How often should my 10 month old DD nurse?

[jerickson100]

I have seen many threads with moms wondering if it is normal that their child wants to nurse several times a day -- I have the opposite problem! My DD, who is almost 10 months old, will only nurse about 3 times a day, maybe 4 if I am really lucky. She will refuse to nurse even if she is starving and will scarf down a huge bowl of baby food and oatmeal. Basically the only time I can get her to nurse is if she is tired (and even then it can be a struggle). And if she doesn't want to nurse, she also will not take a bottle -- she does not scream or anything, she is just not interested. The last two days, she has nursed at around 4 am, 8 am, and then not until 6 pm. Is this normal? I am worried though that she will not get enough fat, protein, etc.

I will add that she has never been a huge eater. She has never nursed for more than 5-10 minutes. However, she was in the 90th percentile for heigh and 75th for weight at 6 months, and by 9 months had fallen to 90th for height and 30th for weight (although I know this is normal for BF'd babies).

This probably will not be a huge issue as she goes back to daycare tomorrow after being home with me for almost 2 weeks, and she usually eats more at daycare than she eats with me. I am concerned, however, if she does start eating less there and would love to know what is normal. TIA!

[Candy]

What are her solids intake? I've heard of many babies going on a nursing strike around 9/10 months. Many moms feel the baby is self weaning, but that is usually not the case. Just keep offering the BB to DD.

[Marisa]

Will she drink from a sippy? My son actually hates sippy cups, for the most part, but around that age I finally tried a straw cup. The novelty of it was great enough that he did start drinking from it, and you might be able to sneak an oz. or two of milk into her that way. You can offer it when she's eating one of her solids meals.

If you consider that a 10-month-old is probably drinking about 6-8 oz. at a good nursing session, though, then three sessions will still equal about 18-24 oz. which is a good amount. I wouldn't stress *too* much about the schedule she's decided on.

You can also try nursing her when she's sleepy in the middle of the day, around naptime. My DS went on a little strike around that age when he was cutting his top teeth, and wouldn't nurse at all except for when he was sleepy. Naptime and nighttime was it for us for a couple of days.

[jerickson100]

Thanks! I tried a sippy cup last night, but she wasn't too interested. I will keep trying though. And unfortunately this has been going on for a while (although worse over the last 2 weeks when I have been home with her). She has been steadily nursing less and less for weeks -- in the beginning it did not seem too odd, since I have heard about nursing strikes and she was still having milk, but she has been nursing 3-4 times per day for a few weeks now and is starting to routinely go 10-12 hours between nursing sessions and really resisting nursing even 3 times a day. She does seem to like a bottle a little more than nursing (in fact, she will not nurse if there is a bottle around), so I feel like I am "forcing" her to nurse when she would rather just get any milk from a bottle. I know babies do not wean before a year, but she sure seems uninterested in nursing (and has for probably two months). If it wasn't for the health benefits, I have to admit that I would have given it up by now!

As for her solid intake, she has about 3-4 jars of baby food, plus cereal, yogurt, and a little finger food every day. I think she really likes "real" food now, and is just not that interested in milk. Combine that with her small appetite to begin with, and getting her to have milk (and especially nurse) is a struggle. I hope she will go back to normal at daycare, because then she will at least be getting a decent amount of milk a few days a week. I have started to wake up her before I go to bed to get her to nurse because she is willing to nurse if she is basically asleep -- and luckily she goes right back to bed.

Thanks again for your help!

[HGMorgann]

I was going to suggest dream feeds, but it looks like you are doing it:-) My DD somedays only nurses 2-3x (during the day) because of distraction. Nowdays, the only times I can get her to nurse is to go into a quiet and dark room, with her blankie, in the rocker or laying down to nurse. We have just made it our normal routine to nurse like that at all sessions and it has helped us.

[dal]

My youngest DD nursed only 3x a day from 8 months until she stopped nursing at a little over 12 months. I asked the doctor about it and she said it was okay but to make sure she nurses 3 times a day until she's a year and then I could switch her to whole milk. I gave her water in a straw cup in addition to the 3 nursings a day.

[laralu]

My DD started self-weaning at about 9 months. By 12 months she wasn't interested in nursing anymore and wanted solids all the time. I knowmost people say that babies don't self-wean that early but mine did. She was never a big eater, like your DD,. Her longest nursing sessions were 10 minutes tops. She was much more interested in solids than nursing. I would just go with the flow and not worry about it too much. My 9 1/2 month old son will nurse 4 times a day sometimes more. He is much different than his sister was and I can see him nursing well past a year.

As long as she is gaining weight and peeing fine then I wouldn't worry. Keep offering it to her. :)