# 13 month old - How often should she nurse?



## TheDivineMissE (Mar 31, 2006)

My 13 month old has tapered off to only nursing about 3 times a day. I offer more than that, but she's not interested. She nurses every morning from 4:30 or 5:30 until we get up around 7-ish, then once around lunch and once before bed. She's eating tons of solid foods and drinking both water and milk.

My gut says it's fine, but I didn't nurse my first baby this long, so I'm kinda unsure of how toddlers breastfeed. Are we good or do I need to offer more?


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## alegna (Jan 14, 2003)

That sounds like very little to me. Why are you giving her milk? Giving other milks is a weaning technique.

I would not spoon feed at all (just let her self feed solids)

Make sure there is no other sucking (no pacifiers, bottles, sippy cups)

No other milk.

Offer often.

good luck!

-Angela


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## lyttlewon (Mar 7, 2006)

From what I understand at one year they should get no more than 25% of their diet from non-breastmilk, or 75% of their diet should be breastmilk. At a year and a half, 18 months, they should have about 50% breastmilk/50% solids. I think that is based off of the WHO guideline of a minimum of two years nursing.

I agree with Angela I wouldn't give other milks and would nurse more.


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## TheDivineMissE (Mar 31, 2006)

I am on the WHO website and I'm having trouble finding those recommendations. Do you guys have any links for the ratio of breastmilk to food and also the limiting of other liquids? Thanks!


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## Ruthla (Jun 2, 2004)

My gut instinct would be "as often as she wants to." But if she's only nursing 3X a day, she may be heading towards early weaning and she's probably not getting enough milk (though from a nutritional standpoint she's "OK" since she's getting cow's milk but why encourage cow's milk when human milk is available?)

I'm not so sure there are any "absolutes" regarding the percentage of her diet from mama milk vs other foods. I would, however, suggest offering the breast more often, at "snacktimes" before offering snacks, and I'd stop using cow's milk as a beverage- or use it in much smaller amounts and only with meals or snacks (ie, 2-4oz of milk with cookies, not an 8oz sippy cup of milk as her entire snack.)


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## GardenStream (Aug 21, 2007)

My DS went through a stage a lot like that. He would only nurse one or two times a day at about 13 or 14 months. He wasn't drinking cow milk at all. Anyway, withing a month or two he was back up to nursing 10 or more times per day.


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## alegna (Jan 14, 2003)

Try www.kellymom.com

I'm not suggesting limiting other liquids. Merely that offering other milks reduces the demand for the perfect one







AND that other sucking reduces the sucking at the breast.

I am a big believer in constant access to water (in an open cup) No other liquids are needed.

-Angela


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## TheDivineMissE (Mar 31, 2006)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Ruthla* 
My gut instinct would be "as often as she wants to." But if she's only nursing 3X a day, she may be heading towards early weaning and she's probably not getting enough milk (though from a nutritional standpoint she's "OK" since she's getting cow's milk but why encourage cow's milk when human milk is available?)

I'm not so sure there are any "absolutes" regarding the percentage of her diet from mama milk vs other foods. I would, however, suggest offering the breast more often, at "snacktimes" before offering snacks, and I'd stop using cow's milk as a beverage- or use it in much smaller amounts and only with meals or snacks (ie, 2-4oz of milk with cookies, not an 8oz sippy cup of milk as her entire snack.)

I suppose it might be helpful to actual define what I'm giving her, eh?







Her meals look like this:

5:30-7-ish nursing
7:30 - breakfast. She usually eats a banana (or other fruit) and a cereal or bread product. She will have a sippy cup with water or milk in it as well. Generally she'll drink an ounce or two.

10:00-12:00 Nap
12:00 Nurses for approximately 15 minutes each side
12:30 - Lunch - whatever we scrape together. Leftovers, sandwiches, veggies, fruits, it's a free for all. She'll have a sippy with water or milk then too. Again, she only drinks an ounce or two.

3:00-4:30 or 5 Nap
(She'll nurse here some days too)
5:30 Dinner. Fish, veggies, sometimes pastas. Sometimes chicken and rarely pork or beef. Sippy cup again with a couple of ounces of milk or water.

7:00 Snack, Nursing and Bed.

We'll have a couple of snacks here and there throughout the day. Crackers, fruit, etc. She sometimes has a cup of water sitting around the house that she'll take sips from here and there.

On any given day I'd guess she's drinking about 6-8oz of cows milk and nursing 3 to 5 times a day. She's also getting maybe 4oz of water. No juice, we don't do juice. I should also mention that she (self feeds) a large amount of food. She eats as much as the 4 year old does.

