How many times per day do you nurse your ~1 year old?

[poorlittlefish]

My DD2 is 11 months old this month.  I currently nurse at home and pump at work.  She has all of the sudden become uninterested in nursing right when I get home from work.  She wants to play!  This is all well and good but I was planning to stop pumping altogether around a year and if she doesn't nurse at that time, that means that there will really be only 3 times per day that she does (morning, middle of the night only once and right before bed).  Is that enough to keep up my supply? 

I was just wondering how stay at home mom's do it. I pump at very specific times of the day, every day.  If I was home with her, I just wonder how often is normal at this point--especially for a baby that LOVES their solid food.

Thanks,

[GoBecGo]

My DD is 11 months too and i SAH.

We nurse between 4 and 8 times in 24 hours.  I let her lead.

If we're in all day she nurses (roughly) 6-8am (inclusive), 11am, 1pm, 4pm, 8pm, midnight and sometimes has a wee suck in between at say 6pm.

If we're out (and thus she's busy doing other things) she feeds (again, roughly!) 6am, 11am, 4pm, 8pm, midnight.

Obviously illness, teething and developmental things can make her nurse more, and we did have a week last month where she went EBF again due to a tummy bug and she literally fed the same feeds but was latched and sucking for 2 hours each time.

As to your supply, as long as she has those 3 feeds you will make milk for those 3 feeds.  If you keep her to 5 you'll have milk for 5.  Your milk will follow her needs (and if her need increases your milk will too).

[MamaofLiam]

I'm a SAHM with an almost 14 mo DS. How many times a day we nurse really, really varies. But if I had to put an avg on it, I'd say 10-12 sessions in a 24 hr period. Like the previous poster, my DS leads.

I have very fast let downs, and DS has always been a very fast nurser. We are done in less than 5 minutes. Mostly a nurse session takes 2 minutes. At 12 mos DS didn't love solid food. He likes it more now though. 

I agree with what the pp says about maintaining your supply. Your daughter will regulate what she needs, i.e., if she has 3 feeds, you will make milk for those 3 feeds. 

[Adaline'sMama]

My almost 14 month old didnt nurse more than twice yesterday. Today she's probably already nursed 8 or 9 times. I think it just depends on her mood.

[MamaofLiam]

I had to come back because this thread has made me pay more attention to how often I actually breastfeed DS. We do more than 10-12 times a day. I think it's more like 15-20. But like I said before, I think this has to do with him only feeding for very short intervals (5 mins or less). 

But like Adaline'sMama said, we also can have days where he maybe has 3 nursing sessions during the day. Now that I'm paying attention, I'm amazed at how much it can vary, actually. 

[sosurreal09]

19 m/o about 6-12x a 24hr day and she is a HEAVY SOLIDS eater (she can down HALF a box of mac n cheese) All kids are different :)

Also she is not a short nurser we still nurse 15-20 mins per session

[BetsyS]

I'm a SAHM.   My baby will be 11 months old next week.  He LOVES solid food.  (He's my 3rd baby, and he loves food more than the other two, in spades).  He nurses about 4-5 times in a 24 hour period.  Mostly, he sleeps through the night (yes, he's the first of my babies to do that, too), but sometimes he wakes at 4am to nurse. 

[P.J.]

Max is 11.5 months and is so distracted by playing that he has less of an interest in nursing lately. He goes to daycare 3 days/week for 6 hrs/day. We are still in the adjustment phase and he hasn't been left there for a full day yet, but when that happens I'll leave a couple ounces of milk, although I somehow doubt he'll want it. I was also wondering what will happen with my milk.

Anyway, on the days we're home together, he nurses very irregularly. I would say an average of every 2-3 hours.....but many of those times is just a quick sip and off to play again! He eats 3 meals a day plus snacks, although sometimes (like this morning) he doesn't want to eat at all. He nurses maybe once or twice at night.

When I have to be somewhere and DH stays with him, I can go up to 5 hours and leave no milk (we have some in the freezer if he really needed it), just snacks.

I expect once he's in daycare regularly, we will be down to only a few nursings a day, and he'll start eating a little more and not skipping meals. We'll see though....

[sosurreal09]

To the above do't be surprised if his nursing increases once he is in daycare! That has been known to happen too.

[Snapdragon]

I nurse my 14 month old 1 - 3 times per 24 hr period. I know it is on the low end of things compared to others.  I feel kind of silly to ask this next part because I feel that I should know the answer but I still want to: IF I am only nursing him 1-3 times in a 24 hr period (he also has lots of varied solid foods and other liquids) I should be giving him (cows) milk every day, right? Can someone clarify this for me? I know it is best to give breastmilk as much as possible still at this age. But for people who nurse much less at this point, is cows milk a good option? It feels like it is to me, and I do give him some cows milk. But I am sometimes unsure of what the norm is with that issue- re: how much and how often?

