Feeding My 8 Month Old Daughter

Updated on January 05, 2011
L.L. asks from Austin, MN
6 answers

My eight month old daughter (who is 28 inches tall, 23 lbs, and extremely active...crawling, trying to walk, etc) has always been a voracious eater, but she is so different from my first (now 6.) My first barely ate baby food, had mostly milk, and of course turned out to be a finicky eater. Determined not to make the same mistake, while nursing the youngest, I started her on solids at 3 months because she was more than ready, and she took right to it. Now, she eats what would be about a jar and a half of cereal/fruit mix for breakfast, a jar of veggies at lunch, and a jar of veggies at dinner, nurses on demand, and has snacks of baby mum mums or Gerbers fruit puffs on occasion.

My problem is my breasts are leaking like crazy now!!! Is that normal, because she's eating well, gaining well, etc? They NEVER leaked until about three weeks ago, and it's sometimes just an hour or two after feeding her.

Also, is that too much food for her to be eating? I don't push it on her...that's how much she eats before losing interest. She's definitely not a "fat" baby.

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So What Happened?

I guess I should've added...I do pump before going to bed because otherwise I'm sleeping in a lake, but I think this compounds the problem! (I've always had an abundant milk supply.)

Thanks for the suggestion...so far, I've just given her water in a cup. Maybe I should try giving her the milk in a cup?

More Answers

P.M.

answers from Tampa on

Sounds like maybe you aren't nursing enough. You should ALWAYS nurse first, give additional food items after. She's coming up for a growth spurt, and that may be part of it too. Most of her lipids, complex carbs, vitamins, sugars, amino acids, etc should come from you... not pureed foodstuffs with added yucky food coloring, fructose, fillers and preservatives.

You nurse first, offer foods after... get over this growth spurt coming up and you should go back to normal. Pumping is good if you want to stockpile your milk - you never know what may happen and breastmilk is good for TONS of things. Google it sometime!

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A.S.

answers from Lynchburg on

My children both ate about that much but I had introduced my son to meats by this point. Some babies don't like the meat in the baby food jars because of texture. It sounds like she is eating and drinking plenty. Maybe you should consider pumping. It sounds like she has slowed down on the breast and geared more toward solids. If you haven't already, maybe you could use this time, (if you decide to pump) to introduce sippy cups. Just a thought. I hope this helps you.

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A.D.

answers from Bismarck on

Like someone else said, I would nurse first and then offer solids after that. An 8 month old still needs their primary nutrition to come from breastmilk or formula.

My guess is you are leaking b/c she is not taking in what she used to due to the amount of solids so I would cut back on the solids. My first was also a picky eater and still is. My baby who just turned 1 is an excellent eater and I did the same thing with both of them as far as the amount of solids they were given after they nursed.

M.S.

answers from New York on

Pump your milk and give it to her with her cereal. If you no longer want to supply breast milk ..your doctor can recommend something to dry it up.

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A.A.

answers from Davenport on

i dont breast feed no more but my daughter 9 months and she eat 2 jars of fruit/cereal in the moring then a bottle and lunch she eats 2 jars one fruit and one veggie then another bottle and at dinner she eats 3 jars of food and a bottle and she like 20 lbs she good and healthly doc told me if she wants it give it to her so i dont think your over feeding her hon your doing the rite thing

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T.F.

answers from Minneapolis on

What the other moms are saying is 100% corrrect. You nurse first and then offer solids. Also, you really aren't suppose to offer solids until they are at least 6 months of age, not only for allergies but also because their little digestive tracts are not ready for it.
The other thing that I would do is nurse her before bedtime so she has a full tummy of breastmilk. If she wakes up, you could nurse her again. I still nurse my 2 year old during the night, if he needs it. That would help with the nighttime problems.

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