How Often to Breastfeed at 10 Months

With my older son, by the time he was 10 months he was nursing 4-5 times a day. First thing in the morning, before lunch, afternoon nap, and then before bed. He always nursed both sides... I am paranoid about having different sized breasts. LOL. With my younger son (now 10 months) he is completely different. He nurses about 8-10 times a day, and doesn't eat much solid food. He won't take a sippy cup or bottle. I think each child is different. If he is growing suffiently and having a good amount of wet & dirty diapers, I wouldn't worry. When it comes to weaning, just start replacing feedings with cups of milk (either formula or cow's -if he is old enough). The pediatrician recommended whole milk (changing to less fat when he was two). We then morphed into two sippy cups of milk in the morning with a water/juice mix after that. With my oldest, weaning at 1 year was very easy and gradual, but who knows with the youngest... :) He is very different from his brother.

My son is 10 months now and I feed him three or four times a day tops (on both sides). Once when he wakes up, once sometime after his morning nap, once after his afternoon nap and only sometimes before bed (mostly because he's not always interested and once he starts to goof off or bite, I cut him off). This is working well for us -- I really have no idea how much he is actually getting, but he only will drink a little bit of water (no juice) with meals and he seems to have a lot of wet diapers. I think at 12 months I will cut it to two feedings and give him milk with lunch. Then just play it by ear for the other two feedings. Good luck!

Our pediatrician gave us a chart that showed babies 6 - 12 months need anywhere from 24-32 ounces of milk/formula a day

Hi A.,

Some thought on the process for you...Just wanted to suggest keeping the "most convenient" feedings when you start to ween and then give a sippy cup/bottle with your milk in between so your baby adjusts and your milk slows gradually. I did it this way with my first and it worked out well. I cut out middle of the day feedings but kept the first and last feeding. Eventually I went to just the before bed feeding and then stopped.

Another thought - everyone is different but I was a bit sad when she was done...I tried to focus on my renewed "freedom" to keep my spirits up. She was done/ok with it...it was ME that still wanted that connection. My now almost 10 month old son has pretty much weened himself recently...I still do the night feeding and an occasional am feeding but am giving him my stored breast milk in a sippy cup to bridge the gap between now and milk. My pediatrician said 11 months is ok for regular vitamin d milk...I should just make it to the 12 month mark (I'm a milk horder!) but it's nice to know it's "ok" with my doc to work some regular milk in there too if I need to.

Good luck with the transition!

N.

My 11 month old sometimes nurses up to 10 times a day. Some of these are super short, and I think that he may be nursing to comfort his teething pain. It varies and I just nurse him when he seems he wants to.

That sounds about right to me. If you're set on weaning him at 1 year you'll want to gradually cut back on the feedings, but there's no particular reason you need to wean at that age. Especially if you're at home. I wouldn't start giving him cow's milk until he's 11+ months old - really it's just an inferior substitute for YOUR milk. Even if you breastfeed your son 1-2x/day he will benefit from it. I can honestly say that my son (19 months and in daycare) has been sick only one time this entire past year, and I attribute that partly to the fact that he still nurses 1-2x/day. (btw, once you cut back to that level it becomes very unobtrusive in your life - he nurses mornings in bed with me and occasionally has a late afternoon snack).

As for how much milk to give him, I just give my son milk if he seems thirsty. I'd give it in a sippy or regular cup rather than a bottle - that way he can distinguish that cow's milk is a grown-up drink and doesn't go in a bottle (one less habit to break him of). He'll stop drinking when he's done. I think my son goes through about 1/2 gallon per week.

I also breastfed 5x/day, and then I started weaning around 11.5 months. My pediatrician said that once they start drinking whole milk, it should be about 3 glasses a day (24 oz). I remember it took a few weeks to get into a schedule where I would give him milk with his breakfast, lunch and dinner - hard getting 5 nursings into 3, especially since I didn't know how much he was drinking at each nursing. I still give him some milk before he goes to bed, so he usually gets 4 glasses a day, but they are not "full" glasses, so he is getting about 24 oz/day. Good luck.