10 Month Old Feeding/nursing and Sleeping Schedule - Normal?

You can't start dropping feedings because you can't start him on whole milk prior to a year. So if you start dropping feedings you have nothing to give him to replace that feeding. Breastfed babies are fed on demand momma! Once he hits 12 months and you get the ok from his doc, gradually start introducing the whole milk. I found warming it helped tremendously in getting my EBF baby to accept it. We also used organic as it had a better taste.

Every baby is different but it seems a lot of ebf babies begin to sleep thru the night once they are weaned but it takes some time. It's hard for their little bodies to go all night without a feeding. It's just part of the deal when you breastfed. It's obvious he's hungry if he's nursing vigorously from both sides. He's not just doing it for comfort. Just be patient mom!

Having nursed all of my children, sounds like you are doing a great job!! Sounds perfect to me except be careful that you do not become his pacifier. lol When you wean him he will certainly adjust. Stop worrying, you sound like a great Mom!! Sincerly, A nurse, A Grandma of 5, and a childcaregiver for 32 years Good Luck!!

My daughter started sleeping through the night (no more night feeding) at 10 1/2 months. She still continued to nurse during the day on a semi-scheduled basis. I think at that time we were still nursing at least 4 times a day. I thought it was great and tried to relax about the solids. She is a great eater (though now she's in the toddler carbs + cheese only phase:).
She also weaned herself at 18 months when we were down to only an early morning feeding.
You've had lots of advice about cow's milk. I'll just echo what my ped. said at that time. He didn't recommend cow's milk until 12 months and even then if the baby didn't care for it not to stress. They can still eat cheese, cottage cheese, yogurt or even orange juice with added calcium.
As for weaning. I don't know why you want to wean at 12 months but I encourage you to be flexible in your thinking about the time frame. Sounds like your little one still really loves/needs it. Things can change a lot in 2 months too so try to be aware of what's going on and what the next best step would be for both of you.

I guess I don't understand the whole 'take away the night feeding as quickly as possible' thing. He's your baby and you're his mommy- you should feed him if he's hungry!
It sounds like your little guy has quite the appetite and thus obviously needs all that he is getting because babies don't eat just to eat like adults do. They only want to eat when they're hungry.
Good luck, and remember this little time you have with him as a baby passes so quickly. All too soon he'll be grown and have his own life. Cherish it!

You didn't mention why you wanted to wean him off at 12 months. Are you going back to work or you just don't want to nurse anymore? If it's the latter, I ask why? Nursing is the only thing that you can give him. Nobody else has that privilege. It's such a special bond and a special time between mom and baby. My daughter weaned herself off of nursing at 11 months. I was very sad because I missed that special quiet time that was only for us. I can see that your son nursing quite a bit. So I would suggest weaning off the day time feedings and maybe scale back to morning and evening. And if that doesn't work, just enjoy this time. Our babies grow up so fast and I wish I had enjoyed my daughter more when she was teeny tiny. All the best to you.

I would say that your son is still nursing quite a bit. At 10 months old, my twins nursed four times a day, and by the time they hit one, it was only twice a day. I found that once they started eating more and more table foods that they wouldn't be as hungry. They would cut out sessions themselves. I found when I would try to nurse, they would be disinterested.

To start reducing the nursings, see what happens if you skip one that is very close to a meal (or, just delay it a bit). That's how our started gradually decreasing. The nourishment from the breastfeeding should start being replaced by foods.

Good luck!

