Breastfeeding: Our Story from 5 months to 11 months

Our breastfeeding experience from 5months to one year has been far less eventful then the in the beginning. We have had to deal with distractability and occasional biting, but the biggest change has been the addition of solid food. Around 6 ½ months I switched from the Ameda Purely Yours to the Medela Pump in Style and noticed a slight increase in my output. A common day would be 15oz, although sometimes 14 or 16. I think the most I ever pumped in one day was 17oz. And the most I have ever pumped at one sitting has been 9oz when I was really full on one side because I forgot to feed you with it all night. You were definitely not eating that much at daycare, probably only around 10oz a day. I got such a good freezer stash going I didn’t have to worry so much about wasting milk (and subsequently did end up wasting some milk). You started eating solids at about 6 months; having purees at dinner time when we would eat. At 7 months I told the daycare you could start there as well and they fed you twice a day when you would cooperate. At that point I didn’t notice any change in your milk feedings, you ate just as often as you had before for me. It wasn’t until you were 10months (ish) that I started to notice a drop in nursing. You had been eating some finger foods at home since 8 ½  months and daycare asked to switch you over at a little over 9 months. I was a little nervous of choking at first but I let you. By 10 months you were eating really well, you love finger foods and will eat just about anything. The drop in nursing frequency and corresponding dip in milk supply has been so gradually it is barely even noticeable. I now pump about 13oz each day. I find myself thinking “well, I think she used to nurse more than this”.  You definitely have dropped and evening feeding, but I think, in addition to being more filled up on solid foods, you have dropped day feedings because of distractability. At first it was a temporary issue.  It started around 5 months when you started to pop off and look around  and do it again and again and again. You still nursed as often as you had but you were less focused. We also has a rough time nursing when you had your ear infection because it was uncomfortable. For both of these issues, it helped to walk around and bounce you at the same time and also take advantage of the sessions when you were very sleepy. This type of distraction was short lived. Now, you are very preoccupied with playing, especially if we are some place new or anyone is visiting. So you aren’t interested in nursing as often during the day, which I think is why it feels like you don’t nurse as often now. I notice sometimes I am still full after you eat, or that I have an overactive let down. I have also been less hungry lately, another sign that you aren’t eating as much as you used to. Like I said this has been so gradual it didn’t even become noticeable about 10months or a little after.

Now at about 11 months, I’m not really sure exactly how often you nurse during the day with me because we are often busy on the weekends but it seems to be about every 3 to 4 hours. On weekdays we typically  nurse at 5am, 4:30pm, 7:30pm (you used to eat once more in the evening and go to bed later) usually with two night feedings. Sometimes you eat more at night if you are sick or teething, and there was one little stretch which seemed like a growth spurt because, not only were you waking up three or four times a night, you were eating on both sides each time and usually you only eat on one side at a time during the night. This only lasted a few days. I guess all in all you still do nurse quite often. Which is fine! I was actually dreading the return of my period because I have felt like we haven’t been nursing as much lately.

Biting has been a reoccurring, but small, issue since you got your top teeth. Sometimes I will say no in a stern voice but I think the thing that works the best is just to ignore it all together because sometimes it seems like you might want to get me to say no again-like a cause and effect game. So I will usually just not say much and stop nursing you for a bit. It only seems to happen at the end of feedings anyway. I think sometimes it is just something to do for you-you chew on your sippy cup so why not this too?, but sometimes I can tell it is because your teeth hurt. So in those cases we find something you can bite on for relief. It isn’t fun to be bit, but it is nowhere near the pain I had when I first started breastfeeding.