I think I'll taper off on the sippy's of milk a bit more though. She's so busy playing with her big sister and following her and her friends around that most of the time I can't get her to nurse even when I want to.







She latches on for about 1.5 seconds then climbs down and chases down her sister.

I also think that when she starts moving to one nap a day the nursing will pick up again. There's not enough time in the day for a very busy baby! She definitely needs both naps still though. She's a crank without them.


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## alegna (Jan 14, 2003)

I'd just drop the milk and replace the sippy with an open cup (matters less when it's just water







) and see what happens.

-Angela


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## TheDivineMissE (Mar 31, 2006)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *alegna* 
I am a big believer in constant access to water (in an open cup) No other liquids are needed.

-Angela









You apparently have more dishtowels then I do. An open cup of water around here is a recipe for disaster with Destructo Baby on the loose.







And God help me if she sees a glass of water with ice cubes in it. She hones in on that thing like a guided missle. I can't chew my cubes in peace around this place. Both kids and the dogs will surround me and beg and plead for just one cube.


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## Ruthla (Jun 2, 2004)

I'm amazed at how infrequently she's eating- none of my kids at that age would have readily fallen asleep 3 hours after a meal without nursing or having another snack first! They generally nursed before AND after naps (and in between).

If she's nursing 3-6 times a day then she's probably doing OK- I'd just offer some encouragement to keep it closer to 6 on most days. And I'd switch that "water or juice in a sippy" to "water in a sippy" and maybe only offer cow's milk once a day.

When my kids were toddlers, we used sippies for "around the house" drinks and open cups were reserved for the high chair tray- usually only at dinner time, right before bathtime!


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## TheDivineMissE (Mar 31, 2006)

Just to clarify...we don't do juice.







Dunno why I'm hung up on that, but juice bugs me to no end.









Ok, I will see if she won't add in a couple more nursing sessions before her naps and I will cut out the cow milk. Let's see how that goes for a couple of days.


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## alegna (Jan 14, 2003)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *TheDivineMissE* 







You apparently have more dishtowels then I do. An open cup of water around here is a recipe for disaster with Destructo Baby on the loose.







And God help me if she sees a glass of water with ice cubes in it. She hones in on that thing like a guided missle. I can't chew my cubes in peace around this place. Both kids and the dogs will surround me and beg and plead for just one cube.

















It was a stage around here. The cups had one baby swallow in them at a time









-Angela


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## MilkTrance (Jul 21, 2007)

Could you pump a little and give that in a cup, if she's too busy to nurse?


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## amydep (Apr 18, 2006)

If you offered nursing before and after each nap, that would add a few more nursing sessions to your day. She may or may not want to nurse then, but you can certainly offer. My DD likes to nurse before naps because it "gets her in the mood" for the nap. I, of course, feel like I need a nap then too!







She is most likely getting plenty of calories from breast milk. Here is the guidelines for up to one year http://www.kellymom.com/nutrition/so...olids-how.html and it says at one year 25% of the calories be from solids. But, seeing that your daughter is older than one year, I'm sure this will start to increase. I think I read that there are 45 calories per ounce of breast milk, so if you could estimate how many ounces she was getting per day and then estimate how many calories from solids, you could get a fairly close idea of where you were at percentage-wise for each. Honestly, if she is nursing 3-6 times a day at 13 months, I think you are fine though.


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## MMomofMany (Oct 18, 2007)

I agree with no milk in the cup, but most of all do NOT stress. If you become anxious about your nursing relationship your baby will sense it. Relax. Enjoy your baby. Different children have different temperaments. Some will nurse into the toddler years, others will wean at 16 mos no matter how often you offer. I've weaned 9 so I have some experience. It is not a contest to see who can nurse the longest. Long term relationship with your child is the most important issue here.


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## mamma2j (Oct 5, 2010)

Thank you for this response!!! I came upon this board when searching to see how often other people's 13 month olds nurse. Mine is currently 3-4 times a day. I purposely started offering less because I considered weaning at a year only because we've had problems nursing this whole past year. Plugged ducts like you wouldn't believe, and all kinds of other issues. REading this thread I totally second guessed myself. I appreciate your reminder that it's not a contest. I have nothing to worry about and everything to be grateful for that we made it to a year. DS had a posterior tongue tie, severe GERD, colic, food intolerances (with my elimation of a list of foods....still off dairy & soy). I've spent more of this past year trying to resolve plugged ducts and milk blisters than not. To be able to say I nursed for a year is truly a miracle! This is the problem with the internet! All of the other responses surely helped the mama who started the thread, but I started to get stressed. :-/


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