I had a little giggle when you said you have a 3 yr old, but can't remember where you were with feedings at 10 months with him. I was the same way with my second, but now several years later I can remember exactly what I did!
Anyway... Are you feeding him three solid food meals + all the nursing? Or, are they top-up nursings directly after the solid meals (like just one feeding that includes both solids and nursing)? The reason ask this is if they are all separate, it would mean that he is eating every couple of hours. More like snacking than eating meals. When this happens they are never really filling up and are hungry again more quickly. Really fill him up and he may be able to go longer in between.
Here is a possible routine that uses his current waking time:
6:30am - Nice long wake up nursing followed by some solid food.
10:30am, 2:30pm and 6:30pm - Large solid food meals. As much as he will eat. I mixed baby cereal into yogurt, mashed potatoes, apple sauce, etc. to fill them out. You said he'll just about anything you make for him, so that is terrific! The baby cereal also helps to keep up the iron and other nutrients, when beginning the weaning process. Follow each of these solid meals with a short nursing. (he should have water or something in a sippy cup during meals and available throughout the day)
10:30pm - Another long nursing, in a dark, quiet place. Then straight back to bed. Having this later night feeding should help to eliminate the dreaded 2am! If he still wakes at 2ish assume it is out of habit and just give him a really quick top-up then back in bed, making the nursing shorter and shorter, until he either just sleeps through or you can just go in and settle him with a little 'shhh' and tummy rub. :o) It should only take a couple of weeks to drop this altogether.
Obviously this will be a process to move him from his current routine to this pre-weaning routing, but it really shouldn't take long. Once you get him eating a good amount of solids during the day, you can start dropping the follow-up nursings. Eventually you will be down to wake-up and late night nursings. To drop the wake-up, you can start to offer him warm solids first (like oatmeal/applesauce, or some other warm breakfast thing), then short nursing, then start offering warmed milk and a cuddle instead of the nursing. I found the late night nursing the hardest to drop. They really wanted the cuddle up before bed and so did I! I ended up moving to warm milk in a bottle at night. My older one dropped this fairly quickly and was happy just to cuddle and have me sing a song, or read a short bed book, like good night moon. My younger daughter clung to this night bottle for much longer. She really needed the warm tummy to sleep well. Each kid is a little different and you are the best one to know what your little guy needs. :o)

I would like to address a couple of things that other people have said in previous posts. First, moving to whole milk at 12 months is a guidline. Both of my girls were given whole milk at about 10/11 months with their Doc's blessing. They had both had other milk products (yogurt, cheese, etc.) with no reaction, so milk was no problem. Some babies have a harder time with dairy and should wait until they are 15/16 months for whole milk. Some never can have milk at all. You know how your babe is handling dairy. Also, whole milk (or soy, or whatever) is not 'relpacing' nursing all by itself. All the food we give our growing babies is helping them transition from breast milk only to no breast milk at all. The idea is to make sure they are getting all the nutrition they need from whatever source. Too much whole milk can make babies/toddlers not hungry for other food and actually end up being a detriment.
Secondly, someone said that breast fed babies are demand fed. Who says? Mine weren't. Nor were most of my friend's kids. We all had some sort of feeding routine. Breast feeding does not have to mean on demand. Honestly, I never understood why anyone would want to teach their child to be demanding, or to think they had to cry to be fed. By using a routine I was able to anticipate my kid's hunger and meet it before they had to cry/fuss for food. They learned to be confident that I was on it, and they didn't need to get my attention to have their needs met. This is my opinion and I think all mamas need to do what they feel works best for them. Demand feeding works for some, not for others. We need to be very careful when giving advice. Advice is presenting an option. Nothing is black and white in life, and certainly not parenting! All kids, families, situations are different and thinking there is only one way to do things is a mistake and will only lead to frustration.
Good luck in your continued adventure in parenting!

Well, TB, you've gotten some thoughtful advice here - some of it conflicting, I know, but all of it with a lot of heart:-)
There are just a couple of points I would add:
1. There is nothing that says a child must be weaned at 12 months. If that's what YOU want, of course, your desires count! But I would encourage you to also consider the needs and desires of your little guy. If he still needs to breastfeed, whether for physical reasons you may not be aware of or for emotional reasons, his needs are real and valid. You can gently guide him along a path of weaning by introducing more and more solids, and let the breastfeeding kind of naturally be displaced by "big boy food." But stay in tune with HIM and his needs. The trust in you that he is developing now is essential to his emotional security and will also impact your future relationship. Gentleness is called for.
2. I don't know what you mean by "sleep training." What it USUALLY means is letting an infant "cry it out," which is always bad. He's not an infant any more, and obviously, you've been fine with taking care of his night time needs until now. Kudos to you! But similar to weaning, just stay in tune with his needs. If you haven't already, establish a bedtime routine (dinner, bath, story, prayer, massage...whatever works for you). If he awakens during the night, reassure him with your presence, and then put him back down. Again, gentleness in this process will yield the best long term results. Trust me: he'll be sleeping through the night on his own sooner, if his emotional needs have been met.