[GoBecGo]

Not based on anything "scientific" but if my baby was still nursing 2-3 times a day i wouldn't give cows milk, i would assume that was enough milk for her.  Cows milk is a good option for toddlers who don't have BM or FF any more, but it's nowhere near as complete as breastmilk and digests slower.  So i would be concerned that cowsmilk would fill her up and make her not even want those 2-3 breastfeeds.  I think i would just make sure she had a good mixed diet and plenty of water to drink.

[octobermom]

  Mine is now 14 months she nurses All day long.. LOL I really don't know how much but I'd estimate at least 8+ times a day and she wakes twice a night to nurse. Sehs got days where she eats a lot of solids and others she wont touch any. Shes still nurses about as often its just more intense secessions when shes not taking in solids.

[octobermom]

 I don't think cows milk is EVER NEEDED.. I'm not BTW anti cows milk (assuming no allery) if my 14 month  old wants to share some of mine cause I'm having some i let her and occasionally I do give her some cause its another food choice however from a nutrutional POV the best is breast, now that she is older next is a good varriety of all the groups (veggies fruits grains meat dairy ec..) and the best other liquid is water.
I don't think cows milk i

Originally Posted by Snapdragon 

I nurse my 14 month old 1 - 3 times per 24 hr period. I know it is on the low end of things compared to others.  I feel kind of silly to ask this next part because I feel that I should know the answer but I still want to: IF I am only nursing him 1-3 times in a 24 hr period (he also has lots of varied solid foods and other liquids) I should be giving him (cows) milk every day, right? Can someone clarify this for me? I know it is best to give breastmilk as much as possible still at this age. But for people who nurse much less at this point, is cows milk a good option? It feels like it is to me, and I do give him some cows milk. But I am sometimes unsure of what the norm is with that issue- re: how much and how often?

[sosurreal09]

After DD is done BFing I won't give her a milk alternative. There is no need for it. We cook with coconut milk (so delicious) but DH drinks raw cow's milk. I just think it's pointless to give a weaned child another species breast milk. I also don't think adults need it at all. We do cheese and butter though.

So my DD is the oldest and she nurses the most? Go figure. She eats a ton too I don't even get it. Yesterday she ate 2 eggs, 2 bowls of 1/2 cup of cantaloupe, red kale and cabbage stew(with potatoes and kielbasa), apple dipped in peanut butter, fried rice and veggies with pork, 1/2 cup blueberries, a piece of cheddar cheese, and a couple of bites of my ice cream sandwich. That is a lot of food right? On top of that she has roughly 15 oz of water and she nursed like 12x yesterday in 24hrs.

[violet_]

The number of times you nurse per day might not mean much as far as total milk intake, as they can be small or large feeds.

My 9 mo is in the 95th percentile in height and weight, and I only nursed her 4 times a day from a few months old (even while she was still exclusively breastfed).

Recently, as her intake of solids has increased, we've dropped to 3 feeds per day, and yesterday she refused one of those, though I'm hoping that refusal was a fluke, as I'm not ready to drop the midday feed! 

She breastfeeds at 8am, 3:30pm, and 8pm, though this can vary a bit with her mood.

[sosurreal09]

to PP did you schedule her feeding from infancy or nurse on demand?

[poorlittlefish]

No, I don't schedule.  I have had low supply issues due to a breast reduction so honestly, she never really gets to ask because I offer ALL the time and for the most part she doesn't refuse.  She might just do a quick suck and not really drink but she will always take it :)

[sosurreal09]

That's good you fed on demand. See all kids are different. My girl is only 22lbs at 19 m/o and look at all the food she eats and how much she nurses!

[Perdita_in_Ontario]

DS is 15 months and he nurses more than 10 times a day, I'd say, but except for naps and night-time, they're quick pit-stops.

I've talked to many people, and found myself, that around 11 or 12 months is a bit of a lull in nursing - in fact that's why a lot of people find it's easy to wean at that age. But now DS is more mobile and communicative, his nursing has stepped up again.

I was working FT when DD was that age, and I pumped once during the day, and on demand on the weekends. She nursed until she was 3.5 with not many nursing periods during the day, and I stopped pumping when she was 16 months. My breasts regulated :)

[SilverFish]

my dd is 15 months and i'm trying to cut back a little during the day, in preparation for going back to work at 18 months. i don't plan to pump, so she'll just be nursing when we're at home. i agree with PPs that there was a lull in nursing around that age. i was starting to think about going back to work at that stage and thought it would be very simple to cut back, as she was nursing maybe 4-5 times per day (morning, maybe midday, afternoon and bedtime, maybe overnight). if i hadn't been around, she probably wouldn't have missed the midday nursing much.

anyway, the nursing ramps up and down these days depending on what we are doing. sitting around at home or a friend's house, we nurse A LOT. like every two hours (at least 8 times). if we have a super busy day, she easily goes 4 hours without thinking about it. i think i would just try to follow your dd's lead a bit at this age. offer when you get home, but don't worry if she doesn't take it. my guess is that as soon as you stop having pumped milk available for her during the day, she'll be much more interested when you get home!