Normal 9 mos Nursing

[l_Kimmie_l]

How many feedings per day is normal for a 9 month old? He has solids 2 times per day, but nurses for most of his nutrition. He was eating all the time till 2 days ago, and now is going longer between feedings. What is normal?

[cdeweese]

I remember my son doing that every now and then, especially when he was working on a new skill. He stopped nursing at night around 8 months but nursed 5 times during the day. He was a pretty efficient nurser at that point and his output was always great

[tibeca]

Trust your baby! You can try offering more frequently, but you can't force them to nurse. The world is a crazy busy place at that age. Some babies take up nursing more frequently at night to make up for skipping nursing session.

[l_Kimmie_l]

Thank you! He is way more interested in playing and eating my nursing necklace....LOL! We cosleep, so more night nursing is easy and fine. I sleep right through it.

[abunchoflemons]

As I said on other post longer between feedings is norm for food & bfing babies. Food fills up longer.

[l_Kimmie_l]

Hopefully this is it. I did not give him any lunch today (baby food) to see if he would nurse more. Nope. I got him on for a few minutes around 1:30 but it is 3 and no sign of wanting booby.

[gina1921]

My 18mo old is still nursing with solids, and her nursing definitely fluctuates. At 9mo she was very interested in the world around her and probably made up for any lack during the day by night nursing. To be honest, I've never really kept up with how many times she nurses. Wet/dirty diapers (or lack of) are what I watch for, and she nurses on demand.

The other thing you might try is a nice, relaxed nurse-nap. I find this nice for both me and baby, and when she stays latched on she seems to get a few extra let-downs.

[l_Kimmie_l]

I think I worry about frequency due to having issues in the beginning with supply. I feel good with what I make now and just stopped fenugreek. I do not want my body to think we need less. He has been nursing a bit more the last few days. I think his new standing/pulling up skill was just more interesting than the booby.

[keen1981]

Offer 8x a day. And always before solids.

[Spunkify]

As long as you're letting him lead I'd say whatever he is doing is normal for him, you know? I think it's understandable that as he learns a new skill his nursing would decrease and then jump back up again when he mastered it. Like someone else said above he may decide to nurse more, or more often, at different times of the day/night to make up for it. Either way, if he needs it he'll nurse.