some extra milk. And then at her bedtime feed (6:30pm), I nurse and the top her off with the bottle (2-3oz). The past 2 nights she sees the bottle, gets so excited, and I have a HARD time getting her to nurse. She did eventually nurse 1side and then refused the other so I gave her the bottle and then pumped.

I feel like I'm digging a hole... and I'm gonna screw everything up!

I don't have the option of adding my BM to purees bc we do Baby Led Weaning. I could add it to yogurt or applesauce as I do spoonfeed her that.

What do you think?

Any advice/input/experience?

I realllly don't want to screw up the BFng... want to make it well beyond a year if i can.

Thank you thank you!

[PatioGardener]

Could you get the 'extra' into her another way? A dream feed? A sippy cup? Open cup? Tube at the breast?

nak

[jen6163]

I thought about that...
She just started taking a sippy, but doesn't quite get it. I'm not sure she would actually get any from it? and don't want to waste it. I hadn't thought about trying an open cup..., maybe that would work.

Tube at breast? What is that?

THANKS!

[blessedwithboys]

Stop the solids right away. At this age, a baby needs milk as the primary source of calories and nutrients. Any solids you add to the diet only take away milk, they do not add nutrition ot the diet.

I would also stop the bottles. You say the baby is a slow gainer...so she is gaining then? A 9mo baby doesn't pack on weight like a newborn does. As long as she follows her own curve, and hits milestones, she should be good. Of course, if there are medical issues which you didn't share, that might be a different story.

I went though this with my ds1. He was almost 9# at birth but only 17# at 12mos. I had to really rely on my LC to convince me he was all good. We never used bottles and he wasn't too interested in solids until about 18mos.

[jen6163]

Originally Posted by blessedwithboys

Stop the solids right away. At this age, a baby needs milk as the primary source of calories and nutrients. Any solids you add to the diet only take away milk, they do not add nutrition ot the diet.

I would also stop the bottles. You say the baby is a slow gainer...so she is gaining then? A 9mo baby doesn't pack on weight like a newborn does. As long as she follows her own curve, and hits milestones, she should be good. Of course, if there are medical issues which you didn't share, that might be a different story.

I went though this with my ds1. He was almost 9# at birth but only 17# at 12mos. I had to really rely on my LC to convince me he was all good. We never used bottles and he wasn't too interested in solids until about 18mos.

Thank you for your encouragement! There is no medical issue at all. She was 8lbs at birth and is now 15.10lbs at 9mos. She is gaining, but yes at 6mo it has slowed tremendously. She really doesn't have much interest in food at all either... just mainly playing with it. I will have to look into and research stopping solids now. She still nurses approx 8x per day on both sides. I just can't NOT worry! It's horrible. She's super super active, been crawling and cruising since 6mos. I have to remember that I was a small baby (17lbs at 1 yr) and EBF so maybe it's genetic.

I think I will stop the bottles. If I do continue solids, I will just add BM to anything I can.

Thanks again
Jen

[syd'smom]

I would stop the bottles and just do bfing and baby-led solids. babe gets the most nutrition from breastmilk and learns how to eat a variety of foods (without being fed mush). Also, be sure to chart weight on the WHO bfing charts, not the doc/formula charts.

[PatioGardener]

Originally Posted by syd'smom

Also, be sure to chart weight on the WHO bfing charts, not the doc/formula charts.

Here is the WHO chart http://www.who.int/childgrowth/stand...irls_p_0_2.pdf

[annettemarie]

Moving out to the main Breastfeeding forum.