Expert: ruth kraft - 9/2/2009

Question
I have an 8 month old daughter.  I exclusive breastfed until 6 months and then started on solid food.  We have been introducing 2 new foods (so far just fruits and veggies) each week.  I mix rice and oatmeal cereal with breastmilk as part of the solid food meal.  My problem is that since beginning solid food it is very difficult to get my daughter to nurse during the day.  I work from home, so I have the opportunity to nurse her during the day, but she almost always rejects it (even right before eating solid food so she is hungry).  She does however routinely wake 2-3 times a night to nurse.  Before she began eating solid food she was sleeping 10-11 hours a night, but now wakes up every 3 hours or so to nurse.  I'm not sure how to correct her schedule.  My instinct tells me if she got more milk during the day that she'd nurse less at night, but I'm not sure if that's true.  She won't take a bottle.  I've tried giving her pumped milk from a sippy cup or glass and the most we usually succeed in her drinking is an ounce or so.  Any suggestions you have would be appreciated!  Thanks!

Answer
My best suggestion would be to separate the milk and food completely . create a different routine. when she gets up, she gets to nurse, she nurses again, lunch is solids ( mixed with breastmilk preferably ) and then nap, then nursing, solids for dinner, then nursing only for the rest of the evening until bed.  the solids just arent an option the rest of the time.

Also know , that she is at the stage of learning to do major motor skills. like crawling, cruising, walking, etc... when kids grow through big developmental stages, they dont care about food. this is why they spend their first 6 months gaining lots of baby pudge and then thinning out after 7 months or so... losing baby fat as they are more active. because she is wanting to nurse more at night, if you arent ok with it, you have to teach her that nursing is not a choice in the middle of the night. if she is hungry, she will nurse during the day. there is a book called the no cry sleep solution by susan pantly that is great for helping you learn coping and strategies to help her sleep more. It is more about boundries at this point than hunger. Once you teach her the boundries,She will adjust her eating habits accordingly. Welcome to one of the first discipline issues to come :)

Good luck!