Breastfeeding supply Qs....fattarts help?

Well, anyone could give me some advice but I know that fattarts is a wealth of info.

I was talking to a friend who has just weaned her 11 month old and noticed a HUGE difference in her girl. She has gone from strength to strength as far as sleep goes and my friend is putting it down to formula. She felt that her baby wasnt getting enough from her.

I weaned Tom at 7 months as I was told by "well meaning" people that he "must be hungry" and that my supply must be dwindling. It was also what everyone else was doing. I now realised that was BOLLOCKS and I should have hung in there a little longer and I would have got over the breastfeeding "hump" and into the time where it is easier (ie less feeds).

So, I havent thought of weaning James. In fact I really DONT want to wean him. I would love to feed till he is 12 months. He seems to be going ok. He is definitely not starving. He's not really into his solids but this is getting better. Minor setback last week when he got a cold and only wanted me but he seems to be getting back on track...he's just not a HUGE eater of solids yet,

I feed him kind of on demand. I say kind of because I dont really go with his signals....more when I think its probably time...or when he is due a sleep. An example of a typical day would be.

7am...wake...BF
8am...solids
9.30...BF....to sleep
11.30..wake
12.00 lunch..solids
2pm...BF to sleep
4pm wake
4.30...BF
5.30 dinner
6.30 BF....to sleep
8pm...wakes...BF back to sleep..hopefully (tonight he didnt go back till 10pm!!!)
12pm wake...BF...back to sleep
4-5am wake...BF...back to sleep.

My Q's....

How do I know if I have "enough"?
Does that "routine" sound about right? We used to do A LOT more feeds but I cut him back to try and encourage solids and he doesnt seem bothered. He sometimes doesnt need both feeds at night...its just the fastest way to get him back to sleep.

My problems.....He WILL NOT go to bed without a boob in his mouth. He can self settle sometimes...but I dont think he is good at it. He used to sleep through. Right up till we came to Blenheim and he got sick and that was 3 months ago. I have tried letting him grizzle for a while but he doesnt grizzle...he goes straight to FULL ON SCREAMING! He is teething ( I think) and has had colds and ear infections but I think we are coming out of these. The last couple of days I have put him down for his afternoon sleep in his buggy as he drops off with 5 min of rocking and sleeps for about 2 hours!!

HELP??? any advice? suggestions? Am I fooling myself that there is no problem with my milk?

TIA

I will come back and answer in more detail tomorrow (need to go get my BF bible out), but in case you're still up and awaiting replies, you are not fooling yourself, it is highly highly unlikely that there's a problem with your milk! 4-5 hours sleep in a row is totally normal for some babies (unfortunately for us! ). It's a sleep association thing, he's most likely NOT waking out of hunger.

How do you know if you have enough? As long as he's gaining weight, and you're getting the right number of wet and dirty nappies, and he's not dehydrated, you're absolutely fine. (I know the waters are muddied a bit by the fact that there are solids in there too, but the nappy thing still does work. You don't have any problems with constipation I take it?)

When he does feed, is it a relatively calm affair or does he fuss about it?

Don't get hung up on the routine, if you want to keep breastfeeding then on demand is totally the way to go. If you get worried about trying to stretch him out longer etc then that's when your supply will suffer.

As for the feeding to sleep thing, I strongly recommend the gentle removal technique, that's what worked for us when I had to get JJ to stop doing that.

HTH for now

there is nothing wrong with your supply. once your milk settles down it is stored differently that when it first comes in which is why some women think they have run out of milk. if you are worried your supply isnt adequate there are things you can do - like baking some lactation cookies... mmmm (so i have heard anyway).

You're doing fine! Like all the above posters say...

Nothing wrong with your supply, either. If you did want to cut a few feeds back, just don"t offer them. Your body will soon change the supply. That saiid, I was still feeding Charlotte in a similar fashion at around 15 months or so, and only really cut her down just before we weaned fully at 23 months.

Almonds are MAGIC for supply, if you were worried, or porridge. I think you're fine though, you just need to trust your body and block out "helpful" comments from formula feeders. The reason why formula babies (sometimes, not always) sleep "better" is that formula digests differently in babies tummy to BM.

Also, I have to admit, I fed charlotte in the middle of the night if she woke, even if I knew she didn't "need" it, it was easiest and less stressfull than not. I still give her milk if she wakes in the middle of the night now, too.

Nikki, I feed Cooper 5 times last night. Much easier than letting him scream. Doesn't help he's 2 feet away still But our routine is:

6-6.30 BF

7.30-8: Breakfast: porridge for all of us

9.30: sleep some times BF

11-12.30: wake & have lunch,

3.30pm BF & bed

5pm wakes

6.30pm dinner

7-7.30pm BF & bed

9-11.30pm BF

2.30 BF

Depending on what time he wakes from the morning sleep he might get another 45min nap at 2pm We have a very structured day in that we have to work around school

I find it easier to feed & speak of the devil!

Go Nikki.

I had 12am, 2.30am some where around dawn & then again at 7am when we got up!

I think we need to be able to panic and vent whilst waiting for these things to sort themselves out!

We now seem to have great day sleeps....at routine-style times and the night is improving. he is SUCH A HAPPY baby now. And only about 3-4 BF during the day now. Go James!

Yay that is awesome.