Baby-led weaning vs. pumping at work: thoughts?

[erigeron]

My daughter is 8 months old and most of her diet consists of breastmilk. I'm more or less doing baby-led weaning, and letting her self-feed. She is very interested in food (she gets upset when we eat in front of her and she doesn't have something) but doesn't eat very much of it. When I have tried spoon-feeding her she's really not into it; I suppose we could get her on more purees with some effort (my husband wants to, and just bought a Baby Bullet), but I think she seems to be doing okay. She has no teeth yet but is working on one.

I'm fine with following her lead on solids... EXCEPT I really really want to be done pumping at work after a year, and I do still want to breastfeed sometimes. Pumping at work is such a giant headache for me. I think if I stop pumping then, her diet will necessarily need to be more solids and cow's milk.

4 months is a while in baby time, I know. Is this realistic? I just see such a big gap between what she's eating now and what I expect her to be eating then, and I'm wondering how we're going to close it.

Edited by erigeron - 3/1/12 at 8:43pm

[Anna Phor]

4 months is a while in baby time, I know.

This. They change up SO FAST at that age. At eight months, my son had just started insisting on finger food and ate a handful of beans or a little fruit at each meal. At his first birthday party he chomped down a plate full of hors d'oevres and then tucked into cake. I quit pumping at 13 months, and he is still nursing more than a year later.

[GuavaGirl]

I also agree that a lot will change in 4 months.  Just offer food throughout the day and she'll start to eat more and more.  ...just getting the different tastes and textures is good.  I did homemade purees with mine, and fed him at regular times, (while nursing on demand) and that worked really well for us.  I would freeze a bunch of different things in ice cube trays and freeze them in freezer bags, so it was very easy when it was time to eat.  After a while he preferred to feed himself and I chopped things into bites.

[foreverinbluejeans]

You don't have to pump at work for 4 months. You may not have to pump at all. If your baby is nursing several times at night she may be able to go without milk while you are away. If she can't now she should be able to by 10 months. My daughter in law was working at 10 months and never pumped. I would feed my grandson solids while she was gone and he breastfeed while he was with her. It's called reverse cycle feeding. When your baby gets to be 12 months you don't have to give her cow's milk. She only needs less than 12 oz of human milk to meet the government milk requirements (if not eating any milk products like cheese and yogurt). Humans actually need no cows milk at all and can get calcium, vitamin D, and protein other ways.

[nstewart]

I agree with PPs.  4 months is a long time and you'll see so much change in that time.  My DS was also not really eating much at 8 mos (we did BLW, never spoon fed or gave purees) and by a year old (when I returned to work) he was a very proficient self-feeder.  He also never took a bottle and refused cows milk or breastmilk from a cup (he only recently started drinking a bit of cows milk now and again, but really just drinks water 90% of the time during the day, and only generally wants his milk "on tap" lol) and, as foreverinbluejeans said, he would reverse cycle and nurse a lot at night.  We were/are co-sleeping so that generally worked for me.

Don't stress, and just see what happens in four months time.  Good luck!

[cat13]

Thanks for posting. DS is only 6 1/2 months, but I already dream of the day I stop pumping.

[lsmama]

Hello.  I can SO relate.  DD will turn 1 year on Saturday and I will begin the process of "hanging up the horns" at work next week.  I am so happy to have made it this far but am so ready to be done pumping at work.  Anyway, my DD is not a huge eater in terms of quantity - definitely prefers to self feed - but she does love whole milk yogurt and cheese, avocado, and hummus, all of which I feel like are pretty calorie rich so I don't worry too much about quantity.  She is growing beautifully and I know she will adjust.  I agree with pp's that a lot changes in 4 months.  Contrary to others, I was terrified that she would reverse cycle as I really need my sleep!  This did not occur.  Right now she nurses upon waking in the am, before bed and typically 1x during the night.  She gets 2 bottles of EBM during the day which I will gradually sub out with cows milk when I stop pumping. 

GL!  The work pumping thing has been a total labor of love and a complete PIA.  I would do it all again but I really understand your desire to be done!

[lsmama]

Oh and one more thing:  my DD began to ate more once we gave her food that was actually seasoned (ie hummus, pasta with sauce, homemade soups, homemade beans) etc.  Just a thought...

[Quinalla]

Just keep offering her lots of different things, my kid loved everything: purees, baby cereal, real food, etc. but some don't like purees much so if you give them things just sort of mashed up or even stuff that is soft but they have to "chew" with their gums a bit, sometimes that helps. 4 months is an incredibly long time at that age, just keep offereing lots of variety and offer things again several times even if she has turned them down before, it can take many times before they get used to a new taste/texture before they will really eat it. And I agree with a PP, don't be afraid to spice things a bit, my DD likes that better too. Honestly, we fed her some jarred stuff because she liked it, but we mostly had her eating whatever we were eating pretty quickly with maybe slightly different prep since she had no teeth until she was just past 1 year old. It was easier for us and she enjoyed the food.

[erigeron]

Thanks for all the support, everyone! She has 2 teeth now (well, they're nubbins, but she has a sharp cutting surface) and is steadily eating more solids. (I can tell because the diapers are getting steadily more disgusting... ick.) She still isn't eating tons, but I think we'll make it okay by 1 year. I do want to cut back gradually on pumping at work before then and hopefully get her drinking less during the day. She's already been reverse cycling for a while which I have done nothing to discourage. I tried very hard to always offer solids at least three times a day, which I think has helped as well.

[~Adorkable~]

i found that by a year my babes were only nursing during the day if it was related to going to sleep. so they would need a bottle for each nap if i was not going to be there.  their cuddly extra nursing always happened in the wee hours of the morning or as they started to get tired in the evenings.  whenever i planned to be gone for some time the next day i could get a pumping session done a hour or two after they went to bed and before i did. that would give me one bottle feeding for the next day.

so you may be able to still pump for day use or a stash and yet not have to do it at work during the day.